361 
the foreman of the works, and shown the ingenious and peculiar 
machines for the fabrication of modern carding apparatus on 
leather, felt, and other material, which has superseded the old 
teasel in carding wool, cotton, and flax for the cloth factories. 
The one o’clock hooter hastened the departure of the visitors and 
workmen, and the Crown Inn was quickly found, where a substantial 
and liberal luncheon was provided for the party. After doing full 
justice thereto, two breaks conveyed 31 of the same four and a 
half miles to Longleat, passing through the magnificent park 
surrounding the house, where deer and pheasants abounded, and 
by their tameness and heedlessness of the presence of men and 
horses, seemed more like domestic cattle and fowl than ferz 
nature, destined to fall to the sportsman’s shot. 
The park extends over 4,000 acres, and in the centre stands 
the mansion, one of the largest in England, erected in 1565, after 
designs of John of Padua, Surveyor of Works to Henry VIII, and 
subsequently altered internally by Sir Christopher Wren and Sir 
Jeffrey Wyatville, the gardens being laid out by ‘Capability ” 
Brown for the 3rd Viscount Weymouth, created Marquis of Bath 
in 1789. The length of the chief front is 220ft., the side fronts 
180ft., pierced with innumerable windows, the roof crowned with 
turrets and large statues. The Marquis of Bath personally 
received the Field Club in the Grand Hall, adorned by heraldic 
shields, representing all the matrimonial alliances of the family of 
Thynne, and hunting pictures by Wootton, and after traversing 
many fine rooms which were ornamented with buhl cabinets, 
tapestry, portraits of historical characters, valuable Caxtons and 
pictures by Snyders, Holbein, Lely and VanDyke, those of the 
party who were students of Renascence architecture and anxious 
to certify themselves whether the octagonal chimneys were built 
contemporaneously with the rest of the building, were allowed to 
mount to the leads and circumambulate the roof. After bidding 
farewell to the noble owner, and thanking him for his courteous 
reception, a retreat was made to the Frome Station, but not before 
