Old England: A Pictorial Museum (page 50/52)

2088.—The Custom-House, London, as it appeared before the Great Fire. (From a Print by Hollar.)

In all this increase of wealth and comfort, London of course took the lion’s share; the days had long passed away when as a port it ranked but a little higher in reputation than the ports of Boston, Lynn, and Southampton; and it began to be a general subject of complaint out of London, how it monopolised “traffic by sea and retailing by land, and exercise [...] [more...]

2089.—Barbican. (Designed from old maps and Elevations, temp. James and Charles I.)

An old-world street in London, with half-timbered houses overhanging narrow streets and alleys. [more...]

2103.—Herstmonceaux Castle.

There’s a modern photograph and also a Medieval Festival held each year. The castle is of brick and dates from 1415. The modern spelling is Herstmonceux, near Hailsham, East Sussex. [more...]

2105.—East Basham, Norfolk

Near Walsingham. “It is a curious and instructive contrast to compare with Herstmonceaux – a true Castle, but in which the domestic mansion was beginning to show itself – with East Basham Hall in Norfolk (Fig. 2105), which forms a true and most beautiful mansion, but in which the traces of old castellated architecture are everywhere conspicuous. It appears from the dates of the erection of the two piles, that it took nearly a century to complete the transformation. And truly significant, in its stately elegance, is Basham Hall, of the more peacable days [more...] [$]

2106.—Inn at Charmouth.

I’m not sure if The Queens Arms is the same place. let me know!

The Standard of the White Horse

A white horse rears up; it is set in a circular frame or cartouche with sword-hilts and an axe-head nearby. [more...]

Circular Frame With Weapons

This circular wood-engraved frame or cartouche is suitable for use as clip-art, perhaps for a restaurant menu or a scrapbook border around a picture. You could probably use it as a decorative initial O or Q, too. It is taken from the decorative illustration at [...]white horse. [more...]

Historiated Initial Letter “A”

A decorative initial capital letter “A” at the start of a chapter. This “historiated” letter A shows a woodsman, perhaps, with an axe (ax) raised over his head and a sheep at his feet. It could also be Abraham [more...] [$]