Since the demise of Lady Somerset, this still-admired man drew all
his earthly comfort from the amiable qualities of his son Pembroke.
Sometimes in his livelier hours, which came "like angel visits, few
and far between," he amused himself with the playfulness of the
little Earl of Avon, the pompous erudition of Mr. Loftus, (who was
become his young ward's tutor), and with giving occasional
entertainments to the gentry in his neighborhood.
Of all the personages contained within this circle (which the
hospitality of Sir Robert extended to a circumference of fifty
miles,) the noble family of Castle Granby, brave, patriotic, and
accomplished, with female beauty at its head,
"Fitted to move in courts or walk the shade,
With innocence and contemplation joined,"
were held in the highest and most intimate appreciation; while many
of the numerous titled visitants who attended the celebrated and
magnificent Granby hunt were of too convivial notoriety to be often
admitted within the social home-society of either Castle Granby or
Somerset Castle, the two cynosure mansions which, now palace-like,
crest with their peaceful groves the summits of those two promontory
heights whereon in former times they stood in fortress strength, the
guardians of each opening pass into that spacious and once important
belligerent vale!
Amongst the less-esteemed frequenters of the chase was devoted
Nimrod, Sir Richard Shafto, who every season fixed himself and family
at a convenient hunting-lodge near the little town of Grantham, with
his right worthy son and heir who by calling at Somerset Castle soon
after the arrival of his guests, caused a trifling change in its
arrangements.
Pages:
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535