Shee, Knapton, West, Jansen, Verelst; in fact not only in the
picture-gallery, but in all parts of the Abbey are scattered treasures
of art and vertu. Among the interesting curiosities are the one-pearl
drop-earrings seen in the portraits of Charles I., and worn by him on
the morning of his execution; also the silver-gilt chalice from which he
received the consecrated wine on that fateful morning at Whitehall. The
chalice bears the following inscription; "King Charles the First
received the communion in this Boule on Tuesday the 30th of January,
1664, being the day in which he was murthered." In the library are
autograph letters from the Stuarts, including one from Mary Queen of
Scots, signed "Your very good friend."
There is a portrait of Adelaide Kemble, with whom the Duke is said to
have been in love in early manhood. The actress is in the pose of her
histrionic profession, and in another part of the gallery is a bust of
the Duke by H.R. Pinker (1880).
The gigantic riding school is about 380 feet long, 112 feet wide, and 50
feet high, and from it is a subterranean passage leading to the tan
gallop, designed for the exercise of horses.
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