House and Garden 
tragic murder I have already told. The ceiling is 
very elaborate, almost too elaborate, and fine marble 
fireplaces adorn the chaniber. 
We now ascend the noble staircase, ^^hich is 
Wyatt’s work, guarded by two stuffed bears, and 
domed with a lofty lantern. Here are seen the 
painting of Rubens representing tbe fight with lions, 
Lely’s portraits of Charles II. and his queen, John 
Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, Lord Arundel (i 558 )> 
Sir Thomas Gresham, the uncle of the bride of tbe 
founder of Longleat, jam.es 11 ., Archbishop juxon, 
who attended the martyr-king on the scaffold, and 
Archbishop Laud. 
The state dra\^ ing-room is a noble room of fine 
proportions and irregular plan. It is panelled with 
old Spanish velvet brocade. 1 he door composed 
of inlaid marble came from one of the temples at 
Delhi. 
The most striking picture is one by Libri, 
an allegoric'al painting of Circe and Ulysses. 
The saloon is bung with Gobelin tapestry. The 
fireplace is a copy of one in the doge’s palace at 
Venice. 
The doorwxiys are of alabaster. Rare cblna and 
old bronzes adorn the room, and the furniture is 
upholstered with old Venetian red silk, d'he ceil¬ 
ing is somewhat too heavily gilded. 
I he walls of the upper dining-room are pan¬ 
elled with Cordova leather. I here is a rich 
frieze representing cupids and some landscapes. 
The ceiling is curious, old paintings being let 
into the panelling. It is copied from one in the 
doge’s palace, the arms of the Marquess of Bath 
being added. 
Perhaps the most interesting room at Longleat is 
Ken’s chantber in the attics, a fine large room of 
irregular shape, full of books and paintings and the 
accumulated treasures of an ancient family. In this 
room we can imagine the good bishop reading and 
writing, sometimes ntourning over the frowns of 
fortune and yet meeting his disappointments with 
pious resignation. 
Behind the panelling there are secret rooms, 
staircases and passages, which were extremely 
useful in troublous times as hiding places and 
means of escape. Ken’s portrait is here, and 
those of Sir Thomas Moore and John Dernan and 
other worthies; and a vast collection of books, many 
of them amassed by the first Lord Weym.outh (died 
in 1714) the friend of Bishop Ken. 1 here is a 
wondrous store of the controversial theology of the 
latter part of the seventeenth century,—tracts, 
answers, rejoinders, refutations, and a great collec¬ 
tion of civil w ar tracts. Of manuscripts, too, there 
is a fine collection, antongst which I saw Wycliffe’s 
English translation of the Bible (fifteenth century), 
a Latin psalter (fourteenth century), some old m.on- 
astic registers, and endless deeds and letters. The 
editor of the “Report of the Historical Manu¬ 
scripts Commission on the Papers at Longleat,” 
states:— 
“ d he collection of the Vlarquess of Bath is a w on¬ 
derfully complete and vivid illustration of our civil, 
military, naval and ecclesiastical history, and from 
the earliest times. Its value for historical purposes 
can scarcely be overrated.” 
With a glance at the beautiful Italian or winter 
garden, with its formal beds and the noble lake 
fashioned by Capability Brown, out of the little 
stream that turned the prior’s mill, the arboretum 
on the walk to Horningsham, the fine prospect of the 
spot well named as “Heaven’s Gate,” the variety 
of scenery in the extensive park, the venerable oaks, 
the remnant of the New England larch, or Wey¬ 
mouth pine, first naturalized m these woods from 
North America by the first Lord Weymouth in 1705, 
we bid farewell to the noble house of Longleat, one of 
England’s most stately homes. 
THE SOUTH FRONT OF THE HOUSE 
156 
