Castleborough

“ In the fine grove, on summer-days, there might be found hundreds of people. There were pic-nic parties, fathers and mothers, with whole families of children, [Pg 21] and a grand promenade of the delighted artizans and their wives or sweethearts.
In the times prior to the growth, rapid yet steady, of the neighbouring town, Great Castleborough, and to the simultaneous development of the love-of-nature principle in the Castleburghians, nothing had been thought of all these roads. The roads were well enough till they led to these inroads. Then Sir Roger aroused himself. ”

“ The next day the placards on the Rockville estate were changed for others, bearing, “Stopped by order of Sessions!” and alongside of them were huge carefully painted boards, denouncing on all trespassers prosecutions according to law. The same evening came a prodigious invasion of Castleburghians, who tore down all the boards and placards, and carried them on their shoulders to Great Castleborough, singing as they went, “See the Conquering Heroes come!” They set [Pg 27] them up in the centre of the Castleborough market-place, and burnt them along with an effigy of Roger Rockville. ”

“ There was war henceforth between Rockville and Great Castleborough.
On the next Sunday there came literally thousands of the jubilant Castleburghians to Rockville. They had brought baskets and wine for dining and drinking success to all foot-paths. But in the great grove there were keepers and watchers, who warned them to keep the path, that narrow, well-worn line up the middle of the grove. “What! were they not to sit on the grass?” “No.” “What! were they not to pic-nic?” “No; not there!” ”

“ In Great Castleborough there lived a race of paupers. From the year of the 42nd of Elizabeth, or 1601, down to the present generation, this race maintained an uninterrupted descent. Like that of many a more worldly-favoured race, theirs was a descent; it had nothing of an ascent in it. But that is the fate of ancestry. A man on some particular occasion ascends; makes himself a mark in his time ”

“ When Letty, that sunbeam which was ever darting here and there, yet always making bright the house, returns, it will be to Castleborough. Not far off, to be sure, but still not exactly at Woodburn. Meantime, Ann and George, too, have their friend, Miss Drury, to enliven them by her genial and ever lively society. There are frequent passings between the Grange and Bilts’ Farm, where Mr. Trant Drury is always busy, though there really, just now, seems little to do, but for the dews to fall, and the crops to grow in the sunshine. ”

“ Degge in Castleborough, were introduced by them into the little arena of Hillmartin. The condition of the poor was looked into, and their distresses relieved. Their children were afforded a good school, and many a comfort flowed unostentatiously into the homes of the aged or the sick that was never known before. ”

“ Novi homines cannot rest on their laurels, and to rest solely on their money were too odious; they must, therefore, proclaim a newer and more popular creed; and so the world moves on its spiral course.
To the inmates of Woodburn Grange, of Cotmanhaye Manor, of Fair Manor, and of the whole population of Castleborough, this was a delightful event. The old odious antagonism was at an end. The more earthy [Pg 299] squirearchy receded into the distance, and a spirit of a more genial nature took possession of all this pleasant neighbourhood. ”

“ Spires, a great manufacturer of Castleborough, driving in his gig some seven miles from the town, passed a poor woman with a stout child on her back. The large ruddy-looking man in the prime of life, and in the greatcoat and thick worsted gloves of a wealthy traveller, cast a glance at the wretched creature trudging [Pg 53] heavily on, expecting a pitiful appeal to his sensibilities, and thinking it a bore to have to pull off a glove, and dive into his pocket for a copper ”

“ The news of such an event flies fast, and when the doctor came with George from Castleborough, for there was none nearer, there was a great crowd of men, women, and children surrounding the ferry, and a hundred different speculations were passing from mouth to mouth as to the catastrophe George Woodburn’s horse showed, by his reeking skin and panting flanks, at what a rate he had ridden, and the doctor’s smoking horse at what a rate they had returned. ”

