THE HOUSE OF GODOLPHIN. 421 



whether the sketch does or does not resemble that part of the 

 house, of which no trace is left remaining, but there is one piece 

 of negative evidence which is worth consideration. No sign what- 

 ever is shown of the wings stretching northwards, which still do 

 exist. I have already given my reasons for thinking that the 

 body of the house lay to the south of the present south wall : in 

 that case the projection northwards of the present wings should 

 make a prominent feature in the background of the picture, 

 whereas, on the hypothesis that the sketch is looking north, they 

 are not shown at all. 



In this state the house seems to have remained until the 

 first half of the XVIIIth century ; at which time Francis, the 

 second Earl of Goldophin, made the final addition to it in the 

 shape of the present front and portico. This front consists of a 

 corridor and suite of rooms running just above the old gateway 

 in the north wall. It is supported upon a colonnade of eight 

 pillars in front, and a similar colonnade of six pillars within the 

 the court-yard. Part of this latter colonnade has been recently 

 walled up. Between the two rows of columns stands the lower 

 portion of the north wall, with its original gateway still forming 

 the principal entrance to the house. The piUars, which are of 

 Tregonning granite, have solid round shafts, expanding at the 

 base, with a square plinth and abacus. Their only ornament is 

 a plain ring near the top. The suite of rooms above is lighted 

 by a row of square-headed windows, each divided into four by 

 a single muUion and transom. These, with the similar windows 

 on the other side looking over the courtyard, are the only 

 windows possessing a transom in the whole building. Above 

 these windows a rectangular hood-moulding runs continuously 

 along the entire front, dipping downwards in the interspaces 

 between the windows. The summit of the wall is crowned with 

 a battlement with continuous capping-moulding, resembling that 

 running along the south wall of the courtyard. 



"With the addition of this front the house of Godolphin was 

 finally completed. The rest of its history is but a record of 

 decay, demolition, and transformation. In 1785 the male line 

 of Godolphin became extinct, and the estates passed by marriage 

 into the hands of the Duke of Leeds. The house was abandoned 

 as a family seat, and seems to have been allowed to fall into a 



