It is stated in the same magazine, that in 1828 the motto of the Paulets, Aymes Loyaulte, was to be seen in the windows of the principal apartment on the first floor, in yellow letters, disposed in diagonal stripes; which motto, it is added, “was probably put there by the loyal Marquis of Winchester, in the time of Charles I., by whom the
same sentence was inscribed in every window of his residence at Basing House, in Hants, which he so gallantly defended against the Parliamentarians.” [218]
Now, is it not more probable that the recollection of this motto in the windows of his paternal mansion, conveyed through the medium of coloured glass, indelibly stamped by sunshine (or daguerreotyped, as we might term it) upon the youthful mind of the gallant marquis those feelings of devoted loyalty which influenced his after conduct, and led him to inscribe with the point of his diamond ring the same motto upon the windows of Basing House?
Had we time to linger here, how amusing it might be to attempt to decipher the monograms, and names, and verses inscribed upon the various lozenge-shaped panes of glass, which practically exemplified the phrase of “diamond cut diamond.”
The fragments of the old Royal Exchange, with a Burmese cross-legged idol perched thereon—the urn to the memory of “Poor Banquo;” the green-house, with its billiard-table, and even an alcove, the most charming spot in “the wide world” to talk sentiment in, must not detain us from returning to another angle of the river front, after
“Do you think that I
Came here to be the Pryor’s Bank directory?”