, had fallen in pleasant
places when he removed here from the damper atmosphere of Cheshire, and
that he had adopted the wisest course as far as health was concerned. We
had thought of calling at the abbey, but as it was forty-nine years
since he had left our neighbourhood and he had died in the year 1830, we
could not muster up sufficient courage to do so. We might too have seen
a fine portrait of the old gentleman, which we heard was hanging up in
one of the rooms in the abbey, painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence, a friend
of George IV, and President of the Royal Academy, who had also painted
the portraits of most of the sovereigns of Europe reigning in his time,
and who died in the same year as Sir Edmund.
Amesbury Abbey formerly belonged to the Duke of Queensberry, who made
great additions to it from the plans of the celebrated architect Inigo
Jones, who designed the famous Banqueting Hall at Whitehall in London
and the fine gateway of St. Mary's, Oxford. He was known as "the English
Palladio" because he adopted the style of Andrea Palladio, a celebrated
Italian architect of the sixteenth century. He was responsible for the
two Palladian pillars attached to the quaint and pretty entrance gates
to the Abbey Park, and for the lovely Palladian bridge that spanned the
River Avon, which flowed through the grounds, forming a favourite resort
for wild ducks, kingfishers, herons, and other birds.
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