Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/369

 12 s. ii. NOV. 4, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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doubt, formerly part of the old garden and close to the cedar tree, one obtains the best view of what is left of the old Tudor brickwork a fine chimney-stack of that period still surviving.

I was courteously accorded permission by one of the officials of the club to see over the house ; and passing through a somewhat restricted entrance hall, which had evidently once formed part of the large room which now is the principal room or lounge of the club, one realized that the interior of the old structure which remained did still present " many vestiges of its former splendour." The room is handsomely panelled with old oak right up to its finely plastered ceiling. On one side of the room opposite to the large window overlooking the courtyard or open space at the back there is still, in fine preservation, the hand- somely decorated fireplace of stone already alluded to, inset with marble, and reaching to the ceiling in three compartments, the centre one containing the royal arms of the period Edward VI. or Elizabeth France (modern) and England quarterly. The Latin motto, in Roman capitals, though in two lines, forms a complete hexameter verse, and is a splendid incitement to us in these present troublous times. Will somebody kindly give its author ? The large Roman letters E and R, in the left and right bottom corners respectively of the entablature, are, of course, equally applicable to either sovereign, Elizabeths Eegina or Edwardus Rex. So, also, are the supporters the lion of England with the red Tudor dragon and badge of Wales.

During my visit to the house I was in- formed that an enterprising American citizen had offered the large sum of 3,OOOZ. for the decorated interior of this fine room ; but, happily, the present owner of the place a private individual had proved superior to the temptation. All honour to him ! En- field can now and I think, perhaps, with more justice hold up its head with Strat- ford-on-Avon, Stonehenge, and (can I add ?) Tattershall Castle, though some of these have had very narrow escapes. I wonder how much longer we shall have to wait before an enlightened Government, on behalf of an enlightened public, will make contemplated crimes like these an impossibility !

This room opens into another, and even larger one, perhaps, but more oblong in shape, which has evidently been largely modernized.* It is now used as the

which Dr. Uvedale taught his pupils.
 * It said that this once formed the class-room in

principal billiard-room of the club, the other billiard -room occupying what was once the old kitchen. On the other side of the entrance hall is a much smaller oak-panelled room, now used as a reading or writing room.

A handsome but to some extent modernized staircase leads to a large upper- room with a very fine plastered ceiling, decorated with regal crowns, Tudor roses,, and fleurs-de-lis in the various partitions. This room, too, has a handsome stone fire- place. Another, but smaller, room on this floor also has a fine plastered ceiling, but with simpler decorations. These rooms appear to be now used as card-rooms. On the floor above are several roomy attics, one of which contains four wooden partitions, or cubicles,, which, tradition says, were occupied by certain Indian princes when at school there,, so as to keep them distinct from the other scholars.

At the back of the Palace is a large open space consisting of a grass and gravefied enclosure, in the centre of which stands the famous cedar tree. It is now shorn of much of its former size except the actual trunk and beauty, having evidently lost some of its finest branches ; the larger ones which remairx. are propped up by wooden supports, so as to relieve the strain which the winter gales must bring to bear upon so large a tree.

It is impossible without an actual survey to compare its present condition and size- with the measurements taken so lately even as Mr. Robinson's time nearly a century ago but to all appearances it is still a vigorous and flourishing tree. In historic interest it is scarcely equal, perhaps, to the Boscobel oak now no longer in existence but is certainly worthy of com- parison with the great vine its junior by some years at Hampton Court, which may be said to be the oldest of its species in England still bearing good and abundant fruit. Surely it is at least equal in interest as an historic memorial of old-time arbori- culture, and as worthy of preservation. It may be hoped, then, that as our new loca) government authorities have already taken over the financial control of one of the old schools presided over by Dr. Uvedale, they may keep their eyes, on the last living link connecting him with the mastership of the other. The site of the other trees planted by the botanist and of his famous ' physic garden " appears now to be covered by encircling roads and modern buildings.

J. S. UDAL, F.S.A.

Inner Temple.

(To be continued.)