THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 529 



studied, so that not a feature was omitted, or an effect lost, that could 

 idd to the pleasure or increase the beauty of a home of this kind. 



If I was delighted with the house, I was astonished with the 

 furniture. It was all in the antique Elizabethan style richly 

 carved in dark oak or ebony. This is not very rare in England, and 

 I had seen a good deal of the 'same style in many of the great 

 country mansions before. But almost every piece here, was either 

 a masterpiece of workmanship, or marked by singular beauty of 

 design, or of great historical interest. Yet the effect of the whole, 

 and the adaptation to the uses of each separate room, had been con- 

 sidered, so that the ensemble gave the impression of the finest unity 



of taste. Among the fine specimens which Lady S had the 



goodness especially to make us acquainted with, I remember an 

 exquisitely carved work-box once presented by Essex to Elizabeth, 

 a curious silver clock that belonged to Charles I. (and was carried 

 about with him in his carriage on his journeys) ; and a superbly 

 carved, high bedstead, once Sir Walter Raleigh's, and the couch of 

 Cardinal Wolsey. There was an old Dutch organ, bearing the date 

 1592, of singularly beautiful workmanship, and still in perfect tone. 

 Some rare and unique carved oak cabinets, of flemish origin one of 

 them with the history of John the Baptist carved in the different 

 panels, challenged the most elaborate investigation. Of beautiful 

 chairs, seats, and carved wainscot, there was the greatest variety, 

 and in short the house was at once a museum for an antiquarian 

 and the most agreeable home to live in . 



This villa was built by a wealthy eccentric I think a bachelor 

 who wholly finished the collection only a few years ago. He 

 carried his passion for collecting very choice and rare antique furni- 

 ture especially that of undoubted historical interest to such an 

 extent, that it became a species of madness, and at last led him 

 through a very large fortune, and forced him to surrender the whole 

 to his creditors. You may judge something of the cost of the fur- 

 niture every room in the house being well filled when I tell you 

 that for a single Flemish cabinet, only remarkable for its superb 

 carving, not for any history attached to it, he paid 900 (about 

 $4,500). The property, when brought into market in the gross 

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