136 THE BATH ROAD 



supremely ?:y/-decorative guise of everyday dress : 

 homely coat, and trousers excruciatingly baggy at 

 the knees ; bareheaded, and in one hand a silk hat 

 and an unfolded umbrella. This is possibly the only 

 instance in which these last necessary, but unlovely 

 articles have been reproduced in bronze. 



Ancient Readino- knew nothiuQ^ of biscuits or 

 sauces. It was the home of one of the very greatest 

 Abbeys in England. The Abbot of Reading ranked 

 next after those of Westminster and Glastonburv, 

 and usually held important offices of State. In the 

 Abbey, Parliaments have been held. Royal marriages 

 celebrated, and Kings and Queens laid to rest. Yet 

 of all this grandeur no shred is left. There are ruins ; 

 but, formless and featureless as they are, they cannot 

 recall to the eye anything of the architectural glories 

 of the past, and the bones of the Kings have for 

 centuries been scattered no man knows whither. 



There are pleasant stories of Reading, and grue- 

 some ones. Horrible was the fate of Huo-h Farino- 

 don, the last Abbot, who was, in 1539, with one of 

 his monks, hanged, drawn and quartered for denying 

 the religious supremacy of that royal wild beast, 

 Henry the Eighth. The King had been friendly 

 with him not so long before, and had presented him 

 with a silver cup, as a token of this friendship. 



One wonders if this unfortunate prelate was the 

 same person as that Abbot of Reading mentioned 

 by Fuller. The Abbot of that story was a man 

 particularly fond of what have been gracefully termed 

 the " pleasures of the table." His eyes, as the 

 Psalmist puts it, " swelled out with fatness," — and 



