Sentence:  But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶...The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the <WSD>meadow</WSD> below by the brook,nb.... 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A field or pasture; a piece of land covered or cultivated with grass, usually intended to be mown for hay.