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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 13, No. 370, May 16, 1829 by Various
page 29 of 47 (61%)
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. The Princess Mary
fleeing from the persecutions of the heads of the Protestant party, was
entertained and lodged for a night by Sir John Huddleston, of Sawston. The
hall was in consequence besieged by an immense mob from Cambridge, fired,
and nearly destroyed; Mary and her host with difficulty escaped, (she
disguised as a market-woman,) and as queen, she rebuilt Sawston with the
stones of Cambridge Castle.

M.L.B.

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