evel than the other, the chapel and the hall are seen on either
hand, while in front are the steps leading to the state-apartments. The
buildings are not lofty, but there are second-floor rooms in almost all
parts, which were occupied by the household. There is an extensive
ball-room, while the Eagle Tower rises at one corner of the court. Many
relics of the olden time are preserved in these apartments. The ancient
chapel is entered by an arched doorway from the court, and consists of a
nave, chancel, and side aisle, with an antique Norman font and a large
high-back pew used by the family. After passing the court, the
banquet-hall is entered, thirty-five by twenty-five feet, and rising to
the full height of the building. In one of the doorways is a bracket to
which an iron ring is attached, which was used, as we are told, "to
enforce the laws of conviviality." When a guest failed to drink his
allowance of wine he was suspended by the wrist to this ring, and the
liquor he failed to pour down his throat was poured into his sleeve. A
tall screen at the end of the room formed the front of a gallery, where
on great occasions minstrels discoursed sweet music, while at the
opposite end the lord and his honored guests sat on a raised dais. Here
still stands the old table, while behind the dais a flight of stairs
leads up to the state-apartments. Stags' heads and antlers of great age
are on the walls. Another door opens out of the banquet-hall into the
dining-room, the end of which is entirely taken up with a fine Gothic
window displaying the Vernon arms and quarterings. This room is
elaborately wainscoted. The royal arms are inscribed over the fireplace,
and below them is the Vernon motto carved in Gothic letters:

"Drede God and Honour the Kyng."

An exquisite oriel window looks out from this room over the woods and
grounds of Haddon, the recess bearing on one of its panels the head of
Will Somers, who was Henry VIII.'s jester. The drawing-room, which is
over the dining-room, is hung with old tapestry, above which is a frieze
of ornamental mouldings. A pretty recessed window also gives from this
room a delightful view over the grounds.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE BANQUET-HALL, HADDON HALL.]

The gem of Haddon is the long gallery or ball-room, which extends over
one hundred feet along one side of the inner court: the semicircular
wooden steps leading to this apartment are said to have been cut from a
single tree that g