This room now opens sideways on
the Chapel, into which it looks down, and which is spacious enough to
accommodate a pretty large congregation. On one of the walls of the
Chapel there is a marble tablet to the memory of one of the present
family,--Mr.------'s father, I suppose; he being the first of the name
who possessed the estate. The present owners, however, seem to feel
pretty much the same pride in the antiquity and legends of the house as
if it had come down to them in an unbroken succession of their own
forefathers. It has, in reality, passed several times from one family to
another, since the Conquest.
Mr. ------ led me through a spacious old room, which was formerly
panelled with carved oak, but which is converted into a brew-house, up a
pair of stairs, into the garret of one of the gables, in order to show me
the ancient framework of the house. It is of oak, and preposterously
ponderous,--immense beams and rafters, which no modern walls could
support,--a gigantic old skeleton, which architects say must have stood a
thousand years; and, indeed, it is impossible to ascertain the date of
the original foundation, though it is known to have been repaired and
restored between five and six centuries ago. Of course, in the lapse of
ages, it must continually have been undergoing minor changes, but without
at all losing its identity. Mr. ------ says that this old oak wood,
though it looks as strong and as solid as ever, has really lost its
strength, and that it would snap short off, on application of any force.
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