The Stately Homes of England (part 4 of 5)

Introduction

THE noble mansions which have been chosen to form the second series of our “Stately Homes of England” will, it gives us pleasure to know, be found to fully bear out what was said in the Introduction to the first volume, that England is emphatically a Kingdom of Homes, and that these and their associations, and the love which is felt for them, are its main source of happiness and true greatness. For assuredly those we have now selected, like those already illustrated, are noble in their plans, their proportions, and their architecture; stately and magnificent in their appointments and internal arrangements; stirring in the historical incidents with which they have been connected; interesting from the grand old families by whom they have been, and are still, inhabited; and more than passingly interesting from their antiquarian character, their architectural features, their romantic beauties, their picturesque surroundings, and the invaluable treasures of Art enshrined within their walls. No matter in what Shire they are situated—and we have selected them alike from east and west, from north and south, as well as from the “lovely midlands”—these “Homes” serve but as examples of innumerable others that, dotted over the surface of the country, form the glory of England, and, through their noble owners, add to the stability, the greatness, and the proud supremacy of

“Our own, our native land.”

England has, indeed, reason to be proud of her Homes, and it has been a pleasant and a loving task to describe and to illustrate some of them in these volumes; to give records of the historical incidents with which they have been associated; and to add the ample genealogical notices of the families to whom they belong.

Like those in the first volume, these notices were prepared for, and originally appeared in, the Art Journal, but they have been rearranged, here and there rewritten, and in every case materially added to. We shall hope to follow up the present volume—the second of the series—with two or three more of a similar character, in which other houses, equally beautiful, equally interesting, and equally “stately” with those we have described, will form the theme of our pen and the subject of our pencil.

CONTENTS OF SECOND SERIES.

PAGE

I.—BELVOIR CASTLE, LEICESTERSHIRE 1001

II.—TRENTHAM, STAFFORDSHIRE 1032

III.—KNOLE, KENT 1056

IV.—CASTLE HOWARD, YORKSHIRE 1074

V.—KEDLESTON HALL, DERBYSHIRE 1093

VI.—AUDLEY END, ESSEX 1112

VII.—BURLEIGH, LINCOLNSHIRE 1128

VIII.—HEVER CASTLE, KENT 1147

IX.—WESTWOOD PARK, WORCESTERSHIRE 1160

X.—MELBOURNE HALL, DERBYSHIRE 1186

XI.—SOMERLEYTON, SUFFOLK 1203

XII.—WILTON HOUSE, WILTSHIRE 1224

XIII.—RABY CASTLE, DURHAM 1242

XIV.—CLIEFDEN, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 1265

XV.—WARNHAM COURT, SUSSEX 1280

XVI.—LOWTHER CASTLE, WESTMORELAND 1291

XVII.—CLUMBER, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 1317

XVIII.—WELBECK, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 1327

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

SECOND SERIES.

Page I.—BELVOIR CASTLE.

View from one of the Towers 1001 Belvoir Castle from the Grantham Road 1002 Arms of De Todeni, De Albini, and De Ros 1003 Ancient Arms of Manners 1006 Belvoir Castle from the North-west, showing the Grand Entrance 1008 Augmented Arms of Manners 1009 Arms of Duke of Rutland 1014 Belvoir Castle from the North-west 1015 The Grand Corridor, or Ball-room 1021 The Duchess’s Garden 1024 The Statue Garden 1025 Belvoir Castle, from the Stables, showing the Covered Exercise-ground 1027 The Gardener’s Cottage 1028

II.—TRENTHAM.

Arms of Duke of Sutherland 1032 Trentham, from Monument Hill, Tittensor 1034 Statue of Sir Richard Leveson in theourtyard at Trentham 1036 Monument of Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, Trentham Church 1040 The South Front, from the Italian Gardens 1043 The South Front, with Grecian Temple 1045 The Conservatory and Private Wing, South Front 1046 The Private Conservatory 1047 Trentham Church 1049 The Upper Terrace Garden, Italian Garden, and Lake 1051 The Gardener’s Cottage 1053 Children’s Cottage and Gardens 1054

III.—KNOLE.

Fire Dogs 1056 Front View from the Park 1058 The South Front 1062 Knole, from the Garden 1065 The Brown Gallery 1067 The Cartoon Gallery 1069 The King’s Bed-room 1070 The Staircase 1071 The Retainers’ Gallery 1072

IV.—CASTLE HOWARD.

In the Grounds 1074 The South Front 1079 The Garden Front 1080 The Mausoleum 1084 The Dairy 1085 The Great Hall 1086 The Garden 1090 The Grand Fountain 1091

V.—KEDLESTON HALL.

Vase in Garden 1093 The Hall and Bridge from the Park 1096 Arms of Lord Scarsdale 1099 Arms of Leke 1100 The North Front 1102 The Great Hall 1103 The Saloon 1105 The South or Garden Front 1107 Kedleston Church, from the West 1110 Kedleston Church, Interior 1111

VI.—AUDLEY END.

The Lodge 1114 The West Front 1115 East Front, from the Garden 1118 South Front 1120 The Entrance Porch, West Front 1122 The Temple of Concord 1124 The Garden 1125

VII.—BURLEIGH.

Arms of Marquis of Exeter 1128 Burleigh House, from the Park 1130 West View 1131 North View 1134 East View 1135 The Quadrangle, looking West 1139 The Great Hall 1141 The Ancient Stone Staircase 1143

VIII.—HEVER CASTLE.

Axe and Crown 1147 Entrance Gateway, with Portcullis 1149 Hever Castle, from the East 1153 Hever Castle, from the West 1154 Anne Boleyn’s Chamber 1156 Hever Castle: the Court-yard 1157 In the Long Gallery 1158

IX.—WESTWOOD PARK.

Arms of Lord Hampton 1160 Entrance Lodge 1161 Westwood, from the Main Approach 1162 The Gatehouse, as seen from the Mansion 1164 The Entrance Porch 1165 The Grand Staircase 1168 The Saloon 1169 Armorial Initial Letter 1171 North-east View 1173 The North Front 1177 The Principal Front 1179 Hampton Lovett Church 1182

X.—MELBOURNE HALL.

The Fountain 1186 Arms of Coke 1189 Melbourne Hall, from the Garden 1191 The Gardens and Yew Tunnel 1194 The Gardens, as seen from the Hall 1195 Melbourne Church, West Doorway 1198 King’s Newton Hall as it was 1199 Holy Well, King’s Newton 1200 The Trent and Weston Cliff 1201 The Trent and Donington Cliff 1202

XI.—SOMERLEYTON.

Iron-work Monogram 1203 The South Lodge 1205 The Front 1207 The West Front 1209 North-east View 1211 In the Winter Garden. Spanish Dancers, Hautmann 1213 In the Winter Garden. Statue, Hautmann 1214 In the Winter Garden. Statue of Hymen, Byrtrom 1215 In the Winter Garden. Nymph at her Toilet, Haudmauer 1216 Somerleyton Church 1221

XII.—WILTON HOUSE.

Initial Letter 1224 The Principal Front 1225 Wilton, from the River 1230 The Cedars 1231 The Hall 1233 The Drawing-room 1234 The New Church at Wilton 1237 Salisbury Cathedral 1240

XIII.—RABY CASTLE.

South Side 1243 North-east Side 1246 South and East Sides 1249 East Side 1256 Raby Castle, from the West 1257 Raby Castle, West Side 1262

XIV.—CLIEFDEN.

Cliefden, from the Thames 1266 The Thames at Cliefden 1268 Cliefden: the Cottage 1269 Cliefden: the Summer Cottage 1270 The Principal Front 1273 The Summer House 1276

XV.—WARNHAM COURT.

Distant View from the Lake 1281 The South or Grand Terrace 1283 The Garden Front 1284 The Mansion and Conservatory, from the Grounds 1285 View from the North-west 1288

XVI.—LOWTHER CASTLE.

North Front 1293 Arms of the Earl of Lonsdale 1297 South Front 1298 The Sculpture Gallery 1303 Roman Remains from Kirkby Thore and Drumburgh 1304 Roman Altars from Old Penrith 1306 Roman Remains from Kirkby Thore and Drumburgh 1307 Roman Remains from Kirkby Thore and Drumburgh 1308 Roman Remains from Kirkby Thore and Drumburgh 1309 In the Grounds of Lowther Castle 1311

XVII.—CLUMBER.

West Front 1318 Roman Sepulchral Altars 1324 Roman Sepulchral Altars 1325

XVIII.—WELBECK.

West Front and Oxford Wing 1328 Arms of Cavendish 1331 Arms of Hardwick 1332 Autograph of the Countess of Shrewsbury 1333 Margaret (Lucas) Duchess of Newcastle 1336 Arms of Holles 1337 Arms of Bentinck 1338 Arms of the Duke of Portland 1341 Part of Welbeck in 1658 1342 Welbeck, from the South-east 1346 The Riding School 1348 The Greendale Oak 1354

BELVOIR CASTLE.

ONE of the most majestic in character, commanding in situation, picturesque in surroundings, and striking in its arrangements, of all the “Stately Homes of England,” is Belvoir Castle, the grand old seat of his Grace the Duke of Rutland. Stately among the stateliest, and standing on an eminence in the midst of an undulating country, the one object on which the eye rests from whichever side it is approached, the castle commands uninterrupted views ranging over three separate counties, and embracing within its ken such a variety of plain and water, wood and valley, hill and meadow, as no other “Home” can boast. Situated nearly at the junction of the three counties of Leicester, Nottingham, and Lincoln, the panoramic view obtained from the castle combines the characteristics of each, and its extent ranges over an area of fifty or sixty miles in diameter—being on one side bounded by Lincoln Minster (which is, in a clear atmosphere, distinctly visible) and the hills beyond, although thirty miles off “as the crow flies.” Its immediate neighbourhood, the lovely and fertile “vale of Belvoir,” the theme of poet and prose-writer, and the delight of the painter and lover of nature, lies immediately below, while beyond are miles of lovely country, gloriously diversified with wood and water, and studded at intervals with hamlets, villages, and homesteads, which add greatly to the beauty of the scene.

A marked and peculiar character of Belvoir, and one of its greatest charms, is that it stands in the midst of this open country, not within the confines of its own park. There is no enclosed park; and park palings, lodges, bolts, bars, and locks are unknown. The Duke, in this noble mansion, rests in the midst of his immense estates, and draws no cordon around him. The roads, right up to the very castle, are open and free to all, and restriction is unknown. For miles in extent, and from every side, the public may wander on foot, or ride or drive, through the estate and up to the very doors, unmolested, and untrammelled by fear of porters, or deterred by appliances of state or ceremony. The stronghold of the De Todenis, the Albinis, the Especs, the De Ros’, and the Manners’, thus nestles securely in the very heart of the country, as does its noble owner—the descendant and representative of this long line of illustrious men—in the hearts of his tenantry, his friends, and all who have the privilege of knowing him.

The history of Belvoir Castle dates back to very early times, and is invested with more than ordinary interest. Leaving the question as to its site having originally been a Celtic stronghold taken possession of and formed into a station, or something of the kind, by the Romans, to be discussed elsewhere, it is sufficient for our present purpose to say that at the Norman Conquest, Belvoir, with some fourscore manors, was given by William the Conqueror to his faithful standard-bearer, Robert de Todeni, who here built a castle and founded a monastery. This monastery, situated at the foot of the castle hill, and on whose site many interesting remains have in late years been exhumed, was established in 1077, and was endowed with large estates; its founder, Robert Belvidir or De Todeni, agreeing to give to it for ever a tenth part of all the lands he might acquire by the help of God or the grant of the King. This priory was established for four monks of the Benedictine Order (and afterwards became a cell of the Abbey of St. Albans), who were to pray for the souls of the King, of the Earl of Cornwall, of Robert de Todeni, and Adelais, his wife, and of their parents and children. Robert de Todeni died in 1088, and, with his wife, who predeceased him, was buried in the priory at Belvoir which he had founded. He was succeeded by his son William, who took the surname of De Albini Brito, by whom the grants to the priory were confirmed and increased, and he obtained for the monks a grant of a fair for eight days in the year on the feast of St. John the Baptist. He married Maud de St. Liz, widow of Robert de Tonebrigg, daughter of Simon, Earl of Northampton and Huntingdon, and, dying in 1155, he, too, was buried at Belvoir, and was succeeded by his son, William de Albini, or Meschines (also buried here), who in turn was succeeded by his son, the third William de Albini, whose name, in connection with King John and Magna Charta, is matter of history. During his imprisonment at Corfe Castle by his unforgiving king, Belvoir Castle was, at the summons of the sovereign, surrendered into his hands. Under Henry III., Albini, being reinstated in favour, had a chief command at the battle of Lincoln, and took part in most of the stirring events of the period. Besides adding to the endowments of Belvoir Priory, he founded the Hospital of Our Lady at Newstead, for the health of the souls of himself and his two wives, and there his body was buried in 1236, while his heart was placed under the wall opposite the high altar at Belvoir. He married Agatha Trusbut, for the privilege of marrying whom he gave the King 600 marks (about £6,000 of our money). He was succeeded by his son, the fourth William de Albini, or, as he was called, William de Belvoir, who left no male issue, but, by his wife Albreda Biset, had an only child, a daughter Isabel, who married Robert de Ros, Lord of Hamlake, fifth in regular descent from Peter de Ros, who, by marriage with Adeline, daughter of Walter Espec, became the inheritor of two princely fortunes. Thus by the marriage of Isabel de Albini with Robert de Ros the estates of Espec, Ros, and Albini became united.

This Robert de Ros, after his accession to the Belvoir estates, obtained a grant of free warren and a weekly market there from Henry III. Later on, as one of the insurgent barons, he was imprisoned and fined. In 1267 he raised a new embattled and fortified wall at Belvoir Castle. He died in 1285; his body being buried at Kirkham, his bowels before the high altar at Belvoir, and his heart at Croxton Abbey. At the suppression of the monasteries part of the monument which had been placed over his heart at Croxton was removed to Bottesford Church, where it still remains in the chancel wall. His widow, Isabel, died in 1301, and was buried at Newstead. He was succeeded by his son, William de Ros, who became an unsuccessful competitor for the crown of Scotland, founding his claim on his descent from his great-grandmother Isabel, daughter to William the Lion, King of Scotland. By his marriage with Matilda de Vaux he added to the family estates and ecclesiastical patronage; and on his death, in 1317, was succeeded by his son, William de Ros, who was created Lord Ros of Werke; became Baron Ros of Hamlake, Werke, Belvoir, and Trusbut; was summoned to Parliament, second Edward II. to sixteenth Edward III.; was made Lord High Admiral, and one of the Commissioners to treat for peace with Robert Bruce. He died in 1342, and was succeeded by his son, William de Ros, who, after a busy military life, fighting against the Scots, at the siege of Calais, and against the Saracens, died on his way to the Holy Land, and was buried abroad. He married Margaret, daughter of Ralph, Lord Nevill, who survived him, and afterwards married Sir Henry de Percy.

Dying without issue he was succeeded by his brother, Thomas de Ros; who, having married, in 1359, Beatrice, daughter of the Earl of Strafford and widow of the Earl of Desmond, was in turn followed by his son, John de Ros, who dying without issue, was succeeded by his brother, Sir William de Ros. Sir William was, with Walter, Bishop of Durham, and the Earl of Northumberland, sent by King Henry IV. to arrange a treaty of peace with Scotland. He was a favourite with the King, who gave him many important offices; made him a K.G.; and granted him the town of Chingford, in Essex. By his wife, Margaret, of the family of the Earl of Arundel, Sir William had issue five sons and four daughters. He died at Belvoir Castle in 1414, and was buried in the choir of that priory, his monument being now at Bottesford. The next in succession was John de Ros, son of the last named, who came to the title and estates when only seventeen years of age. He was killed along with the Duke of Clarence and others in 1421; and, dying without issue, had for successor his brother, Sir Thomas de Ros, who married Eleanor, daughter of Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, by whom he had issue three sons, of whom his successor, Thomas, Lord Ros, was the eldest, and who, at his father’s death in 1431, was only four years of age.

This nobleman, Thomas, Baron Ros of Hamlake, Trusbut, and Belvoir, was by the King put into full possession of his father’s estates when only eighteen years of age. He married Philippa, eldest daughter of John de Tiptoft, by whom he had issue one son and four daughters. For his fidelity to the House of Lancaster in the Wars of the Roses, he was, with his adherents, attainted in Parliament in 1461, and is said by Rapin to have been beheaded. His estates were confiscated, and given to various adherents of the House of York; Lord Hastings receiving Belvoir and its members. By him Belvoir Castle was utterly despoiled, he carrying away the lead from the roofs to Ashby-de-la-Zouch, to use in his own castle there, and rendering the place no better than a ruin.

The next in succession, Edmund, Lord Ros, was by Henry VII. (who had united the rival houses) restored to his father’s state and dignity; the attainder was removed; and the Belvoir and other estates returned to him. He died in 1508, at his house of Elsinges, at Enfield (in the church at which, place is a noble monument erected to his memory), without issue, and his estates were divided between his sisters and co-heiresses—viz. Eleanor, married to Sir Robert Manners, Knight; and Isabel, married to Sir Thomas Lovel. Belvoir, with Hamlake in Yorkshire, and Orston in Nottinghamshire, being the portion of the elder sister, Eleanor, thus passed into the hands of the family of Manners, in whom it has remained in unbroken succession to the present hour. The manor of Elsinges, which had passed to Sir Thomas Lovel, as part of his wife’s portion, was bequeathed by him to the Earl of Rutland.

This Sir Robert Manners, who, as we have said, acquired Belvoir through his marriage with one of the co-heiresses of the last Lord de Ros, was descended from a long line of Manners’ of Northumberland. The earliest of these of whom there is direct evidence was Sir Robert Manners, lord of the manor of Ethale, in Northumberland, from whom descended another Sir Robert, who married Philippa, daughter of Sir Bartholomew de Mont Bouchier, by whom he had issue a son, also named Robert, who married Hawise, daughter of Robert, Baron de Muschamp, in the reign of Henry I. Their great-grandson, another Sir Robert Manners, married Agnes, daughter of Sir David Coupland. Their son, Sir Robert, had issue by his wife, Joan de Heton, four sons, three of whom dying without issue, the second son, William Manners, inherited the estates. He married Ellen, or Janetta, daughter of David Bagster, of Derby, by whom he had a son, Sir Robert Manners.

This Sir Robert was returned, in the seventeenth year of Edward III., as one of the principal persons in the county of Northumberland, and was entitled to bear arms by descent. In the first year of Edward’s reign, being governor of Norham Castle, he distinguished himself by his successful defence of that stronghold against the Scots, who, “despising King Edward’s youth, on the very night of that day on which King Edward was crowned, intended to take Norham Castle by surprise; and so well managed their design that about sixteen of them had already mounted the walls. But the captain, Sir Robert Manners, being warned of the matter beforehand by one of his garrison, who was a Scotsman, had so well prepared to receive them, that of those who had mounted he took five or six, and put the rest to the sword, their companions below, upon this disappointment, retiring.” In the next year he was constituted one of the “conservators of the truce made with the Scots for all hostilities to cease.” Soon afterwards he was made sheriff of the county of Selkirk, and appointed to keep and defend the forts of Selkirk and Ettrick, &c. In the fourteenth of the same reign he represented Northumberland in Parliament, and again subdued Scotch incursions. Soon afterwards he obtained a license from the King “to strengthen and embattle his dwelling-house at Ethale, in Northumberland, with a wall made of stone and lime, and to hold the same to himself and his heirs for ever.” The next year he was constituted one of the commissioners to treat with David Bruce and his adherents for a peace, and subsequently was made Lord of the Marches. At the battle of Neville’s Cross in 1346, under Queen Philippa, in which the Scottish king was taken prisoner, Sir Robert displayed great valour, and was intrusted to keep charge of the prisoners, and deliver them to the Constable at the Tower of London. He died in 1355, leaving his son and heir, John de Manners (by his wife, Aliva, or Alice, daughter of Henry Strather), only one year and three weeks old.

This John Manners received the honour of knighthood, and married Alice, widow of William de Whitchester; and, dying in 1402, was succeeded by his son, Sir John Manners, who was sheriff of Northumberland, and, with his son John, was accused of the murder of William Heron and Robert Atkinson, or Akyman. They were prosecuted by Sir Robert de Umphreville, and Isabel, widow of William Heron, and were ordered to “cause 500 masses to be sung for the health of the soul of the same William Heron within one year then next ensuing, and pay unto Sir Robert de Umphreville, and Isabel, to the use of the said Isabel and her children by Heron, 200 marks.” He was succeeded by his son Robert, who married Joan, daughter of Sir Robert Ogle, and had issue by her, with others, a son, Robert, by whom he was succeeded. This was the Sir Robert Manners who married Eleanor, daughter of Thomas, Lord Ros, as already shown. Sir Robert Manners had issue by his wife, Eleanor Ros, three daughters, who each married into the family of Fairfax, and two sons. The elder of these sons was Sir George Manners, who, on the death of his mother, became Lord Ros or Roos, and was also lineal heir to the baronies of Vaux, Trusbut, and Belvoir.

* * * * *

MARRYING Anne, only daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas St. Leger, by his wife Anne, daughter of Richard, Duke of York, and sister to King Edward IV., and widow of John Holland, Duke of Exeter, this lady brought royal blood into the family. By her Sir George had a numerous family, the eldest of whom, Thomas, succeeded him.

This Sir Thomas Manners, on the death of his father, became thirteenth Lord Ros, of Hamlake, and Baron Trusbut, Riveaulx, and Belvoir. He was with Henry VIII. and his queen at the celebrated interview between that monarch and the King of France at Guisnes, and in the same reign was made Warden of the East Marches, and had many other honours granted him. In the seventeenth year of the same monarch he was created Earl of Rutland—“a title which none but royal family had ever borne, and by reason of his descent from the sister of King Edward IV. had an augmentation to his ancient arms.” The old arms were—or two bars azure, and a chief gules; which chief was augmented thus quarterly azure and gules, in the first and fourth two fleurs-de-lis and in the second and third a lion passant guardant, all or. He was also installed a Knight of the Garter. A few years later this nobleman was present at the second interview between Henry VIII. and Francis I.; he was also present at the marriage of his sovereign with the ill-fated Anne Boleyn; and, later on, attended Anne of Cleves to England, and was made her chamberlain. He was made Chief Justice in Eyre of all the King’s lands north of the Trent, and obtained grants of the manors of Muston, Waltham, Croxton, Upwell, Bilsdale, Helmsley, Outwell, Elm, Emneth, Branston, &c., and lands belonging to several dissolved monasteries. He rebuilt Belvoir Castle, and removed many of the monuments from the dissolved priories of Croxton and Belvoir to Bottesford, where he himself was buried in 1543. His lordship—who took part in most of the events of this stirring reign, and held numerous important offices—married twice: first, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Robert Lovel; and second, Eleanor, daughter of Sir William Paston, by the latter of whom only he had issue. To the eldest and second of that issue we now refer.

The eldest son, Henry Manners, succeeded his father, in 1543, as second Earl of Rutland. He continued the rebuilding of Belvoir Castle, and was made Constable of Nottingham Castle, Chief Justice in Eyre of Sherwood Forest, &c. He was married twice: first, to Margaret, daughter of the fourth Earl of Westmoreland, by whom he had issue; and second, to Bridget, daughter of Lord Hussey, by whom he had no children. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward Manners, as third Earl of Rutland, who, dying without male issue, was succeeded by his brother, John Manners (the second son of the second earl), as fourth Earl of Rutland. This nobleman married Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Charlton, of Apsley, by whom he had issue, with others, three sons—Roger Manners, Sir Francis Manners, and Sir George Manners—who successively became fifth, sixth, and seventh Earls of Rutland. All these dying without surviving male issue, the title passed to the descendants of the second son of the first Earl, as we shall now show.

Sir John Manners, second son of the first Earl of Rutland, and great-grandson of the sister of King Edward IV., became, before he was knighted, attached to Dorothy Vernon, the youngest daughter and co-heiress of Sir George Vernon of Haddon Hall, known as “the King of the Peak,” and so effectually wooed and won her, that he at length carried her off on horseback into his own county of Leicester, and there married her. By this marriage Haddon Hall, and the Derbyshire property of the “King of the Peak,” passed into the family of Manners. Sir John Manners had issue by his wife, Dorothy Vernon, three sons—Sir George, who succeeded him; John, who died at the age of fourteen; and Sir Roger, of Whitwell; and one daughter, Grace, who married Sir Francis Fortescue, of Salden. Sir George Manners, their son, married Grace, daughter of Sir Henry Pierrepoint, and sister to the Earl of Kingston, by whom he had issue, with others, John Manners, his eldest son, who not only succeeded him, but also succeeded his cousin George, seventh Earl of Rutland, in his title and estates, and thus became eighth Earl of Rutland. He married Frances, daughter of Edward, Lord Montague of Boughton, by whom he had issue four sons and seven daughters. He was sheriff of Derbyshire in the ninth and eleventh years of Charles I., and also represented that county in Parliament. His lordship was attached to the Parliamentary interest during the civil wars, and was one of the twenty-two peers who remained at Westminster when the King summoned both Houses to attend him at Oxford. As a consequence, his castle of Belvoir was seized by the Royalists, and was held by them and Sir Gervase Lucas, and here the King frequently resided. It was finally surrendered to the Parliamentarians in January, 1645-6. In 1649 the castle was demolished, by consent of the Earl, who soon afterwards set about rebuilding it, which he completed in 1668. During this time the Earl lived principally at Haddon Hall, where he died in 1679, and was succeeded by his third and only surviving son, John Manners, as ninth Earl of Rutland.

