There are many sorts of trees, making up a wilderness, which looked not
unlike the woods of our own Concord, only less wild. The English oak is
not a handsome tree, being short and sturdy, with a round, thick mass of
foliage, lying all within its own bounds. It was a showery day. Had
there been any sunshine, there might doubtless have been many beautiful
effects of light and shadow in these woods. We saw one or two herds of
deer, quietly feeding, a hundred yards or so distant. They appeared to
be somewhat wilder than cattle, but, I think, not much wilder than sheep.
Their ancestors have probably been in a half-domesticated state,
receiving food at the hands of man, in winter, for centuries. There is a
kind of poetry in this, quite as much as if they were really wild deer,
such as their forefathers were, when Hugh Lupus used to hunt them.
Our miserable cab drew up at the steps of Eaton Hall, and, ascending
under the portico, the door swung silently open, and we were received
very civilly by two old men,--one, a tall footman in livery; the other,
of higher grade, in plain clothes. The entrance-hall is very spacious,
and the floor is tessellated or somehow inlaid with marble. There was
statuary in marble on the floor, and in niches stood several figures in
antique armor, of various dates; some with lances, and others with
battle-axes and swords. There was a two-handed sword, as much as six
feet long; but not nearly so ponderous as I have supposed this kind of
weapon to be, from reading of it.
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