Opposite the gate by which you gained the house, the view was not extended, but rich with wood and pasture, backed by a hill, which; less verdant than its fellows, was covered with sheep: while you saw hard by the rivulet darkening and stealing away; till your sight, though not your ear, lost it among the woodland.
Trained up the embrowned paling on either side of the gate, were bushes of rustic fruit, and fruit and flowers (through plots of which green and winding alleys had been cut with no untasteful hand) testified by their thriving and healthful looks, the care bestowed upon them.

The main boasts of the garden were, on one side, a huge horse-chesnut tree--the largest in the village; and on the other, an arbour covered without with honeysuckles, and tapestried within by moss.

The house, a grey and quaint building of the time of James I.with stone copings and gable roof, could scarcely in these days have been deemed a fitting residence for the lord of the manor.

Nearly the whole of the centre was occupied by the hall, in which the meals of the family were commonly held--only two other sitting-rooms of very moderate dimensions had been reserved by the architect for the convenience or ostentation of the proprietor.

An ample porch jutted from the main building, and this was covered with ivy, as the windows were with jasmine and honeysuckle; while seats were ranged inside the porch covered with many a rude initial and long-past date.
The owner of this mansion bore the name of Rowland Lester.