Note * — Chapter VI · ARCHITECTURE.
Reading edition
[This statement is erroneous. Maiden Bradley, which is not far from Longleat, has been a seat of the noble family of Seymour for many centuries, and they have an old mansion there; but the family never possessed Longleat. The latter estate, on the contrary, was granted by King Henry VIII. to Sir John Horsey, and Edward Earl of Hertford, from whom it was purchased by Sir John Thynne, ancestor of its present proprietor, the Marquess of Bath. In 1576, Sir John commenced the splendid mansion at Longleat, which some writers assert was designed by John of Padua. The works were regularly prosecuted during the next twelve years, and completed by the two succeeding owners of the property. See Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. ii.—J. B.]