KNOLE HOUSE adjoins the pleasant and picturesque town of Sevenoaks, in the fertile and beautiful county of Kent—the “garden of England”—and is situate in its most charming and productive district, neighbouring the renowned Wealds, and distant but an hour from the metropolis of England.

The principal approach to the mansion is by a long and winding avenue of finely grown beech-trees, through the extensive park—the road sloping and rising gradually, and presenting frequent views of hill and dale—terminated by the heavy and sombre stone front of the ancient and venerable edifice. Passing under an embattled tower, the first or outer quadrangle is entered; hence there is another passage through another tower-portal, which conducts to the inner quadrangle, and so to the

“Huge hall, long galleries, spacious chambers,”

for which Knole has long been famous.

Of Knole, as with most of our grand old mansions, it is impossible to fix, with any degree of certainty, the date of its original foundation; “but the evident connection between the several properties of Knole and Sevenoaks with Kemsing, Otford, and Seale, coupled with the gifts of certain lands in Kemsing to the royal abbey at Wilton, appears to identify those manors with the terra regia of the Saxon Kings of Kent, who had, it is supposed, one of their palaces at Otford, to which place Sevenoaks and Knole have always been esteemed appendant, and were for some time after Domesday survey held by the same owners.” Early in the reign of King John, the manor and estates of Knole, with those of Braborne (Bradborne), Kemsing, and Seale, were held by Baldwin de Bethun, or Betune, Earl of Albemarle.

The first Earl of Albemarle was Odo, Count of Champaigne, a near relative by birth to William the Conqueror, and the husband of his sister, Adeliza. He was succeeded by his son, surnamed Le Gros, who was also made Earl of Yorkshire. This nobleman appears to have had an only child, a daughter named Hawise, who espoused William Mandeville, Earl of Essex, who, on her father’s death in 1179, succeeded to the title and estates. After his death without issue, his widow, Hawise, married William de Fortibus, who enjoyed the title, as did also her third husband, Baldwin de Betune, or Bethun. On his death the earldom reverted to William de Fortibus, the son of Hawise by her second husband.

In the fifth year of King John, Baldwin de Betune gave the manors of Knole, Sevenoaks, Bradborne, Kemsing, and Seale in “frank marriage” with his daughter Alice, on her marriage to William Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, who was succeeded by his brother, who, being attainted, the lands were escheated to the Crown. These manors were next, it is said, given to Fulk de Brent; but he having been banished the realm, they again reverted to the Crown, and, the family having returned to allegiance, the lands were restored to them, and the Earl’s brothers—Gilbert, Walter, and Anselme—successively became Earls of Pembroke and Lords-Marshal. These earls having all died without issue, the estates “devolved on their sisters, in consequence of which Roger, son of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, who married Maud, the eldest sister, became entitled, and died seized of these estates about 54 Henry III., without issue, leaving Roger Bigod, his nephew, his next heir, who, in the 11th of Edward I., conveyed them to Otho de Grandison, who, dying without issue, was succeeded by his brother, William de Grandison; and his grandson, Sir Thomas de Grandison, according to Philpot, transferred Knole to Geoffrey de Say, and the rest of the estates to other hands.”

Geoffrey de Say was summoned to Parliament by Edward III.; was Admiral of the King’s Fleet, and a knight-banneret; and distinguished himself in the wars with France and Flanders. He married Maud, daughter of Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, by whom he left issue William, his son and heir, and three daughters, who eventually became co-heiresses “to this property, which continued in the family till the reign of Henry VI., when one Ralph Leghe conveyed the whole estate by sale to James Fiennes,” the grandson of the youngest of the three co-heiresses.

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James Fiennes, who had distinguished himself in the wars with France in the reign of Henry V., was created Lord Say and Sele. The Fiennes were an ancient family, descended from John, Baron of Fiennes, Hereditary Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports, who was father of James, and he of John, who had issue Ingelram de Fiennes, who was slain at Acon, in the Holy Land, in 1190. “He married Sybil de Tyngrie, daughter and heiress to Erasmus de Bologne, nephew to Maud, Queen of England, wife of King Stephen, from which match proceeded William de Fiennes, who succeeded to the estates of the Earl of Bologne. He was succeeded by his son Ingelram, whose son William was educated with Prince Edward, and was, in turn, succeeded by his son John, of whom no issue remained. His uncle, Sir Giles Fiennes, succeeded. By his wife Sybil he had issue John, his son and heir, and by Joan, his wife, had issue John de Fiennes, who had to wife Maud, sister and heir of John Monceaux, of Hurst-Monceaux, in Sussex; and dying, left issue Sir William Fiennes, Knt., who having married Joan, youngest daughter to Geoffrey, Lord Say, and at length co-heir to William, her brother, his posterity thereby shared in the inheritance of that family, being succeeded by William, his son and heir.” He married Elizabeth Battisford, by whom he had issue two sons, Roger and James, the elder of whom left a son, Richard, who, marrying Joan, daughter and heiress of Thomas, Lord Dacre, was declared Lord Dacre, and was ancestor of that noble family.

