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Article OLD MOSELEY HALL; ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Old Moseley Hall;
scribble his impressions for the passing amusement of distant Brethren , necessarily unacquainted with these local relics of English history . But the three P . P . P . s ! Who , or what on earth , in air or heavenabove the earth , or under the earth , do they mean ? Are they three priests—three publicans , (? . e . sinners)—three Protestants—three princes , ( arch ones , of course)—three papists—or what , in Punch ' s name , are they ? You'll never guessso I'll e ' en tell you . They were—mark
, me!—a parson , a publican , and a—postmaster—a great man in our sight , I do most gravely assure ye . The parson , they say , is a tolerably good parson as times go , considering what a motley herd they aresomething of the Parson Adams sort , if you have ever read Fielding ' s clever " Joseph Andrews , " only with no pretensions to his Greek . The publican is one Paul Law , the prince and gentleman of Bonifaces , mine host of the Royal Star and Gaiter , whose hostel is as well known to
every good and true Mason of Wolverhampton , and the surrounding districts , as the square and compasses on the Master ' s pedestal . Now the murder ' s out ! and in plain prose let us proceed with oui story . One very fine morning in the mild month of last December , according to an arrangement the previous evening , over an elevating supper given on the occasion of Companion the great P . ' s exaltation to the R . A ., we three started in a landau and a pair of fashionable
greys—Bro . Paul being waggoner—to visit the old seat of the Whitmores , so celebrated in King Charles ' s escape from Old Noll and his puritanical myrmidons . Though the season was so far advanced towards the winter quarter , the drive was pleasant : and , after passing over a viaduct of the
railway , whereon the sinful publican dwelt most provokingly on the freaks of one of his young greys when he heard the noise of an approaching train , most wickedly insinuating that one might be that instant expected in sight , when the beast might probably carry us and the carriage over the bridge parapet , putting the other two P . ' s into an immediate urging of this sinner to impel his steeds to a respectable distance from that post of danger ; and after passing , a few miles further on , a
very tasteful modem residence of the present family of the Whitmores , we arrived at the scene of our excursion , Old Moseley Hall . This was , indeed , a relic of by-gone days , fit for the philosopher to gaze on . Conceive , in perfect repair , a country gentleman ' s mansion of the good old days of Queen Bess , somewhat faded and bleached by the time and storms of some five or six centuries , but truly venerable in its character and associations . The Hall stands apparentlin the centre of a plot of
y garden-ground , environed by an antique wall—is a square-formed edifice , and of proportioned elevation , occupying two stories from the basement ; but the peculiar style of the building can only be described by a reference to the architecture of the age in which it was erected , We alighted at a gateway opening into a green court-yard , and from the embrasure of the gate you behold the closet-window , over the ancient porch , whence the priest in disguise espied the dragoons of Cromwell ,
and parleyed with them whilst the king , who had only the night before crept into the house from a neighbouring chalk-pit , sought the secret hiding-hole . The officer in command , strange to say , took the priest ' s word , and departed , scouring the country around for the royal fugitive . The present occupant of the mansion is a farmer , and as fine a specimen of the bold , honest English yeoman , as his dwelling is of the remarkable times in which it was built . He very kindly ciccionctl us through the VOL . I . I-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Old Moseley Hall;
scribble his impressions for the passing amusement of distant Brethren , necessarily unacquainted with these local relics of English history . But the three P . P . P . s ! Who , or what on earth , in air or heavenabove the earth , or under the earth , do they mean ? Are they three priests—three publicans , (? . e . sinners)—three Protestants—three princes , ( arch ones , of course)—three papists—or what , in Punch ' s name , are they ? You'll never guessso I'll e ' en tell you . They were—mark
, me!—a parson , a publican , and a—postmaster—a great man in our sight , I do most gravely assure ye . The parson , they say , is a tolerably good parson as times go , considering what a motley herd they aresomething of the Parson Adams sort , if you have ever read Fielding ' s clever " Joseph Andrews , " only with no pretensions to his Greek . The publican is one Paul Law , the prince and gentleman of Bonifaces , mine host of the Royal Star and Gaiter , whose hostel is as well known to
every good and true Mason of Wolverhampton , and the surrounding districts , as the square and compasses on the Master ' s pedestal . Now the murder ' s out ! and in plain prose let us proceed with oui story . One very fine morning in the mild month of last December , according to an arrangement the previous evening , over an elevating supper given on the occasion of Companion the great P . ' s exaltation to the R . A ., we three started in a landau and a pair of fashionable
greys—Bro . Paul being waggoner—to visit the old seat of the Whitmores , so celebrated in King Charles ' s escape from Old Noll and his puritanical myrmidons . Though the season was so far advanced towards the winter quarter , the drive was pleasant : and , after passing over a viaduct of the
railway , whereon the sinful publican dwelt most provokingly on the freaks of one of his young greys when he heard the noise of an approaching train , most wickedly insinuating that one might be that instant expected in sight , when the beast might probably carry us and the carriage over the bridge parapet , putting the other two P . ' s into an immediate urging of this sinner to impel his steeds to a respectable distance from that post of danger ; and after passing , a few miles further on , a
very tasteful modem residence of the present family of the Whitmores , we arrived at the scene of our excursion , Old Moseley Hall . This was , indeed , a relic of by-gone days , fit for the philosopher to gaze on . Conceive , in perfect repair , a country gentleman ' s mansion of the good old days of Queen Bess , somewhat faded and bleached by the time and storms of some five or six centuries , but truly venerable in its character and associations . The Hall stands apparentlin the centre of a plot of
y garden-ground , environed by an antique wall—is a square-formed edifice , and of proportioned elevation , occupying two stories from the basement ; but the peculiar style of the building can only be described by a reference to the architecture of the age in which it was erected , We alighted at a gateway opening into a green court-yard , and from the embrasure of the gate you behold the closet-window , over the ancient porch , whence the priest in disguise espied the dragoons of Cromwell ,
and parleyed with them whilst the king , who had only the night before crept into the house from a neighbouring chalk-pit , sought the secret hiding-hole . The officer in command , strange to say , took the priest ' s word , and departed , scouring the country around for the royal fugitive . The present occupant of the mansion is a farmer , and as fine a specimen of the bold , honest English yeoman , as his dwelling is of the remarkable times in which it was built . He very kindly ciccionctl us through the VOL . I . I-