DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32039#0081
AT SOUTH WRAXHALL, "WILTSHIRE.
59
place, which is much purer in detail than is usually met with, to have been made
in the early part of the reign of James I. The details of the windows certainly
come under the denomination of Elizabethan, as also the exterior composition
of the gables; but as the niches before mentioned are proved to be coeval
with the first alteration, and are of the same style as the fireplace, it
may be safely attributed to that era, and only shews how gradually one
fashion gave place to another. To the rear of this room, and ascended by a
short flight of steps from it, is a bedroom, with a fireplace of the same style,
bearing, in panels, the following inscriptions:—Faber est quisq. fortune sue,
on one side; on the other, Aequa laus est a lauclatis laudari, et ab improbo
improbari; and in the centre, on a bracket, where sits a monkey, Mors rapit
omnia. These steps also lead into a small closet over the north-east bay, but
all communication with that over the north-west bay was cut off by the altera-
tions: the door, how Tever, remains some feet above the present floor of the
drawing-room, behind the stone-work of the great fireplace; it is visible inside
the closet, as shewn in Plate XIV. No. 3.
“ The second wife,” says Aubrey, “did use much artifice to render the Son ”
“ by the first Wife (who had not much Promethean Fire) odious to his Father. ”
“ She would get her acquaintance to make him Drunk, and then expose him ”
“ in that condition to his Father ; in fine, she never left off her Attempts till ”
“ she had got Sir Walter to disinherit him. She laid the scene for doing this ”
“ at Bath, at the Assizes, where was her brother Sir Egrimond Tliynne, an ”
“ eminent Sergeant atLaw, who drew the writing; and his Clerk was to sit up”
“ all night to engross it. As he was Writing, he perceived a Shadow from the ”
“ Candle; he look’d up, and there appeared a Hand, which immediately ”
“ vanished ; he was startled at it, but thought it might be only his fancy,”
“ being Sleepy ; so he Writ on ; by and by, a fine white Hand interposed ”
“ between the Writing and the Candle (he could discern it was a Woman’s ”
“ Hand), but vanish’d as before. I have forgot, it appeared a third Time.”
“ But with that the Clerk threw down his Pen, and would engross no more, ”
“ but goes and tells his Master of it, and absolutely Refused to do it. But ”
“ it was done by somebody, and Sir Walter Long was prevailed with to Seal ”
“ and Sign it. He lived not long after ; and his body did not go quiet to the ”
“ Grave, itbeing Arrested at the Church Porch by the Trustees ofthe first Lady. ”
“ The Heir’s Rulations took his Part, and Commenced a suit against Sir Walter ”
“ (the second Son), and compel’d him to accept of a Moiety of the Estate : so ”
“ the eldest Son kept South Wraxhall; and Sir Walter, the second Son,”
59
place, which is much purer in detail than is usually met with, to have been made
in the early part of the reign of James I. The details of the windows certainly
come under the denomination of Elizabethan, as also the exterior composition
of the gables; but as the niches before mentioned are proved to be coeval
with the first alteration, and are of the same style as the fireplace, it
may be safely attributed to that era, and only shews how gradually one
fashion gave place to another. To the rear of this room, and ascended by a
short flight of steps from it, is a bedroom, with a fireplace of the same style,
bearing, in panels, the following inscriptions:—Faber est quisq. fortune sue,
on one side; on the other, Aequa laus est a lauclatis laudari, et ab improbo
improbari; and in the centre, on a bracket, where sits a monkey, Mors rapit
omnia. These steps also lead into a small closet over the north-east bay, but
all communication with that over the north-west bay was cut off by the altera-
tions: the door, how Tever, remains some feet above the present floor of the
drawing-room, behind the stone-work of the great fireplace; it is visible inside
the closet, as shewn in Plate XIV. No. 3.
“ The second wife,” says Aubrey, “did use much artifice to render the Son ”
“ by the first Wife (who had not much Promethean Fire) odious to his Father. ”
“ She would get her acquaintance to make him Drunk, and then expose him ”
“ in that condition to his Father ; in fine, she never left off her Attempts till ”
“ she had got Sir Walter to disinherit him. She laid the scene for doing this ”
“ at Bath, at the Assizes, where was her brother Sir Egrimond Tliynne, an ”
“ eminent Sergeant atLaw, who drew the writing; and his Clerk was to sit up”
“ all night to engross it. As he was Writing, he perceived a Shadow from the ”
“ Candle; he look’d up, and there appeared a Hand, which immediately ”
“ vanished ; he was startled at it, but thought it might be only his fancy,”
“ being Sleepy ; so he Writ on ; by and by, a fine white Hand interposed ”
“ between the Writing and the Candle (he could discern it was a Woman’s ”
“ Hand), but vanish’d as before. I have forgot, it appeared a third Time.”
“ But with that the Clerk threw down his Pen, and would engross no more, ”
“ but goes and tells his Master of it, and absolutely Refused to do it. But ”
“ it was done by somebody, and Sir Walter Long was prevailed with to Seal ”
“ and Sign it. He lived not long after ; and his body did not go quiet to the ”
“ Grave, itbeing Arrested at the Church Porch by the Trustees ofthe first Lady. ”
“ The Heir’s Rulations took his Part, and Commenced a suit against Sir Walter ”
“ (the second Son), and compel’d him to accept of a Moiety of the Estate : so ”
“ the eldest Son kept South Wraxhall; and Sir Walter, the second Son,”