DESCRIPTION 0/ WILTON. 4I 
it may be called a very imperfedt manufadtory, and fuch as we 
ought to blufti to be excelled in by turics, whofe carpets make 
me think of a fine mofly turf. 
If you would know more of wilton than our obfervation 
could fupply in fo fhort a time, there is a whole quarto volume 
of lord Pembroke’s medals, in which, if I miftake not, are in- 
cluded his ftatues and bufts. I am alfo told, there is a fmall 
volume, with an account of the ornaments of this famous houfe. 
It was finilhed about no years fince, but the greateft part of 
the building is as old as the reign of henry viii. If I re- 
member, this building is fquare, with turrets at each corner, 
and a quadrangular area within. It is built with fione, and of 
gothic ftrudture, and richly ornamented on the outfide of the 
walls, as well as within. The geometrical fiaircafe is faid to be 
the firft eredted in this ifiand ; the walls of it are beautifully 
ornamented with paintings. 
This palace, for fo we may call it, is diftinguifhed as a col- 
ledlion of the richeft ftatues, bufts, antiques, and relievo’s, of 
any nobleman in England ; or, perhaps, of any man in the 
world. Indeed it is a grand repofitory of curiofities. The 
lower apartments are fo crouded, that they appear like fo many 
{hops or magazines of marble merchandize. But amidft this 
profufion of grandeur, the arrangement feems to be as elegant 
as fuch a number will admit. 
Of the upper apartments there are feveral very noble. Here 
it was sir Philip Sidney wrote his arcadia, a romance com- 
G monly 
