CHAPTER IX.

BACHELOR'S HALL.

Its quaint Interior-An Old Friend's Memory-Crabbe's Peter at Ilford Hall-Singular Time-pieces—A Meet at Hangster's Gate -Jolly Doings-Dibdin at Dinner-Broseley Pipes-Parson Stephens in his Shirt-The Parson's Song.

We have already described the exterior of the Hall and its approaches. In the interior of the building the same air of antiquity reigned. Its capacious chimney-pieces, and rooms wainscoted with oak to the ceiling, are familiar from the descriptions of an old friend, whose memory was still fresh and green as regards events and scenes of the time when the Hall stood entire, and who when a boy was not an unfrequent visitor. Like Crabbe's Peter among the rooms and galleries of Ilford Hall,

"His vast delight was mixed with equal awe,
There was such magic in the things he saw;
Portraits he passed, admiring, but with pain
Turned from some objects, nor would look again."

Against the walls were grim old portraits of the Squire's predecessors of the Weld and Forester lines, with stiff-starched frills, large vests, and small round hats of Henry VII.'s time; others of the fashions of earlier periods by distinguished painters, together with later productions of the pencil by less famous artists, representing dogs, cattle, and favourite horses. In the great hall were horns and antlers, and other trophies of the chase, ancient guns which had done good execution in their time, a bustard, and rare species of birds of a like kind. Here and there were ancient time-pieces, singular in construction and quaint in contrivance, one of which, on striking the hours of noon and midnight, set in motion figures with trumpets and various other instruments, which gave forth their appropriate sounds. A great lamp-hoisted to its place by a thick rope-lighted up that portion of the hall into which opened the doors of the dining and other rooms, and from which a staircase led to the gallery.

A meet in the neighbourhood of Willey was usually well attended: first, because of the certainty of good sport; secondly, because such sport was often preceded, or often followed by receptions at the Hall, so famous for its cheer.

Jolly

were the doings on these occasions; songs were sung, racy tales were told, old October ale flowed freely, and the jovial merits and household virtues of Willey were fully up to the mark of the good old times. The Squire usually dined about four o'clock, and his guests occasionally came booted and spurred, ready for the hunt the following day, and rarely left the festive board 'neath the hospitable roof of the Squire until they mounted their coursers in the court-yard.

Dibdin, from materials gathered on the spot, has, in his own happy manner, drawn representations of these gatherings. His portraits of horses and dogs, and his description of the social habits of the Squire and his friends are faithfully set forth in his song of "Bachelor's Hall:

"To Bachelor's Hall we good fellows invite

To partake of the chase which makes up our delight,
We've spirits like fire, and of health such a stock,

That our pulse strikes the seconds as true as a clock.
Did you see us you'd swear that we mount with a grace,
That Diana had dubb'd some new gods of the chase.

Hark away! hark away! all nature looks gay,
And Aurora with smiles ushers in the bright day.

"Dick Thickset came mounted upon a fine black, A finer fleet gelding ne'er hunter did back;

Tom Trig rode a bay full of mettle and bone,
And gaily Bob Buckson rode on a roan;

But the horse of all horses that rivalled the day

Was the Squire's Neck-or-Nothing, and that was a grey.
Hark away! &c.

"Then for hounds there was Nimble who well would climb rocks,

And Cocknose a good one at finding a fox;

Little Plunge, like a mole, who would ferret and search,

And beetle-brow'd Hawk's Eye so dead at a lurch:

Young Sly-looks that scents the strong breeze from the south,

And Musical Echo with his deep mouth.

Hark away! &c.

"Our horses, thus all of the very best blood,

'Tis not likely you'd easily find such a stud;

Then for foxhounds, our opinion for thousands we'll back,
That all England throughout can't produce such a pack.
Thus having described you our dogs, horses, and crew,
Away we set off, for our fox is in view.

Hark away! &c.

"Sly Reynard's brought home, while the horn sounds the call,
And now you're all welcome to Bachelor's Hall;

The savoury sirloin gracefully smokes on the board,
And Bacchus pours wine from his sacred hoard.

Come on, then, do honour to this jovial place,

And enjoy the sweet pleasures that have sprung from the chase.
Hark away! hark away! while our spirits are gay,
Let us drink to the joys of next meeting day."

On the occasion of Dibdin's visit there were at the Hall more than the usual local notables, and Parson Stephens was amongst them. As a treat intended specially for Dibdin, the second course at

dinner consisted of Severn fish, such as we no longer have in the river. There were eels cooked in various ways, flounders, perch, trout, carp, grayling, pike, and at the head of the table that king of Severn fish, a salmon.

Dibdin: "This is a treat, Squire, and I can readily understand now why the Severn should be called the Queen of Rivers;' it certainly deserves the distinction for its fish, if for nothing else."

Mr. Forester: "Do you know, Dibdin, that fellow Jessop, the engineer, set on by those Gloucester fellows, wants to put thirteen or fourteen bars or weirs in the river between here and Gloucester; why, it would shut out every fish worth eating.” "What could be his object?" asked Dibdin.

"Oh, he believes, like Brindley, that rivers were made to feed canals with, and his backers-the Gloucester gentlemen, and the Stafford and Worcester Canal Company-say, to make the river navigable at all seasons up to Coalbrookdale; but my belief is that it is intended to crush what bit of trade there yet remains on the river here, and to give them a monopoly in the carrying trade, for our bargemen would be taxed, whilst their carriers would be free, or nearly so."