HORATIUS WALPOLE HAS ÆDES A. S. MDCCXXVII. INCHOAVIT. A. S. MDCCXLI. PERFECIT. “Like most of Ripley’s houses, Wolterton is built with a basement story, and offices beneath, and consequently appears much less considerable in size and extent of accommodation than in fact it is. It is nearly a square pile, three sides of which have views on the park and pleasure-grounds, and to the fourth, eastward, is appended a large quadrangle, comprising the spacious kitchen offices, towards the north; a handsome domestic chapel to the south, (this has been removed, and a new one is now building to the east,) and communicating by an arched gatehouse to the east, with the stables and the kitchen gardens. The building is of brick, with chimnies, cornices, and dressings of the doors and windows in Portland stone, and is of so solid and durable a character, that the lapse of nearly a century has produced no apparent ill effect on its condition or appearance. The great hall on the north side was approached by a lofty flight of stone steps, which, as ill suited to the climate and habits of England, were removed by the late earl, and a commodious entrance, twenty feet square, made in the basement story beneath. The great staircase which fills the centre of the building, and is lighted from above, is in a rich and massive style of architecture, and extending down to the basement, serves as the approach from the present entrance to the principal apartments. Towards the south, in the centre of the house, is the library, pannelled in mahogany, thirty-two feet by twenty-four, containing a large collection of the ancient editions in various departments of literature, with much that is valuable of a more modern date. On the east side is the old dining-room, on the west the old drawing-room, each twenty-five feet by twenty, which have been, till lately, the customary living-rooms of the family.”