27th. Up by four o'clock: Mr. Blayton and I took horse and
straight to Saffron Walden, where at the White Hart, we set up
our horses, and took the master of the house to shew us Audly End
House, who took us on foot through the park, and so to the house,
where the housekeeper shewed us all the house, in which the
stateliness of the ceilings, chimney-pieces, and form of the
whole was exceedingly worth seeing. He took us into the cellar,
where we drank most admirable drink, a health to the King. Here
I played on my flageolette, there being an excellent echo. He
shewed us excellent pictures; two especially, those of the four
Evangelists and Henry VIII. In our going, my landlord carried us
through a very old hospital or almshouse, where forty poor people
was maintained; a very old foundation; and over the chimney-piece
was an inscription in brass: "Orate pro anima, Thomae Bird," &c.
[The inscription and the bowl are still to be seen in the
almshouse.] They brought me a draft of their drink in a brown
bowl, tipt with silver, which I drank off, and at the bottom was
a picture of the Virgin with the child in her arms, done in
silver.
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