James Fiennes, the second son, of whom we have already spoken as having been called to Parliament as Lord Say and Sele, became Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports, Lord Chamberlain to the King, Constable of the Tower of London, and Lord Treasurer of England. Such rapid advancement was, however, distasteful to the malcontents of this kingdom; and the King, to appease them, sequestered Lord Say from his office of Treasurer, and, as is supposed, to insure his safety from his enemies, committed him to the Tower. The rebels, under Jack Cade, however, forced the Tower, carried Lord Say to the Guildhall, and after a mock trial, hurried him to the Standard in Cheapside, where “they cut off his head, and carried it on a pole, causing his naked body to be drawn at a horse’s tail into Southwark, to Sir Thomas of Waterings, and there hanged and quartered.”[41]

The murder of Lord Say took place July 4th, 29th Henry VI. He was succeeded by his son, Sir William Fiennes (by his wife, Emeline Cromer), who, suffering much in the Wars of the Roses, was compelled to part with the greater portion of his estates and offices. His patent of Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports he assigned to Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham, and the manor and estate of Knole he sold, in 1456, to Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, for four hundred marks. After an eventful life he was killed at the battle of Barnet, and the title died with him. Archbishop Bourchier is said to have “rebuilt the manor-house, enclosed a park around the same, and resided much at it.” At his death, in 1486, he bequeathed the estate to the see of Canterbury. Archbishop Morton, who was visited at Knole by King Henry VII., died there in 1500; and Archbishop Wareham, who was frequently visited at Knole by Kings Henry VII. and VIII., also died there. Archbishop Cranmer likewise resided here, and he, by indenture dated November 30th, 29 Henry VIII., conveyed Knole and other manors to the King and his successors, in whose hands it remained until the reign of Edward VI., when that monarch, in his fourth year, granted it by letters patent to John Dudley, Earl of Warwick (afterwards Duke of Northumberland), on whose attainder and execution, in 1553, it again reverted to the Crown.

Knole was next, by Queen Mary, granted to Cardinal Pole, then Archbishop of Canterbury, for life. By Queen Elizabeth, in the third year of her reign, it, with other estates, was granted to Sir Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl of Leicester, but was again surrendered, a few years later, into the hands of the Queen, who then granted it to Thomas Sackville, afterwards Lord Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset.

It were indeed a long story to tell of all the famous deeds of the noble family of Sackville, and one that would take more space than we can spare. We therefore pass over the earlier members of the family, so as to reach the first who owned Knole and its surroundings—Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst. He was the son of Richard Sackville, Lent Reader to Henry VIII. and Treasurer to the Army of that monarch, by his first wife, who was daughter of Sir John Bruges, Lord Mayor of London. When only nineteen years of age he married Cicely, daughter of Sir John Baker, and held many offices in the realm, being selected by the Queen, “by her particular choice and liking, to a continual private attendance upon her own person.” In 1567 he was created Baron Buckhurst. In 1571 he was sent on a special mission to Charles IX. of France to negotiate the proposed marriage of his royal mistress, Queen Elizabeth, with the Duke of Anjou; and later on he was deputed to convey the sentence of her doom to Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1587 he went on a mission to the Low Countries, and figured prominently in almost all the incidents of the eventful period in which he lived. After the death of Elizabeth, Lord Buckhurst was created, by James I., Earl of Dorset, and was continued in his office of Lord High Treasurer of England. He died in 1608. Of his abilities as an author (for he was one of the most brilliant of his age) Spenser wrote—

“Whose learned muse hath writ her own record
In golden verse, worthy immortal fame.”

