Knole and the Sackvilles

by V. Sackville-West

By his Ma^ty’s Command,

L. JENKINS.

There is also a letter from one of the servants mentioned in the passport, saying that they had had a good passage to Dieppe, “except Mr. Raphael, who was kind to ye fishes.”

There is another letter, from the Mr. Raphael in question, written home to Robert Pennock from Paris while on the same journey, saying that his Lordship wants the pond finished against the spring, orders the gardener to manure all the trees, and wishes Pennock to obtain a sure-footed nag, as his Lordship intends for the future only to make use of a saddle-horse between Copt Hall and London to prevent the pain of the gravel, of which infirmity his Lordship has lately been much troubled.

About this time he married. I have in my hands one of his love-letters, in faded ink; there is no date, no beginning, and no signature: it is superscribed “for the Countess of Falmouth,” and enclosed is a lock of reddish-brown hair—most dead and poignant token—of surprising length when one considers the heavy wig which was to be worn over it.

I must beg leave that we may be a little earlier than ordinary at Hick’s hall to-day, for to-morrow, i may be so miserable as not to see you; besides i am in pain till i can clear some doubts that have kept me waking all night; something i observed in your looks which shewed you had been displeased, at what i dare not ask; but till i know i must suffer the torment of uncertain guessing; though i am pretty well assured i could not be concerned in it [more than in the trouble it gave you]; being so perfectly yours, that it will of necessity be counted your own fault if ever i offend you, since ’tis you alone have the government not only of all my actions but of my very thoughts, to confirm you in the belief of this truth i do from this moment give up to you all my pretences to freedom or any power over myself, and though you may justly think it below you to be owned the sovereign of so mean a dominion as my heart, i have yet confidence upon my knees to offer it you; since never any prince could boast of so clear a title, and so absolute power, as you shall ever possess in it.

We know a good deal about Lord Dorset’s expenses and finances. We know that on the death of his mother he obtained an additional income of £1744 14s. 11d. a year from her estates. We know that thirty-four houses in the Strand were granted to him, and let as follows:

	£	s.	d.
23 houses at from £6 to £65 each	950	7	1
3 houses built by him and let at £90 each	270	0	0
Total	£1220	7	1

We know that twenty-four tenements east of Somerset House were granted to him for ninety-nine years at a yearly rent of £24 10s. 4d.—and that out of them he should have made £1768 a year, as witness the list I reproduce, taken from a manuscript at Knole, but either he or his bailiff must disgracefully have neglected his business, for on Lord Dorset’s death many rents were found to be in arrear, one tenant’s yearly rent of £30 having accumulated to the sum of £235 5s. 6d., or nearly eight years’ owing, and another rent of £17 18s. 4d. had accumulated to arrears of £111 19s. 10½d. His servants’ accounts, too, were in a state of confusion, and some of the wages unpaid up to three years.

Signs	Rent
	£	s.	d.
The Rising Sun	64	0	0
7 Stars and King’s Arms	60	0	0
	60	0	0
	110	0	0
Surgeon’s Arms	60	0	0
The Golden Ball	60	0	0
The Golden Key	60	0	0
	60	0	0
Mitre	90	0	0
3 Golden [?]	90	0	0
Black Lion	90	0	0
Golden Fleece	40	0	0
	60	0	0
Golden [?]	48	0	0
Two Cats	60	0	0
	60	0	0
	70	0	0
Hen and Chicken	60	0	0
Spread Eagle, a Bath house	40	0	0
	13	0	0
3 Black Lions	60	0	0
The Angel	70	0	0
	55	0	0
The Dorset Arms Tavern	140	0	0
Swan	33	0	0
	55	0	0
Bull Head Tavern	24	0	0
The Dial	34	0	0
Ship and Bale	34	0	0
The Peacock	8	0	0
	1768	0	0