Friday, July 13th. 



131 



After this Malmesbury was soon reached — actually five minutes 

 before the hour appointed. The CONVEESAZIONE in the evening, 

 at the Town Hall, was not so fully attended as on the previous 

 night, some thirty-seven Members being present. The two papers 

 read were " NOTES ON THE HISTOKY OF SOMERFORD," by the 

 Rev. F. H. Manley, which was full of interesting matter and 

 will be a valuable contribution to the Magazine, and " DURRINGTON 

 AND MILSTON," by the Rev. C. S. Ruddle, an excellent paper to 

 listen to, on a class of subject which is not easy to treat in a 

 listenable way. 



The President having thanked the readers of the papers, and 

 special votes of thanks having also been accorded to Capt. Audley 

 Lovell, for the exhibition of his magnificent bibles, to the Com- 

 mittee of Ladies, who provided the tea and decorated the hall so 

 effectively for the meetings, and to Mr. C. F. Moir, who filled the 

 post — entailing a large amount of hard work — of Local Secretary, 

 the Conversazione came to an end and Members went off to bed. 



FRIDAY, JULY 13th. 



Starting from the King's Arms, the carriages drove first to 

 CHARLTON HOUSE, over which they were taken by Mr. Bates, 

 after the gardens and the exterior of the house had been seen. The 

 house itself, begun by Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, at the 

 beginning of the 17th century, and much added to by Henry, Earl 

 of Suffolk, who died in 1799, is, taken as a whole, a picturesque and 

 imposing building, but the real interest of the place lies more in 

 the pictures than in its architecture. The Long Grallery contains 

 a series of portraits of the reigns of Elizabeth, Charles I., and 

 Charles II., which, quite apart from their artistic value — and there 

 are many notable pictures there, too, from that point of view, 

 amongst them a delightful Vandyke, of the children of Charles I. 

 — are most valuable, both historically and for the study of costume ; 

 whilst the drawing-room still contains — in spite of the fact that the 

 great Lionardo once there has found a home in the National 

 Grallery — many delightful pictures, including the very unusual 



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