And this opinion is indorsed, not only by his contemporaries, but by people of every age since his time. He is chiefly celebrated as the author of the earliest English tragedy in blank verse, Gordubuc, and The Induction to a Mirrour for Magistrates, one of the noblest poems in the language. Gordubuc is praised by Sidney for its “notable moralitie,” and the poem is believed to have given rise to the “Faery Queen.” All contemporaries agree in bearing testimony to the virtues of this truly noble man. One of them thus draws his character:—“How many rare things were in him! Who more loving unto his wife? who more kind unto his children? who more fast unto his friend? who more moderate unto his enemy? who more true to his word?”

This nobleman was succeeded by his son Robert as second Earl of Dorset, who died within a year of attaining to that dignity. He married, first, Margaret, only daughter of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, and, second, Anne, daughter of Sir George Spencer, and was succeeded by his second son of the first marriage, Richard, as third Earl of Dorset. This nobleman—who was notorious for the prodigal magnificence of his household, and had to sell Knole to a Mr. Smith of Wandsworth—married, two days before his father’s death, the famous Lady Ann Clifford, daughter of the Earl of Cumberland. He was succeeded by his brother Edward Sackville, whose name is notorious in history in the matter of his unfortunate and fatal duel with Lord Bruce, of Kinloss. He married Mary, third daughter of Sir George Curzon, of Croxhall, in Derbyshire, “to whose charge the instruction of the young princess was committed by the unfortunate Charles, to whom the Earl and Countess continued to the last to be most faithfully attached.” He was succeeded by his son Richard as fifth Earl of Dorset, who married Lady Frances Cranfield, daughter of Lionel, Earl of Middlesex, who repurchased Knole of the trustees of Henry Smith, and was succeeded, as sixth earl, by his son Charles, who had previously been created Baron Cranfield, and who married, first, Elizabeth, daughter of Hervey Bagot and widow of the Earl of Falmouth, and, second, Mary, daughter of James Compton, Earl of Northampton, by whom he had a son, Lionel, who succeeded him, and was advanced to the dignity of Duke of Dorset, and made Constable of Dover Castle, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Lord High Steward of England, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord President of the Council, and held many other offices, and took an active part in all affairs of the State.

He was succeeded, as second Duke of Dorset, by his son Charles, who, among his other offices, held that of Master of the Horse to Frederick, Prince of Wales. He married Grace, daughter of Viscount Shannon, who was Mistress of the Robes to Augusta, Princess of Wales, but had no issue. He was succeeded in 1769 by his nephew, John Frederick, as third duke. He married, in 1790, Arabella Diana, daughter and heiress of Sir John Cope, by whom he had issue George John Frederick (who succeeded him as fourth duke); Mary, married to the Earl of Plymouth; and Elizabeth, married to Earl Delawarr. The third duke died in 1799, his only son being at that time in his sixth year. The Duchess, who married, secondly, Lord Whitworth, resided at Knole till her death in 1825; the fourth duke, her son, who had only three months before attained his majority, being killed by a fall from his horse in 1815. At his death Knole and some other estates passed to his sister and co-heiress, the Lady Mary Sackville, who married first, in 1811, Other Archer, sixth Earl of Plymouth, and, second, William Pitt, second Baron and first Earl Amherst, but had no issue by either of those marriages. Her ladyship died in 1864, and the estates then passed to her sister and co-heiress, the Lady Elizabeth Sackville, created in 1864 the Baroness Buckhurst, wife of the late George John Sackville-West, fifth Earl Delawarr, with remainder to her second and younger sons, and was mother of the late peer, Charles Richard, sixth Earl Delawarr; the present peer, the Right Hon. Reginald Windsor Sackville-West, seventh Earl Delawarr and Baron Buckhurst; the Hon. Mortimer Sackville-West, married to Charlotte, daughter of Major-General William Dickson, and is a claimant for the barony of Buckhurst, the present owner of Knole; the Hon. Lionel Sackville-West; the Hon. William Edward Sackville-West, married to Georgiana, daughter of George Dodwell, Esq.; the Lady Elizabeth, married to the present Duke of Bedford; the Lady Mary Catherine, married first, in 1847, to the second Marquis of Salisbury, and second, in 1870, to the fifteenth (present) Earl of Derby; and the Lady Arabella Diana, married to Sir Alexander Bannerman, Bart.

