

224 COLLECTIONS AT r.LAXYILLKS WOOTTON HOUSE. 



Worcester pieces with deer and other emblems upon them. On 

 the sideboard is a handsome breakfast and Derby dessert service 

 given to my grandmother on her marriage in 1788. 



There are also some very old pictures and prints. One, done 

 originally by the ship's carpenter, is of Captain Dale's fight with 

 the pirate " Tullagree Angria," off the Coromandel Coast. In 

 the picture on the other side you will see him on the poop of his 

 ship, the Falmouth East Indiaman. 



The paintings of the reading girl in red shoes and of the 

 rat-catcher are said to be very valuable. The two large paintings 

 in the hall are of Mr. Taunton, founder of the town of South- 

 ampton, and his wife. The latter is feeding her parrots with 

 cherries. Amongst the old East Indian engravings, which 

 were published according to Act of Parliament in 1754, you will 

 see one of St. Helena, the island prison of Napoleon, and now 

 the home of Cronje. Those two of woodcocks are not painted, 

 but artistically made of feathers.* 



Two small drawings were done by my aunt, Mrs. Meggs, when 

 she was only seven years old. She was said to have been one of 

 the most beautiful ladies ever seen in Dorsetshire. 



The worked samplers in the case with the freedoms f are very 

 old, one of them bearing the date of 1687. The ancient letter 

 is of the same date as the freedoms, and is from Lord and Lady 

 Glencairn, telling Captain Dale that they are sending him a 

 mutton, as it is better than anything he can get in Greenock. 



I have also some old and curious books, including Albin's 

 original drawings of insects, the first edition of White's 

 " Selbornc," and an old edition of Aristotle, bearing the date of 

 1580. 



The Rev. F. O. Morris, the well-known ornithologist, sent an 

 interesting account of Glanvilles Wootton and its owner to 



* The bill, eyes, and legs are painted of course. 



t ( !l:is<;ow, Kcnfrew, and Dumbarton. They were presented to Captain Dale 

 in 1 7.")0, liis ship l.oing driven by stress of weather up the west coast of Scotland, 

 where ut that time so large a ship wag seldom seen, 



