Page:Views in Suffolk, Norfolk, and Northamptonshire.djvu/67

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DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, &c.
39

The moat remains, the dwelling is no more!
Its name denotes its melancholy fall.
For village children call the spot Burnt Hall.

Several decayed trees are still existing near the inner margin of the moat; the remains of a circle of elms that, according to the Poet, once completely surrounded the mansion. This he describes as the residence of one of the characters introduced into the tale before mentioned, and has probably taken up his ideas of the ancient hospitality of the place from some tradition still extant in the neighbourhood:

          —his kitchen smoke,
That from the tow'ring rookery upward broke,
Of joyful import to the poor hard by,
Stream'd a glad sign of hospitality.

The view of Fakenham from Euston Park was taken near "the darksome copse that whispered on the hill," and presents the "White Park Gate" through which the terror-struck villager fled when pursued by the long-eared apparition.

Loud fell the gate against the post,
     Her heart-strings like to crack,
For much she fear'd the grisly ghost
     Would leap upon her back.