DERBYSHIRE TAPESTRY. II9 



There is much of interest in this time-honoured mansion, but 

 nothing more so than the tapestry which still adorns its walls. 

 True, much of it is frayed and worn, but here are still several 

 superb examples, some of which are not usually seen by the 

 ordinary visitor. If the injured and time-worn hangings could be 

 relegated into the rooms not usually shewn, and the choicer 

 specimens hung in their place, and properly protected, no violence 

 to old associations could be perpetrated, nor need any fear be 

 entertained from the ever-increasing art-loving and appreciative 

 visitors. 



The stimulus given to the estimation and value of tapestry by 

 the recent request of their Royal Highnesses the Duke and 

 Duchess of York to the Lord Mayor of London, with regard to the 

 disposal of the London Wedding Gift Fund, will raise the general 

 estimation of these ancient fabrics higher than ever, and some of 

 us, it is to be hoped, may live to see the day when every house of 

 importance will again vie with its neighbour in the beauty and 

 elegance of its storied hangings, the work of our own times. 



DESCRIPTIVE LIST. 



Except in Prince Arthur's and the State bedroom, the finest 

 tapestry at Haddon will be found in the upper rooms of the 

 chaplain's apartments in the lower court. Here we have — 



I. — The Conversion of S. Paul — of the series of the " Acts 

 of the Apostles " ; 



2. — Scene from the Story of Alexander ; 



3. — Deliverance of S. Peter from prison ; and 



4. — Diana, or the Boar Hunt. 



In 1655, the Earl of Rutland had in his possession at VValling- 

 ford House, five pieces, each ten feet deep, of the Story of Diana, 

 and there were also eight pieces of the Story of Alexander.* 



It is highly probable that two of these Haddon hangings 

 belonged to these sets of 1655 at Wallingford House. Two 

 years later, the eight pieces of the Story of Alexander were at 



* Rutland MS.S., Historical M.S.S. Commission, Vol. ii., p. 347, 



