XIII 



KNOLE, KENT 



1P\R. JOHNSON'S words, -the inaudible and 

 i-' noiseless foot of time," flash across the 

 memory at the first sight of Knole Park standing 

 like a little walled town amid an undulating Park. 



Time has touched the old place lightly, yet its 

 age is manifest on every side ; many of these grand 

 stone walls stood in the thirteenth century, when 

 castles were strongholds for the community within, 

 and every inmate, from chaplain to scullion, had an 

 allotted place at the great dining-table. 



Those were stirring times, and if the walls of 

 Knole could speak, many a brave deed of the past 

 would be extolled. Alas ! now it remains a body 

 without a spirit, as it were, drear and cold, for the 

 light of its glory has fled the bustle and life of 

 cardinals and princes with their retinues have 

 vanished with the "noiseless foot of time." 



Walpole's graphic pen describes lovingly and 

 sadly its wonderful past, and the feeling of desertion 



359 



