Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: HOBGOBLIN HALL MEDFORD, MASS. " A kind of old Hobgoblin Hall Now somewhat fallen to decay." One fine day, while sauntering about the pleasant town of Medford, so rich in specimens of ancient architecture, I was much struck by the appearance of a house standing at the left side of the old Boston road, not half a mile out of the village. It bore so strongly the face and impress of a decayed grandeur, that I knew it at once for one of those elegant country-seats to which the magnates of the good old colony times, as well as of our own, loved to retire from the cares of active business. I at once sought an entrance, with full design to know its history. There was no mistake about this house. It bore the genuine stamp of antiquity on its face, as clearly as if the year of the reign of King George II., in which it was erected, had challenged attention from above the entrance-door. No modern iconoclast had yet reared a hideous mansard roof above it; no destroying axe had yet been laid at the root of the stately elms that stood, like giant guardians as they were, along the splendid old drive. The grounds, once laid out in most correct taste, were separated from the highway by a low brick wall. From the gateway, flanked by tall wooden columns, a broad avenue, bordered with aromatic box, led straight up to the house, situated at some seventy paces back from the road. The space between was embellished with shrubbery, fruit and shade trees. To the right, as you lookedtoward the mansion, was the driveway, with a massive stone gatepost of imposing size standing at either side. Now that the Hancock House is no more, this house remains about the only example of that early date and style still to be found among us. It is a thousand pities that some public-spirited citizen could ...