KNOLE 279 



be found in a Garden which boldly overlooks a 

 Park. And the constantly recurring vistas to be 

 seen down the long grass paths make a remarkably 

 striking feature in the Gardens at Knole, always 

 creating a sense of constant expectation of some 

 new and delightful prospect. From the little 

 dormer windows of the suite of rooms belonging 

 in old days to Lady Betty Germaine a delightful 

 glimpse can be caught of one of these green grass 

 Walks, with two old pillars, the remains of some 

 vanished gateway. 



The quaint little suite of rooms that Lady 

 Betty Germaine used remain unchanged ; they 

 have not shared the fate of the Gardens of her 

 day. And what of Lady Betty, whose name is 

 so often associated with Knole and its Gardens ? 

 Gossip whispers that, plain and portionless, she 

 managed to dance through a long life with amazing 

 gaiety, if not wholly without misfortunes. Lady 

 Betty was the daughter of Charles, second Earl 

 of Berkeley, whose chaplain for a short time was no 

 other than Swift. Between Lady Betty and the 

 author of " A Tale of a Tub " a strange friendship 

 sprang up, a friendship which lasted the incongruous 

 pair through life, only broken now and then by the 

 mad irascibility of the brilliant cynic. Lady Betty 

 married Sir John Germaine, of Drayton, the 

 notorious adventurer and gambler, on whose 

 account the Duke of Norfolk divorced his wife, 



