226 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



earlier house at the place, and it was favoured by the 

 Anglo-Saxon kings. The sister ot Edgar Atheling 

 was its Abbess, nnd the Abbess of Wilton was so great 

 a lady that by virtue of her office she was a baroness 

 of England, a privilege shared only by Shaftesbury, 

 Barking and St. Mary's, Winton. Its site was 

 granted by Henry VIII. to Sir William Herbert, 

 afterwards created Earl of Pembroke, one of the most 

 greedy and successful acquirers of abbey lands. 



The Earls of Pembroke have all been men of 

 note, who have been distinguished equally in arms, 

 arts and literature. They were the patrons of the 

 writers and dramatists, as well as of the painters of 

 their time. Sidney's " Arcadia " was written at the 

 request of his sister the Countess of Pembroke, 

 whose beautiful epitaph by William Browne, 

 attributed to Ben Jonson sometimes, is so well 



known : 



Sydney's sister, Pembroke's mother, 

 Death, ere thou hast slain another 

 Wise, and fair, and good as she, 

 Time shall throw a dart at thee ! 



The house was largely erected in Elizabeth's 

 time, although Holbein is said to have designed the 

 porch. But the house was altered by Solomon de 



Caus, and was afterwards in the hands of Inigo Jones, 

 as we have described. James Wyatt, at the beginning 

 of the nineteenth century, attempted to invest Wilton 

 with a Gothic character, though with no success, and 

 his alterations have in part disappeared. The mansion 

 is famous for the great collection of the Pembroke 

 marbles, and for its magnificent series of pictures by 

 many of the great masters ot the Italian and Dutch 

 schools. Most famous of all are the great Van Dycks 

 in the double cube or great room, where the unique 

 picture of the Herbert family, including ten figures, 

 is the gem of the whole. The rooms themselves are 

 appropriate shrines for great works of art, being 

 sumptuously and yet harmoniously adorned with the 

 finest productions which classic skill could bring to 

 bear in the embellishment of walls and ceilings. 



By such a place as Wilton it is impossible to say 

 what great memories may not be stirred. It appeals 

 to us as the home of one of the noblest families in 

 the land a family which has given many illustrious 

 sons to the State as the place where the greatest 

 lights of learning and literature have been welcomed, 

 as the treasure-house of many artists, and as the 

 centre of one of the most beautiful of English gardens. 



IHE QUARRhL (FIGURES JN LEAD). 



