DECEMBER 287 



a more genteel residence.' Pity the move was ever 

 made, with the inevitable rupture of association, the 

 certain loss of household articles, furniture, and the 

 like, which might have been of little account then, but 

 would be priceless treasures now. A man should be as 

 chary of deserting the home of his fathers as of chang- 

 ing his religion or of taking a second wife. 



There is abundant material in these old account- 

 books to disprove the idea that life in this old tower 

 was necessarily dull, even for ladies in the eighteenth 

 century. The modern mind can scarcely brook the 

 notion of existence without a daily post and daily and 

 weekly journals. Nor was Sir Alexander indifferent to 

 what was passing in the outer world ; for here he pays 

 ' John Park, paper cryer, for news and gasets which he 

 is to send me constantly.' The library shelves at this 

 day confirm the evidence of the account-books in prov- 

 ing that he laid out large sums in the purchase of 

 books. The lady of the house had her time fully 

 occupied by duties which might prove irksome enough 

 to dames of our day ; but they occupied her thoughts 

 and hands. And who may aspire to higher felicity 

 than is derived from the useful exercise of mind and 

 body ? Instead of ordering tons of goods from the 

 Army and Navy or Harrod's stores, she relied mainly 

 for supplies on her husband's home-farm that ' board- 

 land' which was attached to every mansion, and 

 which may be traced in modern maps as the frequent 

 farm name ' Boreland ' and upon her orchard and 

 garden for fruits, which she worked up with her own 

 hands into delicacies prepared according to immemorial 



