by Sir Jeffrey Wyatville. James Thynne--"Tom of
Ten Thousand "--was the Lord of Longleat in 1682. He was engaged to
the beautiful sixteen-year-old widow of Lord Ogle, when she had the
misfortune to attract the attention of Count Konigsmark, a Polish
adventurer, whose hired assassins waylaid and shot Thynne in Pall
Mall. The Count escaped punishment, but his instruments were hanged
upon the scene of the crime. The property then passed to a cousin who
became the first Viscount Weymouth. The third Viscount was made
Marquis of Bath when he was the host of George III in 1789. A famous
guest of the first Viscount was Bishop Ken, who stayed at Longleat for
many years as an honoured visitor.

Amongst the treasures on the walls of the corridors and saloons are
several Holbeins, portraits of contemporaries of his, including Henry
VIII. There are also a number by Sir Peter Lely, one being of Bishop
Ken and another of his friend and host; several interesting paintings
of celebrated men of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and some
good representative examples of great artists from Raphael to Watts.
The grand staircase and state drawing-room are of admirable
proportions and form part of the work of Wyatville. In the
drawing-room is treasured a cabinet of coral and a writing tablet
which belonged to Talleyrand. The great hall, which contains a
collection of armour and ancient implements of war of much importance
and value, has a fine wooden roof and minstrels' gallery. Among the
stags' horns that decorate the walls will be seen two mighty
headpieces that once belonged to Irish elks and were discovered in a
peat bog. The chimney-piece here belongs to the period before
Wyatville began his transformation of the interior.

Not least of the attractions of Longleat are its surroundings. The
park is sixteen miles round, and a large portion of this great space
is taken up by garden and pleasaunce, as distinct from the deer park
itself. The approach from Warminster and the north is by a wooded
ascent with Cley Beacon to the right and past "Heaven's Gate," a
favourite view-point with Bishop Ken, who, it is said, composed the
morning hymn associated with his name while contemplating the
inspiring scene before him. Almost as fine is the approach from the
south through the arched gateway on the Horningsham road. This route
passes through groves of magnificent timber and by the string of
delightful ponds that give the place its name.