Aldershot

“ Black) drafted to the district thirty police-officers and eight mounted inspectors and sergeants to prevent trespass upon the farm. Several thousands of persons visited the village during the afternoon, but a hostile demonstration was prevented.
18.—The colours of the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment, bearing the marks of the severe conflicts through which they had passed, were “laid up” at Norwich Cathedral. They were brought from Aldershot on the 17th, in charge of Capt. Shirecliff Parker, Lieut. Smart, Ensign Ibbetson, and two colour-sergeants, and were deposited for the night at the Guildhall. ”

“ Alderson.
"The best counsel in New York," agreed the judge with unmoved solemnity; "in certain respects. Specializes in maritime and cardiac complications. You go out on deck and walk some air into Alderson's brain until I come back. He needs it. He doesn't know enough not to return a suit when his partner leads the nine."
"When one's partner is stupid enough to open a suit—" began the other; but the critic was gone. "So you've found out that Little Miss Grouch is Cecily Wayne, have you?" Alderson observed, turning to the Tyro. ”

“ The Squire, sitting on the daïs as became a man of his position in the county, scanned the assembly after having conducted Lady Aldeburgh through the mazes of the opening quadrille, and the frown which had left his face for the past few hours, but had sat there almost invariably during the past month, appeared again. Lady Aldeburgh was talking to old Lord Meadshire, his kinsman, who in spite of age and chronic asthma was still an inveterate frequenter of local festivities, and he had a moment's interval in which his trouble rolled back upon him. ”

“ The earl, becoming himself enamored, represents the lady as anything but beautiful and agreeable, and the king is satisfied. Athelwood soon afterwards woos and weds Elfrida, giving her wealth as his reason to Edgar. The true state of the case, however, is betrayed by an enemy, and the monarch resolves to visit the earl at his castle and so judge for himself. Hearing of this resolve, Athelwood, in despair, confesses his duplicity to his wife, and entreats her to render null as far as possible the effect of her charms by dressing with unusual plainness. ”

“ For back of the main road are more than a dozen pleasant summer residences, some genuinely old, some, recently built, looking more ancient than the genuine. There are no very large estates in Alderbury. An acre or two satisfies the most ambitious taste; for with sixty acres of rolling field and forest at the back door in which you have a proprietary right, what is the use of a large holding? In Alderbury when folks want to stretch their legs they cross the road or pass through a rear gate and there is the golf-course at their service.
The clubhouse is small, clap-boarded and green-shuttered. ”

“ Besides, it's such nonsense to talk as if living in the country, and living comfortably too, within three hours of London, were the same thing as going off to Siberia or somewhere. Anyhow, we're going to live at Kencote. I'm game and Susan's game. We don't ask you to come and live with us."
"Now you're positively insulting," said Lady Aldeburgh, entirely recovering her good-humour, for this was the way she liked to be treated by good-looking young men. ”

“ John Oldershaw, Archdeacon of Norfolk from 1797 till his death, January 31st, 1847, aged ninety-three. As he was one of the most active magistrates in the county, he would naturally be on friendly terms with so prominent a lawyer as Mr. Simpson, whose handsome wife, moreover, was in the habit of giving entertainments which rather worried her spouse. The episode of the Wake of Freya, included in Chapter XX. of Dr. Knapp’s edition of “Lavengro,” and the fine eulogy of Crome in the succeeding chapter, should inspire every reader’s genuine interest. ”

“ Slowly and in silence the two walked on until they reached the southern limit of the houses, and entered on a little wilderness of shingle and withered grass—the desolate end of Aldborough, the lonely beginning of Slaughden.
It was a dull, airless evening. Eastward, was the gray majesty of the sea, hushed in breathless calm; the horizon line invisibly melting into the monotonous, misty sky; the idle ships shadowy and still on the idle water. ”

“ It is a curious street, this of Aldreth, plunging down from the [Pg 230] uplands of the Isle into the peat and ooze that William so laboriously crossed. Where it descends you may still see the stones with which he, or others at some later time, paved the way. For the rest, Aldreth is one long street of rustic cottages very scattered and much separated by gardens: over all a look of listlessness, as though this were the end of the known world, and nothing mattered very much. When a paling from a garden fence falls into the road, it lies there ”

