Sir Charles I sham. 325 



valuable china, fine pictures, and other " objetfc-d^art," 

 worthy of a family whose progenitors were persons of 

 distinction in Northamptonshire before the time of 

 William the Conqueror. 



That the ancestral love of the chase should be allowed 

 to wax cold in such a family as this one — in whom to 

 hunt is almost a case of "noblesse oblige " — is a misfortune 

 which the ''^ P. H.'^ does not fail to recognize. It seems 

 impossible to imagine that the brilliant Meets of old have 

 passed away, under the influences respectively of bad 

 times and an unkindly climate. Is not the space beneath 

 the porch, with the formidable-looking '^ man-traps,' ' on 

 either side — innocent in their rustiness at this present, 

 but wearing every appearance of having once been '^ ugly 

 customers '^ — to be once more peopled with scarlet coats 

 and well-fitting habits ? Are smart carriages and 

 " nobby ^^-looking dogcarts, no longer to stand waiting at 

 the door, whilst their occupants are paying their respects 

 to '^my lady,"*^ or taking a nip of the ^^ jumping powder ^^ 

 which presents itself in a variety of alluring forms to the 

 chilled system ? Are horses costly in price, with coats 

 like satin, no more to be seen pacing up and down under 

 the care of natty grooms, awaiting their rider's exit from 

 the house; whilst Goodall, surrounded by his pack, is 

 adding unconsciously to the picturesqueness of the scene ? 

 It cannot be that such mornings as these are to be 

 consigned to the dark limbo of lost joys — bright moments 

 never to return. No ! they're over for a while, maybe— 

 these hospitable ways— but " hope still lurks behind the 

 cloud," and points to happier days. 



At no time has the old adage of its being '' a long lane 

 that has no turning '^ been more necessary to be borne 



