of his property. Unfortunately it had been the pride of the Greshams
that their acres had descended from one another without an entail, so
that each possessor of Greshamsbury had had the full power to dispose
of the property as he pleased. Any doubt as to its going to the male
heir had never hitherto been felt. It had occasionally been encumbered
by charges for younger children; but these charges had been liquidated,
and the property had come down without any burden to the present
squire. Now a portion of this land had been sold, and it had been sold
to a certain degree through the agency of Dr Thorne.

This made the squire an unhappy man. No man loved his family name and
honour, his old family blazon and standing more thoroughly than he did;
he was every whit a Gresham at heart; but his spirit had been weaker
than that of his forefathers; and, in his days, for the first time, the
Greshams were going to the wall! Ten years before the beginning of our
story it had been necessary to raise a large sum of money to meet and
pay off pressing liabilities, and it was found that this could be done
with more material advantage by selling a portion of the property than
in any other way. A portion of it, about a third of the whole in
value, was accordingly sold.

Boxall Hill lay half between Greshamsbury and Barchester, and was known
as having the best partridge shooting in the county; as having on it
also a celebrated fox cover, Boxall Gorse, held in very high repute by
Barsetshire sportsmen. There was no residence on the immediate estate,
and it was altogether divided from the remained of the Greshamsbury
property. This, with many inward and outward groans, Mr Gresham
permitted to be sold.

It was sold, and sold well, by private contract to a native of