“ He located the beautiful orb well to his left instead of in front. He knew the explanation. He had started on the tramp of a big circle which he assuredly would have followed, but for the care he used.
The best explanation of this curious tendency is that every person is either right or left handed. When walking without the unsuspected guides that serve during daylight, one side displays a little more vigor than the other, and causes a deviation from a straight course.
Alden faced about like a soldier on drill, and took care that he did not wander astray again. ”

“ But here our pleasant journey along the fair Itchen valley comes to an end, and, leaving the river-side,{38} we climb the hilly road which leads us into Alresford.
New Alresford, a clean, bright little town, with broad street, planted with rows of trees, boasts an antiquity which belies its name, and has been a market-town and borough from time immemorial. Like its yet more venerable neighbour, Old Alresford, it was given by a king of the West Saxons to the prior and monks of St. Swithun at Winchester, and formed part of the vast possessions of the monastery at the Conquest. ”

“ The Stanleys of Alderley trace their descent from John, a younger brother of Thomas the first Earl, who became possessed of the manor of Alderley by his marriage with the heiress of Thomas Weever, lord of Weever and Alderley. When Duke William of Normandy parcelled out the land in the newly-conquered country among his faithful followers Alderley fell to the share of William Fitz Nigel, the builder and fortifier of Halton Castle, and was held by him as of his manor of Halton. ”

“ Alderson’s conduct. He was ordered to enter into fresh recognisances, himself in £200 and to find two sureties of £100 each, and to keep the peace towards Mr. Alderson and the public generally. At the Quarter Sessions on January 15th, 1811, the defendant, for inciting Mr. Alderson to fight a duel, was fined 40s. and sentenced to one month’s imprisonment. On June 29th Roope appeared before the Court of King’s Bench for the libel on Mr. Back, and was committed to the custody of the Marshal for three months, and ordered to find sureties for his good behaviour. ”

“ Again; by his third wife, named Edgiva, he had two sons, Edmund and Edred, each of whom reigned after Athelstan: two daughters, Eadburga, and Edgiva; Eadburga, a virgin, dedicated to Christ, lies buried at Winchester; Edgiva, a lady of incomparable beauty, was united, by her brother Athelstan, to Lewis, prince of Aquitaine. [5] Edward had brought up his daughters in such wise, that in childhood they gave their whole attention to literature, and afterwards employed themselves in the labours of the distaff and the needle, that thus they might chastely pass their virgin age. ”

“ Alderson on the way.
Be it duly set down to the credit of the Joyous Vision's solider qualities, that old men found her as interesting a companion, though in a different way, as did young men. By skillful management, she led the conversation to the house on the Battery, with the anticipated result that Judge Enderby (all innocent, wily old fox though he was, that he was playing her game) suggested the inclusion of the other claimant in the conference. The Tyro was summoned and came. ”

“ Alderson was a very worthy, well-disposed man, of an exceeding affable and peaceable disposition, much esteemed by the whole circle of his acquaintance, and, as he lived much respected, so he died universally lamented.” His death happened in 1760. In a note the following account of his family is added: “Four sons and two daughters survive him; the sons are all distinguished for their industry and ability, and are eminent in their several professions; James, an eminent surgeon, at Norwich; John, a physician, at Hull, Thomas, a merchant, at Newcastle; and Robert, a barrister, at Norwich. ”

“ When my father and I were at their house some months before, Mary Penington, in some discourse between them, had told him how hardly her husband’s father (Alderman Penington) had dealt with him about his hat; which my father (little then thinking that it would, and so soon too, be his own case) did very much censure the alderman for, wondering that so wise a man as he was should take notice of such a trivial thing as the putting off or keeping on a hat ”

