At Gedding, stood a noble moated mansion, called Gedding Hall. It is now gone to decay. West Stowe Hall, anciently the property of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, yet stands to interest the architectural antiquarian, by its noble gateway. The arms of the queen of France, Suffolk's wife, are carved upon the front. At Stoke-by-Nayland, is another fine remnant of a baronial residence, called Gifford's Hall. The gateway, which is castellated, is stated to have been erected by a distant relative, Peter Gifford, of Anne Bullen. The house surrounds a quadrangular court. The mouldings and spandrels of the door ways, are fashioned in brick. At Acton, between Sudbury and Lavenham, stands Acton place, formerly the seat of a family named Daniels, but sold by them to Robert Jennens, Esq., who commenced building a mansion of extreme splendour, upon the remains of an old one. The son of this man, William Jennens, was the richest subject of his time, but in consequence of his dying, leaving his will unsigned in his pocket, the property fell into litigation, the spirit of which, however just or unjust, it would seem, is not yet laid. "This extraordinary individual was born in 1702, and died on the 19th of June, 1798; consequently he was in the 97th year of his age. He was the son of Robt. Jennens, Aid-de-camp to the great Duke of Marlborough, and was grandson of Humphrey Jennens, an eminent iron-master, of Birmingham. His Godfather was King William III; and amongst other valuables discovered in his house, was a magnificent silver ewer, a present from that Monarch at his baptism. He had been page to George I., and having inherited large paternal property, and during his long life remained a bachelor, of very penurious habits, his accumulations increased even beyond his powers of computation. He was the last annuitant of the Exchequer tontine of 100£. a share, for which he had received 3,000£. a year for a length of time. His property was in almost every fund; and such was his neglect, that the dividends on most of his stocks had not been received since the year 1788, nor the interest due on his mortgages for a long period. In his iron chest, after his decease, there were found bank notes to the amount of 19,000£., and several thousand new guineas. He had always 50,000£. in his banker's hands, and he had not drawn a draft for the last fourteen years. A will was found in his coat pocket, sealed but not signed, which was owing, as his favourite servant stated, to his master leaving his spectacles at home, when he went to his solicitor for the purpose of duly executing it, and afterwards neglecting to repair the omis sion. By this testamentary instrument, in which John Bacon, Esq., of the First Fruits' Office, was left residuary legatee, the whole of the property was intended to be totally alienated from the channels into which it now falls. The most material sufferer by this informality of Mr. Jennen's, will, are the Hanmer family of Bettesfield Park, Flintshire, and Holbrook Hall, Suffolk. The heir-at-law to the real estate of Mr. Jennens, was William Augustus Curzon, and grandson to a first cousin of Mr. Jennens. His personal property devolved on his cousins William Lygon, M. P., and Mary, relict of William, Earl of Andover, eldest son of the late Earl of Suffolk. Thus, his almost incalculable wealth descended to three individuals, all of whom previously possessed immense fortunes. On the 29th of the month in which he died, the remains of Mr. Jennens were deposited with great pomp in the family vault at Acton. The following is said to be an accurate statement of his property: -Together with the money found in the house, personal, to an immense amount, and a landed estate of 8,000£. per annum.* Upon the death of the possessor of Acton Place, the building was dismantled. The tapestry was torn from the walls and the furniture sold. In the panels over the fire place of the Hall were portraits of one of the proprietors and his parents. There was also a curious room exhibited in this mansion, called the point room, from the circumstance of the whole of the apartment being hung with point needle work. The next room to this was called the silk room. Another curiosity exhibited in the house, was a bed presented to one of the owners by William III, and which was lined with his shirts. The value to be derived from these strange linings or their curiosity, we ourselves are at a loss to imagine. They were certainly objects of great interest in their day, so runs the tale, and have even been venerated by some of those possessing a belief in the divinity of kings. Among the Halls of Suffolk, was once to be reckoned Brome Hall. We say once, for it does not now exist in its perfect condition, as a large portion of the structure was pulled down some years ago, and several of the portraits ornamenting the walls disposed of. The date of the erection of the building is believed to be about 1540 or 50. It was built by Sir Thomas Cornwallis and the material of the part remaining is of brick. The building * Suffolk Literary Chronicle. in its perfect state cannot now be fully described. There is yet -or was here, not long since-a lofty hall of considerable altitude with a roof finished like those of churches, and the walls were wainscotted to the height of ten feet. In this apartment were hung several whole length portraits. Among them were those of Oliver Cromwell-Queen Mary-Lord Burleigh, James Ist and others. A chapel was attached to the mansion, having bay windows looking out upon the lawn. Within the chapel stood a beautiful gothic screen formerly hung with tapestry. The seats had silk cushions-and that for the minister was lined with purple. At Somerleyton, stands a fine old seat, called Somerleyton Hall, which with its predecessor has seen the days of the Fitz Osberts-the Wentworths and the Garneys. Flixton Hall, in the nothern part of the county, is a fine old erection, the seat of Alexander Adair, Esq. Cockfield Hall, Yoxford. The old Hall, at Parham. There exists a quaint old residence at Campsey Ash, known by the name of the High House, Campsey. The grounds attached to the place were formerly, and we believe are still kept up in the olden style of gardening. They contain some fine cedars, and in the park are several fine avenues of noble trees. Rendlesham House, the seat of the Right Honourable Lord Rendlesham. The mansions now enumerated do not constitute by far the whole of those to be found clustered over the County of Suffolk. Others of equal importance as architectural specimens of the domestic buildings of our ancestors, are to be found in every district of this portion of the kingdom. Nestled in the retirement of shady glens-ornamenting the open plains—or looking down from the brows of lofty hills-they give a charm to the landscape, and call up speculations in the imaginative, upon the fate of those who lived and died within them. Time, as we noticed at the commencement of this paper, is fast blotting out these old places-dear to the lover of the picturesque, the historian and the poet-from the face of the earth. This is bad enough. But independently of destroying Time, to render matters worse, there exists a powerful enemy to the continuance of these delightful structures, in the march of human civilization, that knows no check-and acknowledges no truce in its progress. Useful as the power of Steam undoubtedly is become to carry mankind forward into, it is to be hoped a blissful future, yet its progress roots or swallows up many ancient things for which we all feel a reverence and wish to leave untouched. Among these we should desire to see old houses spared from the common destruction which awaits all offering a momentary barrier to the Goliah of modern days. Yet the lines of railroads now dissecting the whole face of the country, have played sad havoc with rural objects, and levelled many an ancient and important residence, historically considered, to its kindred earth. Advocates as we are for the progression of the skilfulness, and scientific knowledge of man, we cannot look upon the vast inroads their application makes upon our country scenes-our "forests of Arden"-our rural castles and leafy nooks, that ought to be left untouched as the abiding places of pleasantness and fine historic associations-of the Dryads and Hamadryads for ever--without feeling a deep and almost absorbing regret. The approach of steam, is to these things of which we have spoken, as the approach of death. A LINE is projected a host of surveyors-excavators, and road markers spring into existence on the spot-the fields are cut up, woods felled the gray old mansion that has closely nestled in some umbrageous valley for centuries, and in which one or more of our poets, heroes, painters, or statesmen, were born, or had lived, is toppled to the earth-and straightway makes its appearance—a magnificent railroad, with gigantic bridges, banks, tunnels and culverts, attended by all its noisy accompaniments, putting rurality to flight for ever, and destroying objects, hitherto held sacred, by all who knew them. Such will be the fate of many an old mansion in Suffolk, as the |