England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Great Britain -- History -- William IV, 1830-1837
"The loss of records sustained is not important, nearly
everything of value having been printed; but among those of the
House of Commons destroyed, are the test and qualification rolls,
signed by the members after taking their oaths; and the original
Warrant for the execution of Charles I. is said to be missing
from the House of Lords.[15] ... The books in the lower library
of the House of Commons were saved; but those in the upper room,
including the quantity lately received from France, were
destroyed. The lover of ancient art has to regret the tapestry of
the Spanish Armada, the fragments of ancient painting in the
Painted Chamber, and St. Stephen's Chapel; and the probable
necessary demolition of, at least, the latter of those
structures. Some fine relics of ecclesiastical architecture will,
however, still be preserved in the Speaker's house. A curiosity
saved from the fire, is an oak table marked with the blood of
Perceval."
[Footnote 15: This, luckily, was not the case, as it is still in
keeping at the House of Lords.]
Luckily, drawings of the tapestry hangings in the House of Lords had
been made, and a fine set of engravings of them were published by John
Pine in 1739. There were ten pieces, each illustrating some phase in
the attacks and defeats of the Spanish Armada; and _Joachim de
Sandvart_ tells us[16] that the designs for this tapestry were made by
_Henry Cornelius Vroom_, a famous painter of Haarlem, eminent for his
great skill in drawing all kinds of shipping; and that it was woven by
_Francis Spiring_. There is a bit of a story attached to one piece of
this tapestry, vide the _Times_, Dec. 5th--
[Footnote 16: Academia Artis Pictoriæ Noribergæ, p. 274.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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