As to the siege, there are other reminiscences beside the gateway itself.

While the soldiers of Cromwell were occupying the hill nearly opposite the gateway, one of the soldiers started off with a keg on his shoulder to fetch beer from the village. Thinking that he would return by the same route, one of the garrison aimed a little gun which was mounted on the topmost story, so as to command the path. The soldier did return by the same way, and was struck down by the ball, which passed through his thigh.

The tradition of this lucky shot was handed down from father to son, until it reached Waterton's father. He had the curiosity to dig at the spot where the man was said to have fallen, and there he found the ball, a little iron one. This he gave to his son, with a request that it should always remain in the family.

In 1857, while dredging away the drift mud which had accumulated round the gateway, a small iron cannon was. discovered. As the ball fitted it, and it was found exactly below the turret from which the fatal shot had been fired, there could be no doubt that it was the identical gun

mentioned in the tradition; so Waterton had the pleasure of placing the cannon and the ball together in his house, where every visitor could see them.

Beside the gun, there were found a sword-blade, a spear, daggers, axe, many coins, keys, and some silver plate. For their presence in the mud Waterton accounts by

suggesting that they were flung into the moat, when the house was ransacked for arms after the battle of Culloden. He told me that he believed that if the lake were completely drained, many more such articles would be recovered.

The view on page 36 is taken from a spot on the northern bank. At some hundreds of yards distance from the house there are a couple of splendid sycamores, and close to them is a large block of ironstone, called the Echo Stone. Any one standing by it, and speaking towards the house, will hear every syllable returned with wonderful clearness. Sitting on this stone, I made the sketch from which this illustration is taken. On it is engraved the word ECHO.

On the western side of the gateway there had been a curious old chapel formerly attached to the mansion. Waterton, however, disliked it and took it down, against the remonstrances of the then Duke of Norfolk, his godfather.

The lake is widest near the house, and then proceeds almost due west, narrowing as it goes, and taking a turn northwards towards the end, where it passes round a hill, and becomes shallower, allowing the sedges and reeds to appear, and so affording shelter for the aquatic birds.

Another view of the lake is now given, looking westward, and taken from the right-hand first-floor window of the house as seen on page 36.

On the ground-floor may be seen a large window, flanked by a smaller one on either side. These are the west windows of the drawing-room. The central window is a large sheet of plate glass, and behind it is mounted a large telescope, commanding nearly the whole of the lake.

On the left, before coming to the wood, are a few willows, and between them and the wood is a favourite resort of the herons. The low bank looks as if it would be endangered by the water, but it is perfectly firm, even to the very edge. It is made of large stones, not squared,

but heaped loosely together. Seeds of various trees, especially those of the sycamore, fell into the water, floated on its surface, and were arrested by the bank, where they took root. They were never allowed to grow into trees, and were constantly cut down. But their roots twined themselves among the stones, and bound them together so firmly, that a stronger wall could not be desired.

The holes under these stones are favourite resorts of pike, with which the lake abounds.

I am no angler, but I have caught many pike near the willows by trolling, using nothing but a willow stick by way of rod, a hank of whipcord for a line, a gorge hook, and a minnow for bait. The largest that I ever took there weighed rather over ten pounds, and very proud I was of the fish, though it was a heavy and inconvenient article to carry to the house.

Some of the pike, including the ten-pounder, were for

the table, but the fish were generally used for the purpose of feeding the cats, of which there were many about the stables and cattle-yards, for the purpose of keeping down the rats. It is now well known that a well-fed cat is the best mouser, seldom eating its prey, but killing it for the mere sport.

When the cats were fed, the fish were chopped up on a wooden block near the stables. It was very amusing to watch the operation. Although at first not a cat might be visible, half a dozen blows had not been struck with the chopper before impatient cries were heard, and cats came swarming round the block, just as they do round a cat'smeat man's barrow in London.

On the right, just above the tall tree near the edge of the lake, a heron is seen flying in the distance. It was near the bank at the further end of the lake that Waterton met with his fatal accident at a spot nearly below the flying heron.

CHAPTER IV.

Love of trees.-Preservation of damaged trees.-How trees perish.-Wind and rain.-Self-restorative powers of the bark.-Hidden foes.-The fungus and its work.-Use of the woodpecker and titmouse.-How to utilize tree-stumps.-The Cole Titmouse.-Owl-house and seat.-Dryrot. When to paint timber.-Oaken gates of the old tower.-Command over trees.-How to make the holly grow quickly--The holly as a hedge-tree-Pheasant fortresses.-Artificial pheasants.-The poachers outwitted.-Waterton's power of tree-climbing.-An aerial study.— Ascending and descending trees.-Church and State trees.-The yew. -A protection against cold winds. -Yew hedge at back of gateway.— The Starling Tower.—Familiarity of the birds.—The Picnic or Grotto. -Waterton's hospitality.-"The Squire "-A decayed mill and abandoned stone. The stone lifted off the ground by a hazel nut.

WATERTON'S love of trees almost amounted to veneration. He studied their ways as minutely and as accurately as he did those of the animal world, and in consequence he could do more with trees than any one else. By patient observation of their modes of growth, he knew how to plant them in the locality best suited for themselves, how to encourage them, and, if they were injured, to reduce their damage to a minimum.

Many a fine tree has he shown me which would have been long ago condemned by ignorant men, but which was then flourishing in full growth, and in such renewed health that scarcely a scar was left in the bark to show the spot on which the injury had occurred.

One of his triumphs in this art was to be seen by a splendid poplar situated nearly opposite the picturesque

E