d to be in London at his house in
Lincolns in field, at the corner of queene streete, called Carlisle
house or Savill house. We can find nobody in his house, that gives
any light, onely we heare that one of his family, Mr. Davison, who
is Tutor to Sir George, was at the meeting, and stayed in the house
till after dinner on fryday (a supposed gathering of Royalists) and
then went away. We cannot yett get him."

This Sir George was created Earl and finally Marquis of Halifax by
Charles the Second, and became one of the leading statesmen of the
seventeenth century. One of his grandsons was the witty Earl of
Chesterfield; another descendant was Henry Carey, the writer and
composer of "Sally in our Alley". On the death of the second marquis,
without male issue, the title became extinct, and the estate with the
Savile baronetcy passed to a somewhat distant kinsman, whose collateral
descendant is present owner of this fine estate, the traditions of which
are almost without parallel in the matter of interest and romantic
colouring.

EDWINSTOWE AND THE OAKS

Of the few trees of distinction pertaining to old Sherwood, perhaps the
most famous, and certainly the least picturesque, is the "Parliament
Oak", which may be seen to the right of the Mansfield road as it
approaches Edwinstowe. To this venerable ruin, which an iron palisading
protects from wanton hands, clings the tradition that Parliaments of
King John and Edward the First met under its shade, the last in October,
1290. Queen Eleanor was ill--she died in the following month at Harby
near Lincoln--and thence was made the most notable funeral progress in
English history.

The country around is tranquil and pleasing; not far away stands the
quaintest of windmills, which must certainly tumble from very weariness
before many years have passed. Above the tops of the closely-planted
trees to the right are to be seen the chimneys of a deserted-looking
building, raised in the early nineteenth century by a Duke of Portland,
in imitation of the Priory Gatehouse at Worksop. This stands at the end
of a fine undulating glade. On the north side are statues of Richard the
First, Allan-a-Dale, and Friar Tuck; on the south, others of Robin Hood,
Maid Marion, and Little John.

[Illustration: EDWINSTOWE]

To the left, one passes through a wicket, and coasts a great wood for
some hundred yards, then turns sharply and soon reaches the "Russian
Cottage", a c