The Works Of Hannah More - Vol II

THE HANNAH MORE TALES - 1853 - BARLEY WOOD. THIS rural mansion, memorable for its consecration to the best interests of mankind, is seated un the gentle declivity of a hill in the parish of Wrington, about eight miles to the west of the city of Bristol, in the county of Somerset. The house, previously to its coming into the possession of Mrs. Hannah hlore and her sisters, by purchase of the lease, about the year 1805, was the dwelling of a small farmer and a very homely structure. Considerable improvements and additions were of course necessary, to render the place fit for the accomn odation of a family of ladies, who, though retired from tlie lively city of Bath, were certain of receiving many visitants, and those, too, persons of the first distinction in life. With great propriety, however, the new occupants resolved to adopt the rustic style as closeIy as possible, in the general form of the principal structure itself, as wen as in its appendages, and in laying out the grounds, which they retained in their own hands. The roof of the cottage is thatched, which is the case with most of the houses in that part of the country. The body of the building is surrounded by a colonnade of rustic arches, which affords an agreeable walk when the weather does not permit a more extensive excursion. After. entering the little village of Wrington, immortalized as the birth-place of LOCKE, an avenue, clothed on each side with luxuriant evergreens, leads directly to Badey Wood the immediate approach to which is thus described by a person who visited its venerable proprietor a little before her removal from thence to Clifton, when, as she said, I am now an insulated being, like Alexander Selkirk, leftalone in a spot planted with my own hands, but no longer enlivened by the tender relations which endeared it in the enjoyment. At this time, a thick hedge of roses, jessamine, woodbine, and clematis, fringed the smooth and sloping lawn on the one side, while. on the other, laurel and laurustinus were in full and beautiful verdure. From the shrubbery the ground ascends, and is well wooded by the flowing larch, dark cypress, spreading chestnut, and some lordly forest trees. Amidst this diversified and pleasing scenery are seen rustic seats, temples, and two monuments, one a bust of LOCKE, and the otller a marble urn to the memory of PORTEUS. But Barley Wood is not merely an object of grateful attachment to the inhabitants of a particular district or county its fame is spread to the eastern and we-tern world. In 1823 there was published in America a view of this interesting spot, for the purpose of contributing to the support of a female missionary school. to be cirlled Barley Wood, in the island of Ceylou. CONTENTS OF VOZ. . I1 . Tales for the Conlmon People . PAGE The Two Shoemakers-Part I . . . . . . . . . 6 Part 11 . Part 11 . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3 5 1 Part IV . . . . . . . . 51 Part V . . . . . . . . . G6 Part V1 . . . . . . . . 76 0 Tom White. the Post-Eoy-Part I . . . . . . 85 Part I1 . . . . 01 Hester Wilmot being the Second Part of the Sunday School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Part V . . . . . . 131 Allegories The Grand Assizes. or General Gaol Delivery . . 145 The Servant RIan turned Soldier . . . . . . 155 Betty Brown. the St . Giless Orange Girl . . . . 16 7 Black Giles. the Poacher-Part I . . . . 181 Part 11 . . . . . . . . 193 L-Tawny Rachel. or theFortune Teller . . . 208 Q Village Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 hong hts on the Importance of the Manners of the Great to General Society . . . . . . . . . 237 Estimate of the Religion of the Fashionable World ...