MINTERNE. 93 



then as now, for the tapestry fits the walls very well), and the blue 

 damask parlour. The present dining-room was probably what was 

 called the Great Hall, as it has a stone floor, and till 1832 or 1833 

 it had a wide open fireplace with dogs. 



General Churchill is said to have enlarged and improved the 

 house very much. The tapestry in the drawing-room and two 

 north bedrooms was a present to him from the States of Holland, 

 when he was Governor of Brussels, as an acknowledgment for 

 services he had rendered there. The tapestry in the bedroom 

 (called the orange-room) has the Churchill coat of arms on it. 

 The fireplaces of this and the adjoining bedroom are in the angle 

 of the wall, a fashion which is said in Evelyn's Memoirs to have 

 prevailed in the year 1670. 



The ceiling of the principal staircase was painted by Sir Jas. 

 Thornhil], and has the monogram M.C. at the corners. (Query, 

 for Mary Churchill ?) A handsome pier glass and glass table of 

 old Dutch manufacture have both the same monogram, and also the 

 Churchill crest. The glass on the table was cracked all across till 

 1864, when Lord Digby had a new one put in its place. 



Tradition said that General Churchill had not been aware that 

 he held the property under the College of Winchester, and that 

 when he discovered that he Avas lessee only, not the proprietor, and 

 a large fine on the renewal of a life was asked by the College, he 

 dashed his sword with such violence on the table as to break the 

 glass. 



The offices at Minterne in 1768, besides kitchen, laundry, still- 

 room, and servants' hall, contained a room called " The Warden's 

 Hall," perhaps the place where the warden of Winchester College 

 or his deputy settled the business of the estate at their annual 

 visit, which they had the right of doing every year, in the month 

 of May, during which visit they had also the right of going to the 

 cellar and taking out any wine they chose a privilege that so 

 annoyed the Hon. Admiral Digby that he and Mrs. Digby never 

 dined in company with the warden on these occasions, but had 

 their dinner upstairs by themselves. 



