Roman Miscellany:
Hidden in one of the rooms at Hare Street are a series of tapestries that Robert Hugh Benson made and, during his lifetime, hung around the house. Some of these depict the Legend of the Grail; others the Dance of Death, a popular subject with medieval and Renaissance artists. These were kept in the tapestry room, which was used for guests - especially, Benson one day remarked, Anglican clergymen. The usual figures appear, though with an Edwardian colouring: the Pope, the Cardinal, the soldier and so on. Finally - and this is a note of optimism and belief in the redemption - comes the funeral of death itself, with the creepy skull thuribles being swung by a skeleton.