By JAMES POPE-HENWESST ILLUSTRATED FROM PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, PRINTS
AND PHOTOGRAPHS LONDON B. T. BATSFORD LTD, 15 North Audley Street,
W. i First Published September 1939 MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT
BRITAIN FOR THE PUBLISHERS, B. T. BATSFORD LTD., LONDON, BV JARROLD
AND SONS LTD., NORWICH Fwntispiece i Queen Elizabeth haunted by
Time and Death Ftom thcpaiiitwg at Cw harn Cowl, Wiltshire To
CLARISSA ACKNOWLEDGMENTS JL HE Publishers must acknowledge their
obliga tion to the owners of the pictures which are reproduced in
this book, and in particular to Lord Methuen for permitting the
reproduction in colour of the portrait of Queen Elizabeth which
forms the frontispiece. They are also indebted to Miss Joan
Eyres-Monsell figs. 29 and 30 and Mr. A. F. Kersting, F. R. P. S.
figs. 3, 4, 5 and 51, who took photographs specially for the book.
The photograph of Layer Marney Gatehouse fig, 10 was taken by the
late Brian C. Clayton, VI PREFACE 1 HIS book, an attempt to recall
a few of the associations dormant in some London buildings, is
quite as much the fruit of the crisis of September 1938 as National
Service or the black, snouted faces of the gas-masks, grinning in
invasion. During those tense autumnal days I wandered round the
city, wishing both to distract my mind and to view, as it then
seemed, for the last time the places I like. From this sombre tour
emerged a conviction that if one was to try to write about London
it had better be at once. For all that to me makes this city worth
living in all, that is to say, which the contractors have spared is
literally inde fensible. The placid courtyards of the Charterhouse,
the chapel of St. Edward in the Abbey, are things no A. R. P. can
save and withthe certainty of this trite discovery fresh upon me I
began this subjective survey. If the tide of my conviction of
imminent danger has, illogically, ebbed it has at least left high
and dry behind it something concrete if ineffective a book. Apart
from the stimulus spasmodically provided by these macabre
reflections, I have been encouraged to persist in my endeavour by
the unremitting interest of my mother. To Mrs. William Sitwell,
also, I owe thanks for the many hours we spent together last
winter, walking beneath the bare branches of the plane-trees in St.
James s Park, discussing the fabric of this book. T D J. F.-H. 74
AVENUE ROAD May 1939 vn CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . fagevi
PREFACE vii L CRYPTS i II. HAMPTON COURT . . .21 III. DULWICH 46
IV. HERTFORD HOUSE . . . .69 V. GREENWICH 88 VL STAFFORD HOUSE . .
. . 113 VII. KENSINGTON PALACE . . .136 VIII. WESTMINSTER ABBEY . .
.160 INDEX . . . . . - 179 Vlll CRYPTS I MADE Perdita promise,
before we went down to the crypt, to tell me frankly whether she
liked it, I did this because I have found by experience that crypts
are rather a special, not to say an acquired, taste. It is one that
is not widely shared. I have not yet forgotten the acid protests of
six or seven people induced, one hot August morning, to leave the
intoxicating beauty of the windows and the nave of Ghartres
Cathedral, to stumble after me along the damp intersecting tunnels
of the crypt, with the little early altars, the stained plaster
walls, and the faint inadequate blinking of the oil lamps. Myself,
I enjoyed this expedition im mensely. The crypt was cold and
authentically mysterious, and my only regret was the garishness of
the modern frescoes. At that time Ihad not read Huysmans, but I
think I should like it more than ever now. This taste for the
subterranean I attribute entirely to Harrison Ainsworth. As a child
I early developed a passion for this neglected author, and at one
moment I insisted on keeping both Windsor Castle and The Tower of
London beside the night-light on my bedroom table. Later on, at
school, I read and re-read all his work, revelling in the
complicated, gloomy stories of dungeons and tombs, underground
torture-rooms, graveyard trysts, owls, bats, murderers, and
mandrakes...
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