This nobleman was born in 1638, and, in 1679 was created a peer in his own right by the title of Baron Manners of Haddon; and in September of the same year, his father dying, he became Earl of Rutland. When twenty years of age he had married the Lady Anne Pierrepoint, daughter of the Marquis of Dorchester, from whom he was afterwards divorced; and he married, secondly, Lady Diana Bruce, widow of Sir Seymour Shirley, and daughter of the Earl of Aylesbury, who died in child-bed. His lordship married, thirdly, Catherine, daughter of Baptist Noel, Viscount Camden, by whom only he had surviving issue. In 1703 the Earl was raised to the highest dignity in the realm, by the titles of Marquis of Granby and Duke of Rutland. He died in January, 1710-11, aged seventy-three, and was succeeded by his only surviving son, John Manners.

John, second Duke of Rutland, when scarcely seventeen years of age, was married to Katherine, second daughter of Lord William Russell, who was beheaded in 1683. He then bore the title of Lord Roos; and the wedding festivities seem, judging from some curious letters still extant concerning them, to have been of the most lavishly extravagant character. This lady, who was sister to the Duchess of Devonshire and to the Duke of Bedford, gave birth to five sons and four daughters, and died in child-bed in 1711. The Duke married, secondly, Lucy, daughter of Lord Sherard, and sister of the Earl of Harborough, by whom also he had issue six sons and two daughters. His grace died in 1721, and was succeeded, as third Duke of Rutland, by his eldest son, John Manners. This nobleman, who was born in 1696, married, in 1717, Bridget, only daughter and heiress of Robert Sutton, Lord Lexington (an alliance that gave him a large accession of estates), by whom he had issue thirteen children, nearly all of whom died young. He it was who built the hunting-seat at Croxton, and made many improvements at Belvoir Castle. He was the last of the family who made Haddon Hall a residence. The estates of Lord Lexington having been settled upon the younger branch of the family, the second and surviving sons, successively, took, by Act of Parliament, the additional surname of Sutton, and thus founded the family of Manners-Sutton.

The Duke, who was familiarly known as “Old John of the Hill,” dying in 1779, was succeeded by his grandson, Charles Manners, son of the celebrated Marquis of Granby, Commander-in-chief of the British forces in Germany, and Master of the Ordnance, who died during his father’s lifetime. Charles, fourth Duke of Rutland, married Mary Isabella, daughter of Charles Noel, Duke of Beaufort, by whom he had issue four sons—viz. Lord John Henry (who succeeded him), Lord Charles Henry Somerset, Lord Robert William, and Lord William Robert Albini; and two daughters—viz. the Lady Elizabeth Isabella, married to Richard Norman, Esq., and Lady Catherine Mary, married to Lord Forester. His Grace died while holding office as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and was succeeded by his eldest son—

John Henry Manners, as fifth Duke of Rutland, who married Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Carlisle, and by her had issue six sons and five daughters. The sons were—Lord George Henry Manners, to whom King George III. stood sponsor in person, but who died in infancy; Lord George John Frederick Manners, to whom the Prince Regent and H.R.H. the Duke of York stood sponsors in person, but who also died in infancy; Lord Charles Cecil John Manners (the present Duke of Rutland); Lord Adolphus Edward Manners, who died in infancy: Lord John James Robert Manners, M.P., the present eminent statesman and man of letters; and Lord George John Manners, M.P., who married in 1855 the Lady Adeliza Matilda Howard, daughter of the thirteenth Duke of Norfolk, and died in 1875. The five daughters were—the Lady Caroline Isabella Manners, who died in infancy; the Lady Elizabeth Frederica Manners, now the widow of Andrew Robert Drummond, Esq.; the Lady Emmeline Charlotte Elizabeth Manners (deceased), married to the Hon. Charles Stuart Wortley; the Lady Katherine Isabella Manners (deceased), married to Earl Jermyn; and the Lady Adeliza Gertrude Elizabeth Manners, married to the Rev. Frederick John Norman, Rector of Bottesford.

The present noble head of the House of Manners is, as we have just stated, his Grace Charles Cecil John Manners, the sixth Duke of Rutland, Marquis of Granby, fourteenth Earl of Rutland, Baron Manners of Haddon, Baron Ros of Hamlake, Baron Trusbut, Riveaulx, and Belvoir, K.G., &c., the “King of Belvoir,” as he may not inaptly be called, for his is a regal residence, and he reigns in the hearts of the people around him. He is, therefore, the direct descendant and representative in unbroken succession of the grand old standard-bearer of William the Conqueror, Robert de Todeni, and of the families of De Albini, Espec, De Ros, and Manners; and by equally direct descent he has royal blood coursing through his veins. His grace was born in 1815, and was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his M.A. degree in 1835; was M.P. for Stamford from 1837 to 1852, and from that time to his accession to the titles in 1867, for North Leicestershire; and he was a Lord of the Bed-chamber to the late Prince Consort. His grace is not married, the heir to his titles, estates, and revenues being his brother, Lord John Manners, who is a worthy representative of the long and illustrious line from which he has sprung. The Duke is patron of twenty-four livings, of which one is in Rutland, fifteen in Leicestershire, two in Lincolnshire, two in Cambridgeshire, two in Nottinghamshire, and two in Derbyshire. His seats are—Belvoir Castle, in Leicestershire; Haddon Hall and Longshawe Lodge, in Derbyshire; and Cheveley Park, in Cambridgeshire.

Lord John Manners was born in 1818, and in 1851 married Louisa Catherine, daughter of Colonel Marlay, by whom he had issue one son (the present Henry John Brinsley Manners), and another who died in infancy. This lady, dying in 1854, was buried at Rowsley, where a magnificent monument—one of the happiest efforts of W. Calder Marshall—has been erected to her memory. His lordship married secondly, in 1862, Janetta, eldest daughter of Thomas Hughan, Esq., by whom he has issue several children. Lord John Manners has held many important offices. He was sworn a Privy Councillor, and appointed First Commissioner of Works and Buildings, which office he held many years, and in 1874 was appointed Postmaster-General.

The arms of the Duke of Rutland are—or, two bars, azure; augmented by a chief, quarterly, first and fourth azure, two fleurs-de-lis, or (France), second and third gules, a lion passant guardant, or (England). Crest, on a chapeau, gules, turned up, ermine, a peacock in pride, proper. Supporters, two unicorns, argent, horns, manes, tufts, and hoofs, or. Motto, “Pour y parvenir.” The ancient arms of Manners, before the augmentation, were, or, two bars, azure, and a chief, gules.

Belvoir Castle, as it now stands, is an erection of the present century, built upon Norman foundations. As we have already stated, the first castle was built by Robert de Todeni, standard-bearer to William the Conqueror, and considerably extended by his successors. In 1461, or thereabouts, it was despoiled (on the attainder of its noble owner) by the Lord Hastings, to whom it had been granted by the King. “The timber of the roof, being” by him “despoiled of the lead with which it was covered, rotted away; and the soil between the walls at the last grew full of elders, in which state the castle remained till it was partially rebuilt by the first Earl of Rutland, and completed by the second.” On the dissolution of the monasteries, many of the monuments of the Albini and Ros families were, by order of the first Earl, and later, by his successor, removed from Belvoir Priory to Bottesford Church, and others were also brought to the same place from Croxton Abbey. He commenced the rebuilding of the castle, which was completed by his son in 1555, “making it a nobler structure than it was before.”

In 1619 the singular trial of an old woman, named Joan Flower, of Belvoir, and her two daughters, Margaret and Philippa, for sorcery, and causing the deaths of the two sons of the Earl of Rutland, took place, and resulted in the execution of the two younger “witches,” the old “monstrous malicious woman,” or “devil incarnate,” as she was styled, having died as she was being taken to gaol; and the destruction of her cat, “Rutterkin.” The two sons, whose deaths were laid to the charge of these miserable victims of superstition, were Henry, Lord Ros, and Francis Manners, his brother, sons of Francis, sixth Earl of Rutland, by his second wife, Cecilia, daughter of Sir John Tufton, and widow of Sir Henry Hungerford. That Joan Flower, aided by her profligate daughters, did cause the deaths of the two children, and attempt the lives of the Earl and Countess, probably by poison, seems most probable, and they were justly punished. The following account of this singular transaction, printed in 1619, describes—

“Joan Flower as a monstrous woman, full of oaths, curses, and imprecations; and for any thing they saw by her, a plain atheist. Besides, of late days, her very countenance was estranged, her eyes very fiery and hollow, her speech fell and envious, her demeanour strange and exotic, and her conversation sequestered; so that the whole course of her life gave great suspicion that she was a notorious witch; yea, some of her neighbours dared to affirm that she dealt with familiar spirits, and terrified them all with curses and threatening of revenge, if there were never so little cause of displeasure and unkindness. Concerning Margaret, the daughter, that she often resorted from the castle to her mother, bringing such provision as they thought was unbefitting for a servant to purloin; and coming at such unseasonable hours that they could not but conjecture some mischief between them, and that their extraordinary riot and expenses tended both to rob the lady and to maintain certain deboist and base company, which frequented this Joan Flower’s house, the mother, and especially the youngest daughter. Concerning Philippa, that she was leudly transported with the love of one Thomas Simpson, who presumed to say that she had bewitched him, for he had no power to leave her, and was, as he supposed, marvellously altered both in mind and body, since her acquainted company. These complaints began many years before either their conviction or public apprehension. Notwithstanding, such was the honour of this earl and his lady; such was the cunning of this monstrous woman, in observation towards them; such was the subtlety of the devil, to bring his purposes to pass; such was the pleasure of God, to make trial of his servants; and such was the effect of a damnable woman’s wit and malicious envy, that all things were carried away in the smooth channel of liking and good entertainment, on every side, until the earl refused to give that credence to her, on some complaint preferred, which he had been accustomed to give; and the countess discovering in the daughter Margaret some indecencies of her life, and neglect of her business, discharged her from lying any more in the castle; dismissing her with handsome presents, but commanding her to go home. This inflamed the mother with hatred and rancour towards the earl, and his family.

“When the devil perceived the inficious disposition of this wretch, and that she, and her daughters, might easily be made instruments to enlarge his kingdom; and be, as it were, the executioners of his vengeance, not caring whether it lighted upon innocents, or no; he came more near unto them, and in plain terms, to come quickly to the purpose, offered them his service, and that in such a manner, as they might easily command what they pleased; for he would attend you in such pretty forms of dog, cat, or rat, that they should neither be terrified, nor any body else suspicious of the matter. Upon this, they agree, and (as it should seem) give away their souls to the service of such spirits, as he had promised them; which filthy conditions were ratified with abominable kisses, and an odious sacrifice of blood, not leaving out certain charms and conjurations, with which the devil deceived them, as though nothing could be done without ceremony, and a solemnity of orderly ratification. By this time doth sathan triumph, and goeth away satisfied to have caught such fish in the net of his illusions: by this time, are these women devils incarnate, and grow proud again in their cunning and artificial power, to do what mischief they listed. By this time, they have learnt the manner of incantations, spells, and charms. By this time, they kill what cattle they list; and under the cover of flattery and familiar entertainment, keep hidden the stinging serpent of malice, and a venomous inclination to mischief. By this time, is the earl and his family threatened, and must feel the burthen of a terrible tempest, which, by these women’s devilish devices, fell upon him; he neither suspecting nor understanding the same. By this time, both himself and his honourable countess, are many times subject to sickness and extraordinary convulsions; which they, taking as gentle corrections from the hand of God, submit with quietness to his mercy, and study nothing more than to glorify their Creator in heaven, and bear his crosses on earth.

“At last, as malice increased in these damnable women, so his family felt the smart of their revenge and inficious disposition; for his eldest son, Henry, Lord Rosse, sickened very strangely, and after awhile, died. His next, named Francis, Lord Rosse accordingly, was severely tormented by them, and most barbarously, and inhumanly tortured by a strange sickness. Not long after, the Lady Catherine was set upon by their dangerous and devilish practices; and many times in great danger of life, through extreme maladies and unusual fits, nay, (as it should seem, and they afterwards confessed) both the earl and his countess were brought into their snares, as they imagined, and indeed determined to keep them from having any more children. Oh unheard of wickedness and mischievous damnation! Notwithstanding all this, did the noble earl attend his majesty, both at Newmarket, before Christmas; and at Christmas, at Whitehall; bearing the loss of his children most nobly; and little suspecting that they had miscarried by witchcraft, or such like inventions of the devil; until it pleased God to discover the villanous practices of these women, and to command the devil from executing any further vengeance on innocents, but leave them to their shames, and the hands of justice, that they might not only be confounded for their villanous practices, but remain as a notorious example to all ages, of his judgment and fury. Thus were they apprehended, about Christmas, and carried to Lincoln gaol; after due examination, before sufficient justices of the peace, and discreet magistrates, who wondered at their audacious wickedness. But Joan Flower, the mother, before her conviction, (as they say,) called for bread and butter, and wished it might never go through her, if she were guilty of that whereupon she was examined; so, mumbling it in her mouth, never spake more words after; but fell down and died, as she was carried to Lincoln gaol, with a horrible excruciation of soul and body, and was buried at Ancaster.

“When the earl heard of their apprehension, he hasted down with his brother, Sir George, and sometimes examined them himself, and sometimes sending them to others; at last, left them to the trial of law, before the judges of assize at Lincoln; and so they were convicted of murder, and executed accordingly, about the eleventh of March, to the terror of all beholders as example of such dissolute and abominable creatures.”

On the stately monument of the Earl at Bottesford the death of these two sons is thus alluded to:—“In 1608 he married the Lady Cecelia Hungerf’rd, daughter to the Hon’ble Knight, Sir John Tufton, by whom he had two sonnes, both which dyed in their infancy, by wicked practice and sorcerye.”

In the civil wars Belvoir Castle was taken by the Royalist party in 1642, and placed under command of Colonel Lucas. In 1645 the King himself was there. In the same year Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice were at Belvoir. Soon afterwards it was besieged by the Parliamentarians; the outworks and stables, which had been fortified, were taken by storm; the entire village of Belvoir was demolished; and on the 3rd of February, 1646, the castle, with its appurtenances, was, in pursuance of terms of capitulation, surrendered to the Parliament, who immediately appointed Captain Markham as its governor. Shortly afterwards the castle was disgarrisoned and restored to its owner, the Earl of Rutland. In 1649 the Council of State reported “their resolution for demolishing the castle; which the Earl of Rutland was content with,” and it was accordingly demolished, the Earl receiving a miserable pittance by way of compensation, and taking up his residence at Haddon Hall. About 1662 the Earl appears to have commenced the rebuilding of the castle, which was completed in 1668. In 1801 the then Duke of Rutland, father of the present duke, who had, during his minority, conceived the idea of rebuilding and extending the castle, began to carry out his design by pulling down the south and west fronts next to the court-yard, and continued rebuilding under Wyatt till 1816, by which time the south-west and south-east parts were completed, and the Grand Staircase and Picture Gallery in the north-west front were nearly finished. In that year a fire broke out in the castle, by which the north-east and north-west fronts were entirely destroyed. By that fire a large number of valuable paintings, estimated at nearly eleven thousand pounds in value, were totally destroyed. Among these were no less than nineteen by Sir Joshua Reynolds (including the “Nativity” and a number of family portraits); and many by Rubens, Vandyke, Carlo Maratti, Lely, Domenichino, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Titian, Poussin, West, and others. Fortunately, although five children of the Duke and Duchess (who themselves were at Cheveley), and all the household were sleeping in the castle, no loss of life occurred. In March, 1817, the Duke commenced rebuilding the castle, the architect being the Rev. Sir John Thoroton, of Bottesford, to whose good taste and that of the Duke and his amiable duchess, are due the fine proportions and the majestic character of the building as it now stands.

Belvoir has often been visited by royalty. James I. and Charles I. both stayed there, and in 1813, the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV., and the Duke of York, spent several days there. In 1839 the Dowager Queen Adelaide remained there for nearly a week, and in 1843 our present beloved Queen Victoria, with the Prince Consort, the Queen Dowager, the Duke of Wellington, and others, visited the Duke, and remained his guests for four days. In 1866 their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales visited Belvoir, and the Prince again remained there in 1873. Other members of the royal family have also been received within its walls.

The principal apartments of the castle are, by kind permission of the Duke, shown to visitors, and the surrounding grounds are literally, as we have before said, open to all, “without let or hindrance.”

Passing up the steep ascent from near the cosy inn (on, or closely adjoining to, the site of the old priory), the visitor, if on foot, wends his way along the path among magnificent forest trees, and up a flight of stone steps to the basement story of the castle, where, in the solid masonry from which the superstructure rises, are the workshops of the artisan retainers of the family; and from hence by a rising pathway to the bastion, mounted with cannon, which gives an air of baronial importance to the place. If the visitor ride or drive, the ascent is somewhat more circuitous, but the carriage-way leads to the same point—the Grand Entrance to the Castle.

The Grand Entrance, which is shown to the spectator’s left in our general views from the north-west, opens from an advanced groined porch, into which carriages drive from one side, and out at the other, massive doors enclosing them while visitors alight. Over the doors are armorial bearings of the family and its alliances. From the porch the entrance doorway opens into the groined entrance passage, or corridor, decorated with stands of arms, banners (among which is the one borne by the present Duke of Rutland at the funeral of the Duke of Wellington), and military trophies, which leads to the Guard-room, or Great Hall of the mansion. This noble room, which has a groined ceiling, and a mosaic floor of black and white marble and Nottinghamshire freestone, bears in recesses and arcades on its walls groups of arms and armour, trophies of war, and other appropriate decorations; and in two glazed recesses a number of relics of the great Marquis of Granby, and of his brilliant military achievements, and his well-earned decorations. Besides many other objects of peculiar interest in this room are two tables made from remarkable deposits, of eleven years’ formation, in the wooden water-pipes of the Blithe Mine in Derbyshire; a model of the old castle; standards, arms, and armour from the field of Waterloo; a Chinese junk; and some good armour.

Opposite the entrance are the Grand Staircase and the Guard-room Gallery. In the windows of the latter are finely executed stained-glass figures (by Wyatt) of Robert de Todeni, William de Albini, Walter Espec, and Robert de Ros, with their armorial insignia. From the landing at the head of the Guard-room Staircase, which contains full-length portraits of Queen Anne and George Prince of Denmark, access is gained to the Grand Staircase leading to the principal apartments; the walls of the staircase itself being hung with full-length paintings of the first eight Earls of Rutland, with their armorial bearings within the archways. The ceiling is richly groined.

The Regent’s Gallery, so called from the Prince Regent (George IV.), for whose use it was fitted up on his visit to Belvoir in 1813, is one of the main features of the castle. It is a noble apartment, 128 feet long by 18 feet wide, with a central bow, formed by the central tower, of 36 feet wide. At one end is Nollekens’ fine bust of George IV., and at the other the equally fine bust of the late estimable duke, while other parts of the room are adorned with corresponding sculptures of the late Duchess of Rutland, the Marquis of Granby, Lord Robert Manners, Pitt, Cromwell, William III., George II., Earl of Mansfield, Duke of Somerset, Earl of Chatham, Admiral Keppel, and others. One striking feature of this gallery is the Gobelins tapestry (eight pieces) which adorns the walls. It is in perfect preservation, and represents scenes in the story of Don Quixote from designs by Coypel, and appear to have been made in 1770. The walls are also adorned by many family portraits and other paintings by Reynolds, Hoppner, Kneller, Smirke, Lely, Bishop, Zucchero, Stothard, and others. The appointments of this splendid room are arranged with perfect taste, and it is filled with objects of interest and beauty; one object that often attracts attention being a carved chair, bearing an inscription showing that it was made, as is also one belonging to the Queen, from the wood of the tree at La Haye Sainte, against which the Duke of Wellington took up his station at the battle of Waterloo. The opposite end of the Regent’s Gallery to that at which the visitor enters from the Grand Staircase is one gigantic mirror filling the whole space, and thus, in appearance, giving it a double length. From this end one doorway leads to the private gallery of the chapel, and another opens into the library.

The Library is entirely of oak, the ceiling divided into compartments, with carved bosses at the intersections, and armorial bearings decorating other parts. Over the fire-place Grant’s fine portrait of the late duke, “presented to his grace as a token of affection and esteem by his tenantry, 27th February, 1856,” is placed, and forms a pleasant feature in the room. The collection of books is, as is natural to expect, of the most choice and costly kind, many of the literary treasures being priceless gems of past ages. Among these are several curious and valuable MS. rarities and sketches by the old masters.

The Picture Gallery, a noble apartment of admirable proportions, has a coved ceiling, rising from a cornice richly ornamented in gold and white, with figures and foliage in bold relief. The collection of pictures in this gallery, some two hundred in number, is remarkably fine and choice, and contains many notable examples of the best and most reputed masters—Murillo, Rubens, Teniers, Gerard Douw, Rembrandt, Claude, Gaspar Poussin, Parmigiano, Carlo Dolce, Berghem, Carracci, Guido, Vandyke, Holbein, Bassano, Paul Veronese, Bronzino, Van der Heyden, Netscher, Van der Velde, Reynolds, Jansen, Ruysdael, Correggio, Albert Dürer, Dekker, Schalken, Spagnoletto, Caravaggio, Wouvermans, Cuyp, and a host of others.

The Duchess’s Boudoir, a lovely room, commanding an almost enchanting view of the grounds and distant country, was the favourite apartment of the late duchess, and remains as left by her. Like the other private rooms, passages, and corridors, it contains many genuine pictures of note as well as family portraits.

The Grand Corridor, or Ball-room, which, seen from the landing of the staircase, is shown in the engraving on the preceding page, is one of the most striking features of the interior of the castle. It is of Gothic design, the whole being of stone, and copied from various parts of Lincoln Cathedral. It is lit by nine windows in length, with stained-glass armorial decorations, and has an elegant groined ceiling, with carved bosses at the intersections; and the walls are arcaded, and contain full-length life-size and other portraits of the present noble duke (two) by Grant; the late Lady John Manners, by Buckner; Lord Robert Manners, by Reynolds; and several others.

The Queen’s Sitting-room, or Green Assembling-room, in the Staunton Tower, besides being an elegant apartment, commands a magnificent view of the charming grounds and the distant country, including Croxton with the Duke’s Deer Park, Woolsthorpe, Harlaxton, the Kennels, and the Lake. Adjoining this are the Chinese Rooms—a suite of bed and dressing rooms, so called from the style of their furniture and papering—which were occupied by our beloved Queen in 1843.

The Grand Dining-room has a richly panelled ceiling of white and gold, and contains a side-table of white marble, carved by Wyatt, so as to look like a table “covered with a white linen table napkin; the folds being so accurately represented in the marble as to require a close inspection to convince the observer of the solidity of the material.” It weighs between two and three tons. In this room are magnificent examples, life-size full-length portraits, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and others by Sir Godfrey Kneller.

The Elizabeth Saloon, so called after the late duchess (Elizabeth, second daughter of Frederick Howard, Earl of Carlisle, and wife of John Henry, fifth Duke of Rutland), by whose taste and judgment it was arranged and decorated. The walls are hung with satin drapery, and the ceiling, which was painted by Wyatt, is filled with mythological subjects and family and other portraits. The furniture and appliances are sumptuous and elegant, and altogether this saloon is the most gorgeous in the castle. Among its Art treasures are a full-length marble statue of the late duchess by Wyatt; two full-length life-size portraits of the late duke and duchess by Sanders; several rare enamels and pictures; a number of choice watercolour drawings; an extensive series of cabinet portraits, &c.; and many cabinets, caskets, and other choice objects.

Other apartments are the King’s Rooms, so called because used by the Prince Regent while at Belvoir; the Hunters’ Dining-room; the Wellington Rooms, so named because occupied by the Duke of Wellington; the Family Dining-room, &c., but these require no word of comment.

The Chapel, with panelled stone walls and elegant groined ceiling, has a canopied reredos, containing one of Murillo’s grandest and choicest works—the “Holy Family,” whose value is estimated at four thousand guineas.

The Wine Cellar in the Staunton Tower, with its vaulted ceiling and carved boss with crowned monogram of the Blessed Virgin, is one of the oldest parts of the castle. The Ale Cellar is said to contain thirty-one thousand gallons of liquor! The largest tun, which holds about thirteen hundred gallons of ale, is called after the founder of the castle, “Robert de Todeni,” while the next three largest are named respectively the “Marquis of Granby,” “Lord John,” and “Lord George.” The Housekeeper’s Rooms, with their fine assemblage of old Chelsea, Derby, Sèvres, and other china services; the Steward’s Room; the Plate Pantry, with the grand and invaluable services of plate; the kitchens and other offices, perhaps the most perfect of any in their arrangements and appliances, are all deserving more notice than the mere mention we can give them.

The Muniment-room, under the able guardianship of Mr. Green, is, in our eyes, one of the most important and interesting features of the castle, and one in which we would fain “live and move and have our being” for the rest of our lives. It is a perfect mine of historical wealth, and as a storehouse of genealogical and antiquarian lore is unsurpassed by any other mansion. It literally overflows with deeds and MSS. of one kind or other, and all in the most admirable order and condition. The deeds in this room are above four thousand in number, the greater part of which date back to the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries.

