CHAPTER XLIX 



AN OLD SQUIRE'S DIARY AND A 

 CAVALIER'S NOTEBOOK 



Old diaries and journals have always had a fascination for 

 me, and I think most people are interested in these pictures 

 of the daily lives of their forefathers. They put us on 

 intimate terms with our ancestors, and tell us how they 

 really passed their time, and what were their pursuits and 

 amusements. Now one of the earliest of these domestic 

 chronicles is the journal of Nicholas Assheton, lord of the 

 manor of Downham, near Clitheroe, in Lancashire, during 

 the years 1617 and i6i8. The writer appears to have been 

 a typical English squire, and the diary, no doubt, was kept 

 purely for his own amusement. He would have been 

 amazed, and perhaps somewhat dismayed, had he guessed 

 that his frank and simple jottings would be handed down 

 to posterity ; for he writes without any caution or reserve, 

 and makes no secret of his peccadilloes. Fox-hunting, 

 otter-hunting, shooting, cocking, fishing, foot-racing, horse- 

 racing, tippling, and dicing seem to have occupied most of 

 his time and thoughts, though he never fails to record the 

 fact of his attending church twice every Sunday, and 

 generally gives the texts of the parson's two sermons. 

 The squire had to set a good example, and felt it his 

 bounden duty, as a pillar of Church and State, to attend 

 divine service regularly on Sunday mornings and after- 

 noons. 



After this severe religious exercise it was only natural 

 that he should unbend in the later part of the day, and 

 consequently he generally spent his Sunday evenings 

 tippling in the ale-house — sometimes alone, sometimes 

 with the parson from whose sermons he had derived so 



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