Friday’s Excursion. 185 
Here Tue Vicar, the Rev. T. N. Hutchinson, received the party 
and gave a short but most interesting account of the history of the 
parish, leaving the architectural features of the Church to be des- 
cribed by Mr. Pontine, who pointed out that it was a very re- 
markable instance of a thirteenth century Church being enlarged 
late in the fourteenth century by doing away with the original 
aisles and forming a nave of immense width without any aisles at 
all, the walls being built of extraordinary thickness to resist the 
weight of the roof. 
The drive back to Wilton over the Hare Warren Hill was very 
enjoyable, the weather throughout being more propitious than on 
the preceding day ; and in the afternoon, when the party re-assembled 
at Wilton House, the beautiful grounds looked singularly charming. 
The visitors were most kindly received by Lorp and Lapy PEMBROKE, 
the exterior of the house being first inspected, whilst Mr. Pontine 
gave a sketch of its history and pointed out the several portions of 
which it is composed—the east side ascribed to Holbein, the south 
built by Inigo Jones, and the west and north re-modelled and spoiled 
by Wyatt. Then the beautiful bridge, built by Sir W. Chambers, 
and Holbein’s Porch, now forming a summer-house in the grounds, 
were visited, after which the interior of the house was shown. Here 
Lorp PremsBroxe himself acted as cicerone, taking the more notable 
pictures one by one with a spice of humour thrown into his des- 
criptions which will probably cause them to stick in the memory far 
longer than more laboured and learned dissertations. The magnifi- 
cent family group by Vandyke, was described in a catalogue of 
the last century as “a landscape with dogs”—there is a dog 
in one corner—“ probably the~most eccentric description of a 
picture ever given.” The visitors were duly introduced to this 
and many other Vandykes, the Honthorst portrait of Prince 
_ Rupert, the More ascribed to Holbein, the very interesting diptych 
containing the portrait of Richard II., the later Reynolds portraits, 
and many other objects of interest, such as the fine collection of 
ancient armour, some of it the spoils of French nobles taken at the 
Battle of St. Quintin in 1557, and the very curious gilt bronze 
bowl dug up in the grounds and supposed to be a gabbatha, or lamp 