Among the treasures are the cartularies and registers of Belvoir Priory and Croxton Abbey; rent-rolls of Croxton; household books of various early periods; a vast amount of original letters; personal accounts and bills relating to Haddon Hall; inventories of Riveaulx Abbey, Belvoir, Croxton, St. Dunstans-in-the-West, Haddon, &c.; plea-rolls, charters, and grants and confirmations of lands, pedigrees, agreements, &c.

One of the great glories of Belvoir, however, is its grounds and surroundings; but to these, which to do them justice would require a special article to themselves, we can only devote a few brief lines.

The whole place is a labyrinth of beauty, each separate spot that we come to exceeding in exquisite loveliness those we have passed, and each turn bringing to view fresh glimpses of charming scenery which show how well Nature has been studied, and how thoroughly Art, with the pure and accomplished taste of the late duchess, has been wedded to her. The Duchess’s Garden, below the slope on the west of the castle, is formed in an exquisite glade, surrounded on all sides by grand old trees and luxuriant shrubs; the beds terraced one above the other, or gently sloped and planted in amphitheatre form, with masses of colour which give a richness and peculiarity to the scene. The Duke’s Walk—an avenued path extending in its devious way for about three miles in length—passes above this garden, and is broken by glimpses of all the varied scenery on the way, and rendered pleasant by rustic summer-houses, seats, and other resting-places. Near to the Duchess’s Garden, in this walk, a tablet, admirably carved by the late Mr. Bath, of Haddon, bears a sonnet from the pen of the fifth duke in memory of the duchess. It runs as follows:—

“One cultivated spot behold, which spreads Its flowery bosom to the noontide beam— Where num’rous rosebuds rear their blushing heads, And poppies rich, and fragrant violets teem. Far from the busy world’s unceasing sound— Here has Eliza fixed her favourite seat, Chaste emblem of the scene around— Pure as the flower that smiles beneath her feet.”

Of the character of the Duchess’s Garden a writer in the Journal of Horticulture (to which we are indebted for the two beautiful engravings on pages 8 and 24), thus speaks:—“This is a beautiful glade of considerable extent, surrounded on all sides by trees of grand dimensions, which on our visit were in their early beauty, developing those varied tints of green which, if not quite so glowing as the autumnal ones, are at any rate fresher, and, moreover, are associated with the thoughts of the lengthening and brightening days of summer, and not with the shortening and darkening days of winter. In this glade the natural rocks have been accommodated to the requirements of Alpine gardening, while the upper portion has been arranged in beds.” “The bedding pansies, the oxlips (of which the Belvoir strain is remarkably fine), were in flower. The beautiful Gentiana verna, accommodated with nice little ledges on which its brilliant blue shone out brilliantly, the bright yellow Doronicum Austriacum, and other fine plants were there. And then how beautiful were the blue forget-me-nots! how luxuriantly fine the Saxifraga crassifolia! Then, again, we had the brilliant blue of Lithospermum prostratum as it trailed over the rockery, and that of its larger congener, L. Gastoni. Of a softer but no less beautiful shade of blue was Myosotis dissitiflora, though now nearly past, as it is the earliest of the tribe. Then how fine was Veratrum nigrum, beautiful for its foliage!” “Then there were bright masses of Dianthus neglectus and alpinus, with their dense tufts of lovely pink flowers; and turn which way you will, gems of rarity or beauty met the eye.” “One likes to linger on these slopes; and as one stands on the upper portion of it, and looks down on the carpet of lovely green backed by the feathery and elegant foliage of the birch, it is indeed hard to be obliged to tear one’s self away from it.”

The Statue Garden, one of the most striking “bits” in the grounds, is so called from a number of statues by Cibber which adorn it. This garden, when viewed from the terrace, entirely screened from observation from the castle, is one of marvellous and old-world beauty; the majestic and venerable silver firs—remarkable for their gigantic growth and their hoary age—the grounds, half garden, half wood (a strange combination of natural wildness with artificial planting), adding much to the effect of the scene.

The Dairy, the Kennels, the Stables with the covered Exercise-ground, and the Farm, as well as the magnificent Lake of ninety acres in extent, are all objects of special interest, but to them we can only thus allude.

The Mausoleum is situated on the summit of an eminence on the opposite side of the valley from the castle, on a spot immediately facing the windows of the Duchess’s boudoir, chosen by herself as a fit place wherein she might rest. Her grace died in 1825, and was buried at Bottesford Church. In 1826 the mausoleum was commenced, and completed in 1828, when her body, and those of nine other members of the family, were removed to it and deposited in the vault. Since then others have been removed there, and the “good duke” also there rests, as does the lamented Lord George Manners (brother of the present duke), who died in November, 1874. The mausoleum is approached by an avenue of grand old yews, which give a solemnity to the place which is eminently in keeping with its character. The building is in the Norman style, and consists of what may perhaps be called a chapel, with apse and a projecting porch, and vaults beneath. Within the apse, lit with a flood of golden light from above, is one of the most exquisitely beautiful pieces of sculpture it has been our good fortune to see. On it the Duchess is represented as rising from the admirably sculptured tomb with expanded arms, and her face elevated towards the clouds, in which are seen four cherubs—the children who preceded her to the grave—one of whom is holding over her a crown of glory. It is by Wyatt, and is considered to be his masterpiece.

The Kitchen and Fruit Gardens are about eight acres in extent within the walls, and more than that outside. They are arranged in the most effective, convenient, and admirable manner, and managed with that care and judgment which are the distinguishing characteristics of the head gardener’s skill. His charming cottage forms one of our vignettes; it is overgrown with clematis and other climbing plants, which grow with natural luxuriance over its porch and hedgerows. Nature, indeed, in the grounds and gardens of Belvoir, is the first, the main, and the ultimate study; and thus at all points, and in every direction, natural instead of artificial beauties present themselves to the eye, and give the greatest charm of all to whatever the visitor sees. Wild flowers are especially cultivated and bedded out in all their native simplicity, while numbers of Alpine and other plants are also acclimatised, and mingle their beauties with those of our own country. Belvoir is indeed well named, not only for its “beautiful prospect” from the building itself, but its hundreds of beautiful prospects within its own boundaries.

Well might a gifted authoress thus write on leaving so lovely a place as Belvoir Castle and its surroundings:—

“Farewell, fair castle, on thy lordly hill Firm be thy seat, and proud thy station still: Soft rise the breezes from the vale below— Bright be the clouds that wander o’er thy brow: O’er the fair lands that form thy broad domain, Short be the winter—long the summer reign. Pilgrim of pleasure to thy stately towers, Fain would I leave among thy friendly bowers Some votive offering—and, ere on my way With many a backward glance I turn to stray, Bid virtue, strength, and honour crown thy walls; Joy, love, and peace abide within thy halls; While grateful mirth and noble courtesy, As now, for ever, hold their seat in thee; And still upon thy lordly turrets rest The grateful blessing of each parting guest.”

The neighbourhood of Belvoir Castle is one of great beauty, and it is rich in objects of interest both to the botanist, the naturalist, and the geologist; while to the lover of Nature it presents charms of unusual attraction. In the hills and vales surrounding the castle, nearly the whole series of lower oolitic rocks may be traced, from the white limestone down to the black liassic shales. Capping the hills to the south, which are of greater elevation than the castle, is the inferior oolite, or rather a variety of it called “Lincolnshire limestone,” a hard, light rock, very rich in fossil remains. On these hills the growth of trees is stunted, but the ground is covered with a profusion of lovely flowers. Underlying the oolite is the upper lias clay, rich in fossils and shells. Belvoir Castle itself stands on the extremity of a long northern spur of these hills, upon the middle lias, or marlstone, which caps all the neighbouring heights, and gives their soil a remarkably red tinge. It is very rich in iron, both in veins and in lump ore. The vale of Belvoir, below the castle, towards the north, lies mostly upon the lower lias, which is celebrated for its richness in fossil remains, some of the ammonites here found being of gigantic size. The vale is, however, best known to geologists on account of its sauria, which are both numerous and well preserved. In the old river-ways and hollows of the vale, in the drift, are also found traces of the mammoth, gigantic antlers, and other remains of extinct races of animals, which through untold ages have been hidden from sight.

Our views of Belvoir, we may add, are engraved from photographs, taken specially for the purpose, by Mr. R. Keene, and by Mr. George Green.

Bottesford Church, a fine structure of the Perpendicular period, with a lofty crocketed spire, is mainly interesting as being the resting-place for several of the old monuments of the successive owners of Belvoir, removed hither from the priories of Belvoir and Croxton, and as the burial-place of several generations of the family of Manners. The earliest of the monuments is one which has been variously ascribed to Robert de Todeni and the third William de Albini: if to either, it most probably commemorates the latter of these. Other early monuments are to members of the De Ros family. Among these are William de Ros, 1414; Margaret, his wife; and John, Lord Ros. Among the monuments of the Manners family are those of Thomas, first Earl of Rutland, and his countess, 1543; Henry, Earl of Rutland, and Margaret, his countess, 1563; Edward, third Earl of Rutland, 1587; John, fourth Earl of Rutland, 1588; Roger, fifth Earl of Rutland, 1612; Francis, sixth Earl of Rutland (and his “two sonnes, both which dyed in their infancy, by wicked practice and sorcerye”), 1632; George, seventh Earl of Rutland, 1641; John, eighth Earl of Rutland, and his countess, 1670; and others.

TRENTHAM.

TRENTHAM, the magnificent seat of his Grace the Duke of Sutherland, is beautifully situated not far from the rise of the river Trent, in one of the most charming parts of Staffordshire. Its nearest town is Newcastle-under-Lyme, closely adjacent to the most important centre of British industry, the Pottery district, rendered famous in the world of commerce by its vast productions, which supply every civilised country, and in the world of Art by the “things of beauty” produced by its matchless artists, and which will literally remain a “joy for ever,” in whatever place they may be preserved.

The history of Trentham is not one that requires much attention, for, unlike many other places, it has had no stirring historical incidents connected with it, and its story is therefore one of peace. Its vicissitudes have not been unpleasant ones, not one scene of rapine or war or murder being recorded in its annals; and it has become the “home”—literally the most charming and comfortable of English homes—of one of our greatest nobles, where domestic comforts take the place of state and ceremony, and homelike surroundings supplant unmeaning grandeur.

Trentham Monastery was, it is stated, founded by Ethelred, who succeeded his brother Wulphere as King of Mercia in 675, and who induced his niece Werburgh (daughter of Wulphere) “to leave the religious house at Ely, where she was abbess, to superintend the nunnery he had built at Trentham, as well as other similar religious foundations in Mercia—viz. Hanbury, near Burton-on-Trent; Repton (the capital of the Mercian kingdom), in Derbyshire; and Weedon, in Northamptonshire. Werburgh died at Trentham, after leading a long and pious and eminently useful life, and, being shortly afterwards canonised, became one of the most celebrated of Anglo-Saxon saints. It is supposed that the original site of St. Werburgh’s Nunnery was at Hanchurch, about a mile from Trentham, the spot being marked by some venerable yews of great antiquity, which still form three sides of a square. It was called Tricengham, and is by that name described by Tanner, Dugdale, and others.

There is no record for the next four hundred years; but in the Domesday survey a priest is mentioned as being there. In the time of William Rufus (1027 to 1100), the priory having been restored or rebuilt by the Earl of Chester, “the prior and canons entered upon Trentham by a deed of gift from Hugh, first Earl of Chester; and a deed of institution by Roger de Clinton, Bishop of Lichfield (1139), describes John, the prior, as instituted to the priory of Trentham and its appendages, on the presentation of the Empress Maude, at a synod held at Lichfield.” The building appears to have been continued by the fourth Earl of Chester, as the charter, commonly known as the deed of “Restoration,” is that of Randle, the fourth earl (about 1152). It is the remains of this building which have furnished the fine Norman pillars of the present church. In 1162 the church of Sutton-en-le-Felde, in Derbyshire, was given to Trentham by Ralph de Boscherville. The chapelries of Whitmore and Newcastle also belonged to it; and soon after this date Hugh Kyveliok, Earl of Chester, gave to it the church of Bettesford. In the next century Clayton Griffith became an appanage of the priory, as did Over-Elkiston. In 1321 the advowson was claimed by the Earl of Lancaster, who instituted a prior (Richard of Dilhorne), whose election was afterwards confirmed by the King.

Early in the reign of Henry VI. the priory obtained from the King in very express terms a confirmation and enlargement of former grants. After reciting the original deeds of gift of Henry II. and Randolph, Earl of Chester, the King bestows on “my Canons of Trentham” “Crofts for cultivation, and all other lands belonging to the manor (in malo territoris), and the two moores on either side of the village between the wood and the river of Trentham for the purpose of being made into meadow land for the maintenance of the brotherhood and of the hospitalities of the house.... And forbid any man to sue them at law in opposition to this deed, except in my own court.” Given at Dover, 23rd of May, 6th Henry VI. In the latter part of this deed the prior is described as abbot. The territorium which was to be taken into cultivation appears to have been the land extending from the King’s Wood and the High Greaves, and North Wood down to the river. The field lying on the sloping ground between the farmhouse of North Wood and the river is still called the Prior’s More, or Moor.

After the dissolution of the monasteries in 1531, the priory of Trentham (whose last prior was Thomas Bradwell, who, elected 22nd Henry VIII., held office at the time), whose annual value was returned at £106 2_s._ 9_d._ clear, was granted, in 1539, to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, brother-in-law to Henry VIII., and afterwards came into the possession of the Levesons, a Staffordshire family of great antiquity seated at Willenhall. Nicholas Leveson, Lord Mayor of London, died in the year that Trentham was granted to the Duke of Suffolk. His great-grandson, Sir John Leveson, left two daughters only, his co-heiresses, one of whom, Frances, by marrying Sir Thomas Gower of Sittenham, carried Trentham and other extensive possessions into this ancient Yorkshire family, which dates from the Conquest.

Sir Richard Leveson was distinguished as a naval commander. He is considered to be the subject of the fine old plaintive ballad “The Spanish Lady’s Love,” although the same honour has been ascribed to Sir John Bolle, for he accompanied the Earl of Nottingham in his expedition against Cadiz when he was twenty-seven years of age. The ballad, one of the best in our language, tells the story of a “Spanish lady” “by birth and parentage of high degree,” who, being detained as a prisoner by the English captain, was so overcome with his kindness that she conceived a violent attachment towards him; so much so, indeed, that when—

“... At last there came commandment For to set the ladies free, With all their jewels still adornéd, None to do them injury; Then said this lady gay, ‘Full woe is me! O, let me still sustain this kind captivity!

* * * * *

Thou hast set this present day my body free, But my heart in prison strong remains with thee.’”

The captain urged many objections, each one of which in turn she argued away and removed, even when he said—

“I have neither gold nor silver To maintain thee in this case, And to travel is great charges As you know in every place.”

She answered—

“My chains and jewels every one shall be thine own, And the five hundred pounds in gold that lies unknown.”

At length, finding all other argument useless, he is made boldly to declare—

“I in England have already A sweet woman to my wife; I will not falsify my vow for gold or gain, Nor yet for all the fairest dames that live in Spain.”

To which she makes him the magnanimous answer—

“Oh! how happy is that woman That enjoys so true a friend! Many happy days God send her! Of my suit I’ll make an end: On my knees I pardon crave for this offence, Which love and true affection did first commence.

Commend me to thy loving lady, Bear to her this chain of gold And these bracelets for a token, Grieving that I was so bold: All my jewels in like sort bear thou with thee, For they are fitting for thy wife, and not for me.”

And she, taking an affecting leave of him, declares her intention of spending her days in prayer in a nunnery. Sir Richard married the daughter of the famous Earl of Nottingham, who was Lord High Admiral and Commander-in-chief of the fleet which defeated the Armada. Sir Richard Leveson, who was in this engagement, was, in 1601, made Vice-Admiral, and died in 1605. In the collegiate church at Wolverhampton was formerly a “stately monument in black marble erected to his memory, by which were two brass plates, the one inscribed with the chief events of his life, registered at length in Latin,” and the other in English, erected by Sir Richard Leveson. It was executed by Le Sueur for £300, the original contract being still preserved at Trentham. During the civil wars “this bronze effigy was ordered by the Committee of Sequestrations at Stafford to be taken away and cast into cannon; but by the timely interposition of Lady Leveson, the Admiral’s widow, it was redeemed for a sum of money, and deposited in Lilleshall Church till the strife was over. The marble monument being destroyed, it now occupies a niche in the church of Wolverhampton,” and a copy is preserved in a recess in the court-yard at Trentham.

Sir Richard Leveson, Knight of the Bath, M.P. for Shropshire, and afterwards for Newcastle-under-Lyme, was devoted to the cause of Charles I. He made his residence at Trentham, “being accounted one of the best housekeepers and landlords in the county. In consequence of his adherence to the royal cause, his property was sequestrated, for which he compounded by the payment of more than £6,000—the largest composition obtained. A letter of his to the Governor of Shrewsbury strikingly indicates the distresses sustained even by persons of distinction during those troubled times:—

“S^r

“Since the unhappy surprise of Stafford by the rebelles, the place where I am is not safe, either for myselfe or my goodes, and therefore I have sent 2 wagons loaded with some household stuffe, which I desire, with your dispensacon, may be received into your towne of Shrewsbury, into a roome which I have longe reserved in myne owne handes for this purpose against a tyme of neede; and that to this effecte you will please to give order unto your watch for free passage to and fro, whereby you will oblige mee more and more to remayne

“Yo^r ever affectionate frende “R. LEVESON.”

“LILLESHALL LODGE, 16 May, 1643.

“To my much respected frende “S^R FRANCIS OTELEY, Kt “Governour of Shrewsbury—Haste these.”

The Sir Richard Leveson who built the old hall at Trentham in 1633 (two views of which are given in Plot) died in 1661. His widow, Lady Katharine Leveson (daughter of Robert, Duke of Northumberland, and Lady Alice Dudley), was a great benefactress to the parish. She died at Trentham in 1674, and was buried at Lilleshall. Her charities were almost boundless. Sir Richard Leveson dying without issue, the Trentham estates passed to his sister and co-heiress, who had married Sir Thomas Gower, and in the Gower family they have remained to this day. Sir William Leveson-Gower, his second son, who inherited the estates on the deaths of his elder brother and nephew, married Lady Jane Granville, eldest daughter of the Earl of Bath, by whom he had issue, with others, Sir John Leveson-Gower, who in 1703 was created Baron Gower of Sittenham. He married Catherine, daughter of the first Duke of Rutland, by whom he had four sons and two daughters. The eldest of these sons, John, was in 1746 advanced to the dignity of Viscount Trentham and Earl Gower. He was married three times: first, to Evelyn, daughter of the Duke of Kingston, by whom he had four sons and seven daughters; secondly, to Penelope, daughter of Sir John Stonehouse, by whom he had one daughter; and, thirdly, to Lady Mary Tufton, daughter of the Earl of Thanet, by whom he had three sons and one daughter, one of whom was the famed Admiral John Leveson-Gower. His lordship was succeeded by his third son by his first wife, Granville Leveson Gower, who in 1786 was raised to the dignity of Marquis of Stafford. He married three times: first, Elizabeth Fazakerly, by whom he had a son, who died in infancy; second, Lady Louisa Egerton, daughter of the first Duke of Bridgewater, by whom he had issue a son, George Granville, who succeeded him, and three daughters (Lady Louisa, married to Sir Archibald Macdonald; Lady Caroline, married to Frederick, Earl of Carlisle; and Lady Anne, married to Edward Vernon Harcourt, Archbishop of York); third, Lady Susan Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Galloway, by whom he had issue one son, Granville Leveson-Gower, created Baron Leveson of Stone, and Viscount and Earl Granville (who married Lady Harriet Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of the fifth Duke of Devonshire, and was father of the present eminent statesman, Earl Granville), and three daughters—viz. Lady Georgiana Augusta, married to the Earl of St. Germains; Lady Charlotte Sophia, married to the Duke of Beaufort; and Lady Susanna, married to the Earl of Harrowby. The Marquis, who held many important public offices, died in 1803, and was succeeded by his eldest son—

George Granville Leveson-Gower, as second Marquis of Stafford. This nobleman married, in 1785, Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland and Baroness Strathnaver (a title dating from 1228), and was, in 1833, advanced to the dignity of Duke of Sutherland. His grace, who had been called to the Upper House during his father’s lifetime as Baron Gower, became heir to the Duke of Bridgewater, and thus added immense wealth to the family property. He had surviving issue two sons—viz. George Granville, by whom he was succeeded, and Lord Francis, who took the name and arms of Egerton, by sign-manual, in 1833, and was raised to the peerage as Earl of Ellesmere in 1846 (he married Harriet Catherine, eldest daughter of Charles Greville, Esq., by whom he had issue, with others, the second Earl of Ellesmere, and Admiral Egerton, who married Lady Louisa Cavendish, daughter of the present Duke of Devonshire)—and two daughters, viz. Lady Charlotte Sophia, married to the Duke of Norfolk; and Lady Elizabeth Mary, married to Richard, Marquis of Westminster, father of the present Duke of Westminster.

A noble colossal bronze statue of the Duke (who died in 1833), the figure being sixteen feet in height, and placed on a lofty column on Tittensor Hill (called “Monument Hill”), forms a conspicuous object against the sky from the house and gardens of Trentham. It is one of Chantrey’s masterpieces of Art. The column, base, and steps were designed by Barry. The entire height is fifty-nine feet, including the figure. It bears the following appropriate inscription:—

IN LASTING MEMORIAL OF GEORGE GRANVILLE, DUKE OF SUTHERLAND, MARQUIS OF STAFFORD, K.G. AN UPRIGHT AND PATRIOTIC NOBLEMAN, A JUDICIOUS, KIND, AND LIBERAL LANDLORD; WHO IDENTIFIED THE IMPROVEMENT OF HIS VAST ESTATES WITH THE PROSPERITY OF ALL WHO CULTIVATED THEM; A PUBLIC YET UNOSTENTATIOUS BENEFACTOR, WHO, WHILE HE PROVIDED USEFUL EMPLOYMENT FOR THE ACTIVE LABOURER, OPENED WIDE HIS HAND TO THE DISTRESSES OF THE WIDOW THE SICK, AND THE TRAVELLER; A MOURNING AND GRATEFUL TENANTRY, UNITING WITH THE INHABITANTS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD, ERECTED THIS PILLAR A.D. MDCCCXXXIV.

George Granville Leveson-Gower, second Duke of Sutherland, was called to the Upper House during his father’s lifetime as Baron Gower. He was born in 1786, and married, in 1823, the Lady Harriet Elizabeth Georgiana Howard, daughter of the Earl of Carlisle. By this happy union his grace had issue four sons and seven daughters. Among these were—the present Duke of Sutherland, of whom more presently; Lord Albert Sutherland Leveson-Gower, who married, in 1872, a daughter of Sir Thomas Nevill Abdy, Bart., and died in 1874, leaving issue one infant; Lord Ronald Charles Leveson-Gower, late M.P. for Sutherland; Lady Elizabeth Georgiana, married, in 1844, to the present Duke of Argyll, and is mother of the Marquis of Lorne; Lady Evelyn, married to Lord Blantyre; Lady Caroline, married to the Duke of Leinster; and Lady Constance Gertrude, married to the present Duke of Westminster. His Grace the Duke of Sutherland died in 1861, aged seventy-four, and was buried in the Mausoleum at Trentham. He was a man of liberal, kindly, gentle, and benevolent disposition, and was beloved by people of every class; indeed, such was the affectionate attachment of his tenants, that after his death they erected statues to his memory on most of his estates.

The Duchess, whose refined taste, attachment to Art, amiability of disposition, winning manners, and energetic character were beyond praise, died in 1868, and was also buried in the mausoleum at Trentham. She was Mistress of the Robes to the Queen, by whom she was esteemed as a beloved friend. To her pure taste Trentham owes many of its most attractive features, and had she lived to carry out the full bent of her inclination, much more would have been accomplished. A chastely beautiful altar-tomb, with a recumbent effigy of the Duchess, by Noble, has been erected in Trentham Church, and is one of the highest and purest achievements of sculptural Art. “Recurring to the monument in Trentham Church,” says the Rev. Prebendary Edwards, “it tells us, though in silence, of a rare combination of affection, thought, and artistic skill in all who have been engaged upon it. It could not have been confided to better hands than Mr. Noble’s, who, as sculptor, has had his heart in his work. Resting in calm and the deepest repose, as between life and death, the figure recalls with wonderful truth the beauty of feature and gentleness of expression of her whom it represents.” The monument is placed at the east end of the south aisle, and the sculptor has been happy in finding a spot for his marble where the light of a south window falls on the countenance of the figure on the tomb beneath. The floor is laid with encaustic tiles, bearing the arms of the family and the initials of the deceased. The monument contains the following inscription, written by Mr. Gladstone:—

HENRIETTÆ DUCISSÆ DE SUTHERLAND FIDO MARMORE DESCRIPTA EFFIGIES EJUS CARISSIMA IMAGO NUNQUAM NON VIDEBITUR INTER SUOS MORARI QUIPPE QUÆ ET MULTUM ET A MULTIS AMATA HAUD SCIAS AN NON MAGIS IPSA AMAVERIT EGREGIA MENTIS ET FORMÆ DOTIBUS GNATA SOROR UXOR MATER PARENS ABSOLUTISSIMA HABUIT INSUPER E CORDIS BENEVOLENTIA QUOD IN AMICOS LARGE DIMANARET DULCEDINUM ET DELICIARUM OMNIA QUEIS FRUI DATUM EST HOMINIBUS ILLI CARPERE DIUTIUS LICUIT ILLI QUOD RIRIUS CIRCA SE DIFFUNDERE SUB EXTREMUM VITÆ SPATIUM ETIAM IN DOLORIBUS SPECTATA NUSQUAM MEDIOCREM SE PRÆBUIT DENIQUE DEI OPT. MAX. CONSILIUM LIBENTER AMPLEXA ET USQUE AD FINEM SINE MOLLITIE TENERRIMA TRANQUILLE IN CHRISTO OBDORMIVIT LONDONI XXVII DIE OCTOBRIS ANNO REDEMPTORIS MDCCCLXVIII

Besides this and other inscriptions, at the head of the tomb we read—

IN TE MISERICORDIÆ IN TE PIETADE IN TE BENEFICENZA IN TE S’ADUNDA QUANTUNQUE IN CREATURA É DI BONTADE;

and at the base, “In memoriam Matris,” the following:—“This monument to the beloved memory of Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, wife of George Granville, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, is erected, in the church which they rebuilt, as a loving tribute to her spotless life, A.D. mdccclxxi.” It was erected by her son, Lord Ronald Charles Sutherland Leveson-Gower, and a brass plate near it thus records the fact:—“The erection of the monument to our mother has been the thought and the act of my brother Ronald. I only share with him in the love and reverence which prompted it. SUTHERLAND, 1871.”

