22 ftra&gate palace. 



further back, on which the wild rose and sweet-briar 

 have long fixed themselves, with bramble-bushes, ferns, 

 and fox-glove; they are skirted by low and romantic 

 dingles, where sheep pasture, and butterflies sport from 

 one flower to another. He who approaches the old ruin, 

 from the little village of Cropston, can hardly picture to 

 himself that time has done its work in laying low the 

 ancient palace of the Greys. On the left, stands that 

 noble group of chesnut-trees, under the shade of which 

 little Jane used to play ; on the right extends a slate 

 coppice, intermingled with moss and flowers, in beautiful 

 contrast with the deep shade of the old chesnuts, the 

 roots of which are laved by the clear trout-stream, 

 on which stood a corn-mill in Leland's days; "that 

 faire and plentiful springe of water, brought by master 

 Brok, as a man would judge, agayne the hille, thorough 

 the lodge, and thereby it dryveth the mylee." The mill 

 came into decay when the mansion was deserted, and no 

 one went thither for the grinding of his corn ; some of 

 the large stones fell into the stream, and interrupted for 

 a short space the rapid flowing of the water, and among 

 them grow the water-dock and bulrush, with large river- 

 weeds and trailing plants. Again it hurries on, dancing 

 from amid the roots and broken masses of huge stones, 

 clear and sparkling, and fringed with ferns and flowers, 

 the delight of Jane, when she used to watch beside it 

 with Elmer, that " deare friend and schoolmaster, who 

 taught her so gently and yet so pleasantly, that she 



