34 DOVE DALE REVISITED 



scription : " It had in the centre a 

 square black marble table. ... In the 

 right-hand corner stood a large beaufet 

 with folding doors on which were 

 painted the portraits of Walton and 

 Cotton attended by a servant boy. It 

 was then considerably decayed, especi- 

 ally in the wainscoting and the paint- 

 ings." 



In 1811 Mr. Major gives an account of it 

 written by Mr. W. H. Pepys, in which 

 he says " it was fast going to decay. 

 . . . Against the door on the inside 

 were three large fragments of the table 

 itself, which were of the Black Dove 

 Dale marble." 



In 1814 Mr. Bagster found it "much dilapidated, 

 the windows unglazed and the wainscot 

 and pavement gone." 



In 1824 another writer says: "The windows 

 are destroyed, the doors decayed and 

 without fastenings . . . and the vane 

 nodding to its fall." 



In 1825 Mr. Jesse informs us that "the manor- 

 hall and eighty-four acres of land were 

 sold to Viscount Beresford for ^5,500. 

 About that time it was restored." 



In 1838 it was reported by Shipley and Fitz- 

 gibbon as being " nearly in the same 

 state as when the original constructor 

 described it." 



In 1844 (or thereabout) Mr. James Thorne 

 says : " There it stands as fresh, as 

 perfect and as neat as when he (Viator) 