The present noble peer, George Granville William Sutherland Leveson-Gower, third Duke of Sutherland, Marquis of Stafford, Earl Gower, Viscount Trentham, Baron Gower of Sittenham, in the peerage of the United Kingdom; Earl of Sutherland and Lord Strathnaver in the peerage of Scotland; Knight of the Garter and a Baronet; Lord-Lieutenant of Cromartie and of Sutherland, was born December 19th, 1828, and succeeded his father in his titles and estates in 1861, having previously sat (as Marquis of Stafford) as M.P. for Sutherland from 1852 to 1861. He married in 1849 Anne (born 1829), daughter and only child of John Hay Mackenzie, Esq., created in her own right, in 1861, Countess of Cromartie, Viscountess Tarbat, Baroness Castle-Avon, and Baroness McLeod, all in the peerage of the United Kingdom, with remainder to her eldest surviving son. By this lady (who has held the appointment of Mistress of the Robes to the Queen) the Duke has issue, living, two sons and two daughters. These are—Cromartie Sutherland Leveson-Gower, Marquis Stafford, M.P. for Sutherlandshire (heir to the dukedom), who was born in 1851, educated at Eton, and is in the Life Guards; Francis Sutherland Leveson-Gower, Viscount Tarbat (heir to the earldom of Cromartie), born in 1852; the Lady Florence, born in 1855; and the Lady Alexandra, born in 1866. His grace (who accompanied H.R.H. the Prince of Wales to India in 1875-6) is patron of thirteen livings—viz. Trentham, Blurton, Sheriff Hales, Hanford, Barlaston, and Normacott, in Staffordshire; and Donnington Wood, Pains Lane, Kinnersley, Lilleshall, Longdon-upon-Terne, Ketley, and Donington, in Shropshire.

The arms of the Duke of Sutherland are—quarterly, 1 and 4, barry of eight, argent and gules, a cross fleury, sable, for Gower; 2, azure, three laurel-leaves, or, for Leveson; 3, gules, three mullets, or, within a bordure, or, charged with a double tressure flory counter-flory, gules, for Sutherland. Crests—1st, a goat’s head erased, ermine, for Leveson; 2nd, a wolf passant, argent, collared and lined, or, for Gower; 3rd, a cat-a-mountain, proper, for Sutherland. Supporters—dexter, a wolf (locally called a “gower”), argent, collared and lined, or; sinister, a savage, wreathed about the temples and loins with laurels, holding in his dexter hand a club, resting on his shoulder, all proper, and supporting with his sinister hand an antique shield, charged with the arms of the ancient family of Sutherland in proper blazonry. Motto—“Frangas non flectes” (You may break, but shall not bend me). The arms of the Duke are engraved on our initial letter (page 32). The principal seats of the Duke are—Trentham, Staffordshire; Dunrobin Castle, Golspie, Scotland; Lilleshall, Shropshire; Loch Inver House, Sutherland; House of Tongue, Sutherland; Tarbat House, Ross-shire; Castle Leod, Dingwall; and Stafford House, St. James’s, London.

The old hall at Trentham, previously referred to, and which was usually called Trentham Priory, through having been built on the foundations of that religious house, was altered and enlarged, and in the main rebuilt, by the second duke. The work was intrusted to Sir Charles Barry, and was commenced in 1834, and carried out at a cost of about £150,000. It had, however, previously undergone much alteration at the hands of Mr. Tatham, who endeavoured to approximate it, in appearance, to the old Buckingham Palace.

PURSUING the carriage-way to Trentham, the visitor passes to the house from the park through a pair of gates, the posts of which are surmounted with life-size bronze stags. In the centre of the circular drive is a fine bronze statue of Diana at the chase. The carriage porch, which, unlike the rest of the building, is of solid stone, forms a square, arched upon columns, with an entablature and attic surmounted with a balustrade, and piers and bases. Over the arches are the arms of the Duke, boldly carved in stone; the supporters, wolves, as large as life. From this porch the entrance door opens into an elegant semicircular corridor, which is one of the prettiest features of the place. To the left, on entering, the corridor leads to the Entrance Hall, Grand Staircase, Billiard, and other rooms; and, on the right, to the Private Conservatory, Drawing-room, the private rooms, &c.; while in front it encloses the West Court, with its shell-fountain, statue of “Venus rising from the Bath,” and other attractions.

It is not necessary to minutely describe the various rooms of this charming and purely domestic “Home,” nor to observe any consecutive arrangement regarding those upon which we may remark. All we need do is to briefly allude to some of the apartments, and then pass on to the charming grounds—the glory of Trentham.

Among the more notable rooms are the following:—The Venetian Room, or the Duchess’s Boudoir, is, without exception, the most perfect gem of a room which any mansion can boast. It, as well as the Duke’s Room and Private Dining-room, opens from the corridor to the private rooms, lined with presses of books, and is lighted by three windows in the south front. The walls are divided into five large panels, painted by Clarkson Stanfield, in his best and most brilliant style, with scenes in Venice; the panels being separated from each other, and surrounded by gilt reticulated work on a crimson velvet ground. Of the furnishing and decorations of this exquisite apartment it is enough to say that it is arranged with that refined and faultlessly pure taste, which can nowhere be expected to be better shown than in the surroundings of so good and amiable and accomplished a woman as the Duchess of Sutherland.

The Duke’s Room closely adjoins this apartment. It is fitted with presses filled with the choicest and most rare printed books and manuscripts, and contains some remarkably fine paintings. Among the literary treasures here preserved we cannot forbear noting the original manuscript of old John Gower’s poems, in his own handwriting, and, as shown by an inscription at the commencement, presented by the poet to King Henry IV., on his coronation, and given back to the family of Gower, some centuries later, by Sir Thomas Fairfax; and among the treasures of Art, of which there are many, is one of the original “first fifty” copies of the Portland vase by old Josiah Wedgwood, in perfect preservation. And here it may be well to note that through the kind thoughtfulness of the Duke on our visit, we were shown a fine and remarkably interesting old Wedgwood jasper chimney-piece in the Bath-room; it is one of the best remaining specimens. Adjoining the Venetian Room, on the other side, is the Private Dining-room, the walls of which are hung with a fine collection of landscapes by Penry Williams, and paintings by other artists. Leading to the corridor, at one end, is the Private Arcade, at the extremity of which, next to the Duke’s Room, has recently been placed Noble’s magnificent statue of the late duke—a work of Art which takes rank with any of that eminent sculptor’s productions.

The Dining-room, at the east end of the south terrace, contains some choice sculpture by Antonio Sola, Wolff, and others, and some gigantic vases of Minton’s creation. Adjoining this is the Marble Hall, or Ante Dining-room, lighted from the ceiling, and containing, besides a fine sculptured figure of Canning—copied from that by Chantrey in Westminster Abbey—a full-length life-size portrait of the late Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, by Winterhalter. The Breakfast-room, among its other pictorial treasures, contains Wilkie’s “Breakfast,” painted for the first duke; Gainsborough’s “Landscape with Sheep;” Jackson’s “Infant Moses,” exhibited in 1818; Callcott’s “Italian Landscape,” and other paintings by Poussin, Stothard, Moulson, Frearson, Rogers, Wilson, &c.

The Library, which contains a marvellous collection of choice and valuable books, is enriched by a frieze from the Elgin and Phigalean marbles, and is a charming and highly interesting room. In the Saloon, or Music-room, a pretty apartment whose ceiling is supported on pilasters, are some exquisite family busts, a charming bust of the late duchess by Noble, and other attractions. The carpet is characterized by the same pattern as the terrace garden. The Drawing-room, with its sweetly pretty painted ceiling, contains many good pictures: among these are Hofland’s “Storm off the Coast at Scarborough;” Sir Thomas Lawrence’s portraits of Lord Francis Leveson-Gower (Egerton), and of the second Duke of Sutherland; Vandyke’s “Children of Charles I.;” Charles Landseer’s “Benediction,” and others. The Billiard-room has a lofty coved ceiling, and was the Great Hall of the old mansion. In it are Winterhalter’s grand full-length figure of Queen Victoria, presented by her Majesty to the late duchess; a copy of Reynolds’s portrait of George III.; Romney’s portrait of Queen Charlotte, Lord Chancellor Thurlow, and the first Marquis of Stafford, and others.

In the Entrance Hall is a copy of Michael Angelo’s statue of “Thought;” and on the Grand Staircase is a rich assemblage of family and other portraits. In the various bed-rooms and other apartments, too, are contained a vast number of valuable paintings and works of Art.

The Private Conservatory, however, is one of the “gems” of Trentham, and is as elegant in its arrangements and decorations as the most fastidious taste can desire or Art accomplish. Of this miniature “world of flowers” we give an engraving, from a special photograph taken by Harrison, but of its Eastern splendour of rich colours we can offer no idea. It is a square apartment, with Italian windows and trellised walls, and is also trellised between the lights of the ceiling. In the centre is a fine figure of “Venus at the Bath.” The noble ferns and the exotic and other plants are of the choicest kinds, and the arrangement of colour, especially when all are lighted from the number of lamps suspended from the roof, is exquisitely beautiful.

A pleasant feature of Trentham is the Bowling Alley—formerly the Orangery Arcade—which affords an almost unique and very pleasing indoor pastime for the family and friends. This feature, we believe, was much enjoyed by the Shah on his visit to Trentham, which was rendered lavishly enjoyable to him in every conceivable way.

From the Entrance Hall a doorway opens into the Church, which thus becomes not only the parish church, but the private chapel of the Duke. The Church thus forms a part of, or at all events is attached to, the house; and the transition from the elegances of modern life to the grand old house of prayer is very striking and solemn. The Church, which was restored in 1842 at the cost of the Duke, by Sir Charles Barry, is the nave of the old abbey of Trentham, the chancel having extended considerably beyond the present east wall of the churchyard. The Church, as it now exists, consists of a nave with clerestory, north and south aisles, and chancel, with a mortuary chapel at the east end of the south aisle. The pillars which divide the aisles from the nave are Norman, and are the original pillars, carefully replaced and restored, of the old priory; from them now spring acutely pointed arches of a later, and consequently incongruous, character. The chancel is divided from the nave by an elaborate oak screen of late but good character, the altar-piece, by Hilton, being the “Taking down from the Cross.” There is an eagle lectern at the east end of the nave; and the pulpit is hung with a fine Moorish horsecloth, elaborately worked in silver on crimson velvet. At the west end is a gallery forming the family pew. At the back of this, beneath the window, is a bust of the late duke; on the south side, a bust, by Noble, of a son of the present duke, who died young; and, on the north side, a tablet to Lord Frederick Leveson-Gower, who lost his life during the Crimean war. At the same end of the Church is a poor’s box, bearing date 1698. The font, the gift of the parishioners, is also at the west end.

In the Memorial Chapel, besides the exquisitely beautiful altar-tomb to the late duchess by Noble, to which we have already referred, are monuments and tablets to the Levesons and Gowers; and here, too, is placed a memorial bust to Lord Albert, recently deceased. Of the beautiful monument to the late duchess we have given an engraving on page 40, copied from a clever photograph by M. De Tejada, taken from the admirable picture by Mr. John O’Connor, painted, we believe, for Lord Ronald Gower, and in his lordship’s possession. In the north wall of the Church is a recessed arched tomb, on which lie the fragments of a highly interesting effigy in chain-mail, dug up in the churchyard a few years ago; and over the north door are the royal arms, dated 1663, pierced with Parliamentarian bullets.[40]

One feature yet remains to be noted; it is the introduction on the north wall of encaustic wall-tiles, each one of which, enclosed in a reticulated pattern, bears a memorial of some departed parishioner, in manner following:—

These, which are many in number, are arranged above the oak lining on the seats, and have appropriate texts, &c., also in tiles, running above and below the series. It is a pretty and very lasting, as well as inexpensive, kind of memorial, and one that might with advantage be adopted in many churches. In the churchyard are the remains of a cross, and some other interesting matters.

The great features of Trentham are, as we have before said, its grounds and its matchless lake. To these, however, we have but little space to devote, though a bare enumeration of their points of beauty would fill a volume. To the park the public are, thanks to the liberality of the Duke of Sutherland, and which is one of the innate features of himself and the noble family of which he is the head, freely admitted. The gardens and pleasure-grounds (which, until the great alterations made some years ago, was simply a sheep pasture railed off from the park) can only, however, and very rightly, be seen by special permission. To these we must devote a few words. The principal or south front of the house—two charming views of which we have given on pages 45 and 46—looks across the grounds and lake to the distant wooded hills skirting the horizon, and crowned in one place by the colossal statue of the first duke, to which we have already alluded. A part of this view, as seen from the windows of this front, we have depicted in the accompanying engraving. First comes the Terrace (not included in our view), studded with statues and vases; next, the Terrace Garden, with its central fountain, its grand bronze vases and sculptures, its flower-beds laid out in the form of a letter S for Sutherland, its recessed alcoves, and its Grecian temples, containing marvellous examples of antique sculpture; next, beyond, come the Italian Gardens (approached by a fine semicircular flight of steps), about ten acres in extent, with their parterres and borders and sunk beds, their statues, fountain, and busts, and their thousand and one other attractions; then the Lake Terrace, with its balustrade, its line of vases, its magnificent colossal statue of “Perseus and Medusa” (which cost its noble owner £1,600), its descending steps for landing, its boat-houses, and other appliances; then, next beyond, the Lake, eighty-three acres in extent, on which sailing and rowing boats and canoes find ample space for aquatic exercise; then the Islands—one of which alone is four acres in extent, and the other a single acre—beautifully planted with trees and shrubs; and, beyond this again, the woods of Tittensor, with the crowning monument. To the left are the grand wooded heights of King’s Wood Bank, a part of the ancient forest of Needwood, and consequently the remains of the old hunting-grounds of the Kings of Mercia; and, to the right, the American Grounds, planted with a profusion of rhododendrons and other appropriate shrubs and plants; while the Italian Garden is skirted on its east side by a deliciously cool and shady trellised walk—a floral tunnel, so to speak, some two hundred yards long, formed of trellised arches the whole of its length, overgrown with creeping plants and flowers, and decorated with busts, ornamental baskets, &c., forming a vista of extreme loveliness.

Near this is a pleasant glade, having the Orangery, now the Bowling Alley, at its extremity; and near here is the iron bridge—one hundred and thirty years old, and one of the chefs-d’œuvre of the old Coalbrookdale Works—crossing the river Trent, which flows through the grounds. Standing on this bridge, the view both up and down the Trent is strikingly beautiful. Looking up the stream, the “solemn Trent” is seen crossed by the old stone bridge, while, to the left, a view of the house is partially obtained through the trees, the original course of the river, before it was altered, being distinctly traceable, and presenting a broader surface and a more graceful sweep than at present. Looking down the stream, the view is more charming still, and embraces the river, the lake (into which, until a few years back, the Trent flowed), the islands, the American and other gardens, and the wooded heights that skirt the domain.

Crossing the bridge, a little to the right is the Conservatory, filled with the choicest trees and flowering plants, and kept, as all the rest of the gardens and grounds are, in the most perfect order. In front of this Conservatory is a pretty feature—the poetical idea of the late duchess—consisting of the names of her daughters (the sisters of the present Duke of Sutherland) planted in box on a ground of white spar. The words as they appear are—

ELIZABETH LORNE. EVELYN BLANTYRE. CAROLINE KILDARE. CONSTANCE GROSVENOR. VIRET MEMORIA.

Thus the “memory” of the four daughters of the late duchess—viz. the present Duchess of Argyll, the Lady Blantyre, the Duchess of Leinster, and the Duchess of Westminster—is kept “ever green.”

Near by are the Kitchen Gardens, Conservatories, Vineries, Peach-houses, Pine-houses, Orchid-houses, and all the usual appliances of a large and well-devised establishment; and it is a notable feature that all round the Kitchen Gardens, some thirteen acres in extent, is carried what is known as the Trentham Wall-Case—a glass-sided and covered passage, filled with peaches and nectarines, and forming an enclosed walk all round the place. Near the garden entrance is the pleasant residence of the head-gardener, shown in the preceding engraving. It was erected from the designs of Sir Charles Barry; and near it is another excellent building, a “bothie” for the young gardeners, erected from the designs of Mr. Roberts, the Duke’s architect and surveyor at Trentham. In this cottage the young gardeners, several in number, board and lodge, and have a reading-room, healthful and amusing games, and other comforts provided for them. The Children’s Cottage, with the grounds around, is also a pretty little spot, and, indeed, the whole of the grounds are one unbroken succession of beauties.

Just outside the park is the Mausoleum—the burial-place of the family—behind which is the present graveyard of the parish.

Of the Poultry-houses (the finest in existence), the Stables, the Kennels, and the Estate Offices and Works it is not our province to speak. They are all that can be desired in arrangement, and are lavishly fitted with every convenience.

We reluctantly take our leave of Trentham, congratulating alike its noble owner on the possession of so lovely an estate, and the Pottery district in having in its midst a nobleman of such refined taste as his Grace the Duke of Sutherland, of such liberal and kindly disposition, and of such boundless wealth, which he has the opportunity of disposing in an open-hearted and beneficial manner; and this it is his pride to do.

KNOLE.

KNOLE HOUSE adjoins the pleasant and picturesque town of Sevenoaks, in the fertile and beautiful county of Kent—the “garden of England”—and is situate in its most charming and productive district, neighbouring the renowned Wealds, and distant but an hour from the metropolis of England.

The principal approach to the mansion is by a long and winding avenue of finely grown beech-trees, through the extensive park—the road sloping and rising gradually, and presenting frequent views of hill and dale—terminated by the heavy and sombre stone front of the ancient and venerable edifice. Passing under an embattled tower, the first or outer quadrangle is entered; hence there is another passage through another tower-portal, which conducts to the inner quadrangle, and so to the

“Huge hall, long galleries, spacious chambers,”

for which Knole has long been famous.

Of Knole, as with most of our grand old mansions, it is impossible to fix, with any degree of certainty, the date of its original foundation; “but the evident connection between the several properties of Knole and Sevenoaks with Kemsing, Otford, and Seale, coupled with the gifts of certain lands in Kemsing to the royal abbey at Wilton, appears to identify those manors with the terra regia of the Saxon Kings of Kent, who had, it is supposed, one of their palaces at Otford, to which place Sevenoaks and Knole have always been esteemed appendant, and were for some time after Domesday survey held by the same owners.” Early in the reign of King John, the manor and estates of Knole, with those of Braborne (Bradborne), Kemsing, and Seale, were held by Baldwin de Bethun, or Betune, Earl of Albemarle.

The first Earl of Albemarle was Odo, Count of Champaigne, a near relative by birth to William the Conqueror, and the husband of his sister, Adeliza. He was succeeded by his son, surnamed Le Gros, who was also made Earl of Yorkshire. This nobleman appears to have had an only child, a daughter named Hawise, who espoused William Mandeville, Earl of Essex, who, on her father’s death in 1179, succeeded to the title and estates. After his death without issue, his widow, Hawise, married William de Fortibus, who enjoyed the title, as did also her third husband, Baldwin de Betune, or Bethun. On his death the earldom reverted to William de Fortibus, the son of Hawise by her second husband.

In the fifth year of King John, Baldwin de Betune gave the manors of Knole, Sevenoaks, Bradborne, Kemsing, and Seale in “frank marriage” with his daughter Alice, on her marriage to William Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, who was succeeded by his brother, who, being attainted, the lands were escheated to the Crown. These manors were next, it is said, given to Fulk de Brent; but he having been banished the realm, they again reverted to the Crown, and, the family having returned to allegiance, the lands were restored to them, and the Earl’s brothers—Gilbert, Walter, and Anselme—successively became Earls of Pembroke and Lords-Marshal. These earls having all died without issue, the estates “devolved on their sisters, in consequence of which Roger, son of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, who married Maud, the eldest sister, became entitled, and died seized of these estates about 54 Henry III., without issue, leaving Roger Bigod, his nephew, his next heir, who, in the 11th of Edward I., conveyed them to Otho de Grandison, who, dying without issue, was succeeded by his brother, William de Grandison; and his grandson, Sir Thomas de Grandison, according to Philpot, transferred Knole to Geoffrey de Say, and the rest of the estates to other hands.”

Geoffrey de Say was summoned to Parliament by Edward III.; was Admiral of the King’s Fleet, and a knight-banneret; and distinguished himself in the wars with France and Flanders. He married Maud, daughter of Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, by whom he left issue William, his son and heir, and three daughters, who eventually became co-heiresses “to this property, which continued in the family till the reign of Henry VI., when one Ralph Leghe conveyed the whole estate by sale to James Fiennes,” the grandson of the youngest of the three co-heiresses.

James Fiennes, who had distinguished himself in the wars with France in the reign of Henry V., was created Lord Say and Sele. The Fiennes were an ancient family, descended from John, Baron of Fiennes, Hereditary Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports, who was father of James, and he of John, who had issue Ingelram de Fiennes, who was slain at Acon, in the Holy Land, in 1190. “He married Sybil de Tyngrie, daughter and heiress to Erasmus de Bologne, nephew to Maud, Queen of England, wife of King Stephen, from which match proceeded William de Fiennes, who succeeded to the estates of the Earl of Bologne. He was succeeded by his son Ingelram, whose son William was educated with Prince Edward, and was, in turn, succeeded by his son John, of whom no issue remained. His uncle, Sir Giles Fiennes, succeeded. By his wife Sybil he had issue John, his son and heir, and by Joan, his wife, had issue John de Fiennes, who had to wife Maud, sister and heir of John Monceaux, of Hurst-Monceaux, in Sussex; and dying, left issue Sir William Fiennes, Knt., who having married Joan, youngest daughter to Geoffrey, Lord Say, and at length co-heir to William, her brother, his posterity thereby shared in the inheritance of that family, being succeeded by William, his son and heir.” He married Elizabeth Battisford, by whom he had issue two sons, Roger and James, the elder of whom left a son, Richard, who, marrying Joan, daughter and heiress of Thomas, Lord Dacre, was declared Lord Dacre, and was ancestor of that noble family.

James Fiennes, the second son, of whom we have already spoken as having been called to Parliament as Lord Say and Sele, became Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports, Lord Chamberlain to the King, Constable of the Tower of London, and Lord Treasurer of England. Such rapid advancement was, however, distasteful to the malcontents of this kingdom; and the King, to appease them, sequestered Lord Say from his office of Treasurer, and, as is supposed, to insure his safety from his enemies, committed him to the Tower. The rebels, under Jack Cade, however, forced the Tower, carried Lord Say to the Guildhall, and after a mock trial, hurried him to the Standard in Cheapside, where “they cut off his head, and carried it on a pole, causing his naked body to be drawn at a horse’s tail into Southwark, to Sir Thomas of Waterings, and there hanged and quartered.”[41]

The murder of Lord Say took place July 4th, 29th Henry VI. He was succeeded by his son, Sir William Fiennes (by his wife, Emeline Cromer), who, suffering much in the Wars of the Roses, was compelled to part with the greater portion of his estates and offices. His patent of Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports he assigned to Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham, and the manor and estate of Knole he sold, in 1456, to Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, for four hundred marks. After an eventful life he was killed at the battle of Barnet, and the title died with him. Archbishop Bourchier is said to have “rebuilt the manor-house, enclosed a park around the same, and resided much at it.” At his death, in 1486, he bequeathed the estate to the see of Canterbury. Archbishop Morton, who was visited at Knole by King Henry VII., died there in 1500; and Archbishop Wareham, who was frequently visited at Knole by Kings Henry VII. and VIII., also died there. Archbishop Cranmer likewise resided here, and he, by indenture dated November 30th, 29 Henry VIII., conveyed Knole and other manors to the King and his successors, in whose hands it remained until the reign of Edward VI., when that monarch, in his fourth year, granted it by letters patent to John Dudley, Earl of Warwick (afterwards Duke of Northumberland), on whose attainder and execution, in 1553, it again reverted to the Crown.

