The Tallants of Barton, vol. 1 (of 3)

A Tale of Fortune and Finance.
JOSEPH HATTON,
Author of “Bitter Sweets: a Love Story;” “Against the Stream,” etc., etc.
“The wheel of Fortune turns incessantly round, and who can say within himself, I shall to-day be uppermost?”— Confucius.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON: TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. 1867.
Barton Hall is a conspicuous feature of the landscape in the smiling Vale of Avonworth, and it stands beneath the shadow of Berne Hills. Built of white stone, and in the Italian style of architecture, it has the appearance of a modern mansion removed from Kensington Palace Gardens, and planted amongst the rare scenery of this beautiful western district of the Midlands.
All that wealth and taste can do to make the house generally worthy of the site has been lavished upon it, inside and out. It is furnished with everything that is costly and comfortable, with ornaments and articles of vertu from all parts of the earth.
A long gravelly drive leads up to the principal entrance, which is cut off from the park with iron fencing and chains. On the other side of the house there are conservatories of flowers and extensive gardens. Behind, at a short distance, there is stabling for many horses, shut out from view by shrubs and young trees.
In front of the house a smooth tract of mossy lawn ends in a sunk fence; and beyond lies the park, skirted by green fields, which mount up the Berne Hills and lose themselves in the foliage of oaks, and elms, and larches.
Here and there on the lawn are clumps of young aspiring cedars, silver birch trees, ash plants, and sycamores, hemmed round about with rims of white creepers and luxuriant mosses. In “Gems of the Poets,” pictorially adorned by Laydon, you will find a fanciful illustration of Gray’s well-known lines: