Objects in Frames: Displaying Foreign Collectibles in Early Modern China and Europe

income of £1,085 annually and valuable plate, jewels and vestments. The House of Commons came to St Stephen’s from the Abbey c. 1550; the first reference is from 1550 to the upper chapel. The only evidence for money spent adapting the chapel comes from a summary account of 1559 – £34 9s 6d. The House of Lords was meeting in the Queen’s Chamber in the palace, and thus greater co-ordination of activity was possible. This book is an enlightening and thoroughly-researched study of the history of St Stephen’s College, Westminster. It is an impressive attempt to reconstruct the history of the institution, now buried beneath the current palace of Westminster, from a variety of sources. There is deft argumentation, for example in the new dating of the sixteenth century cloister, which survives but is heavily restored. It is, however, disappointing that so little evidence survives from the Reformation period to enable a stronger picture to be painted. There are one or two typos in the printing of the book – (126) ‘St Stephen’s fit well’ should be ‘St Stephen’s fits well’; (153) ‘Chapel Roayl’ should be ‘Chapel Royal’. The book represents a definitive account of the history of a secular college in England and, as such, will serve as a valuable model for future scholarship.