Lost Hearts

Pour autant que je sache, c'est en septembre 1811 que

It was, as far as I can ascertain, in September of the year 1811 that a post-chaise drew up before the door of Aswarby Hall in the heart of Lincolnshire. The little boy who was the only passenger in the chaise, and who jumped out as soon as it had stopped, looked about him with the keenest curiosity during the short interval that elapsed between the ringing of the bell and the opening of the hall door. He saw a tall square, red-brick house, built in the reign of Anne; a stone-pillared porch had been added in the purer classical style of 1790. the windows of the house were many tall and narrow, with small panes and thick white woodwork. A pediment pierced with a round window crowned the front. There were wings to right and left connected by curious glazed galleries, supported by colonnades, with the central block. These wings plainly contained the stables and offices of the house. Each was surmounted by an ornamental cupola with a gilded vane.