In one of the
rooms we were shown a couple of buff jerkins, and a pair of ancient
jackboots, of the time of the cavaliers; relics which are often to be
met with in the old English family mansions. These, however, had
peculiar value, for the good little dame assured us that they had
belonged to Robin Hood. As we were in the midst of the region over
which that famous outlaw once bore ruffian sway, it was not for us to
gainsay his claim to any of these venerable relics, though we might
have demurred that the articles of dress here shown were of a date much
later than his time. Every antiquity, however, about Sherwood Forest is
apt to be linked with the memory of Robin Hood and his gang.
As we were strolling about the mansion, our four-footed attendant,
Boatswain, followed leisurely, as if taking a survey of the premises. I
turned to rebuke him for his intrusion, but the moment the old
housekeeper understood he had belonged to Lord Byron, her heart seemed
to yearn toward him. "Nay, nay," exclaimed she, "let him alone, let him
go where he pleases. He's welcome. Ah, dear me! If he lived here I
should take great care of him--he should want for nothing.--Well!"
continued she, fondling him, "who would have thought that I should see
a dog of Lord Byron in Annesley Hall!"
"I suppose, then," said I, "you recollect something of Lord Byron, when
he used to visit here?" "Ah, bless him!" cried she, "that I do! He used
to ride over here and stay three days at a time, and sleep in the blue
room.
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