Their ancestors have probably been in a half-domesticated state,
receiving food at the hands of man, in winter, for centuries. There is a
kind of poetry in this, quite as much as if they were really wild deer,
such as their forefathers were, when Hugh Lupus used to hunt them.
Our miserable cab drew up at the steps of Eaton Hall, and, ascending
under the portico, the door swung silently open, and we were received
very civilly by two old men,--one, a tall footman in livery; the other,
of higher grade, in plain clothes. The entrance-hall is very spacious,
and the floor is tessellated or somehow inlaid with marble. There was
statuary in marble on the floor, and in niches stood several figures in
antique armor, of various dates; some with lances, and others with
battle-axes and swords. There was a two-handed sword, as much as six
feet long; but not nearly so ponderous as I have supposed this kind of
weapon to be, from reading of it. I could easily have brandished it.
I don't think I am a good sight-seer; at least, I soon get satisfied with
looking at the sights, and wish to go on to the next.
The plainly dressed old man now led us into a long corridor, which goes,
I think, the whole length of the house, about five hundred feet, arched
all the way, and lengthened interminably by a looking-glass at the end,
in which I saw our own party approaching like a party of strangers. But
I have so often seen this effect produced in dry-goods stores and
elsewhere, that I was not much impressed.
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