Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/382

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL APRIL 20, 1907.

calan (calendce) is used, as Calan, dydd Golan (New Year's Day), when etrennes are, in Welsh, calennig ; Calan Gauaf ; the calends of winter ; Calan Mai, May Day.

Welsh still preserves ; ' barm cloth " (lap- cloth) in the form barclod, apron (of. Morris's 'Earthly Par.,' II. iii. 80) ; and blin (tired), for blin, blinnen, blyn, blynne, to cease (' Lindis. Gosp.,' Hazl. Dodsl., viii. 320). Twm o'r Nant, the poet (of Interludes), who died in 1810, was attacked by his mother for being a brixiwn, the Old English brixel, rightly Welshed gwaradwydd, a disgrace. The vein, or lode, of Welsh-buried English provincial- isms and locutions is hardly entame.

Cast, " trick," is still Welsh, and was English, though I do not find it in Skeat. H. H. JOHNSON.

Universite de Rennes.

THE LYTTONS AT KNEBWORTH (10 S. vii. 247 . Knebworth Park, for centuries the property of the Lytton family, is finely wooded and well stocked with deer. The house is beautifully situated on high ground. At the time of the Conquest it was a fortress, and continued so till the reign of Henry VII., when it became the property of Sir Robert Lytton. He commenced a large quad- rangular Tudor mansion, the front being part of the early fortress. It was completed by his successors. Mrs. Elizabeth Bulwer- Lytton, mother of Lord Lytton, pulled down three sides of it, which were in a ruinous state, and restored the fourth, which now forms the present residence. An old gate-house was removed, and rebuilt as one of the entrance lodges to the park. In 1883 the mansion was again considerably enlarged by Lord Lytton : a new south wing with an entrance was added. He also expended large sums upon the grounds ; a drive (nearly a mile long) towards Stevenage, and two new entrance lodges to the park were made.

The exterior of the house has a castellated parapet, and highly ornamented turrets wdth cupolas. In the front it is profusely covered with heraldic designs and pinnacles sur- mounted with griffins. The house contains a fine old banqueting hall with an Eliza- bethan oak-screen and minstrels' gallery, and panelled wainscoting by Inigo Jones. It is decorated with banners and suits of armour of the time of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. The ceiling is temp. Henry VIII., and on the frieze round the hall is the following inscription in black letters : Read the Rede of this Old Roof Tree, Here be trust safe, Opinion free, Knightly Right Hand, Christian Knee ;

Worth in all, Wit in some ;

Laughter open, Slander dumb ;

Hearth where rooted Friendships grow,

Safe as Altar, even to Foe ;

And the sparks that upward go,

When the hearth-flame dies below,

If thy sap in these may be,

Fear no Winter, Old Roof Tree ! The other rooms are richly decorated with antique furniture, tapestries, and armour.

Sir Rowland Lytton entertained Queen Elizabeth here on several occasions, and the room in which she slept is still called " Queen Elizabeth's chamber.*' It contains a massive carved oak bedstead, with nearly life-sized figures supporting the canopy. The over- mantel is also of carved oak of the sixteenth century.

There are numerous pictures, priicipally family portraits. On the grand staircase is the portrait of Spinola by Velasquez ; and in the principal drawing-room, which is decorated with heraldic designs, is Maclise's painting ' Caxton's Printing-Office in the Almonry at Westminster.' The Portrait Gallery runs along the south side of the building, and contains portraits of Ed- ward VI., Mary Stuart, Cardinal Wolsey, Sir Philip Sidney, Nell Gwynn (by Lely), and other portraits of many great writers. ALFRED SYDNEY LEWIS.

As MAJOR MACMULLEN has numbered his questions, I will answer them in order.

1. Quarterly of 10: 1, Lytton, Ermine, on a chief indented azure three ducal coronets or. 2, Argent, on a bend cotised sable three mullets of the first, for Andrewes. 3, Argent, on a cross gules five scallops or, for Villiers. 4, Gules, a rose or. 5, Argent, on a cross sable five bezants, for De la Lee. 6. Argent, three boars' heads erect, erased, sable, langued gules, for Booth. 7, Argent, an eagle displayed gules, for Reid. 8, Sable, on a fesse argent three oak leaves vert between six acorns or. 9, Ermine, on a chief sable three crescents or, for Winchingham. 10, Gules, a bend between three martlets or, for Slaney. (See Cussans's ' History of Hertfordshire.' )

2. A small portion off the old house is incorporated with the present one, which was built in the early part of last century. Until quite recently it was let to Lord Strath- cona.

3. It is difficult to say where there are not coats of arms, as walls, windows, ceilings, fireplaces, &c., bristle with them.

4. The house is about 1^ miles from Knebworth station on the G.N.R. main line. MATILDA POLLARD.

i [MR. R. HEMMIXG also thanked for reply.]