WIMBORNE, BADBURY, AND KINGSTON MEETING. liii. 



architect of the day. Mr. Bankes began his extensive alterations immediately 

 upon the death of his (the speaker's) grandfather, and upon his accession to the 

 property in 1834. Mr. Albert Bankes then invited the party to enter the entrance 

 hall and follow him up the handsome staircase of white Carrara marble, 30 feet 

 wide, which leads to the second floor. This staircase, he stated, was copied by his 

 uncle, William John Bankes, from that at Wolf eton House, near Dorchester. Leave 

 must have been given by the Trenchard family, to whom Wolf eton then belonged. 

 The rooms on the first floor are the library, the drawing room, the large dining- 

 room, the small dining room (commonly called the Spanish room), and the 

 saloon. On the first landing Mr. Bankes called attention to the three cleverly- 

 executed statues by Baron Marochetti of King Charles I. and his loyal subjects, 

 Sir John Bankes and his wife, the celebrated "Brave Dame Mary of Corfe 

 Castle." The bronze bas-relief at the foot of the statue of King Charles I. was 

 designed by the late Mr. H. N. Bankes. The original cast, skilfully restored by 

 Mr. Charles S. Prideaux, was presented last month by Mr. E. E. Bankes to the 

 Dorset County Museum, where it may now be seen. Sir John Bankes, the guide 

 stated, was the first member of the Bankes family to migrate into Dorsetshire 

 from Cumberland, where at Keswick the old manor house still stands, decorated 

 with the armorial bearings of the Bankes family. Sir John bought Corfe Castle 

 in 1635 from Lady Elizabeth Coke. In January, 1640, he was made Lord Chief 

 Justice, and followed King Charles from Westminster to York, having left Lady 

 Bankes to defend the castle at Corfe. Sir John died in 1644 at Oxford, and was 

 buried in the Cathedral of Christ Church, where a monument with a Latin 

 inscription was erected to his memory. In Kuislip Church, county Middlesex, 

 was a monument to Lady Bankes, who was the only daughter of Ealph Hawtrey, 

 of that place. It stated that she "bore with courage above her sex a noble 

 proportion of the late calamities, and had the happiness to outlive them so far as 

 to see the restitution of the Government. She died on April llth, 1661." 

 Conducting the party into the library, Mr. Bankes observed that Kingston Lacy 

 had long been famous for its very valuable collection of pictures. Among them 

 were the portraits by Cornelius Jansen of Ealph Hawtrey and his wife, the 

 parents of Lady Bankes, and the portraits by Van Dyck. Besides their intrinsic 

 value as genuine and fine works by masters of such reputation, they were doubly 

 interesting as having formerly decorated the now shattered walls of Corfe Castle. 

 These pictures, Mr. Bankes continued, were fortunately rescued, and, with the 

 keys of the gates of Corfe Castle, which "Brave Dame Mary " never yielded up, 

 they are, besides the bare ruined walls of Corfe, the only relics still remaining of 

 that once stately castle. He pointed to the keys, hanging over the mantelpiece. 

 Calling attention to some of the most interesting pictures, Mr. Bankes said it was 

 uncertain who was the painter of the four pictures of SS. Ambrose, Augustine, 

 Jerome, and Gregory; but they were attributed to Denis Calvart, one of the 

 Caracci, or some other leading master of the Bolognese School. Seven family 

 portraits by Sir Peter Lely were painted in the house. Sir Joshua Eeynolds, who 

 paid a visit to Kingston Lacy in company with Dr. Johnson, declared that " he 

 never fully appreciated Sir Peter Lely till he had seen these portraits." The 



