Some extracts made by Mr. Leveson-Gower from the Parish Registers have an interest which is not peculiar to Shere, but the Registers are a good example of village history written in the names of its inhabitants. You begin with the simplicity, almost the affection, of the early entries, the Johns and Anns and Marys repeated year after year, and the few words describing the older people; then comes the Georgian day when Fielding and Richardson were on the bookshelves, and children were named after the heroines of the novels. Here are a dozen entries out of hundreds:-- Elizabeth Gatton (widow), neer 100 yeeres old, was Buryed 13 of July, 1691. Widow Rowland (old and poor). May 18, 1701. Elizabeth Nye, an ancient widow. Buried 23 Mar., 1715. 1732. Old Edward Stone, yeoman. Dec. y^e 30^th. 1739. William Wood, a poor unfortunate lad, being drown'd, was buried Ap. 27. Mary, daughter of Thomas Evershed, bap. Ap. 30, 1729. Ann, daughter of Thomas Evershed, bap. Aug. 17, 1733. Mary, daughter of Thomas Evershed, bap. May 14, 1736. Ann, daughter of Mr. Robert Parkhurst, bap. Feb. 23, 1741-2. 1779. Gosling, Tho., son of Thomas and Dinah. May 25. (Note) --married, child christened, wife churched the same day, by me, Tho^s Duncumb, Rector. 1817. Carbetia Hall, of Shere, gentlewoman. Sep. 2, 68. 1821. Servilla Briscoe, of Abinger. April 17, 23. One of the later entries in the Registers is interesting to historians. Harriet Grote, widow of George Grote, died at Shere in 1878, aged 86. Her grave is south of the church: Grote lies in Westminster Abbey. Shere and Gomshall are only divided by an avenue of elms--half a mile of the pleasantest and shadiest of roads. Gomshall is a village scattered round many lanes; it has a Black Horse inn near the station, but the prettiest Gomshall cottages are away from the Black Horse, down the lanes off the main road. Gomshall Manor, now a boarding-house, has traditions of the Middle Ages. There is a story of a door leading to a secret chamber which ought to be somewhere in Martin Tupper's books, but I cannot find it. King John was annoyed with a retainer, shut him in this room and turned the key in the door, and there the miserable retainer starved to death. It was just like King John to do it, but what he did at Gomshall only tradition knows. [Illustration: _Gomshall._] CHAPTER X GUILDFORD TO LEATHERHEAD Merrow.--The Horse and Groom.--Mr. Kipling on Surrey downs.--Clandon Park.--The village mole-catcher.--A fearful battle.--February sunshine.--Wide Ploughs.--Thomas Goffe and Thomas Thimble.--Locked churches.--An atmosphere of war.--Effingham and its admirals.--Little Bookham.--General d'Arblay in his garden.--Mistletoe.