The sixth Earl of Delawarr, Charles Richard Sackville-West, C.B., was born in 1815, and succeeded his father in 1869; educated at Harrow, and entered the 43rd Foot, 1833; Captain 21st Fusiliers, 1842; Major in the army, 1846; Brevet-Colonel, 1850; Lieut.-Colonel and Colonel, 1854; Major-General, 1864. His lordship, as Lord West, served in the Sutlej campaign, 1845; was Aide-de-camp to Lord Gough at the battles of Moodkee and Ferozeshah, and Military Secretary during the remainder of the campaign; was present at Sobraon, and has received medal and clasps; served in the Crimea, including the battles of the Alma and Balaclava; commanded a detached wing of the 21st Fusiliers at the battle of Inkermann, and also that regiment at Sebastopol. In the expedition to Kinbourn he was in command of a brigade, and afterwards commanded one at Shorncliffe Camp. His lordship was an Officer of the Legion of Honour, a Knight of the Medjidie, &c.

His lordship, who was unmarried, died, by his own hand, April 23rd, 1873, and was succeeded by his brother, the Hon. and Rev. R. W. Sackville.

The present noble peer, the Hon. and Rev. Reginald Windsor Sackville, seventh Earl Delawarr, Viscount Cantelupe, Baron Delawarr, Baron West, and Baron Buckhurst, second son of the fifth Earl Delawarr, and brother of the sixth earl, was born in 1817; was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he proceeded B.A. in 1838, and M.A. in 1842; and became Rector of Withyham, in Sussex. He assumed, in 1871, the surname of Sackville only, in lieu of that of Sackville-West. His lordship married, in 1867, Constance Mary Elizabeth, daughter of A. D. R. W. Baillie-Cochrane, Esq., M.P., by whom he has issue living, the Hon. Lionel Charles Cranfield Sackville, Viscount Cantelupe, born in 1868; the Hon. Gilbert George Reginald Sackville, born in 1869; the Hon. Edeline Sackville, born in 1870; and the Hon. Leonore Mary, born in 1872. His lordship is patron of six livings, four of which are in Sussex and two in Oxfordshire.

The arms of Earl Delawarr are—quarterly, or and gules, a bend vaire, argent and azure. Crest—on a ducal coronet composed of fleurs-de-lis, as estoile, argent, supporters on either side, a leopard, argent, spotted sable. Motto—“Nunquam tentes aut perfice.” His seats are—Buckhurst, Tunbridge Wells; and Bourn Hall, Cambridge.

The present owner of Knole is the Hon. Mortimer Sackville-West, son of the fifth and brother of the sixth and seventh (present) Earl Delawarr, to whom it passed on the demise of his mother, the Baroness Buckhurst, to which title, now assumed by Earl Delawarr, he is a claimant. Mr. Sackville-West, who was born in 1820, became Captain Grenadier Guards in 1845, and is a Groom in Waiting in Ordinary to her Majesty. He married first, in 1847, Fanny Charlotte, daughter of the late Major-General William Dickson, C.B., E.I.C.S., of Beenham House, Berkshire, who died in 1870; and second, in 1873, Elizabeth, second daughter of Charles Wilson Faber, Esq.

Knole House is full of highly honourable and deeply interesting associations with the past. Seen from a distance, the mansion appears irregular; but, although the erection of several periods, and enlarged from time to time to meet the wants and wishes of its immediate occupiers, it exhibits few parts out of harmony with the whole, and presents a striking and very imposing example of the earlier Baronial Mansion, such as it was before settled peace in Britain warranted the withdrawal of all means of defence in cases of attack from open or covert enemies. The neighbourhood, as well as “the house,” is suggestive of many sad or pleasant memories. From the summits of knolls, in the noble and well-stocked park, extensive views are obtained of the adjacent country. Scattered about the wealds of Kent are the tall spires of scores of village churches: Hever—recalling the fate of the murdered Anne Boleyn and the destiny of the deserted Anne of Cleves; Penshurst—the cradle and the tomb of the Sidneys; Eridge—once great Warwick’s hunting-seat; the still frowning battlements of Tunbridge Castle; these and other subjects within ken demand thought and induce reflection, both of which obtain augmented power while treading the graceful corridors and stately chambers of the time-honoured mansion. The walls are hung with authentic portraits of the great men of various epochs who, when living, flourished here; not alone the noble and wealthy owners of the old hall, but the worthies who sojourned there as guests, to have sheltered, aided, and befriended whom is now the proudest, as it will be the most enduring, of all the boasts of lordly Knole.

Visitors are generously admitted into the more interesting and attractive of the apartments; and they are full of treasures of Art—not of paintings alone, although of these every chamber is a storehouse, but of curious and rare productions, from the most elaborate and costly examples of the artists of the Middle Ages, to the characteristic works of the English artisan during the reigns of Elizabeth and James, when a vast amount of labour was bestowed upon the commonest articles of every-day use.

