Excerpt from The Hall of Chavenlay: A Winter's Tale of 1649 On Christmas Day, in the year 1649, the wind blew keen and furious over the Cotswold Hills in Gloucester shire. Loudly it roared and bellowed amidst the stunted oaks, at that time lining the road on either hand between the Leckhanmton Hills and the ancient town of Cirencester; and onwards it rushed, whistling shrill and clear over the snow-clad waste between Cirencester and the town of Stroud, and as it turned impetuously in fitful gusts up lane and avenue, it bent almost to earth the tall trees surrounding the old Hall of Chavenlay, and as it whistled and screamed around the walls, seemed inclined to lift it up bodily and whirl it into the storm. Those who have been awakened on a winter's morning in the country in an old manor house, with its long galleries, its oaken chambers, its creaking doors and rattling windows, best know with what eccentric bursts, and angry voice, the wind beats and bellows without, moans and sighs within, and shrieks and whistles through creek and crevice. How one moment it comes roaring up the great avenue. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.