with what is essentially romantic, and we simply mention the
fact to show that the auctioneer is well aware of the monetary
value of such things.

At the time of the Gunpowder Conspiracy Rookwood rented Clopton
Hall, near Stratford-on-Avon. This house also has its little
chapel in the roof with adjacent "priests' holes," but many
alterations have taken place from time to time. Who does not
remember William Howitt's delightful description--or, to be correct,
the description of a lady correspondent--of the old mansion before
these restorations. "There was the old Catholic chapel," she wrote,
"with a chaplain's room which had been walled up and forgotten till
within the last few years. I went in on my hands and knees, for the
entrance was very low. I recollect little in the chapel; but in
the chaplain's room were old and I should think rare editions of
many books, mostly folios. A large yellow paper copy of Dryden's
_All for Love, or the World Well Lost_, date 1686, caught
my eye, and is the only one I particularly remember."[1]

[Footnote 1: Howitt's _Visits to Remarkable Places_.]

Huddington Court, the picturesque old home of the Winters (of
whom Robert and Thomas lost their lives for their share in the
Plot), stands a few miles from Droitwich. A considerable quantity
of arms and ammunition were stored in the hiding-places here in
1605 in readiness for general rising.

[Illustration: HUDDINGTON COURT, WORCESTERSHIRE]

[Illustration: ENTRANCE PORCH, HUDDINGTON COURT]