Knole was next, by Queen Mary, granted to Cardinal Pole, then Archbishop of Canterbury, for life. By Queen Elizabeth, in the third year of her reign, it, with other estates, was granted to Sir Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl of Leicester, but was again surrendered, a few years later, into the hands of the Queen, who then granted it to Thomas Sackville, afterwards Lord Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset.

It were indeed a long story to tell of all the famous deeds of the noble family of Sackville, and one that would take more space than we can spare. We therefore pass over the earlier members of the family, so as to reach the first who owned Knole and its surroundings—Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst. He was the son of Richard Sackville, Lent Reader to Henry VIII. and Treasurer to the Army of that monarch, by his first wife, who was daughter of Sir John Bruges, Lord Mayor of London. When only nineteen years of age he married Cicely, daughter of Sir John Baker, and held many offices in the realm, being selected by the Queen, “by her particular choice and liking, to a continual private attendance upon her own person.” In 1567 he was created Baron Buckhurst. In 1571 he was sent on a special mission to Charles IX. of France to negotiate the proposed marriage of his royal mistress, Queen Elizabeth, with the Duke of Anjou; and later on he was deputed to convey the sentence of her doom to Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1587 he went on a mission to the Low Countries, and figured prominently in almost all the incidents of the eventful period in which he lived. After the death of Elizabeth, Lord Buckhurst was created, by James I., Earl of Dorset, and was continued in his office of Lord High Treasurer of England. He died in 1608. Of his abilities as an author (for he was one of the most brilliant of his age) Spenser wrote—

“Whose learned muse hath writ her own record In golden verse, worthy immortal fame.”

And this opinion is indorsed, not only by his contemporaries, but by people of every age since his time. He is chiefly celebrated as the author of the earliest English tragedy in blank verse, Gordubuc, and The Induction to a Mirrour for Magistrates, one of the noblest poems in the language. Gordubuc is praised by Sidney for its “notable moralitie,” and the poem is believed to have given rise to the “Faery Queen.” All contemporaries agree in bearing testimony to the virtues of this truly noble man. One of them thus draws his character:—“How many rare things were in him! Who more loving unto his wife? who more kind unto his children? who more fast unto his friend? who more moderate unto his enemy? who more true to his word?”

This nobleman was succeeded by his son Robert as second Earl of Dorset, who died within a year of attaining to that dignity. He married, first, Margaret, only daughter of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, and, second, Anne, daughter of Sir George Spencer, and was succeeded by his second son of the first marriage, Richard, as third Earl of Dorset. This nobleman—who was notorious for the prodigal magnificence of his household, and had to sell Knole to a Mr. Smith of Wandsworth—married, two days before his father’s death, the famous Lady Ann Clifford, daughter of the Earl of Cumberland. He was succeeded by his brother Edward Sackville, whose name is notorious in history in the matter of his unfortunate and fatal duel with Lord Bruce, of Kinloss. He married Mary, third daughter of Sir George Curzon, of Croxhall, in Derbyshire, “to whose charge the instruction of the young princess was committed by the unfortunate Charles, to whom the Earl and Countess continued to the last to be most faithfully attached.” He was succeeded by his son Richard as fifth Earl of Dorset, who married Lady Frances Cranfield, daughter of Lionel, Earl of Middlesex, who repurchased Knole of the trustees of Henry Smith, and was succeeded, as sixth earl, by his son Charles, who had previously been created Baron Cranfield, and who married, first, Elizabeth, daughter of Hervey Bagot and widow of the Earl of Falmouth, and, second, Mary, daughter of James Compton, Earl of Northampton, by whom he had a son, Lionel, who succeeded him, and was advanced to the dignity of Duke of Dorset, and made Constable of Dover Castle, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Lord High Steward of England, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord President of the Council, and held many other offices, and took an active part in all affairs of the State.

He was succeeded, as second Duke of Dorset, by his son Charles, who, among his other offices, held that of Master of the Horse to Frederick, Prince of Wales. He married Grace, daughter of Viscount Shannon, who was Mistress of the Robes to Augusta, Princess of Wales, but had no issue. He was succeeded in 1769 by his nephew, John Frederick, as third duke. He married, in 1790, Arabella Diana, daughter and heiress of Sir John Cope, by whom he had issue George John Frederick (who succeeded him as fourth duke); Mary, married to the Earl of Plymouth; and Elizabeth, married to Earl Delawarr. The third duke died in 1799, his only son being at that time in his sixth year. The Duchess, who married, secondly, Lord Whitworth, resided at Knole till her death in 1825; the fourth duke, her son, who had only three months before attained his majority, being killed by a fall from his horse in 1815. At his death Knole and some other estates passed to his sister and co-heiress, the Lady Mary Sackville, who married first, in 1811, Other Archer, sixth Earl of Plymouth, and, second, William Pitt, second Baron and first Earl Amherst, but had no issue by either of those marriages. Her ladyship died in 1864, and the estates then passed to her sister and co-heiress, the Lady Elizabeth Sackville, created in 1864 the Baroness Buckhurst, wife of the late George John Sackville-West, fifth Earl Delawarr, with remainder to her second and younger sons, and was mother of the late peer, Charles Richard, sixth Earl Delawarr; the present peer, the Right Hon. Reginald Windsor Sackville-West, seventh Earl Delawarr and Baron Buckhurst; the Hon. Mortimer Sackville-West, married to Charlotte, daughter of Major-General William Dickson, and is a claimant for the barony of Buckhurst, the present owner of Knole; the Hon. Lionel Sackville-West; the Hon. William Edward Sackville-West, married to Georgiana, daughter of George Dodwell, Esq.; the Lady Elizabeth, married to the present Duke of Bedford; the Lady Mary Catherine, married first, in 1847, to the second Marquis of Salisbury, and second, in 1870, to the fifteenth (present) Earl of Derby; and the Lady Arabella Diana, married to Sir Alexander Bannerman, Bart.

The sixth Earl of Delawarr, Charles Richard Sackville-West, C.B., was born in 1815, and succeeded his father in 1869; educated at Harrow, and entered the 43rd Foot, 1833; Captain 21st Fusiliers, 1842; Major in the army, 1846; Brevet-Colonel, 1850; Lieut.-Colonel and Colonel, 1854; Major-General, 1864. His lordship, as Lord West, served in the Sutlej campaign, 1845; was Aide-de-camp to Lord Gough at the battles of Moodkee and Ferozeshah, and Military Secretary during the remainder of the campaign; was present at Sobraon, and has received medal and clasps; served in the Crimea, including the battles of the Alma and Balaclava; commanded a detached wing of the 21st Fusiliers at the battle of Inkermann, and also that regiment at Sebastopol. In the expedition to Kinbourn he was in command of a brigade, and afterwards commanded one at Shorncliffe Camp. His lordship was an Officer of the Legion of Honour, a Knight of the Medjidie, &c.

His lordship, who was unmarried, died, by his own hand, April 23rd, 1873, and was succeeded by his brother, the Hon. and Rev. R. W. Sackville.

The present noble peer, the Hon. and Rev. Reginald Windsor Sackville, seventh Earl Delawarr, Viscount Cantelupe, Baron Delawarr, Baron West, and Baron Buckhurst, second son of the fifth Earl Delawarr, and brother of the sixth earl, was born in 1817; was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he proceeded B.A. in 1838, and M.A. in 1842; and became Rector of Withyham, in Sussex. He assumed, in 1871, the surname of Sackville only, in lieu of that of Sackville-West. His lordship married, in 1867, Constance Mary Elizabeth, daughter of A. D. R. W. Baillie-Cochrane, Esq., M.P., by whom he has issue living, the Hon. Lionel Charles Cranfield Sackville, Viscount Cantelupe, born in 1868; the Hon. Gilbert George Reginald Sackville, born in 1869; the Hon. Edeline Sackville, born in 1870; and the Hon. Leonore Mary, born in 1872. His lordship is patron of six livings, four of which are in Sussex and two in Oxfordshire.

The arms of Earl Delawarr are—quarterly, or and gules, a bend vaire, argent and azure. Crest—on a ducal coronet composed of fleurs-de-lis, as estoile, argent, supporters on either side, a leopard, argent, spotted sable. Motto—“Nunquam tentes aut perfice.” His seats are—Buckhurst, Tunbridge Wells; and Bourn Hall, Cambridge.

The present owner of Knole is the Hon. Mortimer Sackville-West, son of the fifth and brother of the sixth and seventh (present) Earl Delawarr, to whom it passed on the demise of his mother, the Baroness Buckhurst, to which title, now assumed by Earl Delawarr, he is a claimant. Mr. Sackville-West, who was born in 1820, became Captain Grenadier Guards in 1845, and is a Groom in Waiting in Ordinary to her Majesty. He married first, in 1847, Fanny Charlotte, daughter of the late Major-General William Dickson, C.B., E.I.C.S., of Beenham House, Berkshire, who died in 1870; and second, in 1873, Elizabeth, second daughter of Charles Wilson Faber, Esq.

Knole House is full of highly honourable and deeply interesting associations with the past. Seen from a distance, the mansion appears irregular; but, although the erection of several periods, and enlarged from time to time to meet the wants and wishes of its immediate occupiers, it exhibits few parts out of harmony with the whole, and presents a striking and very imposing example of the earlier Baronial Mansion, such as it was before settled peace in Britain warranted the withdrawal of all means of defence in cases of attack from open or covert enemies. The neighbourhood, as well as “the house,” is suggestive of many sad or pleasant memories. From the summits of knolls, in the noble and well-stocked park, extensive views are obtained of the adjacent country. Scattered about the wealds of Kent are the tall spires of scores of village churches: Hever—recalling the fate of the murdered Anne Boleyn and the destiny of the deserted Anne of Cleves; Penshurst—the cradle and the tomb of the Sidneys; Eridge—once great Warwick’s hunting-seat; the still frowning battlements of Tunbridge Castle; these and other subjects within ken demand thought and induce reflection, both of which obtain augmented power while treading the graceful corridors and stately chambers of the time-honoured mansion. The walls are hung with authentic portraits of the great men of various epochs who, when living, flourished here; not alone the noble and wealthy owners of the old hall, but the worthies who sojourned there as guests, to have sheltered, aided, and befriended whom is now the proudest, as it will be the most enduring, of all the boasts of lordly Knole.

Visitors are generously admitted into the more interesting and attractive of the apartments; and they are full of treasures of Art—not of paintings alone, although of these every chamber is a storehouse, but of curious and rare productions, from the most elaborate and costly examples of the artists of the Middle Ages, to the characteristic works of the English artisan during the reigns of Elizabeth and James, when a vast amount of labour was bestowed upon the commonest articles of every-day use.

In the Porter’s Apartments, adjoining the entrance, is what may be called the Retainers’ Armoury—an apartment lined with old flint and steel muskets of formidable bore, cutlasses, skull-caps, and other warlike implements, including some fine halberds. It is said that Cromwell, on taking Knole House, carried away several waggon-loads of arms. Even now the position is so strong, that a garrison of five hundred men, loopholing the walls, and taking the defensive measures prescribed by the military science of the day, would be able to make it a “tough job” to turn them out. The curious brick loopholing of the wall of a large building, looking like a barn, at the north-east corner of the pile, seems as if it had been prepared for the use of archers. In a court-yard near, the wall has been raised, and that at a period which is widely removed from the date of its erection. In the lower and thicker portion is a window of the style introduced in the reign of Henry III. Close by, in the upper and receding portion, is an opening with the flat, four-centred arch of the Tudor times.

The first court entered by the visitor is the Green Court, in which are the famous figures of the “Gladiator,” and of “Venus rising from the Bath.” Around this court are Lord John’s Apartments, the Greenhouse, the Bishop’s Stables, and various offices. The next court is known as the Stone Court, from which Knole House itself is entered. From the Great Hall a fine old staircase leads to the Brown Gallery.

The Brown Gallery is oak-panelled, and contains a large number of portraits—copies, principally, in one style, apparently by one hand, and in similar frames: they are chiefly of the worthies of the age of Elizabeth and James, and form a series of much interest. In this gallery, also, are many of those “easy-chairs” of the same epoch, for which the house at Knole has long been famous, and which have been so valuable to artists. It is a long and narrow apartment, panelled, roofed, and floored with oak. Here the antique fastenings to the doors and windows are preserved in their early purity; the stained windows are fresh, as if painted yesterday; while the historic portraits give vitality to the striking and interesting scene, and seem to remove two centuries from between the present and the past.

From the Brown Gallery a passage leads to the Chapel, fitted up with tapestry, with stained-glass windows, and the other accessories of a place of worship. The Chapel is of stately proportions, and flooded with a golden light, admitted through the eastern window, which is full of old yellow stained glass. It is kept in perfect order for daily service; but the appearance of English texts, written in that imitation of old English which has lately become prevalent, seems to jar with the traditional Catholicity of the spot. The private gallery is, in fact, a large room, in which the members of the family can be present at the worship, unseen by the servants or any other attendants. The gallery is hung with some very fine tapestry, of a bold style of execution, and in excellent preservation. The subject is not explained by the tradition of the spot. It appears to refer to the legend of St. Veronica, as the marvellous sudarium, or handkerchief, bearing the impression of the features of Christ, is displayed in one scene, to the astonishment of a truculent personage in an enormous crown, who appears repeatedly in various parts of the canvas, and no doubt represents “the Emperor”—a title of singular elasticity in monkish stories. The Chapel is directly connected with the home chambers of the family: these are hung with rare pictures by the great old masters, filled with objects of virtu gathered in various countries by several members of the race, and distributed with judgment and taste.

On the other side of the Brown Gallery are Lady Betty Germaine’s Bed-room and Dressing-room: here, also, are fire-dogs, cabinets, and easy-chairs, that time has made picturesque. Lady Betty Germaine, from whom this room is named, was a great patroness of literature and the Arts. She was daughter of the Earl of Berkeley, and second wife to Sir John Germaine. Dying without issue, she left, as did her husband, an immense property to her nephew, Lord George Sackville, who assumed the name of Germaine. After his disgrace for alleged military incompetency in the reign of George II., he was loaded with honours by George III., and by him created Viscount Sackville and Baron Bolebrooke. Lady Betty, by her will, bequeathed to Lady Vere £20,000; to Lord George Sackville £20,000, and Drayton House and estate; and, after other legacies, left the residue of her property to be equally divided between them. Here, too, is the Spangled Bed-room, which owes its name to the character of its draperies. The Billiard-room is then reached, and then the Leicester Gallery, the most interesting of the whole range: it is full of portraits of the highest merit by great masters—that of the poet-Earl of Surrey being among its chief attractions. Leading from this gallery is the Venetian Bed-room with its Dressing-room; between them hangs a portrait of the Venetian ambassador, who gave the gallery its name—Nicolo Molino. The looking-glass in this apartment repays careful attention. It is framed in ebony, banded with silver; and in this and similar articles of furniture the examples afforded of a free, bold style of silver-work, English in its character, and eminently adapted to show to advantage the lustrous surface of the noble metal, are very striking. In some of the vases and sconces, of which copies are now to be seen at South Kensington, the same class of workmanship may be studied.

Lovers of heraldic antiquity will look with respectful affection at the pedigree of the noble family, a ponderous roll of parchment, fixed in a frame, as on the roller of a blind, so that it can be drawn out for consultation. The arms blazoned on the portion visible are those borne in 1586. Close by is a second roll of equal length, but of narrower width, which appears to contain drawings of tombs and monuments, and copies of painted windows, illustrative of the pedigree.

The Cartoon Gallery—so called as containing copies in oil by Mytens of six of the cartoons of Raffaelle—is also full of historic portraits. In this room are some remarkably fine fire-dogs. Two of these interesting objects from the Cartoon Gallery are engraved on our initial letter on page 56.

The King’s Room, the room in which it is said, though without any direct evidence, that James I. slept when a guest at Knole, is lined with tapestry detailing the story of Nebuchadnezzar; the hangings of the bed are thickly “inlaid” with silver—it is tissue of the costliest kind; a mirror of silver, an Art specimen of the rarest order; the various articles of the toilet in the same metal; two marvellous ebony cabinets; and other objects of great worth, account for the expenditure said to have been incidental to the visit of the sovereign: it is added that as they were there placed and arranged in the first years of the seventeenth century they have remained ever since. It is probable that the furniture of this room is what was prepared for the King at the grand reception given to him at Oxford by the Duke, and afterwards brought to Knole. Knole has not, however, been without its royal visitors, as we have already stated: among them were Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Queen Elizabeth.

The Dining-room contains the portraits of men made famous by genius rather than rank. Here are Shakspere, Beaumont, Fletcher, Chaucer, Congreve, Gay, Rowe, Garth, Cowley, Swift, Otway, Pope, Milton, Addison, Waller, Dryden, Hobbes, Newton, Locke (the six last named by Kneller), Goldsmith, Dr. Johnson, Garrick (marvellous paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds), Walter Scott, and other heroes of the pen, many of whom were honoured visitors at Knole during their lives, and have been reverenced there since they left earth.

The Staircase at the Grand Entrance is singular and interesting: parts of it are old, but the decorative portions are of a modern, and not of a good character.

The Crimson Drawing-room contains pictures by Reynolds, Wouvermans, Parmigiano, Vandyke, Holbein, Lely, the Carracci, Titian, Berghem, and others.

The Retainers’ Gallery, a gallery that runs the whole length of the house, is on the topmost floor. From its peculiarly picturesque character it has been drawn or painted by nearly every artist whose pencil has found work at Knole: we engrave one portion of it.

The collection of fire-dogs at Knole is singularly rich; they adorn every room throughout the mansion, the greater number being of chased silver. The chairs and seats of various kinds, to be seen in all parts of the house, are, as we have intimated, so many models for the artist.

The Great Hall has its dais, its Minstrels’ Gallery, and even its oak tables, where retainers feasted long ago. In a window of the Billiard-room is a painting on glass of a knight in armour, representing the famous ancestor of the Sackvilles; and in the Cartoon Gallery are, also on glass, the armorial bearings of twenty-one of his descendants, ending with Richard, the third Earl of Dorset. Of the several Galleries and the Drawing-rooms it is sufficient to state that they are magnificent in reference to their contents, and beautiful as regards the style of decoration accorded to each. There is, indeed, no part of the building which may not afford exquisite and useful models to the painter—a fact of which the noble owners are fully aware, for to artists they have afforded repeated facilities for study. It will not be difficult to recognise, in some of the best productions of modern art, copies of the gems which give value and adornment to the noble House of Knole.

The beeches of Knole have long been famous: they are of magnificent growth, gnarled by time into picturesque forms, sometimes singly, here and there in groups, and occasionally in long and gracefully arched avenues: of the latter is the Duchess’s Walk. The gardens, too, are laid out with much taste. The park is, indeed, one of the grandest and most striking, if not the most extensive, in the kingdom.

There is not a gallery, not a room, that does not teach to the present and the future the lessons that are to be learned from the past. Every step has its reminder of the great men who have flourished in times gone by, to leave their impress on their “hereafter”—

“Footprints on the sands of time.”

CASTLE HOWARD.

THIS princely seat of the Howards is distant about twenty miles from the venerable city of York, on the road from thence to Malton. The railway station, four miles from the mansion, on the borders of the Derwent, and not far from one of the most interesting of monastic ruins, the ancient abbey of Kirkham, is pretty and picturesque, and the drive from thence to the castle is by a road full of beauty—passing by tranquil villages and umbrageous woods, and commanding, here and there, glorious and extensive views of fertile country, far away from the active bustle of busy life. Castle Howard, one of the most perfect of the “dwellings” that succeeded the castles and “strong houses” of our forefathers, with its gardens, grounds, lawns, plantations, woods, and all the accessories of refined taste, is a model of that repose which speaks of happiness—and makes it; and it is pleasant to imagine there the good statesman, retiring from the political warfare in which he had so large a share, to leave earth, “after life’s fitful fever,” in the midst of the graces of the demesne, and the honourable and lofty associations connected with a numerous list of heroic ancestors.

The Earl of Carlisle, the owner of Castle Howard, is descended from a long line of noble and distinguished men whose services to their sovereigns and their country gained for them the highest honours and distinctions; yet the parts they took in the troublous times in which they lived brought no less than three of their brightest ornaments to the block under charges of high treason.

The House of Howard, although not of the oldest of English families, is one that claims precedence of rank over all others; for its head, the Duke of Norfolk, is Premier Duke and Earl, Hereditary Earl Marshal, and Chief Butler of England, and has, therefore, extraordinary importance attached to it.

This great historical House can only with certainty be traced to Sir William Howard, Judge of Common Pleas in the year 1297, although plausible, and indeed highly probable, connections have been made out to a much earlier period. They inherit much of their Norfolk property from their ancestors, the Bigods. In the fourteenth century, by the match of the then head of the family, Sir Robert Howard, with the heiress of Thomas de Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, the foundation of the splendour and consequence of the Howards was laid. That lady was Margaret, eldest daughter of the Duke of Norfolk by his wife Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Richard, Earl of Arundel. The said Thomas de Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, was son and heir to John, Lord Mowbray, by Elizabeth, his wife, daughter and heiress to John, Lord Segrave, and Margaret, his wife, daughter and heiress of Thomas de Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk and Earl Marshal of England, the eldest son of King Edward I., by his second wife Margaret, daughter to Philip the Hardy, King of France.

By this splendid alliance Sir Robert Howard had an only son and two daughters. The son, Sir John Howard, was created Lord Howard, and afterwards Duke of Norfolk, and had the highest offices bestowed on him—a title and honours which have (excepting the periods of sequestration) remained in the family ever since.

All the present English peers of the noble House of Howard descend from a common ancestor in Thomas, the second Duke of Norfolk of the name of Howard, who died in 1524. Thus the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Suffolk, and the Earl of Carlisle are descended from his first wife, Mary, daughter and heiress to Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel; and the Earl of Effingham from his second wife, Margaret, daughter and heiress of Thomas, Lord Audley of Walden, and widow of Lord Henry Dudley, son of the Duke of Northumberland. The Howards of Greystoke, in Cumberland, are a younger branch of the present ducal House, as are the Howards of Glossop, &c. The Howards of Corby Castle descend from the Carlisle branch, tracing from “Belted Will Howard.” The titles and dignities now enjoyed by different members of the family of Howard are—Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal, and Hereditary Marshal of England; Premier Duke and Earl next to the royal blood; Earl of Norfolk, Earl of Surrey, Earl of Arundel, Baron Fitzalan, Baron Clun, Baron Oswaldestre, and Baron Maltravers; Earl of Suffolk, Earl of Berkshire, Viscount Andover, and Baron Howard; Earl of Carlisle, Viscount Howard of Morpeth (generally called Viscount Morpeth), and Baron Dacre of Gillesland; Earl of Effingham, Viscount Howard of Effingham, and Baron Howard of Effingham; Baron Howard of Glossop; Baron Lanerton of Naworth; Earl of Wicklow, Viscount Wicklow, and Baron Clonmore.

The earldom of Carlisle was originally enjoyed by Ranulph de Meschines, nephew of Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester. The earldom appears next to have been given to Andrew de Harcla, who was son of Michael de Harcla, Governor of Carlisle, who afterwards “being condemned for a traytor, he was at first in form degraded, having his knightly spurs hew’d off from his heels; and at last hang’d, drawn, and quartered, 3rd March, 1322.”

The title was next enjoyed by the Plantagenets, and thus again merged into the Crown. In 1620, the title—with those of Viscount Doncaster and Baron Hay—was conferred on Sir James Hay: he was succeeded by his son James, who died without issue. The title thus again became extinct, and so remained until it was conferred on the Howards.

Lord William Howard—third son of the Duke of Norfolk, already spoken of—was the “Belted Will Howard” of history, one of the leading heroes of Border minstrelsy—the hero of whom Sir Walter Scott writes—

“Costly his garb—his Flemish ruff Fell o’er his doublet, shaped of buff, With satin slashed and lined; Tawny his boot, and gold his spur, His cloak was all of Poland fur, His hose with silver twined; His Bilboa blade, by Marchmen felt, Hung in a broad and studded belt;— Hence, in rude phrase, the Borderers still Called noble Howard ‘BELTED WILL.’”

He was, as we have stated, the third son of the fourth Duke of Norfolk, and grandson of the famous Earl of Surrey:—

“Who has not heard of Surrey’s fame?”

His father lost his title, his estates, and his head on Tower Hill, and bequeathed him to the care of his elder brother, as “having nothing to feed the cormorants withal.” He was married, in 1577, to the Lady Elizabeth Dacre, daughter of Thomas, and sister and co-heiress of George, Lord Dacre of Gillesland, the ages of both together being short of eight-and-twenty—he being fourteen years old, and she a few months younger. During the whole of the reign of Elizabeth, however, he and his brother Arundel, and several other members of his family, were greatly oppressed—subjected repeatedly to charges of treason, and kept in a state of poverty, “very grievous to bear.” On the accession of James I. their prospects brightened; Lord William was received into special favour, and, in 1605, was appointed to the perilous post of King’s Lieutenant and Lord Warden of the Marches, when the northern shires of England were exposed to perpetual inroads of Border caterans. The onerous and very difficult duties imposed upon him he discharged with equal fearlessness and severity. His boast was so to act that the rush-bush should guard the cow; so that, to quote “quaint old Fuller,” “when in their greatest height, the moss-troopers had two fierce enemies—the laws of the land, and Lord William Howard, who sent many of them to Carlisle, that place where the officer does his work by daylight.”

