As before stated, South Wraxall manor-house is restored to all its
ancient dignity; but somehow or other, though much care and money
have been bestowed upon it, it seems to have lost half of its poetry,
for the walls and gardens are now so trim and order
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ly, that it is almost difficult to recognise it as the same when the gardens were weed-grown and the walls toned with lichen and moss.
Moreover, the road has been diverted, so that now the fine old
gatehouse stands not against the highway, but well within the
boundary walls. Inside are some remarkably fine old rooms with linen
panelling. The drawing-room has a superb stone sculptured
mantelpiece, upon which are represented Prudentia, Arithmetica,
Geometrica, and Justicia, and Pan occupies the middle pedestal
supporting the frieze, while four larger figures support the mantel. The
ceiling is coved, and ornamented with enormous pendants, and the
cornice above the great bay mullioned-window is enriched with a
curious design. A remarkable feature of the room is a three-sided
projection of the wall, the upper part of which is panelled, having
scooped-out niches for five seats, one in the middle and two on either
side. The banqueting-room also is a typical room of Queen
Elizabeth's time, and the "Guest chamber" is one of the many rooms
in England which claim the honour of inhaling the first fumes from a
tobacco-pipe in England. But Raleigh's pipe here is said to have been
of solid silver; moreover, tradition does not state that it was so rudely
extinguished as elsewhere, with a bucket of water: so, at any rate,
here the story is more dignified. To settle definitely where Sir Walter
smoked his first pipe would be as difficult a problem as to decide
which was the mansion where the bride hid herself in the oak chest,
or which was Ki
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ng John's favourite hunting lodge.
EASTERN AND SOUTHERN