ain, and wholly well for you:
Make the low nature better by your throes!
Give earth yourself, go up for gain above!

Two of the longer poems have distinctly English settings: "A Blot in the
Scutcheon" and "The Inn Album;" while, of the shorter ones, "Ned Bratts"
has an English theme, and "Halbert and Hob" though not founded upon an
English story has been given an English _mis en scene_ by Browning.

In the "Blot," we get a glimpse of Eighteenth Century aristocratic
England. The estate over which Lord Tresham presided was one of those
typical country kingdoms, which have for centuries been so conspicuous a
feature of English life, and which through the assemblies of the great,
often gathered within their walls, wielded potent influences upon
political life. The play opens with the talk of a group of retainers,
such as formed the household of these lordly establishments. It was not
a rare thing for the servants of the great to be admitted into intimacy
with the family, as was the case with Gerard. They were often people of
a superior grade, hardly to be classed with servants in the sense
unfortunately given to that word to-day.

Besides the house and the park which figure in the play, such an estate
had many acres of land devoted to agriculture--some of it, called the
demesne, which was cultivated for the benefit of the owner, and some
land held in villeinage which the unfree tenants, called villeins, were
allowed to till for themselves. All this land might be in one large
tract, or the demesne might be separate from the other. Mertoun speaks
of their demesnes touching each other. Over the villeins presided the
Bailiff, who kept strict watch to see that they performed their work
punctually. His duties were numerous, for he directed the ploughing,
sowing and reaping, gave out the seed, watched the harvest, gathered and
looked after the stock and horses. A church, a mill and an inn were
often included in such an estate.

[Illustration: An English Manor House]

Pride in their ancient lineage was, of course, common to noble families,
though probably few of them could boast as Tresham did that there was no
blot in their escutcheon. Some writers have even declared that most of
the nobles are descended from tradesmen. According to one of these "The
great bulk of our peerage is comparatively modern, so far as the titles
go; but it is not the less noble that it has been recruited to so large
an extent from the ranks