author’s works, from original drawings lent him by the late Marquis of Exeter. The casine, only one size larger than a cottage, was the fashion of the preceding age. Whenever the proprietor of an estate wished to turn hermit, he retired to the casine, a small temple erected in a portion of his grounds, where the finest views could be obtained, and the most perfect repose secured. In earlier times such buildings
Drawing-room chimney-piece.
afforded secret meeting-places wherein to hatch political plots; such a one was the triangular lodge in a secluded part of the wood at Rushton in Northamptonshire,
the seat of Sir Thomas Tresham, where the gunpowder conspirators assembled. The casine of more modern times was not so small, but it contained
all the requirements of good living. One example, is the casine of Marino, near Dublin, built by Sir William Chambers for the Earl of Charlemont.
