28, 



CHAPTER XVII 



Park House and its characteristics — The gardens — Pheasants, owls, 

 and Mornington Cannon's cat — ' Sanctuary ' — The pet pony from 

 Sandringham — Mementoes and relics — Kingsclere's connection 

 with Park House — The Vicar and the stable-boys — The rival 

 barbers and carriers — The Whiteley of Kingsclere — An ancient 

 hostelry — The Albert Hall — John Porter's speech — The Concerts — 

 The Horticultural Society — Football and Cricket — The Church — 

 Graves in the Churchyard — Old-world Kingsclere — Conclusion. 



According to the unquestionable authority, there is 

 but one way to ' view fair Melrose aright.' Except 

 to those who approach Kingsclere from the Overton 

 Road the place is calculated to produce the im- 

 pression it did on the mind of a writer some 

 seventy years ago, who described it as 'a small 

 town of mean appearance.' And that too when 

 some trade in malt was carried on, when a market 

 was held every Tuesday, and a fair made rustic 

 merriment and stimulated afresh the local business 

 of agriculture twice a year. It was a much later 

 and far finer writer who beheld ' Kingsclere stand 

 out with brilliant picturesqueness under the clear 

 sunlight which fell on the fields islanding that 

 charming little village in an undulating sea of 

 green.' Obviously he scanned Kingsclere from 

 an Overton Road point of view. Inasmuch as one 

 pen has described the high land which immediately 



