Upon the opening of the chapel door, however, a full tide of
light greeted us, admitted by a dormer window, and this displayed an
apartment, known by its altar and benches to be appropriated to sacred
purposes, the sole decorations of whose plain white-washed walls were some
few engravings of madonnas, saints, and holy families, &c., chiefly
French, and not particularly beautiful or valuable.
On returning from the chapel we were shown an ingenious hiding-place for
the priest in troublous times: a cell covered by a trap-door in the
staircase, and just large enough to contain one person, a small table, and
a stool; whilst a loop-hole in the wall admitted an apology for light and
air. Of heir-looms, there are at Sawston Hall, plenty of curious old
pictures and engravings, books, missals, a real relic of chivalry, (light,
well-poised, and made of the true lance-wood,) a tilting lance; Queen
Mary's bed, and her pincushion; and a singular glass water-jug, made in
the reign of Queen Anne, which, when the present proprietor of Sawston
took possession of his inheritance, had been laid up for seventy years; it
is now, we believe, off the superannuated list, and sees daily service.
We have only space briefly to allude to the tradition, which, sketched at
length in the valuable periodical to which we have referred our readers,
induced us to supply the present illustrative account.
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