Majesty, whose courtesy and patience on the day I troubled him I acknowledge with most sincere thanks. Nor am I ungrateful to those whose kindness has permitted me to visit their apartments, and to see much of great interest which is not open to the public at large: especially my thanks are due to Lady Cecil Gordon for the courtesy with which she showed me her rooms and explained their interest. In Mr. William Brown, the most efficient caretaker of the picture gallery, I was pleased to discover a fellow-countryman, doubly anxious from old associations to assist me.
Among Oxford friends I have to thank Miss Florence Freeman for most valuable help, and Mr. Gordon McNeil Rushforth, to whose taste and wide knowledge of art I am greatly indebted.
To chronicle my obligations to other books besides those of Mr. Ernest Law would be a tedious task. I have tried to mention most of them as they occur, but I cannot forbear to particularise Mr. Claude Phillips's charming account of "The Picture Gallery of Charles I." (Portfolio, January 1896), and the wholly admirable "Guide to the Italian Pictures at Hampton Court" (Kyrle Pamphlets, No. 2), by 'Mary Logan.'
The Great House,
Burford, Oxon.,
August 1896.
