593 



iecent Wiltsljiu §ook |ainpl|[et5, 



[N.B.— This list does not claim to be in any way exhaustive. The Editor 

 appeals to all authors and publishers of pamphlets, books, or views in any 

 way connected with the county to send him copies of their works, and to 

 editors of papers and members of the Society generally to send him copies 

 of articles, views, or portraits, appearing in the newspapers.] 



Wilton House Guide. A Handbook for Visitors. 



By Captain Nevile R. Wilkinson, F.S.A., Ulster King of Arms, late 

 Coldstream Guards. With illustrations. London : printed at the 

 Chiswick Press. 1908. Price two shillings. 



Cloth, 7jin. X 5in., pp. 89, with six illustrations : — Wilton House from 

 the Eiver ; The Herbert Family (Vandyck) ; William, 1st Earl of 

 Pembroke (English School) ; Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke (Marc 

 Geerarts) ; Wilton House from East ; and Palladian Bridge. 



This little book contains scholarly notes on all the principal pictures 

 and sculptures, embodying the results of the latest criticism ; the 

 illustrations are good, and the notes on the history of the house itself — 

 pp. 80 — 88— are very useful. It is a model of what such guides should be. 



" The tradition that Holbein drew up the plans for the original building 

 may be traced to the careless statement of John Aubrey. ... A 

 drawing in an early manuscript copy of the Pembroke Terrier, dated 1563, 

 shows that the plan of the house was quadrangular ; it gives a drawing 

 of the eastern elevation which proves that here, at least, later alterations 

 followed the original design very closely. . . . One of the chief 

 features of the old house was the square walled courtyard with its 

 gatehouse entrance. . . . This courtyard was still standing in 1722. 

 . . . Henry, 2nd Earl, carried on the work his father had begun, and 

 added the heraldic embellishments of which some examples still remain. 

 He is also responsible for the armorial escutcheons now in the windows 

 of Wyatt's cloisters . . . which were originally in the old chapel now 

 destroyed. Between 1630 and 1640 the whole of the south or garden 

 front, said to have been erected by Solomon de Caux, was destroyed by 

 fire . . . Philip, 4th Earl, forthwith commissioned Inigo Jones 

 to draw up plans for rebuilding . . . The work of construction was 

 superintended by his (Inigo Jones's) son-in-law, John Webb. The re- 

 building was completed before 1654. . . . About 1705 the north or 

 hall side was totally destroyed by fire, and was rebuilt in " a noble and 

 very sumptuous manner " by Thomas, 8th Earl. The nature of this 

 building is not known, for the whole of the north and west sides of the 

 house were altered and in the main rebuilt by Wyatt . . The porch 



remained in its original position in the centre of the inner wall of the hall 

 VOL. XXXV. — NO. ex. 2 Q 



