Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume I.djvu/70

 appearance of being much frequented. It contains a copy of Rubens's famous Antwerp picture, the Descent from the Cross; several MSS. the property formerly of the monastery here; and a curious book, printed by Nicholas de Frampton in 1478.

Our attention was caught, as we proceeded to Droitwich, about half way between that town and Worcester, (a distance of seven miles) by the ancient mansion of Hendlip, standing a few hundred yards out of the turnpike-road to the right hand; an house built in Queen Elizabeth's time, and presenting all the peculiarities of the singular architecture that was fashionable at a period when neither taste, neatness, or convenience, were understood. John Abingdon, the cofferer of this queen, is said to have built the house. Thomas, his son, the next possessor of Hendlip, makes a conspicuous figure in the many plots entered into in the 16th century for the restoration of the Romish religion in this country, and twice owed his life to the clemency of the court—to Elizabeth and James I. Active in his endeavours to release Mary Queen of Scots from her confinement, he was at length discovered, and confined for six years in the Tower; nor would his punishment, probably, have stopped short of death, had not the queen compassionated her own