Although formidable to his enemies, Lord William Howard was fervent and faithful to his friends. His attachment to his lady was of the “truest affection, esteem, and friendship;” and his love of letters and the refined pursuits of leisure and ease rendered him conspicuous even among the many intellectual men of the period. He was the friend of Camden and other men of note. For Camden he copied the inscriptions on the Roman remains in his district; and he collected together a fine library of the best authors (part of which still exists), and, in addition, he himself edited the “Chronicle of Florence of Worcester.” He collected a number of valuable MSS., which now form a part of the Arundel Collection in the British Museum. An excellent portrait of this great man, of whom the Howards may well feel proud, is preserved at Castle Howard. His dress is a close jacket of thick black figured silk, with rounded skirts to mid-thigh, and many small buttons. The rest of his dress is also of black silk. His sleeves are turned up, and he has a deep white falling collar. He wears a dress rapier, and is bareheaded. The dress in which he is painted is, curiously enough, ascertained, from the steward’s accounts of the time, to have cost £17 7_s._ 6_d._ There is also a portrait by the same artist (Cornelius Jansen) of the Lady Elizabeth, his wife. To the courage of the soldier “Belted Will” added the courtesy of the scholar, and, although the “tamer of the wild border” has been pictured as a ferocious man-slayer, history does him but justice in describing him as a model of chivalry, when chivalry was the leading characteristic of the age. He died in 1640, surviving the Lady Bessy—“Bessie with the braid apron”—only one year, their union having continued during sixty-three years, and leaving by her ten sons and five daughters, the eldest of the sons being the direct ancestor of the Earls of Carlisle. Their sons and daughters, with their wives and husbands and children, are said, all at one time, to have lived with them; the family numbering fifty-two persons. The sobriquet of “Belted Will” was “not, it is understood, derived from the breadth of the baldric, a broad belt, the distinguishing badge of high station, but rather meant ‘bauld,’ or bold, Willie; and that the term ‘Bessie with the braid apron’ did not refer to that portion of a lady’s dress, but to the breadth, or extent, of her possessions.”

Their eldest son, Sir Philip Howard, died in his father’s lifetime, leaving by his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir John Carryl, a son, Sir William Howard, who succeeded his grandfather, Lord William, in the enjoyment of his estates. He married Mary, eldest daughter of William, Lord Eure, by whom he had issue five sons—William (who died in the lifetime of his father), Charles, Philip, Thomas, and John—and five daughters. He was succeeded by his second son, Charles, who, for many loyal services to his king, was, in 1661, created Baron Dacre of Gillesland, Viscount Howard of Morpeth, and Earl of Carlisle. He also enjoyed many high appointments and privileges. He married Anne, daughter of Edward, Lord Howard of Escrick, and had issue by her two sons, Edward and Frederick Christian, and three daughters. Dying in 1684, his lordship was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward Howard.

Edward, second Earl of Carlisle, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Berkeley, by whom he had issue three sons and two daughters. His lordship died in 1692, and was succeeded by his only surviving son, Charles, as third earl, who, during the minority of his kinsman, the Duke of Norfolk, held the office of Deputy Earl Marshal: many important posts were conferred upon, and trusts reposed in, him. He married Lady Elizabeth Capel, daughter of the Earl of Essex, by whom he left issue two sons—Henry, who succeeded him, and Charles, a general of the army—and three daughters.

Henry, who succeeded his father, in 1738, as fourth Earl of Carlisle, married, first, Lady Frances Spencer, only daughter of Charles, Earl of Sunderland, by whom he had issue three sons, who predeceased him, and two daughters; and, secondly, in 1743, Isabella, daughter of William, fourth Lord Byron, by whom he left issue one son—Frederick, who succeeded him—and four daughters.

Frederick, fifth Earl of Carlisle, succeeded his father in the title and estates in 1758, being at the time only ten years of age. In 1768 he was made a Knight of the Thistle, and in 1793 installed as K.G. His lordship, who was a man of letters and of high intellectual attainments, in 1801 published “The Tragedies and Poems of Frederick, Earl of Carlisle, K.G.” This lord was the guardian of Lord Byron, and to him the “Hours of Idleness” was dedicated. Some severe and satiric passages concerning the Earl may be called to mind in “English Bards and Scotch Reviewers”—passages which the erratic poet afterwards regretted.

He married the Lady Margaret Caroline Leveson-Gower, daughter of Granville, first Marquis of Stafford, by whom he had issue—the Hon. George, Viscount Morpeth; Lady Isabella Caroline, who was married, first, to Lord Cawdor, and, secondly, to the Hon. Captain George Pryse; Lady Charlotte; Lady Susan Maria; Lady Louisa; Lady Elizabeth, who married John Henry, Duke of Rutland, and was mother of the present Duke of Rutland, of Lord John Manners, and a numerous family;[42] the Hon. William Howard, who died unmarried; Lady Gertrude, who married William Sloane Stanley, Esq.; Major the Hon. Frederick Howard, who married Frances Susan Lambton, sister to the Earl of Durham (he was killed at the battle of Waterloo), who married, secondly, the Hon. H. F. C. Cavendish, second son of the Earl of Burlington; and the Hon. and Very Rev. Henry Edward John Howard, Dean of Lichfield, &c., who married Henrietta Elizabeth, daughter of Ichabod Wright, Esq. His lordship died in 1825, and was succeeded by his son—

George, Viscount Morpeth, as sixth Earl of Carlisle, who filled many important offices. He married the Lady Georgiana Dorothy Cavendish, daughter of William, fifth Duke of Devonshire, and sister to the late duke, and by her had issue—George William Frederick, Lord Morpeth (who succeeded his father); Lady Caroline Georgiana, married to the Hon. William Saunders Sebright Lascelles, brother to the Earl of Harewood; Lady Georgiana, married to Lord Dover; the Hon. Frederick George; Lady Harriet Elizabeth Georgiana, married to the Duke of Sutherland, and mother to the present illustrious nobleman of that title;[43] the Hon. and Rev. William George Howard (the present peer); the Hon. Edward Granville George, Baron Lanerton, married to Diana, niece of Lord Ponsonby; Lady Blanche Georgiana, married to William Cavendish, afterwards second Earl of Burlington, and now the present highly esteemed and illustrious Duke of Devonshire, by whom she had issue—the present Marquis of Hartington, M.P., Lord Frederick Charles Cavendish, M.P., Lord Edward Cavendish, M.P., and Lady Louisa Cavendish (Egerton); the Hon. Charles Wentworth George Howard, M.P., married to Mary, daughter of Judge Parke; Lady Elizabeth Anne Georgiana Dorothea, married to the Hon. and Rev. F. R. Grey, brother to Earl Grey; the Hon. Henry George Howard, married to a niece of the Marchioness Wellesley; and Lady Mary Matilda, married to the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, Baron Taunton. His lordship, who died in 1848, was succeeded by his son—

George William Frederick, Viscount Morpeth, as seventh earl, one of the most distinguished men of the age in literature and science, as well as in the senate. His lordship, as Lord Morpeth, took a prominent part in the political affairs of the kingdom, and among the important offices he held, at one time or other in his useful life, were those of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He was a man of the most refined taste and of the highest intellectual culture, and his writings were of a rare order of merit. He died unmarried in 1864, and was succeeded by his brother—

The present noble peer, the Hon. and Rev. William George Howard, eighth Earl of Carlisle, Viscount Howard of Morpeth, and Baron Dacre of Gillesland, in the titles and estates. His lordship was born in 1808, and was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took honours, and proceeded M.A. in 1840. In 1832 he was appointed to the rectory of Londesborough, which living he held until 1866. He is senior co-heir to the barony of Clifford, and is unmarried, the heir-presumptive to the earldom being his brother, Admiral the Hon. Edward Granville George Howard, R.N., Lord Lanerton. His lordship is patron of five livings—viz. Brampton, Farlam, and Lanercost Abbey, in Cumberland; Slingsby, in Yorkshire; and Morpeth, in Northumberland.

The arms of the Earl of Carlisle are—quarterly of six: 1st, gules, a bend between six cross crosslets fitchée, argent, on the bend an escutcheon, or, charged with a demi-lion, pierced through the mouth with an arrow, within a double tressure flory counter-flory, all gules, and above the escutcheon a mullet, sable, for difference, Howard; 2nd, gules, three lions passant guardant, or, and a label of three points, argent, Thomas of Brotherton, son of Edward I.; 3rd, checky, or and azure, Warren, Earl Warren and Surrey; 4th, gules, a lion rampant, argent, Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk; 5th, gules, three escallops, argent, Dacre; 6th, barry of eight, argent and azure, three chaplets of roses, proper, Greystock. Crest—on a chapeau, gules, turned up ermine, a lion statant guardant, with the tail extended, or, ducally gorged, argent. Supporters—dexter, a lion, argent, charged with a mullet, sable, for difference; sinister, a bull, gules, armed, unguled, ducally gorged and lined, or. Motto—“Valo non valeo” (“I am willing, but not able”).

His seats are Castle Howard, Yorkshire, and Naworth Castle, Cumberland.

The heir-presumptive to the titles and estates is, as just stated, Admiral the Right Hon. Edward Granville George Howard, Baron Lanerton of Naworth, which peerage was bestowed on him in 1873. He was born in 1809, entered the Royal Navy in 1823, and advanced step by step till he became Admiral in 1870. He married, in 1842, Diana, daughter of the Hon. George Ponsonby, by whom, however, he has no issue.

In the grounds of Castle Howard an avenue of about a mile in length, bordered on either side by groups of ash-trees, leads to a pretty, cosy, and comfortable inn, on the front of which is the inscription:—“CAROLUS HOWARD, COMES CARLIOLENSIS, HOC CONDIDIT ANNO DOMINI MDCCXIX.” It forms a sort of entrance gate to the park: the mansion, however, is a long way off, the whole length of the avenue from the road to the house being four miles, with the avenue of trees continued all the way. Midway is an obelisk one hundred feet in height, which contains the following inscriptions:—

“Virtute et Fortunæ, Johannes, Marlburiæ Ducis Patriæ Europæquæ Defensoris. Hoc saxum admirationi ac famæ Sacrum Carolus Comes Carliol posuit, Anno Domini MDCCXIV.”

“If to perfection these plantations rise, If they agreeably my heirs surprise, This faithful pillar will their age declare, As long as time these characters shall spare; Here then with kind remembrance read his name, Who for posterity perform’d the same.”

“Charles, the third Earl of Carlisle of the family of Howards, erected a Castle where the old Castle of Henderskelf[44] stood, and called it Castle Howard. He likewise made the plantations in this park, and all the outworks, monuments, and other plantations belonging to the said seat.

“He began these works in the year MDCCII, and set up this inscription anno Domin MDCCXXXI.”

The history of the house is thus told; but it has no pretensions to the name of a castle: the mansion is free from all semblance of character as a place for defence, being simply and purely the domestic home of an English nobleman, though, as our engravings show, very beautiful in construction, of great extent, and perfect in all its appliances.

It is the chef-d’œuvre of the architect, Sir John Vanbrugh, he who laid in England “many a heavy load,” and whose graceful and emphatically “comfortable” structures, including notably that of Blenheim, adorn several of our English shires. Comparing Castle Howard with Blenheim, Dr. Waagen writes—“The former is less ‘broken up’ than the latter, and though not of equal extent, has a grander and more massive appearance. In the whole arrangement of the mansion and the garden, the architect evidently had Versailles in his mind as the perfection of this style.”

Sir John Vanbrugh was, as his name indicates, of Dutch descent. He was born at Chester in 1666. his father being a sugar-baker in that city. In 1695, his architectural skill having acquired him some reputation, he was appointed one of the commissioners for completing Greenwich Palace, at the time when it was about to be converted into a hospital. In 1702 he built Castle Howard for the Earl of Carlisle, who was so pleased with his skill, that, being at the time Deputy Earl Marshal of England, he conferred upon him the important appointment of Clarencieux King-of-arms. In 1726 he died, and was buried in the church of St. Stephen, Walbrook.

En route to the house, we pass, to the left, in a hollow adjoining a broad lake, the Dairy, a pretty building picturesquely placed; and right before us is a steep ascent, from which there is a fine view—north, south, east, and west.

The South Front shows Castle Howard in its finest point of view: it is in length 323 feet; the centre consists of a pediment and entablature supported by fluted Corinthian pilasters; and the door is reached by a flight of stately steps. “The North Front consists of an elaborate centre of the Corinthian order, with a cupola rising from the top, and on either side extensive wings—the east according to the original design, the west from a design by Sir James Robinson, which has been more recently built in a very different style from the other wing; and, as the building has been deemed by some architectural critics to be wanting in the qualities of lightness and elegance, and uniformity of parts, to this circumstance is owing the alleged incongruity.”

From this point is the main or state entrance into the Great Hall, pictured in the engraving. It is 65 feet high; a square of 35 feet; lit from a dome, the top of which is 100 feet from the floor. The principal entrance is on its north side, and the spaces between the piers on that and on the south side are open the whole height of the arches. The south side opens to the suite of apartments on the garden front, and a richly balustraded gallery gives access to the upper rooms. The east and west sides are partly filled, the upper portions being open, and showing the splendid ceilings of the staircase, &c. On one of these sides is the fire-place, and on the other a canopied recess. The fire-place is a rich piece of sculptured marbles, and there are panels filled with pendent groups of musical instruments; allegories grace the ceilings and walls, principally painted by Pellegrini; and statues and busts are placed on pedestals, and otherwise adorn the sides. These allegorical paintings are, on the ceiling, the Fall of Phaëton; and on the walls, the four seasons, the signs of the zodiac, the four quarters of the world, Apollo and Midas, Apollo and the Muses, Mercury and Venus, Vulcan and his attributes, &c. Among the sculptures are Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, Sabina, Julia Mammea, Bacchus, Ceres, Diodumenus, Paris, Hadrian, Lucius Verus, Vitellius, Epaphroditus, Marc Antony, a bacchanal, and others.

Several doors lead to the various apartments, the state-rooms being hung with pictures of inestimable worth, and all being decorated in pure taste. To the pictures we shall presently refer.

A gallery called the Antique Gallery—160 feet long, by 20 in width—contains a number of rare, beautiful, and valuable examples of Roman, Egyptian, and Greek antiquities, among which are many really fine and unique specimens of early Art. It also contains many interesting pictures and some good old tapestry. In the Museum has been collected an immense variety of objects, gathered by several lords in various countries, with not a few precious relics found in the ancient localities of Yorkshire and Cumberland: among these are some examples of ancient mosaic-work, a curious basso-relievo of Mercury, a number of urns and inlaid marbles, and other objects. There is also here shown a casket or wine-cooler of bog-oak, mounted in solid silver, a gift to the good Lord Carlisle by his constituents of the West Riding; it measures 3 feet 6 inches in length, by 2 feet 4 inches in height and breadth, and cost about a thousand guineas; and “a monster address, 400 feet long,” presented to him on his retiring from the office of Chief Secretary for Ireland. One object of more than passing interest is an altar supposed to have “stood in the temple of Apollo at Delphi.” On its top is a tablet bearing the following lines from the pen, we believe, of the Earl of Carlisle:—

“Pass not this ancient altar with disdain, ’Twas once in Delphi’s sacred temple rear’d; From this the Pythian pour’d her mystic strain, While Greece its fate in anxious silence heard.

What chief, what hero of the Achaian race, Might not to this have bow’d with holy awe, Have clung in pious reverence round its base, And from the voice inspired received the law?

A British chief, as famed in arms as those, Has borne this relic o’er th’ Italian waves, In war still friend to science, this bestows, And Nelson gives it to the land he saves.”

The Saloon has an exquisitely painted allegorical ceiling representing Aurora, and is also adorned by a large number of statues and busts, as well as valuable paintings.

The Drawing-room is hung with rich tapestry after Rubens’ designs, and the walls are adorned with many gems of Art. Among the other treasures in this elegant apartment are some fine antique bronzes.

The Gold or State Bed-room is hung with the finest Brussels tapestry, after designs by Teniers. The chimney-piece is very elegant, being supported by Corinthian columns, the shafts of Sienna marble, the capitals, bases, and cornice white, with pigeons of polished white marble in the centre of the frieze. Upon it stands a bust of Jupiter Serapis.

The Breakfast and Dining Rooms—and, indeed, the whole of the apartments in the mansion—are elegantly and even sumptuously furnished, and filled to repletion with objects of interest and of virtu.

The Crimson-figured Room has its walls painted, by Pellegrini, with a series of incidents of the Trojan war: these are—the Rape of Helen, Achilles in disguise amidst the daughters of Lycomedes, King of Scyros, and Ulysses in search of him, Ajax and Ulysses contending for the armour of Achilles, Troy in flames, and Æneas bearing on his shoulders Anchises from the burning city.

The Blue Drawing-room, the Green Damask Room, the Yellow Bed-chamber, the Silver Bed-room, the Blue Silk Bed-room, and, indeed, all the remaining apartments, need no further remark than that they are, in their furnishing and appointments, all that the most fastidious taste could desire them to be.

The pictures that so lavishly adorn Castle Howard have been long renowned. The collection contains some of the very finest examples of the great old masters to be found in Europe. The best of them once formed part of the famous Orleans Gallery, and were acquired by the Earl of Carlisle when the French Revolution of 1789 caused their distribution.

To name all the works in this collection would occupy more space than we can spare: chief among them all is “The Three Marys,” by Annibale Carracci; it suffices to name it as one of the world’s wonders in Art. And also “The Adoration of the Wise Men,” by Mabuse, the chef-d’œuvre of the master. Other grand examples are by Titian, Correggio, Domenichino, Guercino, Carlo Maratti, Giorgione, Primaticcio, Julio Romano, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, Velasquez, Cuyp, Claude, Ruysdael, Vandyke, Rubens, Wouvermans, Breughel, Berghem, Jansen, Holbein, Huysman, Mabuse, Van der Velde, Teniers, and Canaletti. Of Canaletti there are no fewer than forty-five examples—his best productions in his best time—scattered throughout the corridors and rooms, with famous specimens of Reynolds and Lawrence, and family portraits by other artists; notably those of Jackson, an artist who, from his obscure boyhood in Yorkshire, was encouraged and upheld by the House of Carlisle.

The history of the dispersion of the Orleans Gallery deserves record here. When the French prince, Philippe of Orleans, surnamed Égalité, wanted a sum of money to carry out his political projects, he sold his entire gallery of pictures (in 1792) for a comparatively insignificant amount: those of the Italian and French schools to a banker of Brussels, and those of the Flemish, Dutch, and German schools to an Englishman, Mr. T. M. Slade. The Italian and French pictures subsequently passed into the hands of a French gentleman, M. Laborde de Mèreville, who, being compelled to quit his country during the Revolution, caused his pictures to be brought to London, and ultimately sold them to Mr. Jeremiah Harman, a wealthy merchant. “Thus matters stood,” says Dr. Waagen, in his “Treasures of Art in Great Britain,” “till the year 1798, when Mr. Bryan”—the well-known picture-buyer, and author of the “Dictionary of Painters and Engravers,” a standard book of reference—“prevailed on the late Duke of Bridgewater, Earl Gower, afterwards Marquis of Stafford, and the Earl of Carlisle, to purchase this splendid collection for the sum of £43,000, and thus to secure it for ever to England.”

The Conservatories are remarkably fine, and well ordered with all the floral treasures of the world, while the collection of hardy herbaceous plants congregated at Castle Howard, numbering upwards of six hundred species, is unmatched elsewhere.

Of the Gardens we give two engravings: the one chiefly to show a charming fountain, a work of great merit, the production of the sculptor Thomas; the other to convey an idea of the peculiar and very beautiful character of the grounds and their adornments—the terrace walks, the lake, the summer-house (Temple of Diana), and the Mausoleum, environed by umbrageous woods; here and there vases judiciously interspersed with memorial pillars, commemorating some striking event or some renowned benefactor of the race of the Howards.

The lawns and gardens are admirably laid out, somewhat trim and formal, but not out of character with the building of which they are adornments. The grounds are unsurpassed in beauty—that of which Nature has been lavish, and that which is derived from Art.

The ornamental grounds are of vast extent, and are beautifully diversified with the varied attractions of lake, lawn, and forest. The parterre “occupies several acres of a cheerful lawn, of which a considerable space on the south front of the mansion is laid out in the most tasteful and pleasing manner, and interspersed with flower-beds, clumps of evergreens and shrubs, and statuary.” The Raywood, approached by a gravel walk 687 yards in length, with its delightful walks and grand old trees, also abounds with statuary. Near the iron gates at which this walk commences is the Rosary, and close by is a pedestal erected by one earl, and inscribed with some chastely beautiful lines by his successor. The Green Terrace Walk, 576 yards in length, is adorned with statuary, and Lady Mary Howard’s Garden is one of the most lovely features on the south front.

The Temple of Diana, from which charming views of the mansion and its surroundings are obtained, is an Ionic erection, and bears in niches over its doors busts of Vespasian, Faustina, Trajan, and Sabina.

The Mausoleum, a circular domed structure, 35 feet in diameter in its interior, and 98 feet in height, contains in its basement sixty-four catacombs built under ground arches. Externally, it is surrounded by a colonnade of twenty-one Doric columns. In the vaults are interred many illustrious members of this truly noble family: among these are the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth Earls of Carlisle; Frances and Caroline, Countesses of Carlisle; and some of the sons and daughters of these “peerless peers and peeresses.” The Mausoleum is interesting as being the first, unconnected with a church, erected in England.

The Pyramid, on St. Ann’s Hill, 28 feet square at its base, and 50 feet in height, was raised in 1728 to the memory of William, Lord Howard, third son of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, who died in 1639. It contains in its interior a bust, with the inscription—

“Gulielmus Dominus Howard, obiit x die Martis, ætatis suæ octogesimo primo, anno salutis MDCXXXIX;”

and on its north side, on the exterior, the following inscription in marble:—

“William, Lord Howard, third son to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded by Queen Elizabeth, married Elizabeth, one of the co-heiresses of William, Lord Dacre; by which marriage, and the said William’s great industry and ability, are descended to me most of the estates that I now possess; in grateful remembrance therefore of that noble and beneficent parent, and of that pious and virtuous lady, this monument is erected by Charles, the third Earl of Carlisle of the family of the Howards, their great-great-great-grandson, Anno Domini, 1728.

“To thee, O venerable shade, Who long hast In oblivion laid, This pile I here erect; A tribute small for what thou’st done. Deign to accept the mean return, Pardon the long neglect.

“To thy long labours, to thy care, Thy sons deceased, thy present heir, Their great possessions owe. Spirit Divine, what thanks are due? This will thy memory renew, It’s all I can bestow.”

KEDLESTON HALL.

KEDLESTON, the seat of Lord Scarsdale, is justly considered to be one of the most pure and chaste in design of any of the classical mansions of our English aristocracy. It may, therefore, both on that account and from the beauty of its situation, the interest attaching to the family of its noble owner, and the many associations which surround it, well be called a “Stately Home,” and thus claim to be included in our present volume. At the time of its erection, in 1761, it was pronounced to be one of the most perfect specimens of architectural taste in the kingdom, and it has, consequently, been visited by many persons of note: these have, one and all been lavish in their praises of its proportions and parts, of the interior details and finishing, of the pictures and articles of virtu which it contains, and of its grand old park, studded with the finest of oaks and other forest trees.

Bray, who wrote in 1777, says of the present building—then, it must be remembered, only newly erected—“Kedleston may properly be called the glory of Derbyshire, eclipsing Chatsworth, the ancient boast of the county; the front is magnificent and beautiful, the apartments elegant, at the same time useful, a circumstance not always to be met with in a great house.” This, of course, was before the great additions and alterations were made to and at Chatsworth, and therefore must not be taken to refer to that palatial residence as it now stands. Since Bray’s time, every writer who has spoken of Kedleston speaks in the same strain of praise of its symmetry and design.

Before describing the hall, or speaking of its history, we will, as usual, give a brief genealogical account of the family of its noble owner. The Curzons are said to be descended from Geraline de Curson, or Curzon, who came over with the Conqueror, and was of Breton origin. This Geraline de Curzon was lord of the manor of Locking, in Berkshire, and held, by the grant of the King, many other manors and lands in that county and in Oxfordshire. He was a great benefactor to the abbey of Abingdon. He had three sons, Stephen, Richard, and Geraline, by the first of whom he was succeeded. This Stephen de Curzon, besides the estates in Oxon and Berks to which he had succeeded, had the manor of Fauld, in Staffordshire, granted to him by William de Ferrars, Earl of Derby. He had an only daughter, married to Nicholas Burton, of Fauld, and was succeeded by his brother, Richard de Curzon, who, in the reign of Henry I., held four knight’s fees in Kedleston, Croxhall, Twyford, and Edinghall, in the county of Derby. He was succeeded by his son Robert, who married Alice de Somervile, and was, in turn, succeeded by his eldest son, Richard, who married Petronel, daughter of Richard de Camville, Lord of Creek, or Creeth, by whom he had a son, Robert de Curzon, of Croxhall, “whose line terminated in an heir female, Mary, daughter and sole heiress of Sir George Curzon, who was married to Edward Sackville, Duke of Dorset. Of this family was Cardinal de Curzon, so famous about the time of King John.” Thomas Curzon, grandson of Robert, was succeeded by another Thomas, whose son, Engelard Curzon (temp. Henry III.), left issue a son, Richard, who (25 Edward I.) held a fourth part of a knight’s fee at Kedleston. His son, Ralph, was father of Richard de Curzon, who (4 Edward III.) held three parts of a knight’s fee at Kedleston, and was succeeded by his son, Sir Roger de Curzon, of Kedleston, Knt., who was living temp. Richard I. His son, Sir John Curzon, who was one of the King’s Council, married Eleanor, daughter of Sir Robert Twyford, and was succeeded by his son John, who married Margaret, daughter of Sir Nicholas de Montgomery, by whom he had issue three sons—viz. Richard, who succeeded him; Walter, who married Isabel, daughter of Robert Saunders, Esq., of Harrington, in the county of Northampton, from which marriage descended the Curzons of Water-Perry; and Henry, who was the great-grandfather of Sir Robert Curzon, created a baron of the German empire by Maximilian in 1500, and a baron of England by Henry VIII., but died without issue. The line of Curzon of Water-Perry, just now alluded to, passed successively from Walter Curzon through his son and grandson, Richard and Vincent, to Sir Francis Curzon, Knt., who married Anne, daughter of Judge Southcote; his son, Sir John Curzon, who married Mary, daughter of Robert, Lord Dormer; Sir Thomas Curzon, Bart. (son of the last), who married Elizabeth Burrow, and was created a baronet in 1661; his son, Sir John Curzon, Bart., who was succeeded by his son, Sir Francis Curzon, Bart., who died without surviving issue. The baronetcy thus became extinct, the family estates of Water-Perry devolving eventually upon Francis, Lord Teynham, who, in consequence, assumed the surname of Curzon in addition to that of Roper.

