ls of
the battle of St. Quentin, fought in 1557, when the Earl of Pembroke
commanded the British forces. One of the suits was worn by the earl
himself, and two others by the Constable of France and the Duc de
Montpensier, both being taken prisoner. On either side are entrances to
various apartments containing valuable paintings. The chief of these is
the "Family Picture," regarded as Vandyke's masterpiece--seventeen feet
long and eleven feet high, and filling one end of the drawing-room. It
contains ten full-length figures--Philip, Earl of Pembroke, and his
countess and their children. Above them, hovering in the clouds, are
three other children, who died in early life. In the Double Cube-room,
which is regarded as a gem in its way and has a most magnificent
fireplace, there are some thirteen other paintings by Vandyke. Other
paintings by Italian masters are also distributed on the walls of the
various apartments, but the Vandykes are regarded as the gems of the
collection. The library is a large and lofty apartment, with an
oak-panelled ceiling, and a fine collection of volumes with appropriate
furnishing. Out of the library window the western view over the terrace
discloses charming pleasure-grounds, laid out in the Italian style from
designs by a former Countess of Pembroke, while in the background is a
beautiful porch constructed by Holbein. To the gardens, summer-houses
and conservatories add their attractions, while beyond is the valley of
the Nadder, over which a picturesque bridge leads to the park. This
bridge has an Ionic colonnade, and in the park are some of the finest
cedars to be seen in the kingdom. Here, it is said, Sir Philip Sidney
wrote _Arcadia_, and the work shows that he drew much inspiration from
these gardens and grounds, for it abounds in lifelike descriptions of
Nature.

[Illustration: LIBRARY WINDOW.]

At Wilton also lived George Herbert the poet, and later Sidney Herbert,
who was afterwards made Lord Herbert of Lea, and whose son is now the
thirteenth Earl of Pembroke. A statue of Sidney Herbert has already been
referred to as standing in Pall Mall, London, and another is in
Salisbury. He was secretary of war, yet was the gentle and genial
advocate of peace and charity to all mankind, and his premature death
was regarded as a public calamity. He erected in 1844 the graceful New
Church at Wilton. It was the Earls of Pembroke in the last century who
were chiefly instrumental in bringing the m