62 THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET, [Book VII. 



Cromwell, daughter of the late Protector Oliver Cromwell, 

 and sister to the wife of my Lord Thomas Bellasyse, Baron 

 Fauconberg. The lady was first married to the nephew of 

 my Lord Charles Rich, Earl of Warwick, by whom she had 

 no children, he having died shortly after his marriage ; by her 

 second husband she has three children, one son and two 

 daughters. This villa stands in a delightful plain, in the midst 

 of a lawn, which surrounds it on every side ; and both with 

 respect to the materials of which it is built, the ornaments 

 with which it is decorated, and the arrangement of its domestic 

 conveniences, it will bear a comparison with the most dis- 

 tinguished country seats of the principal gentry of the kingdom ; 

 on this account, my Lord James Howard, Earl of Suffolk, has 

 been induced by its situation, by the magnificence of the 

 edifice, and by its vicinity to Newmarket, to purchase it for 

 the sum of twelve thousand pounds ; but till the actual pay- 

 ment of the money, the seller retains the proprietorship and 

 possession. In the lawn belonging to the villa is a place set 

 apart for bowls, where his highness and the Earl of Thomond 

 played a few games, previous to viewing the mansion ; his 

 highness afterwards went over all the apartments, and found 

 them handsomely furnished, according to the custom of the 

 country. Amongst other things that the house contains, the 

 gallery, which faces the South, is not the least remarkable ; 

 for, besides the view which it commands from its windows, 

 there is upon the top of it an open promenade, that, being 

 connected with the roof of the house, which is covered with 

 lead, affords on every side a prospect of the surrounding 

 country. His highness had the curiosity to ascend thither, to 

 view through a telescope the city of Ely, and its cathedral 

 church, which is a most magnificent and conspicuous building. 

 From the upper apartments, his highness descended to a 

 spacious room on the ground-floor, and there found the wife 

 and sister of Sir — Russell, the master of the house, who paid 

 their compliments to him, to which his highness replied with 

 the greatest politeness ; and seats having been prepared, he 

 sate down, and continued his conversation (in the French 

 language only) with the Lady Cromwell, giving her the place 



