HYLAND
the small Poet's Parlour, a family room wherein hang
portraits of poets and playwrights dating from the late
17th century. Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, was
himself a minor poet and more importantly patron of
John Dryden, Matthew Prior, and even Alexander Pope.
Robert Sackville-West notes that Charles led a ribald
life: "bawdy, racy, scurrilous; probably rather drunken
conversation…would have gone on in a room such as
this." (Vita described her ancestors as "a rotten lot, and
nearly all stark staring mad.")
Knole is noted for its magnificent collections of rare 17th
century furniture, some of it royal, dating from the time
of James I, from the Palaces of Hampton Court and
Whitehall (many printed with HC or WP, denoting their
former homes). There are important examples of 17th
century X-framed armchairs, fashioned on the folding
Roman military chairs taken on campaigns, and used as
thrones, from where the king would give audiences. Then
there are the magnificent state beds: the Spangle bed,
