Her favourite was Sir Maurice, who had held
out Beechcroft Court for six weeks against the Roundheads, and had
seen the greater part of the walls battered down. Witnesses of the
strength of the old castle yet remained in the massive walls and
broad green ramparts, which enclosed what was now orchard and farm-
yard, and was called the Old Court, while the dwelling-house, built
by Sir Maurice after the Restoration, was named the New Court. Sir
Maurice had lost many an acre in the cause of King Charles, and his
new mansion was better suited to the honest squires who succeeded
him, than to the mighty barons his ancestors. It was substantial and
well built, with a square gravelled court in front, and great, solid,
folding gates opening into a lane, bordered with very tall well-
clipped holly hedges, forming a polished, green, prickly wall. There
was a little door in one of these gates, which was scarcely ever
shut, from whence a well-worn path led to the porch, where generally
reposed a huge Newfoundland dog, guardian of the hoops and
walkingsticks that occupied the corners. The front door was of heavy
substantial oak, studded with nails, and never closed in the daytime,
and the hall, wainscoted and floored with slippery oak, had a noble
open fireplace, with a wood fire burning on the hearth.
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