Origin of The Term
The phrase stately home is a quotation from the poem The Homes of England, which was originally published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1827. The poem is by Felicia Hemans, and it begins as follows:
- The stately Homes of England,
- How beautiful they stand,
- Amidst their tall ancestral trees,
- O’er all the pleasant land!
Noël Coward, English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, wrote and performed a parody of the above:
- The stately homes of England,
- How beautiful they stand,
- To prove the upper classes
- Have still the upper hand.
In the later, Las Vegas phase of his career, Coward revised his lyrics:
- The stately homes of England,
- We proudly represent;
- We only keep them up
- For Americans to rent....
Read more about this topic: Stately Home
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