“ The whole bench looked at itself; that is, at each other, in wrathful astonishment. The swelling in the diaphragms of the squires of Otterbrook, Turnbull, and Swagsides, and all the rest of the worshipful row, was too big for utterance. Only Sir Roger himself [Pg 26] burst forth with an abrupt—“Impudent fellow! But I’ll see him —— first!”
“Grant the order!” said Sir Benjamin Bullockshed; and the whole bench nodded assent. The able lawyer Dare Deville retired with a pleasant smile. He saw an agreeable prospect of plenty of grist to his mill. Sir Roger was rich, and so was Great Castleborough. ”

“ Other carriages were seen approaching from Castleborough, indicating that it was to be a considerable gathering. It was a lovely evening. The day had been cloudless and hot; the earth was dry and glowing, for there had been no rain for many weeks. The air, as five o’clock approached (the [Pg 276] early country hour fixed for tea) , was still warm and genial. “The weather is really made for these good people,” said Mr. Woodburn; “we have not the proverbial rains and chills of pic-nics and fêtes champêtres.”
“And I think it’s made for us, too,” said Letty, gaily. ”

“ Woodburn were realised. [Pg 26] The “Castleborough Chronicle,” the conservative journal of the county, and in which the influence of the Bullockshed, Tenterhook, and Swagsides class, and that of a much higher and nobler, the influence of the best aristocracy of the county, prevailed, had a startling article. It observed that the continued absence of any evidence of the perpetration of the crime of murder at Wink’s Ferry, after much and vigorous inquiry, led them to revert to that mysterious fact, by which a man of much eminence and activity in the county had somehow lost his life. ”

“ I am glad they have not the opportunity for such a metamorphosis,” said Letty, laughing.
“It is the oddest thing in the world,” said Thorsby, “is that wonderful fancy for scraping up money, and denying yourself all your life-long the commonest necessaries. There is that old fellow, Woolley, of Derbyshire, who made the town-hall clock of Castleborough. That man once tried if he could not save horse hire by employing a lot of stockingers to draw his plough, as he held it, for he had a croft in his own hands ”

“ I was surprised to find him as well known to keepers of Staffordshire as he is here. I have an idea which George approves. This is to set Tom Boddily on this quest. He is the most knowing fellow I have come across anywhere round here. [Pg 109] He is an old soldier, and his living up and down in quarters has sharpened his wits. It was but yesterday that he came before us at the county hall in a very droll way. Our friend, Sylvanus Crook, was sent on Miss Millicent’s mare to Castleborough on an errand. It was a good distance from the town-house of the Heritages, where his errand lay. ”

“ It is lucky for Castleborough, however, that his lot is cast there. He has always stood forth for the good and independence of the place without any regard to his own interest.”
“But his interests have flourished finely,” said Thorsby.
“True,” added Mr. Woodburn, “but not the less true his daring and noble independence. Awhile ago, Lord Middleton sent his servant to say, that if Mr. Fairfax did not vote for the Tory candidate for one of the borough seats in Parliament, he would withdraw his custom. ‘Tell thy master, young [Pg 239] man,’ said Mr. ”

“ Only one or two of all these things are left, and even they are now as sore decayed as was the pier of Henry VIII.'s time. Yet Scarborough is still exceeding fair; so fair that it overcomes all one's prejudices against popular watering-places; fair even in spite of huge hotels and a beach black with people, and rows of ice-cream stalls, and braying bands, and hoarse hurdy-gurdies, and all kinds of music. It is built at the junction of two bays, between which the castle juts out on "a rock of wonderful height and bigness, inaccessible by reason of steep craggs almost on every side." ”

“ Castleton is by no means a handsome town; it has narrow dirty streets, and a deplorably rough pavement. The objects worthy of notice near it are, a celebrated cavern, called Peak’s Hole, and a venerable ruined castle, situated on the rock immediately above it. It was built by William Peveril, to whom the manor of Castleton was granted by William the Conqueror.
On the path leading to the cavern, a streamlet is followed, which issues from that extraordinary wonder of nature; the approach is grand and striking; the perpendicular cliffs above are solemnly majestic—their height is about 250 feet. ”

