88 ON SURREY HILLS. 



The dusty outside look did not extend to the in- 

 terior of the house, for the low-ceilinged rooms with 

 beams running across them were kept in perfect 

 order. The furniture was of old-fashioned ma- 

 hogany, solid and good ; and the miller and his 

 wife were a grave kindly couple, quite in keeping 

 with their surroundings. He was not given to much 

 expression in the matter of religion, and he did not 

 go to church so regularly as his wife, a quiet staid 

 woman, who might be seen walking through the 

 beech -woods two miles to church every Sunday 

 morning. She had a profound respect for the clergy 

 and all relating to the Established Church ; he had 

 a hearty regard and admiration for his landlord, the 

 squire. He had stronger opinions about fishing than 

 he had on religious questions. I remember his find- 

 ing a fellow fishing with the spoon-bait for pike, and 

 the man was quickly made to wind up and go, for 

 he would have no dumb creatures tortured ; one 

 hook, he said, was quite enough. With respect to the 

 mill-stream proper, independently of the mill-pool, 

 his ideas and sentiments were of the most conserva- 

 tive nature. The trout were for the squire and the 

 squire's friends only. Even to hint at a day's pos- 



