44 BIOGRAPHY. 



fired. The tradition further states that the shot was fired 

 at the lady of the house, who gallantly conducted the 

 defence herself. The reader may be interested to hear 

 that her defence was successful. 



The sketch, representing the Gatew^ay in its present con- 

 dition, was taken on the opposite side of the water, from a 

 spot close to the tall and lightning-shattered poplar-tree, 

 shown on the right hand of the illustration on p. 36. 

 The chief interest of this view lies in the gateway itself. 

 Just behind it is an odd-looking tower, which was built by 

 Waterton for the use of starlings, and the place is enclosed 

 on the north by a thick and closely-clipped hedge of yew. 

 The heavy masses of ivy which fall in thick clusters from 

 the turrets and which serve as a refuge for many birds, 

 have given to the structure the name of Ivy Tower, by 

 which it is often mentioned in the Essays. 



While still very young, I was familiar with the Ivy 

 Tower from Waterton's Essays. They mostly appeared iu 

 Loudon's Magazine of Katural History, and as that valu- 

 able publication was taken in at the Ashmolean Society 

 of Oxford, where I lived, I used to watch impatiently for 

 each successive number, in the hope that it might contain 

 an article from Waterton's pen. Thus, the gateway, the 

 lake, the heronry, the starling towers, the fallen millstone, 

 the shattered poplar, the holly hedges and the wooden 

 pheasants, were all known to me, and wlien at last I had 

 the privilege of visiting Walton Hall, there was not one of 

 those spots that I did not joyfully recognize. 



In the old times, the only approach to the mainland was 

 by a drawbridge, opening on to the gateway, which was 

 then three stories high. This has long been destroyed, 

 and at present the approach is made by a light iron bridge, 

 rather to the right of the gateway. This bridge is not 

 shown in the sketch. 