“ CALSHOT CASTLE AND THE OLD SOUTH-EASTERN COAST.
Calshot Castle
This corner of the Forest, once perhaps the most beautiful, is now the least known, because, to most people, so inaccessible. It lies quite by itself. No railway yet disfigures its fields and dells. The best way to see it and the whole Forest is to cross the ferry at Southampton, and land at the hard at Hythe. And as we cross, behind us, amongst a clump of trees, rises the ruined west end of Netley Abbey Church, and the modern tower on Henry VIII.’s Fort ”

“ Quite lately a wide road with an embankment has been built from bay to bay round the base of the castle promontory. Those who have loved the rough rocks that once were here feel naturally that this new drive spoils the beauty of the place. But, after all, Scarborough is not designed for lovers of wild nature. The mischief was done here long ago. The new drive is a boon to thousands who have to take their pleasure in bath-chairs, and in this place of esplanades and lawn-tennis court and smart clothes a little more artificiality is no great grievance. ”

“ Precipices one thousand feet in height, dark, rugged, and perpendicular, heave their unwieldy forms on each side of the road, (which makes several inflexions in its descent) and frequently presenting themselves in front, threaten opposition to all further progress. At one of these sudden turns to the left, a most beautiful view of Castleton vale (two miles broad and six in length) is unexpectedly thrown upon the eye; refreshing it with a rich picture of beauty, fertility, and variety, after the tedious uniformity of rude and hideous scenery to which it has so long been confined. ”

“ Castleford’s messenger had reached London! He might call himself a poor creature—and certainly a man of harder, bolder stuff would not have fared so badly in the strife; but it always seemed to me in after years that much of what he called the poor creature—the old, nervous, timid, diffident self—had been shaken off in that desperate struggle, perhaps because it had really given him more self-reliance, and certainly inspired others with confidence in him. ”

“ I had grown to hate London. It was London that had played upon my weaknesses and drawn me into all my trouble.
I had not run into debt in the country, and, after all, I had never been as happy as I was the two years after our marriage, when we had lived at Castlecourt Marsh Manor. Those were my beaux jours! How bright and beautiful they seemed now, when I looked back on them from these dark days of fear and disgrace!
It was not much better in the country. A change of scene cannot make a difference when the trouble is a guilty conscience. ”

“ Nay, sir, you have ties which must render your life more than ever valuable and dear to you, and duties to which, I know, you must be anxious to betake yourself. In our present deplorable state of doubt and distress Castlewood can be a welcome place to no stranger, much less to you, and so I know, sir, you will be for leaving us ere long. And you will pardon me if the state of my own spirits obliges me for the most part to keep my chamber. But my friends here will bear you company as long as you favour us, whilst I nurse my poor Harry upstairs. ”

“ July 10.—Drew in the Tower of London, and dined at Lord Castletown’s to meet Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey Pearse (she Mario’s daughter) , Madame du Quaire, and the truly extraordinary M. Vivier.
GATEWAY, LAMBETH PALACE. [110]
“He talked incessantly, but expected what Lady Castletown called ‘a gallery,’ and perfect silence and attention. ‘Je suis intéressant, moi! La petite de C. elle n’a rien: elle chante, elle fait les oiseaux, voilà tout. Pour entendre les oiseaux, vous ferez mieux d’aller dans vos squares: vous les entendrez, et vous payerez rien. ”

“ Castleton is one long street which wanders out into the open country at either end, and lonely country it is if one proceeds north as the early twilight of a cool November evening is closing around. The wayfarer, if he be of a fearful temperament and has read the story of the Murder Place, is apt to quicken his steps as he passes into the shadows of the trees that gloom the cross85ing of the stream marking the northern boundary of the village, and known as the Hell Hole. ”

“ The features of the town had a keen interest for Elizabeth’s mother, now that the human side came to the fore. As soon as they had wandered about they could see that the stockade of gnarled trees which framed in Casterbridge was itself an avenue, standing on a low green bank or escarpment, with a ditch yet visible without. Within the avenue and bank was a wall more or less discontinuous, and within the wall were packed the abodes of the burghers.
Though the two women did not know it these external features were but the ancient defences of the town, planted as a promenade. ”