Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original 380 illustrations. See 51173-h.htm or 51173-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/51173/51173-h/51173-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/51173/51173-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/statelyhomesofen00jewiiala Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). A carat character is used to denote superscription. A single character following the carat is superscripted (example: Conq^r). Multiple superscripted characters are enclosed by curly brackets (example: Esq^{re}). THE STATELY HOMES OF ENGLAND by LLEWELLYNN JEWITT, F.S.A., ETC., ETC. and S. C. HALL, F.S.A. Complete in Two Series. Illustrated with Three Hundred and Eighty Engravings on Wood New York A. W. Lovering, Importer. INTRODUCTION. ENGLAND is rich—immeasurably richer than any other country under the sun—in its “Homes;” and these homes, whether of the sovereign or of the high nobility, of the country squire or the merchant-prince, of the artisan or the labourer, whether, in fact, they are palace or cottage, or of any intermediate grade, have a character possessed by none other. England, whose “Home! sweet home!” has become almost a national anthem—so closely is its sentiment entwined around the hearts of the people of every class—is, indeed, emphatically a Kingdom of Homes; and these, and their associations and surroundings, and the love which is felt for them, are its main source of true greatness. An Englishman feels, wherever he may be, that “Home _is_ home, however lowly;” and that, despite the attractions of other countries and the glare and brilliancy of foreign courts and foreign phases of society, after all “There’s no place like home” in his own old fatherland. Beautifully has the gifted poet, Mrs. Hemans, sung of English “Homes,” and charmingly has she said— “The Stately Homes of England, How beautiful they stand Amidst their tall ancestral trees O’er all the pleasant land!” and thus given to us a title for our present work. Of these “Stately Homes” of our “pleasant land” we have chosen some few for illustration, not for their stateliness alone, but because the true nobility of their owners allows their beauties, their splendour, their picturesque surroundings, and their treasures of art to be seen and enjoyed by all.