im the present state of all matters, and did get a
man to promise to carry it to-morrow morning, to be there, at my house, by
noon, and I paid him well for it; so, that being done, and my mind at
ease, we to supper, and so to bed, my wife and I in one bed, and the girl
in another, in the same room, and lay very well, but there was so much
tearing company in the house, that we could not see my landlady; so I had
no opportunity of renewing my old acquaintance with her, but here we slept
very well.

8th. Up pretty betimes, though not so soon as we intended, by reason of
Murford's not rising, and then not knowing how to open our door, which,
and some other pleasant simplicities of the fellow, did give occasion to
us to call him. Sir Martin Marrall, and W. Hewer being his helper and
counsellor, we did call him, all this journey, Mr. Warner, which did give
us good occasion of mirth now and then. At last, rose, and up, and broke
our fast, and then took coach, and away, and at Newport did call on Mr.
Lowther, and he and his friend, and the master of the house, their friend,
where they were, a gentleman, did presently get a-horseback and overtook
us, and went with us to Audley-End, and did go along with us all over the
house and garden: and mighty merry we were. The house indeed do appear
very fine, but not so fine as it hath heretofore to me; particularly the
ceilings are not so good as I always took them to be, being nothing so
well wrought as my Lord Chancellor's are; and though the figure of the
house without be very extraordinary good, yet the stayre-case is exceeding
poor; and a great many pictures, and not one good one in the house but one
of Harry the Eighth, done by Holben; and not one good suit of hangings in
all the house, but all most ancient things, such as I would not give the
hanging-up of in my house; and the other furniture, beds and other things,
accordingly.

[Mr. George T. Robinson, F.S.A., in a paper on "Decorative Plaster
Work," read before the Society of Arts in April, 1891, refers to the
ceilings at Audley End as presenting an excellent idea of the state
of the stuccoer's art in the middle of James I.'s reign, and adds,
"Few houses in England can show so fine a series of the same date
. . . The great hall has medallions in the square portions of the
ceiling formed by its dividing timber beams. The large saloon on
the principal floor-a room about 66 feet long