[Pg 106]
All that remains of the old Jacobean house of Spye is a subterranean
passage beneath the terrace; but the Tudor entrance gate to the
picturesque park stands on the left-hand side of the road to Lacock
just before the road begins its winding precipitous descent. Evelyn
saw the house soon after it was built, and likened it to a long barn.
The view is superb, but, strangely enough, not a single window
looked out upon the prospect! After dining and a game of bowls with
Sir Edward Baynton, the Diarist took coach; but, says Evelyn, "in the
meantime our coachmen were made so exceeding drunk, that in
returning home we escaped great dangers. This, it seems, was by
order of the knight, that all gentlemen's servants be so treated; but
the custom is barbarous and much unbecoming a knight, still less a
Christian."