346 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



roof, chimneys, brick-bordered windows and doors, 

 and the court, with its curiously-laid pavements, its 

 pool and flowering plants like sea-anemones lying on 

 a rock ? The dining-hall, or "common room," with 

 its fine timber-work, put together and pegged in the 

 old way, is a most restful meeting-place within ; 

 vistas of terrace and paths and pine woods near at 

 hand. For wet days there is a skittle alley adjoining 

 the house itself, where in the winter the villagers are 

 allowed to come in the evening and play for " horses," 

 while a pipe and a glass of beer are not forbidden. 

 The fine carvings used as ornaments on the walls of 

 the alley are dated 1707. They came from the 

 pediments of the gables of the old Wandsworth 

 Manor House, now pulled down, and are supposed 

 to be the work or design of Gnnling Gibbons. 



It will be seen that " Goddards " is a rambling 

 house. Adjoining the skittle alley on the left of 

 the entrance is an old-fashioned washhouse. Thence 

 a passage to an isolated little parlour giving on the 

 garden. Over these are bedrooms, which are joined 

 to the bedrooms of the upper floor in the other wing 

 by a long, low room called the " loft," and used for 

 indoor games in wet weather. Beside the large 



"common room" are a dining-room and parlour, 

 and all are furnished with interesting old pieces from 

 Surrey or Sussex, while some of the old-fashioned 

 ornaments were contributed by country people around 

 out of their own houses. Thus within and without 

 are interest and beauty ; within, the beauty of Art 

 and construction ; without, the mingling of Nature 

 with Art in the garden, and Nature alone in woods 

 and commons and hills for mental pleasure and the 

 soul's ease, to use the old phrase of ancient 

 benefactors. 



There is one more thing which should not 

 be left unsaid. Ancient founders often dedicated 

 their work to a saint, and that saint was not 

 infrequently a child-saint. The founder of 

 " Goddards," who bought the land and built this 

 home, gave it to his only daughter. It is hers, 

 and those who enjoy it are his little daughter's 

 guests. Over the porch is an interesting anagram, 

 carved in stone, combining in an ingenious 

 manner the initials of Daughter and Mother with 

 the year of construction, supported by characteristic 

 devices of the patron saints St. Cecilia and St. 

 Margaret of Scotland. 



THE SKITTLE-ALLEY WALK. 



