204 The Fortieth General Meeting: 



of its successive owners, and of the chief incideuts in its history 

 {ef. vol. xii., pp. 105 and 185). The house itself was then thrown 

 open from top to bottom by Mr. and Mrs. Ashley Dodd, who in the 

 kindest possible way took the party into every room and pointed 

 out the objects of interest with which the house is literally filled. 

 Upstairs and downstairs alike there is a wealth af fine old furniture 

 such as is rarely seen — much of it collected by Colonel Yeatman 

 Biggs, who also restored the house in the most admirable way. 

 In the bedrooms are splendid oak beds ; one of them from Fother- 

 iughay Castle, said to have been slept in by Mary Queen of Scots, 

 stands now in the room once occupied by Queen Elizabeth. China 

 and pottery, a valuable collection of birds formed by Mr. Ashley 

 Dodd in Egypt, curiosities and objects of art of all kinds — not the 

 least notable among them being a wonderful toilet set in rock crystal, 

 set in mounts with elaborate translucent enamel and gold enrich- 

 ments — made the time seem all too short which could be allowed 

 for their inspection. 



But, after all, the great charm of the house lies in the rooms 

 themselves, with their oak panelling, carved stone mantelpieces, 

 and fine Elizabethan plaster ceilings, which have been preserved 

 throughout in a wonderfully perfect condition. The drawing-room 

 especially remains absolutely intact as it was when it was first 

 decorated in Elizabeth^s reign. The beautiful panelling surmounted 

 by its richly-carved frieze has never even been painted over. The 

 elaborate ceiling, except that it has been raised most skilfully where 

 it had sunk, has not been touched, and the gem of the whole, the 

 inner porch or entrance in the corner of the room, retains its original 

 carving — some of it of extraordinary richness and depth of under- 

 cutting ; altogether a room which it would be hard to find the equal 

 of. Here, too, seen by some of the party, is a barn filled with the 

 panelling and finely carved stalls of seventeenth century woodwork 

 ruthlessly torn from the walls of Winchester College Chapel by 

 Mr. Butterfield some twenty years ago, leaving the Chapel in the 

 bare and unsightly condition in which it at present exists, to the 

 grief of all old Wykehamists. The gardens are worthy of the 

 house j and taken as a whole Stockton House will probably live ia 



