Framley Parsonage | Page 9

Lufton's heart to
see a new church built, and she was urgent in her eloquence both with
her son and with the vicar, to have this good work commenced.
Beyond the church, but close to it, were the boy's school and girl's
school, two distinct buildings, which owed their erection to Lady
Lufton's energy; then came a neat little grocer's shop, the neat grocer
being the clerk and the sexton, and the neat grocer's wife the
pew-opener in the church. Podgens was their name, and they were great
favourites with her ladyship, both having been servants up at the house.
And here the road took a sudden turn to the left, turning, as it were,
away from Framley Court; and just beyond the turn was the vicarage,
so that there was a little garden path running from the back of the
vicarage grounds into the churchyard, cutting the Podgens into an
isolated corner of their own;--from whence, to tell the truth, the vicar
would have been glad to banish them and their cabbages, could he have
had the power to do so. For has not the small vineyard of Naboth been
always an eyesore to neighbouring potentates?
The potentate in this case had as little excuse as Ahab, for nothing in
the parsonage way could be more perfect than his parsonage. It had all
the details requisite for the house of a moderate gentleman with
moderate means, and none of those expensive superfluities which
immoderate gentlemen demand, or which themselves demand
immoderate means. And then the gardens and paddocks were exactly
suited to it; and everything was in good order;--not exactly new, so as

to be raw and uncovered, and redolent of workmen; but just at that era
of their existence in which newness gives way to comfortable
homeliness.
Other village at Framley there was none. At the back of the Court, up
one of those cross-roads, there was another small shop or two, and
there was a very neat cottage residence, in which lived the widow of a
former curate, another protege of Lady Lufton's; and there was a big,
staring, brick house, in which the present curate lived; but this was a
full mile distant from the church, and farther from Framley Court,
standing on that cross-road which runs from Framley Cross in a
direction away from the mansion. This gentleman, the Rev Evan Jones,
might from his age, have been the vicar's father; but he had been for
many years curate at Framley; and though he was personally disliked
by Lady Lufton, as being Low Church in his principles, and unsightly
in his appearance, nevertheless, she would not urge his removal. He
had two or three pupils in that large brick house, and, if turned out from
these and from his curacy, might find it difficult to establish himself
elsewhere. On this account mercy was extended to the Rev E Jones,
and, in spite of his red face and awkward big feet, he was invited to
dine at Framley Court, with his plain daughter, once in every three
months.
Over and above these, there was hardly a house in the parish of
Framley, outside the bounds of Framley Court, except those of farmers
and farm labourers; and yet the parish was of large extent.
Framley is in the eastern division of the county of Barsetshire, which,
as all the world knows, is, politically speaking, as true blue a county as
any in England. There have been backslidings even here, it is true; but
then, in what county have there not been such backslidings? Where, in
these pinchbeck days, can we hope to find the old agricultural virtue in
all its purity? But among these backsliders, I regret to say, that men
now reckon Lord Lufton. Not that he is a violent Whig, or perhaps that
is a Whig at all. But he jeers and sneers at the old county doings;
declares, when solicited on the subject, that, as far as he is concerned,
Mr Bright may sit for the county, if he pleases; and alleges, that being

unfortunately a peer, he has no right ever to interest himself in the
question. All this is deeply regretted, for, in the old days, there was no
portion of the county more decidedly true blue than the Framley district;
and, indeed, up to the present day, the dowager is able to give an
occasional helping hand.
Chaldicotes is the seat of Nathaniel Sowerby, Esq, who, at the moment
supposed to be now present, is one of the members for the Western
Division of Barsetshire. But this Western Division can boast none of
the fine political attributes which grace its twin brother. It is decidedly
Whig, and is almost governed in its politics by one or two great Whig
families. It has been