hic king-posts to be seen in the picturesque half-timbered
billiard-room.

[Illustration: Maldon, Essex. Sky-line of the High Street at twilight]

The country around Maldon is dotted plentifully with evidences of
past ages; Layer Marney, with its famous towers; D'Arcy Hall, noted
for containing some of the finest linen panelling in England; Beeleigh
Abbey, and other old-world buildings. The sea-serpent may still be
seen at Heybridge, on the Norman church-door, one of the best of its
kind, and exhibiting almost all its original ironwork, including the
chimerical decorative clamp.

[Illustration: St. Mary's Church, Maldon]

The ancient house exhibited at the Franco-British Exhibition at
Shepherd's Bush was a typical example of an Elizabethan dwelling. It
was brought from Ipswich, where it was doomed to make room for the
extension of Co-operative Stores, but so firmly was it built that, in
spite of its age of three hundred and fifty years, it defied for some
time the attacks of the house-breakers. It was built in 1563, as the
date carved on the solid lintel shows, but some parts of the structure
may have been earlier. All the oak joists and rafters had been
securely mortised into each other and fixed with stout wooden pins. So
securely were these pins fixed, that after many vain attempts to knock
them out, they had all to be bored out with augers. The mortises and
tenons were found to be as sound and clean as on the day when they
were fitted by the sixteenth-century carpenters. The foundations and
the chimneys were built of brick. The house contained a large
entrance-hall, a kitchen, a splendidly carved staircase, a
living-room, and two good bedrooms, on the upper floor. The whole
house was a fine specimen of East Anglian half-timber work. The
timbers that formed the framework were all straight, the diamond and
curved patterns, familiar in western counties, signs of later
construction, being altogether absent. One of the striking features of
this, as of many other timber-framed houses, is the carved corner or
angle post. It curves outwards as a support to the projecting first
floor to the extent of nearly two feet, and the whole piece was hewn
out of one massive oak log, the root, as was usual, having been placed
upwards, and beautifully carved with Gothic floriations. The full
overhang of the gables is four feet six inches. In later examples this
distance between the gables and the wall was considerably reduced,
unti