stalls and altar.

Stamford has another hospital which belongs to our second group. Owing
to the destruction of monasteries, which had been great benefactors to
the poor and centres of vast schemes of charity, there was sore need
for almshouses and other schemes for the relief of the aged and
destitute. The _nouveaux riches_, who had fattened on the spoils of
the monasteries, sought to salve their consciences by providing for
the wants of the poor, building grammar schools, and doing some good
with their wealth. Hence many almshouses arose during this period.
This Stamford home was founded by the great Lord Burghley in 1597. It
is a picturesque group of buildings with tall chimneys, mullioned and
dormer windows, on the bank of the Welland stream, and occupies the
site of a much more ancient foundation.

There is the college at Cobham, in Kent, the buildings forming a
pleasant quadrangle south of the church. Flagged pathways cross the
greensward of the court, and there is a fine hall wherein the inmates
used to dine together.

As we traverse the village streets we often meet with these grey piles
of sixteenth-century almshouses, often low, one-storeyed buildings,
picturesque and impressive, each house having a welcoming porch with a
seat on each side and a small garden full of old-fashioned flowers.
The roof is tiled, on which moss and lichen grow, and the
chimney-stacks are tall and graceful. An inscription records the date
and name of the generous founder with his arms and motto. Such a home
of peace you will find at Quainton, in Buckinghamshire, founded, as an
inscription records, "Anno Dom. 1687. These almshouses were then
erected and endow'd by Richard Winwood, son and heir of Right Hon'ble