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 by 30 feet wide-has a
very remarkable ceiling of the pen