Their road lay through a country wild and woody, where crag and copse
beautifully intermixed with patches of rich cultivation. Halfway, they
passed Rosemount, a fanciful pavilion where the Dukes of St. James
sometimes sought that elegant simplicity which was not afforded by
all the various charms of their magnificent Hauteville. At length they
arrived at the park-gate of the castle, which might itself have passed
for a tolerable mansion. It was ancient and embattled, flanked by a
couple of sturdy towers, and gave a noble promise of the baronial
pile which it announced. The park was a petty principality; and its
apparently illimitable extent, its rich variety of surface, its ancient
woods and numerous deer, attracted the attention and the admiration even
of those who had been born in such magical enclosures.
Away they cantered over the turf, each moment with their blood more
sparkling. A turn in the road, and Hauteville, with its donjon keep and
lordly flag, and many-windowed line of long perspective, its towers, and
turrets, and terraces, bathed with the soft autumnal sun, met their glad
sight.
Pages:
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185