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Rose has been the principal mansion of the bishops since the firstgrant of this manor to the see.* It suffered many outrages and violencesfrom the Scots, from time to time; nevertheless, being repaired, it con-tinued a comfortable habitation till its total demolition by the puritans,in the reign of King Charles I. Before that time it consisted of acomplete quadrangle, with a fountain in the middle, five towers, and

dining-room, original, the walls painted all over, as was anciently the mode soon after thebeginning of the reign of Edward VI. , chiefly with histories, out of all perspective, ofHenry VIII . The roof in flat compartments. A gallery with window recesses, or oriels,occupies one whole side of the quadrangular court. A gallery on the opposite, of equaldimensions, has given way to modern convenience, and is converted into bed-chambers. Inthe centre of the court is a magnificent old fountain, with much imagery in brass, and avariety of devices for shooting water. On the top of the hall is an original louver, lantern, orcupola, adorned with a profusion of vanes. The chapel, running at right angles with the hall,terminates in the garden with three large Gothic windows. The same Sir Anthony Brownebuilt also Byfleet House, Surrey . He died May 6,1548, and is buried under a sumptuous altar-tomb at Battle Abbey , in Sussex.”—T. Wauton’s Specimen of a History of Oxfordshire, 1783.

“ Holbein painted a chimney-piece with grotesque ornaments at Cowdry.”— Walpole’sAnecdotes of Painting, vol. iii. p. 84.

“ Roberti, an architect, built the staircase at Cowdry, the Lord Montacute’s; Pelegrinipainted it.”— Ibid. p. 397.

This magnificent house was destroyed by fire in September 1793.

The honour of Halnaker is in the parish of Boxgrove, near Midhurst, Sussex.

Halnaker House was built round a court, with the entrance under an embattled gate-house,flanked by small octangular towers on the south,—a square tower at the south-west angle,—the chapel and other apartments on the east; the hall and principal rooms on the north.The hall contains carving of the time of Henry VIII. , and oak panelling, with the arms ofWest, La Warre, Cantalupe, Gresly, &c. In a compartment near the centre are the arms ofEngland. Over the doors leading from the hall to the buttery and cellar, are half-length

* Nicholson and Burn’s Cumberland.