Through the eyes of the boy we have glimpses of
the life that followed: of Admiral and Mrs. Buckner driving up
from Windsor in a coach and six, two post-horses and their own
four; of the house full of visitors, the great roasts at the fire,
the tables in the servants' hall laid for thirty or forty for a
month together; of the daily press of neighbours, many of whom,
Frewens, Lords, Bishops, Batchellors, and Dynes, were also
kinsfolk; and the parties 'under the great spreading chestnuts of
the old fore court,' where the young people danced and made merry
to the music of the village band. Or perhaps, in the depth of
winter, the father would bid young Charles saddle his pony; they
would ride the thirty miles from Northiam to Stowting, with the
snow to the pony's saddle girths, and be received by the tenants
like princes.
This life of delights, with the continual visible comings and
goings of the golden aunt, was well qualified to relax the fibre of
the lads. John, the heir, a yeoman and a fox-hunter, 'loud and
notorious with his whip and spurs,' settled down into a kind of
Tony Lumpkin, waiting for the shoes of his father and his aunt.
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