History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

THE RENT DINNER 279
destined to play an important part in the future, notably on Sir Rowland Hill,
the founder of the Penny Post.
The Rent Dinner, which took place at the autumn quarter, was an impos-
ing occasion. The farmers dined in the dining-room, the cottagers in the
servants' hall, and they were as well entertained as if they had been in the
peerage. Never was there a more indulgent landlord as regarded the rents,
but it began to be too much considered as a matter of course that he could
afford to do without, and when he died some of his cottagers had paid no rent
for twenty years. He gave all the shooting rights to the tenants, but this plan
had its disadvantages.
It was a great boon to the neighbourhood, which at that time had no
public park, that Dr Johnstone allowed people to walk in his park every
week-day if they gave their names to his butler. David Cox, Creswick, Elijah
Walton, and other artists made their first sketches in Edgbaston Park. The
late Miss Ryland of Barford, whose benefactions are a household word in
Warwickshire, as a young girl used to come with her governess to draw the
magnificent trees. In winter, when the lake was frozen over, thousands skated
on it. The present occupant of the Hall, Sir James Smith, in spite of the
immense growth of the town, generously admits the public on these occasions
for a charge of 6d., which he pays over to the local charities.