12/14 By fire and water it perished indeed. A week after Cowdray House was burned, in 1793, the last Viscount Montagu was drowned in the Rhine. His only sister (the wife of Mr.Stephen Poyntz) who inherited, was the mother of two sons both of whom were drowned while bathing at Bognor. JOHNSON AT COWDRAY] Among the treasures that were destroyed in the fire were the Roll of Battle Abbey and many paintings. Dr.Johnson visited Cowdray a few years before its demolition; "Sir," he said to Boswell, "I should like to stay here four-and-twenty hours. |