In the Porter’s Apartments, adjoining the entrance, is what may be called the Retainers’ Armoury—an apartment lined with old flint and steel muskets of formidable bore, cutlasses, skull-caps, and other warlike implements, including some fine halberds. It is said that Cromwell, on taking Knole House, carried away several waggon-loads of arms. Even now the position is so strong, that a garrison of five hundred men, loopholing the walls, and taking the defensive measures prescribed by the military science of the day, would be able to make it a “tough job” to turn them out. The curious brick loopholing of the wall of a large building, looking like a barn, at the north-east corner of the pile, seems as if it had been prepared for the use of archers. In a court-yard near, the wall has been raised, and that at a period which is widely removed from the date of its erection. In the lower and thicker portion is a window of the style introduced in the reign of Henry III. Close by, in the upper and receding portion, is an opening with the flat, four-centred arch of the Tudor times.

The first court entered by the visitor is the Green Court, in which are the famous figures of the “Gladiator,” and of “Venus rising from the Bath.” Around this court are Lord John’s Apartments, the Greenhouse, the Bishop’s Stables, and various offices. The next court is known as the Stone Court, from which Knole House itself is entered. From the Great Hall a fine old staircase leads to the Brown Gallery.

The Brown Gallery is oak-panelled, and contains a large number of portraits—copies, principally, in one style, apparently by one hand, and in similar frames: they are chiefly of the worthies of the age of Elizabeth and James, and form a series of much interest. In this gallery, also, are many of those “easy-chairs” of the same epoch, for which the house at Knole has long been famous, and which have been so valuable to artists. It is a long and narrow apartment, panelled, roofed, and floored with oak. Here the antique fastenings to the doors and windows are preserved in their early purity; the stained windows are fresh, as if painted yesterday; while the historic portraits give vitality to the striking and interesting scene, and seem to remove two centuries from between the present and the past.

From the Brown Gallery a passage leads to the Chapel, fitted up with tapestry, with stained-glass windows, and the other accessories of a place of worship. The Chapel is of stately proportions, and flooded with a golden light, admitted through the eastern window, which is full of old yellow stained glass. It is kept in perfect order for daily service; but the appearance of English texts, written in that imitation of old English which has lately become prevalent, seems to jar with the traditional Catholicity of the spot. The private gallery is, in fact, a large room, in which the members of the family can be present at the worship, unseen by the servants or any other attendants. The gallery is hung with some very fine tapestry, of a bold style of execution, and in excellent preservation. The subject is not explained by the tradition of the spot. It appears to refer to the legend of St. Veronica, as the marvellous sudarium, or handkerchief, bearing the impression of the features of Christ, is displayed in one scene, to the astonishment of a truculent personage in an enormous crown, who appears repeatedly in various parts of the canvas, and no doubt represents “the Emperor”—a title of singular elasticity in monkish stories. The Chapel is directly connected with the home chambers of the family: these are hung with rare pictures by the great old masters, filled with objects of virtu gathered in various countries by several members of the race, and distributed with judgment and taste.

On the other side of the Brown Gallery are Lady Betty Germaine’s Bed-room and Dressing-room: here, also, are fire-dogs, cabinets, and easy-chairs, that time has made picturesque. Lady Betty Germaine, from whom this room is named, was a great patroness of literature and the Arts. She was daughter of the Earl of Berkeley, and second wife to Sir John Germaine. Dying without issue, she left, as did her husband, an immense property to her nephew, Lord George Sackville, who assumed the name of Germaine. After his disgrace for alleged military incompetency in the reign of George II., he was loaded with honours by George III., and by him created Viscount Sackville and Baron Bolebrooke. Lady Betty, by her will, bequeathed to Lady Vere £20,000; to Lord George Sackville £20,000, and Drayton House and estate; and, after other legacies, left the residue of her property to be equally divided between them. Here, too, is the Spangled Bed-room, which owes its name to the character of its draperies. The Billiard-room is then reached, and then the Leicester Gallery, the most interesting of the whole range: it is full of portraits of the highest merit by great masters—that of the poet-Earl of Surrey being among its chief attractions. Leading from this gallery is the Venetian Bed-room with its Dressing-room; between them hangs a portrait of the Venetian ambassador, who gave the gallery its name—Nicolo Molino. The looking-glass in this apartment repays careful attention. It is framed in ebony, banded with silver; and in this and similar articles of furniture the examples afforded of a free, bold style of silver-work, English in its character, and eminently adapted to show to advantage the lustrous surface of the noble metal, are very striking. In some of the vases and sconces, of which copies are now to be seen at South Kensington, the same class of workmanship may be studied.