Richard Curzon, the eldest son and successor of John Curzon and his wife, Margaret Montgomery (just named), was, in the 11th year of Henry VI., Captain of Sandgate Castle, Kent, and was succeeded by his son, John Curzon, of Kedleston. This gentleman, generally known as “John with the white head,” was high sheriff of the counties of Nottingham and Derby in the 15th year of Henry VI., and, four years later, escheator for the same. He married Joan, daughter of Sir John Bagot, by whom he had issue one son, Richard, and four daughters, one of whom married John Ireton, of Ireton, in Derbyshire, and was great-great-grandmother of General Henry Ireton, the celebrated Parliamentarian officer.

Richard Curzon married Alice Willoughby, of Wollaton, of the family of Lord Middleton, and, dying in 1496, left issue by her, two sons—John and Henry—and a daughter, Elizabeth, who was prioress of King’s Mead, Derby. This John de Curzon was high sheriff on three different occasions, and died in the 4th year of Henry VIII. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen Eyre, of Hassop, and was succeeded by his only son and heir, Richard, who married Helen, daughter of German Pole, of Radbourne, by whom he had issue four sons and three daughters. The eldest son, John, dying without issue, was succeeded by his brother Francis (aged twenty-five, 2 Edward VI.), who married Eleanor, co-heiress of Thomas Vernon, of Stokesley, through whom a claim to the barony of Powis was brought into the family. By this lady he had issue four sons (from one of whom the Curzons of Minley were descended) and two daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son, John Curzon, who took to wife Millicent, daughter of Sir Ralph Sacheverell, and widow of Sir Thomas Gell, of Hopton. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir John Curzon, created a baronet by Charles I. Sir John, who represented the county of Derby in Parliament, 15 and 16 of Charles I., married Patience, daughter of Sir Thomas Crewe, and sister of John, Lord Crewe, of Steene, by whom he had issue four sons—John, Francis, and Thomas, who all died without issue, and Nathaniel, who succeeded him—and three daughters—Patience, who died unmarried; Eleanor, who married Sir John Archer, one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas; and Jane, who married John Stanhope, son of Sir John Stanhope, of Elvaston, brother of Philip, Earl of Chesterfield.

Sir Nathaniel Curzon, Bart., succeeded his father in 1686. He married Sarah, daughter of William Penn, of Penn, in the county of Bucks, by whom he had issue five sons and four daughters, and died in 1718. His sons were—Sir John, who succeeded him; Sir Nathaniel, who also succeeded to the title and estates; Francis, who was a Turkey merchant, and died at Aleppo unmarried; William, who represented Clitheroe in Parliament; and Charles, LL.D. Sir John Curzon, Bart., who represented the county of Derby in Parliament during the whole of the reign of Queen Anne, died unmarried in 1727, when the baronetcy and estates passed to his brother, Sir Nathaniel Curzon, who also represented, till his death in 1758, the county of Derby in Parliament. He married Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Ralph Assheton, Bart., of Middleton, county Lancaster, by whom he had issue three sons—-John, who died in infancy; Nathaniel, first Baron Scarsdale; and Assheton, first Viscount Curzon, and father of the first Earl Howe. This Assheton Curzon, created Baron and Viscount Curzon of Penn, was member of Parliament for Clitheroe. He married, first, Esther, daughter of William Hanmer, Esq., by whom he had issue the Hon. Penn Assheton Curzon; secondly, Dorothy, sister of the first Earl of Grosvenor, by whom, with other issue, he had a son, Robert, who married the Baroness Zouche; and, thirdly, Anna Margaretta Meredith, by whom he had no issue. The Hon. Penn Assheton Curzon, just alluded to, eldest son of Viscount Curzon, married Charlotte Sophia, Baroness Howe, by whom he had issue seven sons and three daughters, the eldest of whom was Richard William Penn Curzon-Howe, created Earl Howe, who married twice—first, the Lady Harriet Georgiana Brudenell, daughter of the Earl of Cardigan, by whom, with others, he had issue the late Earl Howe; and, secondly, Ann Gore, maid of honour to Queen Adelaide, by whom also he had issue. The Earl died in 1870, and was succeeded by his eldest son, George Augustus Frederick Louis Curzon-Howe, as second Earl Howe, Viscount Curzon, Baron Curzon of Penn, and Baron Howe of Langar, who was born in 1821, and was M.P. for South Leicestershire from 1857 to the time of his accession to the peerage. His lordship married, in 1846, Harriet Mary, daughter of the late Henry Charles Sturt, Esq., M.P., by whom, however, he had no issue. He died in 1876, and was succeeded by his brother, the Hon. Richard William Penn Curzon-Howe. The present peer, who is third Earl Howe, Viscount Curzon, Baron Curzon of Penn, and Baron Howe of Langar, was born in 1822, and, having entered the army, became Captain in 1844, Major 1853, Lieut.-Colonel 1854, Colonel 1857, and Major-General 1868. Having served in the Kaffir war as Aide-de-camp to Sir George Cathcart, and at the siege of Delhi, at which time he was Acting Assistant Quartermaster-General, he became Military Secretary to the Commander-in-chief in India, and was also an Aide-de-camp to H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge. His lordship married, in 1858, Isabella Katherine, daughter of Major-General the Hon. George Anson, and has issue, besides other children, a son, the Hon. George Richard Penn Curzon-Howe, who is heir to the titles and estates.

Sir Nathaniel Curzon died in 1758, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Nathaniel Curzon, who, in 1761, was raised to the peerage by the style and title of Baron Scarsdale of Scarsdale, in the county of Derby—the title being derived from the hundred of Scarsdale in that county. His lordship had previously married the Lady Catherine Colyear, daughter of the Earl of Portmore, by whom he had issue five sons and one daughter. He died in 1804, and was succeeded in his title and estates by his eldest son, the Hon. Nathaniel Curzon, as second Lord Scarsdale. This nobleman married, first, the Hon. Sophia Susannah Noel, sister and co-heiress of Thomas, Viscount Wentworth, by whom (who died in 1782) he had issue the Hon. Nathaniel, who succeeded him, and the Hon. Sophia Caroline, who married Robert Viscount Tamworth, son of Earl Ferrars. Lord Scarsdale married, secondly, a Roman Catholic lady, Félicité Anne de Wattines, of Tournay, in Belgium, by whom (who died in 1850) he had, with other issue, the Hon. and Rev. Alfred Curzon; the Hon. Francis James Curzon, barrister-at-law; the Hon. Mary Elizabeth, married to John Beaumont, Esq., of Barrow; and the Hon. Caroline Esther, married to William Drury Holden, Esq., of Locko Park, in Derbyshire, who assumed the surname of Lowe instead of that of Holden, and is well known as William Drury Lowe, Esq.

The Hon. Nathaniel Curzon succeeded his father as third Lord Scarsdale in 1837, but died unmarried in 1856, when the title and estates passed to his nephew, the present peer, the Rev. Alfred Nathaniel Holden Curzon, second son of the Hon. and Rev. Alfred Curzon, already mentioned.

The Hon. and Rev. Alfred Curzon, eldest son, by his second marriage, of the second Lord Scarsdale, was born in 1801, and married in 1825 Sophia, daughter of Robert Holden, Esq., of Nuttall Temple, by whom he had issue two sons—George Nathaniel Curzon, Esq., who was accidentally killed by being thrown from his horse, and the Rev. Alfred Nathaniel Holden Curzon, the present Lord Scarsdale—and two daughters, Sophia Félicité Curzon and Mary Curzon, the elder being married to W. H. De Rodes, Esq., of Barlborough Hall, and the younger to Lord Arthur Edwin Hill-Trevor, son of the Marquis of Downshire. He died in January, 1850.

The present peer, the Rev. Alfred Nathaniel Holden Curzon, succeeded his uncle in the title and estates as fourth Baron Scarsdale, and as a baronet, in 1856. His lordship, who was born in 1831, was educated at Rugby, and at Merton College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1852, and M.A. in 1865. In 1856 he became Rector of Kedleston, and in the same year married Blanche, second daughter of Joseph Pocklington Senhouse, Esq., of Nether Hall, Cumberland, by whom he has issue living—the Hon. George Nathaniel, heir-apparent, born 1859; the Hon. Alfred Nathaniel, born 1860; the Hon. Francis Nathaniel, born 1865; the Hon. Assheton Nathaniel, born 1867; the Hon. Sophia Caroline, born 1857; the Hon. Blanche Felicia, born 1861; the Hon. Eveline Mary, born 1864; the Hon. Elinor Florence, born 1869; the Hon. Geraldine Emily, born 1871; and the Hon. Margaret Georgiana, born 1874. Lady Scarsdale died in 1875. His lordship is patron of five livings (viz. Kedleston, Quarndon, Mickleover, and Littleover, in Derbyshire, and Worthington, in Leicestershire), and is a magistrate for the county of Derby.

The arms of Lord Scarsdale are—argent, on a bend, sable, three popinjays, or, collared, gules. Crest—a popinjay rising, wings displayed and inverted, or, collared, gules. Supporters—dexter, a female figure representing Prudence, habited, argent, mantled, azure, holding in her sinister hand a javelin, entwined with a remora, proper; sinister, a female figure representing Liberality, habited, argent, mantled, purpure, holding in both hands a cornucopia, resting against her shoulder, proper. Motto—“Recte et suaviter.”

The title of “Scarsdale” had previously been held by the family of Leake, but had become extinct. The Leakes were descended from Adam de Leca, of Leak, in Nottinghamshire, who was living in 1141. William Leake, or Leke, who settled at Sutton-in-the-Dale, or, as it is frequently called, Sutton-Scarsdale, in Derbyshire, early in the fifteenth century, was a younger son of Sir John Leake, of Gotham. One of his descendants, Sir Francis Leke, Knt., married one of the co-heiresses of Swift, of Rotherham, and by her had issue a son, Francis Leke, who, on the institution of the order of baronetcy, was created a baronet in 1611. In 1624 he was created Baron Deincourt of Sutton, and, having taken an active part for the King during the civil wars, was in 1645 raised to the dignity of Earl of Scarsdale. He married Anne, daughter of Sir Edward Carey, Knt., and had issue by her—Nicholas, his successor; Francis, Edward, and Charles, slain in battle; and six daughters, one of whom was married to Viscount Gormanston, and another to Charles, Lord Lucas. His lordship felt the execution of his royal master, Charles I., so acutely, that he clothed himself in sackcloth, and, causing his grave to be dug some years before his death, laid himself in it every Friday for divine meditation and prayer. He died in 1665, and was succeeded by his son Nicholas as second Earl of Scarsdale and Baron Deincourt. This nobleman married Lady Frances Rich, daughter of the Earl of Warwick, and died in 1680. His eldest son, Robert, succeeded to the titles and estates, and having married Mary, one of the co-heiresses of Sir John Lewis, was made Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Colonel of Horse, and Groom of the Stole to Prince George of Denmark. Dying in 1707, he was succeeded, as fourth Earl of Scarsdale and Baron Deincourt, by his nephew, Sir Nicholas Leke, who, dying unmarried in 1736, the titles, including the baronetcy, became extinct.

The old hall of Kedleston, the ancient residence of the Curzon family for many generations, stood nearly on the site occupied by the present magnificent mansion. It was a fine quadrangular brick building of three stories in height, the entrance being under an advanced balustraded portico of three arches. Adjoining the house were training paddocks and all the appliances for the stud which was kept up. Of this house, fortunately, a painting is preserved in the present mansion. Not so of the still older house, of which no representation appears to be remaining. It must, however, judging from the records of the armorial bearings which decorated its stained-glass windows when the survey was made in 1667, have been a building possessed of many noticeable features. In the north window of the hall of 1677 we find recorded some of the bearings of the most distinguished families of the time, which seem to throw a strong light on the connections of the Curzon family. Among the arms, either alone or quartered or impaled, were, it seems, in the north window of the hall, Curzon, Twyford, Arden, Bek or Beke, Gresley, Wasteneys, Chandos of Radborne, Talbot, Furnival, and Montgomery of Cubley; in the south windows those of Curzon and Bagot; in another window those of Curzon, Vernon, Ludlow, Poole or Pole, and the device of the House of Lancaster; at the upper end of the hall, Curzon and Pole with Pole’s quarterings, Curzon alone, Curzon and Vernon with Vernon’s quarterings, and Curzon and Sacheverell with Sacheverell’s quarterings. About the room the following coats were irregularly dispersed—viz. Sacheverell, Vernon, Pole, Bagot, Montgomery, Ireton, Minors, Curzon, Twyford, and Brailsford; and on the inside of the large chimney of the Buttery were Touchet, Lord Audley of Marston, Erm, a chevron and lion rampt, but the colours gone, and Latimer or Greville (a cross fleury), and Frecheville. On the outside of the same chimney, a saltier without colour; Montgomery as before; a border of horse-shoes, probably Ferrers; Griffith of Whichnor, &c. These were presumed to be about the date of Henry IV., and the door was supposed at that time to be at least three hundred years old.

The old hall and the venerable church are said to have stood about the centre of the then village of Kedleston, and a corn-mill was near. The whole of the village, every house and every vestige of habitation, the “small inn for the accommodation of those who came to drink of a medicinal well, which has the virtues of the Harrogate water,” the corn-mill, and the old hall itself, were removed by the first Lord Scarsdale to make room for the present mansion, which he erected in 1765: the church alone remained. The village was removed to a charming spot a short distance off; the corn-mill was taken away; the stream which turned its wheel was converted into the magnificent lake that forms so fine a feature in the present park; the turnpike-road was removed to a distance of more than half a mile; and the “small inn” was replaced by the present capacious Kedleston Inn, some three-quarters of a mile away from its original site.

The present edifice was built from the designs of Robert Adam, one of the architect brothers of the Adelphi, and is considered to be his masterpiece. It consists of a noble central pile with two advanced wings or pavilions, with which it is connected by two curved corridors. The principal or north front has a grand central portico, the entablature and pediment of which are supported by six magnificent columns, 30 feet high, and 3 feet in diameter: some of these are composed of one single stone their entire length. They are designed from those at the Pantheon at Rome. The entrance in the portico is approached by a double or reflected flight of stone steps, which again are marvellous for the size of the stones: they are 10 feet in length, and each stone forms two steps. The pediment is surmounted by figures of Venus, Bacchus, and Ceres, and the sculptured bassi-relievi (by Collins) represent vintage, pasturage, harvest, ploughing, and boar-hunting; while within the porticos are statues of a Bacchante, two of the Muses, and a Vestal. The Arcade, leading to Cæsar’s Hall, and the Corridors, are designed from the Amphitheatre. The Grand Entrance is in the centre of the portico, and opens at once into the Great Hall.

The Great Hall, a noble room, and one of the finest classical apartments in existence in the purity of its style, the beauty of its details, and the perfection of its proportions, is about 67 feet in length by 42 feet in width, and 40 feet in height. The vaulted ceiling rises to the full height of the house, and is supported on twenty fluted Corinthian columns 25 feet in height, and 2 feet 6 inches in diameter. These columns, which are “the glory of Kedleston,” are of native alabaster from Red Hill, in Leicestershire. The Hall is decorated with paintings and sculpture, the whole being classical, and in perfect keeping with the design of the building itself. The subjects of the chiaro-oscuro paintings on the east side are—“Helen reproaching Paris, and silenced by Venus,” “Achilles receiving Armour from Thetis,” “Achilles delivering his Armour to Patroclus,” and “Mercury, Juno, and Neptune before Jupiter;” on the west side, “Helen and Paris,” “The Judgment of Paris,” “Hector and Andromache,” and “Juno and Minerva.” At the ends are “Apollo and the Hours,” “Night distributing her Poppies,” and “Sacrifices to Sylvanus, Diana, Apollo, and Mars.” Over the doors are four marriage subjects. The statues are Apollo Belvedere, Meleager, Idol, Venus, Faun, Apollo Vil. Med., Urania, Faun, Venus, Ganymede, Antinous, and Mercury. From the Hall the Dining-room is entered on the right, the Music-room on the left, and the Saloon at the south end.

Our account of the principal rooms must necessarily be very brief. It is enough to say that they are all fitted and finished in the most exquisite taste and in the most sumptuous manner, and are hung, or rather decorated—for the greater part of the pictures are let into the walls, as a part of the original design—with one of the best collections of paintings any house can boast.

The Music-room, a remarkably elegant apartment, contains many notable pictures, especially an “Old Man’s Head” by Rembrandt, Giordano’s “Triumph of Bacchus,” Guido’s “Bacchus and Ariadne,” Guercino’s “David’s Triumph,” and Leonardo da Vinci’s “Holy Family.” The chimney-piece contains a beautiful bas-relief by Spang. The Corridor and Corridor Staircase also contain many choice pictures.

The Drawing-room is a gorgeous apartment, hung with blue damask. It is 44 feet in length and 28 feet in width and height, and has a beautiful coved ceiling. The door-cases are finished with Corinthian columns of Derbyshire alabaster, and the chimney-piece of Italian marble is supported by two exquisitely sculptured whole-length female figures. The furniture, especially the couches, is of the most gorgeous character—the carved and gilt figures and foliage being in the very highest and purest style of Art. The paintings in this room include splendid examples by Annibale Carracci, Paul Veronese, old Francks, Breughel, Teniers, Cuyp, Mompert, Andrea del Sarto, Domenichino, Raffaelle, Swanevelt, Guido Reni, Benedetto Luti, Polemberg, Bernardo Strozzi, Claude Lorraine, Tintoretto, Parmigiano, and others of the old masters.

The Library—a noble room fitted with mahogany book-cases, a Doric entablature, and mosaic ceiling—contains among its pictures Vandyke’s “Shakspere,” Rembrandt’s “Daniel interpreting to Nebuchadnezzar,” and examples of Giordano, Carlo Loti, Drost, Michael Angelo, Salvator Rosa, Poussin, and others. It also contains busts of Homer, Sappho, Socrates, Virgil, Anacreon, Pindar, and Horace.

The Saloon is a grand circular apartment, 42 feet in diameter, and 63 feet high to the rose in the dome. It is considered, and truly, to be one of the most beautiful rooms of its kind in Europe. Its decorations are interesting from the classic taste displayed in designing them, and the elegance with which they are executed. It is divided into four recesses, or alcoves, having fire-places representing altars, with sphinxes, &c., adorned with classical figures in bas-relief; these alternate with as many doors; the whole painted and ornamented with white and gold. Over the doors are paintings of ruins by Hamilton (the frames representing the supporters of the family arms), and above the recesses are delineations in chiaro-oscuro by Rebecca—the subjects from English history. The pillars, of scagliola marble, are by Bartoli. The dome is white and gold, finished in octagonal compartments with roses. The candle branches are of peculiar elegance, and beneath them is a charming series of exquisite bas-reliefs of Cupids, &c. The Saloon opens on its respective sides into the Great Hall, the Library, the Ante-chamber, and the south or garden front of the hall. From the ante-chamber, in which are Carlo Maratti’s “St. John” and many other valuable paintings, is reached—

The Principal Dressing-room, hung with blue damask, which contains, among others, life-size portraits of the first Lord and Lady Scarsdale by Hone; the second Lord Scarsdale by Reinagle, and his first wife by Hone; Charles I. by Vandyke; Prince Rupert’s daughter by Kneller; Prince Henry by Jansen; Prior by Kneller; and other paintings by Lely, Vandyke, Cimaroli, and others.

The State Bed-room is hung with blue damask, and contains a remarkably fine assemblage of family portraits, landscapes, and other pictures, among which are Sir Nathaniel and Lady Curzon by Richardson; Duchess of York by Lely; and the Countess of Dorset, daughter of George Curzon, after Mytens.

The Wardrobe, which adjoins, is principally remarkable for a fine collection of thirty-six ancient enamels after Albert Dürer, representing the life of our Saviour, and for the many fine family portraits and other paintings which it contains. Among these are—Lady Curzon and her sons, by Dobbs; Countess of Dorchester, by Kneller; the wife and child of Quentin Matsys, by himself; Hon. Caroline Curzon, by Angelica Kauffmann; Hon. H. Curzon, by Hamilton; family portraits, by Hone and Barber; the “Nativity” and the “Resurrection,” by Murillo; and the first Lady Scarsdale, by Hudson.

The Dining-room is of faultless proportions, and its fittings—all precisely as originally planned by the architect—are in the best and purest taste. The ceiling is magnificently painted in compartments by Zucchi. The centre represents “Love embracing Fortune;” the oblong squares, the four Seasons; and the small circles, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. In front of the recessed sideboard is a magnificent cistern, or cooler, cut out of a solid block of Sicilian jasper; and among the pictures are examples of Snyders, Zuccarelli, Ciro Ferri, Claude Lorraine, Jean Fyt, Romanelli, Helmbrecker, and others, and bas-reliefs by Collins and Spang.

On the Great Staircase are also many choice paintings (including, among others, examples of Carlo Maratti, Hamilton, and old Stone, and some fine statues and candelabra), while in the family wing of the house—in Lady Scarsdale’s Boudoir, the Ante-room, the Breakfast-room, and the other apartments—the assemblage of works of Art is very extensive and valuable. In the Corridor, too, are some good paintings, and many articles of virtu; while in the chimney-piece is an extremely fine plaque of Wedgwood’s jasper-ware.

The opposite wing is occupied by the Kitchen—a noble apartment with a gallery at one end, supported on Doric columns, and having over its fire-place the admirable motto, “Waste not, want not”—and the other domestic offices.

Cæsar’s Hall is the basement story beneath the portico, and is decorated with busts of the Cæsars, and medallions of Homer, Hesiod, Horace, and Tully; and in the Tetrastyle Hall, the staircases, and other parts of the building, are numerous works of Art of one kind or other.

The Garden Front, shown in the opposite engraving, is an adaptation of an idea taken from the design of the Arch of Constantine. The statues in the niches are Flora Farnese and an antique Bacchus. Over the pillars are medallions of Apollo and Diana, and the statues above are the Pastoral and the Comic Muses, Prudence, and Diana. By the steps are the Medicean and Borghese vases.

The entrance to the noble park of Kedleston is by a lodge, designed by Adams from the Arch of Octavia. From it the drive to the house is about a mile in length, amidst the finest forest trees, beneath which hundreds of deer browse in every direction. Nearing the house, the drive is carried over the magnificent lake on a bridge of purely classical design, enriched by statuary; and from it one of the finest views of the mansion and its surroundings is obtained. Near to the drive is a charmingly picturesque fountain, whose waters are constantly flowing through a lion’s mouth.

In the park are the medicinal springs known as “Kedleston Baths,” over which a plain, but picturesque, building was erected many years ago. The waters are the best of the sulphureous springs of Derbyshire, and approach closely, on analysis, to those of Harrogate. They were formerly in much repute, and years ago it was quite a trade for the poor people of Derby to fetch these waters to the town, where they were sold at a penny per quart, and were drunk in place of malt liquor by many of the inhabitants. Kedleston, in the latter part of last century, was, indeed, a very favourite resort with the Derby people, as is evidenced by the following curious advertisement of the year 1776:—“Kedleston Fly. Twice a day during the Summer Season. Will set out on Monday next, the 20th inst., from John Campion’s, the Bell Inn, in Sadler-gate, Derby; each person to pay One Shilling and Sixpence. A good Ordinary is provided each day at Kedleston Inn. If desired, the coach may be had from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon.” At Quarn, or Quarndon, about a mile distant, is another medicinal spring—this time of chalybeate waters, which were, and yet are, with those of Kedleston, much esteemed.

