withers, jnveilia.
i had ?nished my toilet, and was l with frank bracebridge in the library, when we heard a distant thwag sound, which he informed me was a signal for the serving up of the dihe squire kept up old s in kit as well as hall, and the rolling-pin, struck upon the dresser by the cook, summohe servants to carry in the meats.
just in this nick the cook knockd thrice,
and all the waiters in a trice
his summons did obey;
each serving-man, with dish in hand,
marchd boldly up, like our train-band,
presented and away.*
* sir john sug.
the dinner was served up in the great hall, where the squire always held his christmas ba. a blazing crag ?re of logs had been heaped on to warm the spacious apartment, and the ?ame went sparkling and wreathing up the wide-mouthed ey.
the great picture of the crusader and his white horse had been profusely decorated with greens for the occasion, and holly and ivy had like-wise beehed round the helmet and ons on the opposite wall, which i uood were the arms of the same warrior. i must own, by the by, i had strong doubts about the authenticity of the painting and armor as having beloo the crusader, they certainly having the stamp of more ret days; but i was told that the painting had been so sidered time out of mind; and that as to the armor, it had been found in a lumber-room and elevated to its present situation by the squire, who at oermi to be the armor of the family hero; and as he was absolute authority on all such subjects in his own household, the matter had passed into current acceptation. a sideboard was set out just uhis chivalric trophy, on which was a display of plate that might have vied (at least in variety) with belshazzars parade of the vessels of the temple: "?agons, s, cups, beakers, goblets, basins, and ewers," the geous utensils of good panionship that had gradually accumulated through many geions of jovial housekeepers. before these stood the two yule dles, beaming like two stars of the ?r
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