“ In 1155 the manor was granted to the abbey of St John of Colchester, later to Cardinal Wolsey, and on his disgrace, to Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, to whom Elizabeth in 1567 granted a market on Saturday. In the 16th century Aldeburgh was a place of considerable commercial importance, due, no doubt, to its position on the sea-coast. Aldeburgh claims to be a borough by prescription; the earliest charter is that granted by Henry VIII, in 1529. Edward VI. in 1548 raised it to the rank of a free borough, granting a charter of incorporation and a market on Wednesday. ”

“ Is it not so?"
"Undoubtedly," answered Sir Arthur Adelon; "but you have not yet told me where I shall find you in Barhampton."
"You had better go to the little inn--the Rose, I think it is called," replied Norries; "there is but one. There some one shall come to lead you to us; for we are upon our guard, Sir Arthur, and resolute neither to be taken unawares, as some men have been, nor to act rashly, and bring down destruction on our own heads, as those thoughtless, weak, and poor-spirited men did in Yorkshire."
"I am very happy to hear it," said the baronet, in a tone of sincerity. ”

“ It should be added regarding Alden and Jethro that, having spent their lives on what might be called the frontier, they had used every privilege which came within their reach. Both were fine horsemen, and Alden had no superior among the young men in the neighborhood as a hunter and marksman. The two spent every hour they could command in roaming through the forests, some of which were miles distant. While the colored youth did well when all the circumstances are remembered, he was by no means the equal of his young master in courage or in skill with the rifle. ”

“ The hour of repose had long since sounded, when, passing along the gallery to go to my bed, I met a white figure, that carried a night lamp.
It was Adelheid:—"Good evening," said she, laughing; "beautiful wolf-hunter! why do you run thus without a light, all alone, like a real spectre?"
At this word spectre, I trembled from head to foot, and I recalled the two first nights of my stay at the castle. Adelheid perceived the sudden emotion that agitated me.
"Well!" exclaimed she, taking my hand, "what is the matter with you? you are cold as marble; come, let me give you life and health. ”

“ Now there was great rejoicing at the rumour of Alderic's quest, for all folk knew that he was a cautious man, and they deemed that he would succeed and enrich the world, and they rubbed their hands in the cities at the thought of largesse; and there was joy among all men in Alderic's country, except perchance among the lenders of money, who feared they would soon be paid. ”

“ The weapon that had been used gave out no sound and whether there was one assassin or a dozen must remain unknown to Alden.
The feeling which succeeded the first horrifying shock was one of profound pity for the victim. Young, vigorous, full of bounding life and hope, his cheering words lingered yet in the ears of the couple, and here he lay on the ground his life driven out by the arrow launched by a demon in wantonness, for Dick Lightfoot had never harmed a hair in the head of one of his kind. ”

“ One of them would not have ventured alone to the neighborhood. There might be a dozen, a score, or half a hundred who were formulating if they had not already formulated a plan to surprise and massacre every one of the whites. As to what that plan was he was as ignorant as the slumbering Jethro Mix.
All that Alden could do was use his eyes and hearing. No fear of his falling asleep, even if he did lean against the thick spokes of the wagon wheel. He knew better than to confine his attention to the spot where the warrior had appeared and vanished. ”

“ That bundle almost under our feet when I spoke—that was Little Miss Grouch."
Alderson took a furtive glance. "She's all mummied up," he suggested; "maybe she didn't hear."
"Oh, yes, she did. Trust my luck for that. And I said she was homely. And she is. Oh, Lord, I wouldn't have hurt her poor little feelings for anything."
"Don't you be too sure about her being so homely. Any woman looks a fright when she's all bunged up from crying."
"What's the difference?" said the Tyro miserably. "A pretty girl don't like to be called homely any more than a homely one." ”

“ There seems to be no doubt that there was a colony of peaceful Danes in this neighbourhood, as testified by the Danish word "Wych" given to a street hard by, and preserved in the modern Aldwych. It was the oldest suburb of London, the village of Ældwic, and called Aldewych. Oldwych close was in existence in the time of the Stuarts. These people were allowed to reside between the Isle of Thorney, or Westminster, and Ludgate, and, having become Christians, they built a church for themselves, which was called Ecclesia Clementis Danorum. ”