NEWTON MANOR. 49 



to the original owner of the chimney piece by one of the notable 

 humanists of the quattro-centro revival of letters. At the back of 

 the fireplace is a back plate or reredos of old Sussex cast iron ; it 

 bears the Tudor arms of Henry VII. or Henry VIII., and it was 

 originally at Hever Castle, in Kent, the birthplace of Anne Boleyn. 

 At first we used to burn turf in the old style, mainly because the 

 Newton property has attached to it an ancient right of turbary on 

 Coringdon Heath, about three miles away on the other side of the 

 chalk down. Unfortunately, however, though there was an ancient 

 and net unpleasant smell from the burning turf, there was also a 

 great deal of pungent smoke, but very little heat. In short, turf 

 burning was found to be an antique custom on the whole pleasanter 

 in the breach than in the observance. It ended in the setting up 

 of the hideous iron stove now to be seen, which, although ugly 

 and incongruous enough, gives out a very comfortable amount of 

 warmth. 



The entrance folding doors from the corridor into the dining-hall 

 are of old Spanish work of about the year 1600 ; they came from a 

 convent near Madrid, and the carved panels, which are in the semi- 

 Moresque or "Mudejar" style, contain various emblems and 

 devices illustrative of a Litany to the Virgin. The other glazed 

 folding doors in the corridor, I am sorry to say, were originally, 

 together with another similar pair, which I have utilised in another 

 part of the house, in Wareham Church. They are to my mind 

 charmingly quaint specimens of the age of Queen Anne, yet they 

 were ruthlessly turned out, some 20 or 30 years ago, on the occasion 

 of one of the numerous so-called "restorations" which the old 

 church has undergone. I found them abandoned in a corner of the 

 builder's yard " who did the job." A series of three carved doors 

 in the entrance hall and corridor are of Italian work of the end of 

 the 16th century ; they came from a convent at Padua. The carved 

 cabinets in the corridor are of French and Italian 16th century 

 origin, and a series of marble busts and other sculptures will be 

 noticed ; these are all of antique Greek and Roman work, and most 

 of them came from the Stowe collection. Perhaps I ought to say a 



