44 TROLLING IN STAFFORDSHIRE. 



rich and poor which poverty and distress only 

 made the closer. If sickness visited a family, ready 

 relief was to be obtained from the venerable man- 

 sion near the village. If a cottager from misfor- 

 tune got behind hand with his rent, his kind 

 landlord was always considerate, and in cases of 

 death, he was the first to console the widow and the 

 orphan. If he came to the village church with his 

 family, with some degree of state, having his foot- 

 men behind the carriage with their formal liveries 

 and their bags and nosegays, an example of devo- 

 tion and decorum was set, which could not fail to 

 produce an influence on the neighbouring peasan- 

 try. Little or nothing of this is now to be seen. 

 The old halls of our English gentry are fast falling 

 to decay, or are occupied by farmers, and those 

 whose ancestors were formerly venerated for their 

 virtues and hospitality, are either living in crowded 

 cities, or imbibing foreign manners, drawing their 

 resources from lands which they never visit, and 

 from tenants whom they have never seen. Griev- 

 ous as the picture is, I can look back to my younger 

 days when a very different one presented itself in 

 the pretty village of Cleveland. 



In the hall to which this village gave its name, 

 two ancient ladies resided. One of them, Lady 

 Blnunt, was the widow of a baronet, and the other, 

 Miss Barbara Newton, was her maiden sister. 

 When I first visited them, they might each be 



