Hall Farm

Hall Farm,The Poyser's farm at Hayslope. "Evidently that gate is never opened; for the long grass and the great hemlocks grow close against it; and, if it were opened, it is so rusty that the force necessary to tum it on its hinges would be likely to pull down the square stone-built pillars, to the detriment of the two atone lionesses which grin with a doubtful carnivorous affability above a coat of arms, surmounting each of the pillars. . . It is a very fine old place, of red brick, softened by a pale powdery lichen, which has dispersed itself with happy irregularity, so as to bring the red brick into terms of friendly companionship with the limest.one ornaments surrounding the three gables, the windows, and the door-place. But the windows are patched with wooden panes, and the door, I think, is like the gateit is never opened: how it would groan and grate against the stone floor if it were! For it is a solid, heavy, handeome door, and must once have been in the habit of shutting with a sonorous bang behind a liveried lackey, who had just seen his master and mistress off the grounds in a carriage and pair. . . But at present one might fancy the house in the early stage of a chancery suit and that the fruit from that grand double row of walnut-trees on the right hand of the enclosure would fall and rot among the grass." The Hall Farm furnishes the setting for several of the important scenes in Adam Bede. Hetty Sorrel lives there with her aunt and Uncle Poyser, and Dinah Morris stays there when she is at Hayslope. It is in the farm dairy that Arthur Donnithorne sees Hetty, and in the garden, much later, Adam Bede and Hetty become engaged. In the Hall Farm kitchen Mrs. Poyser "has her say out" with her landlord, Squire Donnithorne, and in the kitchen, also, the Harvest Home supper is celebrated. While several originals of the Hall Farm have been suggested, the balance of opinion is in favour of Corley Hall, an old Jacobean house about four miles from Coventry and not far from George Eliot's childhood home at Nuneaton. The description of Corley Hall agrees in the main with that of the Hall Farm, except that the lionesses on the gatepost are griffins. Some remains of the "fine double row of walnut-trees " may still be seen, though many have fallen. The description of the Hall Farm garden may possibly have been taken from George Eliot's own garden at Griff House.

<em>Adam Bede</em>

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