Transcriber's Note In the html version of this e-book, Midi, PDF, and MusicXML files have been provided for the songs. To hear a song, click on the [Listen] link. To view a song in sheet-music form, click on the [PDF] link. To view MusicXML code for a song, click on the [MusicXML] link. All lyrics are set forth in text below the music images. OLD COUNTRY LIFE. _BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ =HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS.= Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. [_Just published._ =ARMINELL=: =A Social Romance.= 3 vols., crown 8vo. [_Now ready._ =SONGS OF THE WEST=; Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of Devon and Cornwall, with their Traditional Melodies, by REV. S. BARING GOULD, M.A., and REV. H. FLEETWOOD SHEPPARD, M.A., arranged for voice and pianoforte. Parts I. and II., 3s. each, _net_. Parts III. and IV. _in-preparation._ =STRANGE SURVIVALS AND POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS.= [_In Preparation._ =YORKSHIRE ODDITIES.= New and Cheaper Edition. [_In the Press._ [Illustration: A Country Dance. _Frontispiece._] OLD COUNTRY LIFE. BY S. BARING GOULD, M.A., AUTHOR OF "MEHALAH," "JOHN HERRING," ETC. _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_ BY W. PARKINSON, F. D. BEDFORD, AND F. MASEY. LONDON: METHUEN AND CO., 18, BURY STREET, W.C. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 1890. [_The right of reproduction is reserved._] RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, LONDON & BUNGAY. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. Old County Families 1 II. The Last Squire 28 III. Country Houses 53 IV. The Old Garden 93 V. The Country Parson 116 VI. The Hunting Parson 146 VII. Country Dances 174 VIII. Old Roads 198 IX. Family Portraits 219 X. The Village Musician 239 XI. The Village Bard 259 XII. Old Servants 284 XIII. The Hunt 315 XIV. The County Town 334 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Head and tail pieces to each chapter by F. D. Bedford. PAGE Country Dance--_Frontispiece_ _W. Parkinson_ Old Dames with their Factotum Butler " " 5 Sydenham House, Devon _F. Masey_ 7