Lovers of heraldic antiquity will look with respectful affection at the pedigree of the noble family, a ponderous roll of parchment, fixed in a frame, as on the roller of a blind, so that it can be drawn out for consultation. The arms blazoned on the portion visible are those borne in 1586. Close by is a second roll of equal length, but of narrower width, which appears to contain drawings of tombs and monuments, and copies of painted windows, illustrative of the pedigree.

The Cartoon Gallery—so called as containing copies in oil by Mytens of six of the cartoons of Raffaelle—is also full of historic portraits. In this room are some remarkably fine fire-dogs. Two of these interesting objects from the Cartoon Gallery are engraved on our initial letter on page 56.

The King’s Room, the room in which it is said, though without any direct evidence, that James I. slept when a guest at Knole, is lined with tapestry detailing the story of Nebuchadnezzar; the hangings of the bed are thickly “inlaid” with silver—it is tissue of the costliest kind; a mirror of silver, an Art specimen of the rarest order; the various articles of the toilet in the same metal; two marvellous ebony cabinets; and other objects of great worth, account for the expenditure said to have been incidental to the visit of the sovereign: it is added that as they were there placed and arranged in the first years of the seventeenth century they have remained ever since. It is probable that the furniture of this room is what was prepared for the King at the grand reception given to him at Oxford by the Duke, and afterwards brought to Knole. Knole has not, however, been without its royal visitors, as we have already stated: among them were Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Queen Elizabeth.

The Dining-room contains the portraits of men made famous by genius rather than rank. Here are Shakspere, Beaumont, Fletcher, Chaucer, Congreve, Gay, Rowe, Garth, Cowley, Swift, Otway, Pope, Milton, Addison, Waller, Dryden, Hobbes, Newton, Locke (the six last named by Kneller), Goldsmith, Dr. Johnson, Garrick (marvellous paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds), Walter Scott, and other heroes of the pen, many of whom were honoured visitors at Knole during their lives, and have been reverenced there since they left earth.

The Staircase at the Grand Entrance is singular and interesting: parts of it are old, but the decorative portions are of a modern, and not of a good character.

The Crimson Drawing-room contains pictures by Reynolds, Wouvermans, Parmigiano, Vandyke, Holbein, Lely, the Carracci, Titian, Berghem, and others.

The Retainers’ Gallery, a gallery that runs the whole length of the house, is on the topmost floor. From its peculiarly picturesque character it has been drawn or painted by nearly every artist whose pencil has found work at Knole: we engrave one portion of it.

The collection of fire-dogs at Knole is singularly rich; they adorn every room throughout the mansion, the greater number being of chased silver. The chairs and seats of various kinds, to be seen in all parts of the house, are, as we have intimated, so many models for the artist.

The Great Hall has its dais, its Minstrels’ Gallery, and even its oak tables, where retainers feasted long ago. In a window of the Billiard-room is a painting on glass of a knight in armour, representing the famous ancestor of the Sackvilles; and in the Cartoon Gallery are, also on glass, the armorial bearings of twenty-one of his descendants, ending with Richard, the third Earl of Dorset. Of the several Galleries and the Drawing-rooms it is sufficient to state that they are magnificent in reference to their contents, and beautiful as regards the style of decoration accorded to each. There is, indeed, no part of the building which may not afford exquisite and useful models to the painter—a fact of which the noble owners are fully aware, for to artists they have afforded repeated facilities for study. It will not be difficult to recognise, in some of the best productions of modern art, copies of the gems which give value and adornment to the noble House of Knole.

The beeches of Knole have long been famous: they are of magnificent growth, gnarled by time into picturesque forms, sometimes singly, here and there in groups, and occasionally in long and gracefully arched avenues: of the latter is the Duchess’s Walk. The gardens, too, are laid out with much taste. The park is, indeed, one of the grandest and most striking, if not the most extensive, in the kingdom.

There is not a gallery, not a room, that does not teach to the present and the future the lessons that are to be learned from the past. Every step has its reminder of the great men who have flourished in times gone by, to leave their impress on their “hereafter”—

“Footprints on the sands of time.”

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