122 LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 



valley and out of the park, and the banks were adorned with ferns 

 and flower-beds. In the grotto district was a small square house 

 of one room, where the squire was accustomed to sit by the fire in 

 winter when the weather was too keen to allow him to sit outside, 

 and he had" the door wide open, that he might talk, as he said, to 

 cock robin and the magpies. The robins would sometimes pick up 

 crumbs close to his chair, and even hop upon his shoes. In the 

 summer months he allowed pic-nic parties to have the use of his 

 grotto-paradise. He supplied cups and fire, and they made tea in 

 one of the summer-houses. This was a great treat to schools, and 

 all the associations of working people, choral, scientific, or mechanic, 

 which abound in Lancashire, and the West Riding of Yorkshire. 

 Waterton pitied the workers in cotton-mills, pent up in hot-rooms, 

 and he loved to see them enjoying a holiday, and breathing the 

 pure, fresh air. Few men who had walled in a park for the pursuit 

 of a favourite study, would have thought of admitting the poor to 

 share its beauties. But he was singularly unselfish, and, to the 

 credit of the manufacturing classes of the North of England, no 

 serious damage was ever done. They were trusted, and honour 

 proved a more efficient guard than many policemen. The parties 

 were accustomed to spend the afternoon at the grotto, swinging, 

 dancing, and strolling about, and, as they are a musical race, they 

 often in the evening, before leaving, came into the neighbourhood 

 of the house, and sung or played " The fine old English Gentleman," 

 and other tunes. They used to wind up their little concert with 

 " God save the Queen." Many proprietors of beautiful parks throw 

 them open to the public, but more, perhaps, keep them closed, and 

 it were to be wished that, enlightened by Waterton's experience, 

 they would allow the stately monuments of ancestral greatness, and 

 present wealth, to be testimonies of their cordial good-will to their 

 fellow-men. 



All the accommodations provided for animals were kept in admir- 

 able order. To woodcraft Waterton paid unremitting attention, and 

 he knew the state of health of every tree in his park. If one of the 

 number had suffered in a storm, or looked sickly, he would climb 

 and inspect it. From constant practice he could ascend trees at 

 an age when most men can hardly hobble with a stick, and in his 