Of the fine old oaks in Kedleston Park it is enough to say they are among the largest and most picturesque in the kingdom, the “King Oak” being twenty-two feet in circumference at the bole, and the “Queen Oak” nearly as much—a truly stately and royal pair. Many others are also enormous in girth and stature. Of these oaks the Hon. Grantley Berkeley thus graphically writes:—“In the park and vale of Berkeley, as well as in the Forest of Dean, I have been used to view the oak-tree in perfection, as well as in gigantic decay, as in the case at Berkeley of ‘King William’s Oak,’ at the entrance to the park, set down as that tree was, and is now, in Domesday Book as a tree then so much larger than its fellows as to be selected in the survey as a mark for the parish or hundred of Berkeley. With all this timber lore, however, the tall oaks of Kedleston Hall astonished me, not in a few instances, but in hundreds, or indeed all over the park. Timber of all kinds stood on those emerald undulations (for never was a park or pasture greener), valued by their proprietor as much for intrinsic worth as for picturesque beauty, honoured in age, as they had been spared when from their ranks might have been hewn a fortune. So struck was I with the invariable size of these trees, that while casting a curious eye through the herds of deer to make myself acquainted with the best buck in that early season, destined for a trial of Pape’s breech-loading rifle—which had been returned to his hands to be rearranged after the trick it played me in the forest of Lord Breadalbane some time ago—I could not help stepping their circumference at the roots of some of them, the extent of which was as follows. The oaks very commonly reached to fourteen yards where they entered the ground, and ranged from that to fifteen and seventeen yards; while the ‘King Oak,’ standing by his ‘Queen’ of nearly the same size, measured twenty-two yards where it sought the earth. Three feet from the ground the girth of this monarch of the forest is twenty-five feet nine inches, and the timber contained in the tree is calculated at from eleven hundred to twelve hundred feet. The extraordinary beauty of these oaks—and their name, so to speak, is legion—lies in their immensely tall straight growth from the ground, scarcely ever putting forth a limb within reach of my upstretched hand. The same luxuriant fact in this enchanting park exists with all kinds of trees, and some of the broad-leafed elms round whose boles I stepped measured fifteen yards. Lord Scarsdale takes beautiful care of his trees, and when some high wind tears down a huge arm from his favourites, the splinters are all sawn smoothly off from the stem, and the wound is capped with lead to prevent the entrance of water.”

And now for a word or two on the Church, which is one of the most charming old buildings in the country. Long may it be kept from the hands of the “restorer!” The edifice is cruciform, consisting of a nave, chancel, north and south transepts, and central tower—the south transept being the mortuary chapel of the Curzons. The south doorway of the nave is early Norman, with beak-head mouldings and a sculptured tympanum; and the “priest’s door” in the chancel is equally interesting, although of later date.

In the chancel is a remarkably fine monument to Sir Nathaniel Curzon, Bart., who died in 1758, aged eighty-four, designed by Robert Adam, the architect of Kedleston, and executed by Michael Rysbrach in 1763; and another monument erected in 1737 to Sir Nathaniel Curzon, and Dame Sarah, his wife, daughter of William Penn, Esq. There are also a fine, but partially mutilated, brass to an early Curzon, and an incised slab to William Curzon, 1544. The east window of stained glass, “In Memory of George Nathaniel Curzon, born Oct. 1826; died June 17, 1855,” is of beautiful design. In the floor of the chancel, on removing two massive circular pieces of wood mounted with rings, about a foot below the surface, each within a deeply cut quatrefoil, are the heads of a knight in armour and of a lady in veil and whimple. There is no inscription connected with these extremely curious and unusual monuments, but they most probably represent a knight and lady of the Curzon family.

In the Curzon Chapel, south transept, are fine old monuments, some of which are shown in the opposite engraving. One of these is a knight and lady on an altar tomb, the knight in plate armour with collar of SS, and the other the monument of a knight, also in collar of SS. Besides these are monuments and tablets to Sir John Curzon and Patience Crewe, his wife, 1604; Sir John Curzon, 1727; Nathaniel, second Lord Scarsdale, 1837, and his lady, 1850; and many others to different members of the family, besides a fine canopy of a “founder’s tomb.”

The Church closely adjoins the hall, from which there is an entrance into the churchyard. At the east end of the Church is a quaintly curious sundial, bearing, above the dial itself, the words We shall, and thus reading—

WE SHALL DIAL

(the latter word, of course, not being there, but implied by the dial itself): the meaning is, “We shall die all,” or, “We shall all die.”

Not far from Kedleston are the picturesque ruins of Mackworth Castle, the ancient stronghold of the De Mackworths, and in its neighbourhood are Quarndon, with its medicinal springs; Markeaton Hall, the seat of the Mundys; Kirk Ireton, famous as the place from whence the two great Parliamentary officers, General Ireton and Colonel Sanders, sprang; Duffield, once the stronghold and seat of the Norman family of Ferrars, Earls of Derby; Mugginton, anciently the seat of the Knivetons; and many other places of note.

AUDLEY END.

OF the earlier life of Sir Thomas Audley, the founder of Audley End, or of the family from which he sprang, but little is known. His rise was rapid, as his rapacity was great, and, like others in the very extraordinary times in which he lived, he fawned on his sovereign and preyed on the possessions of others until he had raised himself to a high position. “Thomas Audley,” says a writer in 1711, “being a sedulous student in the law, became Autumne Reader to the Inner Temple, temp. Henry VIII., and was after chosen Speaker of the House of Commons, in the 21st of Henry VIII. In which station (this being the parliament that gave the finishing hand to the dissolution of monasteries) he was so acceptable to the king that he at first made him Attorney of the Duchy of Lancaster, next Serjeant-at-Law, being after the King’s Own Serjeant; and upon the resignation of the Lord Chancellor More, he was knighted, made Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and, before the end of the year, Lord Chancellor of England. And the 30th of Henry VIII. sat as Steward upon the arraignment of Henry Courtney, Marquis of Exeter, for endeavouring to advance Cardinal Pole to the crown. And subtilly, at length, obtaining the great Abbey of Walden, in Essex, he was, in the 30th of Henry VIII., created Lord Audley of Walden, and died the 35th of Henry VIII., leaving issue by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, only two daughters his heirs—Mary, who died unmarried; and Margaret, who became his sole heir, first married to the Lord Henry Dudley, and after to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, as second wife, whose son by her, Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, Lord Treasurer of England, built upon the ruines of the abby that stately fabrick at Walden, call’d Audley-End, in memory of this Lord Audley.”

Thomas Audley, who, as has just been stated, was the principal agent in the great work of spoliation, the dissolution of monasteries, was rewarded for his zeal by grant after grant from the spoils, and yet was always, as is shown by his letters, whining and craving for more. The rich priory of Christchurch, Aldgate, London, “with all the church plate and lands belonging to that house, was first granted to him; and afterwards many portions of the estates previously belonging to the lesser religious houses of Essex, with licenses to alienate them, of which he duly availed himself. Thus St. Botolph’s Priory, at Colchester, with all its revenues, the Priory of the Crutched Friars, in the same town, and Tiltey Abbey, near Thaxted, were added to the list of his monastic spoils, after the gifts from the king, in 1538, on Sir Thomas’s application, of the rich Abbey of Walden, with all the estates, manors, and advowsons thereunto attached. He was also created Lord Audley of Walden, and installed a Knight of the Garter. Yet,” says the late Lord Braybrooke, “instead of Audley being contented with these repeated marks of the royal favour, we are compelled to admit that every grant which he obtained encouraged him to importune the king for further recompense; and his letters, preserved in the Cottonian Library, prove that, in making these applications, he was mean enough to plead poverty as an excuse, and even to assert that his character had suffered in consequence of the public services which he had been obliged to perform.”

Lord Audley, at his death in 1544, left two daughters, his co-heiresses; but the younger one dying in 1546, the eldest, Margaret Audley, became sole heiress to the estates. This lady was married twice: first, at the age of fourteen, to Lord Henry Dudley, younger brother to Lord Guildford Dudley, husband of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, by whom she had no issue; and secondly, in 1557, to Thomas Howard, fourth Duke of Norfolk, as his second wife. She thus, the daughter of one of the most aspiring men of the time, became allied to the two most powerful and ambitious families in the kingdom—those of Northumberland and Howard. By this second marriage, Margaret Audley (who died when only at the age of twenty-three) became the mother of two sons—Lord Thomas Howard, afterwards created Earl of Suffolk, of whom we shall speak presently, and Lord William Howard, ancestor of the Earls of Carlisle, &c.—and two daughters, Elizabeth, who died in her infancy, and Margaret, who became the wife of Robert Sackville, Earl of Dorset.

The elder of these sons, Thomas Howard, inherited Audley End and the other family estates from his mother. Having, by Act of Parliament, 27th of Elizabeth, been restored in blood, he was, in 1588, knighted for his gallant behaviour in the engagement with the Spanish Armada, and in 1597 was created Baron Howard of Walden. “He was a brave sea officer, and successively employed upon many trying occasions, sometimes as chief, sometimes as second in command, during that reign, and in particular contributed greatly to the reduction of the town and castle of Cadiz.” In 1597 he was installed Knight of the Garter, and, according to some accounts, was made Constable of the Tower. On the accession of James I., Lord Howard was, in 1603, sworn a Privy Councillor, created Earl of Suffolk, and made one of the Commissioners for the office of Earl Marshal. In 1608 he was appointed Lord Chamberlain, and in 1614 Lord High Treasurer of England. He it was who, with Lord Monteagle, made the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot while performing the routine business pertaining to his office of Lord High Chamberlain on the 4th of November, 1605.

Lord Suffolk was married twice: first, to Mary, sister and co-heiress of Thomas, Lord Dacres of Gillesland, by whom he had no issue; and, secondly, to Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Knevett, of Charlton, and widow of Richard, eldest son of Lord Rich, by whom he had four daughters—viz. Elizabeth, who married successively William Knolles, Earl of Banbury, and Edward, Lord Vaux; Frances, married first to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, from whom she was divorced, and next to Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, Margaret; and Catherine, married to William Cecil, Earl of Salisbury—and eight sons, viz. Theophilus, who succeeded him; Sir Thomas, who was created Earl of Berkshire, and is the direct ancestor of the present Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire—the earldom of Suffolk having reverted to this branch in 1733—whose descendants later on succeeded to the titles; Henry, who married Elizabeth Bassett, of Blore, by whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth, who became successively the wife of Sir John Howard, of Swarkeston, in Derbyshire, and of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle; Sir Charles; Sir Robert, “a gallant cavalier soldier, was but too notorious in his own day for his intrigue with the Viscountess Purbeck, the beautiful and ill-assorted daughter of the Chief Justice Coke;” Sir William; Sir John; and Sir Edward, who was created Baron Howard of Escrick.

The first Earl of Suffolk built the magnificent mansion of Audley End, over which he is stated to have expended the enormous sum, for those days, of more than £190,000. It is said of him that although he had, from his many high and lucrative offices and his large estates, more ample means of displaying his magnificence than had any of his ancestors, he eclipsed them all in extravagance and show. His wife, Lady Suffolk, too, “was unfortunately a woman of a covetous mind, and having too great an ascendancy over her husband, used it in making him a party to her extortions on persons who had business to transact at the Treasury, or places to obtain at Court; and her husband was charged with embezzlement, deprived of his office, and fined £30,000, but which was reduced by the King to £7,000. He was generally considered to have been chiefly guilty in concealing the malpractices of his wife, who eventually died in debt and difficulty.” Probably one great reason for these things being laid to his charge was that, through having for a son-in-law the fallen and disgraced courtier Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, he had become obnoxious to the new favourite, Buckingham, through whose influence it appears he and his countess were, for a short time, committed to the Tower. He died at Suffolk House (where Suffolk Street, Strand, now stands), in 1626, and was buried at Walden. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Theophilus Howard (who during his father’s lifetime had been summoned to Parliament as Lord Howard of Walden) as second Earl of Suffolk. He was a Knight of the Garter, Lord Warden, Chancellor, and Admiral of the Cinque Ports, Constable of Dover Castle, &c., and married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of the Earl of Dunbar, by whom he had issue four sons and five daughters, three of the sons becoming successively Earls of Suffolk.

He was succeeded by his son James (third Earl of Suffolk), who, like his father, for a time resided at Audley End in quiet retirement. The cost of the building had so greatly involved the first earl that, at the time of his committal to the Tower, he was about £40,000 in debt, although he had then but recently sold the Charter House to Mr. Sutton for £13,000, and his property at Aynhoe, in Northamptonshire, for a considerable sum. The charges thus entailed on the estate, and the cost of maintaining it, so affected his successors that they were unable to support an establishment commensurate with the size and magnificence of the house. After the Restoration, Earl James, therefore, gladly took the opportunity which offered of selling the park and mansion of Audley End to the King, Charles II.

The purchase-money of this estate (which, as already stated, in building alone had cost £190,000) was £50,000, of which but £30,000 was paid by the King, the remaining £20,000 being left on mortgage. This was in 1666, and in 1670 the Court was regularly established at Audley End; the Queen very frequently resided there; and, being convenient for Newmarket, festivities were kept up on a large scale.

After the sale of the house, the Earl of Suffolk and his successor, the fourth earl, resided in comparative retirement, Audley End being, by the King, “committed to the charge of one of the family, who held the office of housekeeper and keeper of the wardrobe, with a salary; and this arrangement continued till 1701, when the house and park were reconveyed” back to the Suffolk family. The £20,000 left on mortgage continued unpaid by the King at the revolution of 1688, “nor is it clear that any interest had ever been paid upon it” during the many years it had remained. In 1701, therefore, the demesne was, as just stated, conveyed back to the Howards, the fifth Earl of Suffolk, on receiving it, relinquishing his claim on the Crown for the debt.

James, the third Earl of Suffolk, already spoken of, married, first, Susan, daughter of the Earl of Holland, by whom he had an only daughter, Essex, married to Edward, Lord Griffin of Braybrooke; secondly, Barbara, daughter of Sir Edward Villiers and widow of Sir Richard Wenman, by whom he had a daughter, who became the wife of Sir Thomas Felton; and, thirdly, to Anne, daughter of the Earl of Manchester, by whom he had no issue. Dying in 1688, he was succeeded by his brother, George Howard, as fourth earl, who enjoyed the title only three years; when, dying without surviving male issue, he was succeeded by his brother, Henry Howard, as fifth earl. This nobleman married twice: first, Mary, daughter of Lord Castle Stewart, by whom (besides a daughter) he had three sons—Henry, Edward, and Charles—who each successively became Earl of Suffolk; and, secondly, the widow of Sir John Maynard, by whom he had no issue. He died in 1709, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry Howard, created in his father’s lifetime Baron Chesterford and Earl of Bindon, who was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles William, as seventh Earl of Suffolk, and second Earl of Bindon and Baron of Chesterford. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Astrey, but had no issue; and, dying in 1721-2, the titles of Baron of Bindon and Earl of Chesterford became extinct, while those of Earl of Suffolk and Baron Howard of Walden passed to his father’s brother Edward, and, at his death, to his brother Charles, as ninth earl. He dying in 1733, left one only son, Henry Howard, who thus became tenth Earl of Suffolk. This tenth earl married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Irwin, but died without issue in 1745, his widow afterwards becoming the wife of Viscount Falkland.

On the death of the tenth earl, the title of Earl of Suffolk, &c., passed to his distant relative, Henry Bowes Howard, Earl of Berkshire, Viscount Andover, &c., who, descended from Sir Thomas Howard, second son of the first Earl of Suffolk, was direct ancestor of the present Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, the barony of Howard de Walden remaining in abeyance between the descendants of the two co-heiresses of the third earl.

These were, as already shown, Essex, wife of Edward, Lord Griffin of Braybrooke, and Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Felton. The representatives of the elder of these were the Hon. Elizabeth Griffin, married, first, to Henry Neville Grey, and, secondly, to the Earl of Portsmouth; and her sister, Ann, wife of William Whitwell. Lady Portsmouth having no issue by either of her husbands, the real descent lay with the son of Mrs. Whitwell, in whose favour the abeyance terminated, and who thus became Lord Howard of Walden. The possession of the Audley End estates was disputed by Thomas Howard, second Earl of Effingham, who claimed under a settlement in his favour, made by the seventh Earl of Suffolk, who, however, having been proved to have himself only been a tenant for life, the claim was disallowed, and the estates passed to Lady Portsmouth, from whom, by bequest, they ultimately came to John Griffin Whitwell, Lord Howard of Walden.

This nobleman was created Baron Braybrooke in 1788, with remainder to his relative, Richard Neville, whose father, Richard Aldworth, was maternally descended from the Nevilles; and, dying without issue, the title of Lord Howard of Walden passed to a distant descendant of that family. He was succeeded, as second Baron Braybrooke, in 1797, by this Richard Neville, who assumed the name of Griffin. He married, in 1780, Catherine, daughter of the Right Hon. George Grenville, who was maternally descended from Theophilus, second Earl of Suffolk, and sister of the first Marquis of Buckingham, and had by her, besides other issue, the Hon. Richard, who succeeded him, and who, by arrangement with the deceased peer’s only sister and heiress (wife of the Rev. Dr. Parker), obtained immediate possession of the mansion and unentailed portion of the estate, the other portion coming to him at the death, without issue, of that lady.

Richard, third Baron Braybrooke, born in 1783, succeeded his father in 1825, and married the Lady Jane, eldest daughter of Charles, Marquis Cornwallis, by whom he had issue five sons—Richard Cornwallis Neville, Charles Cornwallis Neville, Henry Aldworth Neville, Rev. Latimer Neville (now Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, and heir-presumptive to the title), and Grey Neville—and three daughters. Lord Braybrooke was well known as the author of the “History of Audley End,” and as the editor of the “Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys.” He was succeeded by his eldest son, Richard Cornwallis Neville (better known as the Hon. R. C. Neville), as fourth Baron Braybrooke. This nobleman, who was born in 1820, was an eminent antiquary, and was author of several important works. He was educated at Eton, and in 1837 entered the army, serving in Canada till 1838. Ill-health, which continued throughout his life, compelled him to retire from the army in 1841, and he devoted himself thenceforward to the study of history and antiquities. He became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a member of other learned bodies, and contributed many papers to the Archæologia and to the Transactions of the Archæological Association and Institute. Having undertaken and carried out some important excavations at Chesterford, &c., he published his “Antiqua Explorata,” which afterwards he followed by another volume, “Sepulchra Exposita.” In 1852 he issued his great work, “Saxon Obsequies;” and, later still, the “Romance of the Ring; or, the History and Antiquity of Finger Rings.” His lordship married, in 1852, the Lady Charlotte Sarah Graham Toler, sixth daughter of the second Earl of Norbury (who afterwards married Frederick Hetley, Esq., and died in 1867), by whom he left two daughters, and, dying in 1861, was succeeded by his brother, the Hon. Charles Cornwallis Neville, the present peer.

Charles Cornwallis Neville, fifth Baron Braybrooke, was born in 1823, and educated at Eton and at Magdalen College, Cambridge, of which he is Hereditary Visitor. In 1849 he married the Hon. Florence Priscilla Alicia Maude, third daughter of the third Viscount Hawarden, by whom he has issue one daughter, the Hon. Augusta Neville, born 1860. The heir-presumptive to the title is, therefore, his brother, the Rev. Latimer Neville, Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, and Chaplain to the Bishop of Rochester, who is married to Lucy Frances, eldest daughter of John Le Marchant, Esq., by whom he has issue.

Lord Braybrooke is patron of seven livings—viz. Arborfield, Waltham St. Lawrence, and Wargrave, in Berkshire; Shadingfield, in Sussex; and Littlebury, Saffron Walden, and Heydon, in Essex. His arms are—quarterly, first and fourth, gules, on a saltire, argent, a rose of the field; second and third, or, fretty, gules, on a canton of the first, a lymphad, sable. Crests—first, a rose, seeded and barbed, proper; second, out of a ducal coronet, or, a bull’s head; third, a portcullis, proper. Supporters—two lions reguardant, argent, maned, sable, gorged with wreaths of olive, proper. Motto—“Ne vile velis.”

The history of Audley End has been pretty fully told in the history of the families to whom it has belonged; but little, therefore, need be added. The architect of the mansion has been variously stated to be Bernard Jansen and John Thorpe, but the weight of evidence seems to be in favour of the latter. Regarding the house itself, and especially the “admirable drink” kept in the cellar, we have two striking pictures written by “quaint old Pepys” in 1659-60 and 1667. “Up by four o’clock,” he says on the 27th February, “Mr. Blayton and I took horse and straight to Saffron Walden, where, at the White Hart, we set up our horses, and took the master of the house to show us Audley End House, who took us on foot through the park, and so to the house, where the housekeeper showed us all the house, in which the stateliness of the ceilings, chimney-pieces, and form of the whole was exceedingly worth seeing. He took us into the cellar, where we drank most admirable drink, a health to the king. Here I played on my flageolette, there being an excellent echo. He shewed us excellent pictures; two especially, those of the Four Evangelists, and Henry VIII. After that I gave the man 2_s._ for his trouble and went back again. In our going, my landlord carried us through a very old hospital, or almshouse, where forty poor people was maintained; a very old foundation: and over the chimney-piece was an inscription in brass, ‘Orate pro animâ Thomæ Bird,’ &c., and the poor-box also was on the same chimney-piece, with an iron door and locks to it, into which I put 6_d._ They brought me a draft of their drink in a brown bowl tipt with silver,[45] which I drank off, and at the bottom was a picture of the Virgin and the Child in her arms, done in silver. So we went to our Inn, and after eating of something, and kissed the daughter of the house, she being very pretty, we took leave, and so that night, the road pretty good, but the weather rainy, to Epping, where we sat and played a game at cards, and after supper and some merry talk with a playne bold mayde of the house we went to bed.” Again, in 1667, he says: “I and my wife and Willet (the maid), set out in a coach I have hired with four horses, and W. Hewer and Murford rode by us on horseback; and before night come to Bishop’s Stortford. Took coach to Audley End, and did go all over the house and gardens; and mighty merry we were. The house indeed do appear very fine, but not so fine as it hath heretofore to me; particularly, the ceilings are not so good as I always took them to be, being nothing so well wrought as my Lord Chancellor’s are; and though the figure of the house without be very extraordinary good, yet the stayre-case is exceeding poore; and a great many pictures, and not one good one in the house but one of Henry VIII., done by Holbein; and not one good suit of hangings in all the house, but all most ancient things, such as I would not give the hanging up of in my house; and the other furniture, beds, and other things, accordingly. Only the gallery is good, and above all things the cellars, where we went down and drank of much good liquor. And indeed the cellars are fine: and here my wife and I did sing to my great content. And then to the garden, and there eat many grapes, and took some with us; and so away thence exceeding well satisfied, though not to that degree that by my old esteem of the house I ought and did expect to have done, the situation of it not pleasing me; thence away to Cambridge, and did take up at the Rose.”

Evelyn, who wrote a little before Pepys—in 1654—says he “went to Audley End, and spent some time in seeing that goodly palace, built by Howard, Earl of Suffolk, once Lord Treasurer. It is a mixed fabric ‘twixt ancient and modern, but observable for its being completely finished; and it is one of the stateliest palaces in the kingdom. It consists of two courts, the first very large, winged with cloisters. The front hath a double entrance; the hall is faire, but somewhat too small for so august a pile; the kitchen is very large, as are the cellars, arched with stone, very neat, and well disposed. These offices are joyned by a wing out of the way very handsomely. The gallery is the most cheerful, and, I think, one of the best in England; a faire dining-roome and the rest of the lodginges answerable, with a pretty chapel. The gardens are not in order, though well inclosed; it has also a bowling-alley, and a nobly walled, wooded, and watered park. The river glides before the palace, to which is an avenue of lime-trees; but all this is much diminished by its being placed in an obscure bottom. For the rest it is perfectly uniform, and shows without like a diadem, by the decoration of the cupolas and other ornaments on the pavilions. Instead of railings and ballusters, there is a bordure of capital letters, as was lately also in Sussex House.”

In 1721, on the advice of that man of little taste, Sir John Vanbrugh the architect, the three sides of the grand quadrangle, which formed so magnificent an entrance to this splendid mansion, were destroyed, along with the kitchen and offices, which were behind the north wing. The chapel and cellars, which projected from the gallery wing at each end, soon shared the same fate. The inner court thus was alone allowed to remain untouched, and the mansion was confined to one hollow square. In 1747 the house was in a state of dilapidation, and projects were set on foot both for pulling it down, and for converting it into a silk manufactory. Two years later, the eastern wing, whose feature was the magnificent gallery, was pulled down. The house was, at an enormous expense, restored, repaired, and made habitable by the first Lord Braybrooke, and, though there remains but a small portion of the original edifice, it is yet a noble and stately building.

We have left ourselves scant space for a description of the noble and very beautiful house, one of the best of those of the Elizabethan era that time has left us, though it is not now as it was when Evelyn pictured it in the quotation we have given; but the gardens are charmingly kept, and have been laid out with taste and skill; the classic river Cam runs in front, and it is here of considerable breadth, Art having utilised the small stream, and made what is technically termed “a sheet of ornamental water;” it is also used to supply fountains and jets d’eau in various parts of the grounds.

The house is distant about a mile from the pretty and picturesque town of Saffron Walden, whose Church holds rank among four of the most perfect examples in Great Britain; and close to it is a Museum containing much that is deeply interesting—many specimens of the earliest races by whom this island was inhabited in the pre-historic ages.

We give several engravings of the house; one of its principal Lodge, one of its attractive Gardens, and one of a comparatively modern structure in the grounds, called the Temple of Concord, built, it is said, to commemorate the recovery of George III. from his first afflicting illness.

Before we reach the house, proceeding from the Audley End station, we may pause awhile to examine the Abbey Farm-buildings and a square of venerable and very comfortable Almshouses, in which “nine old ladies” are passing in ease the residue of their lives—blessing, as we bless, the lord who founded them.

The grand feature of the house is the Hall: it is not, as Evelyn thought it was, “somewhat too small,” but is finely proportioned, in some parts admirably carved, and it contains many portraits—among others that of the founder and his wife and daughter. The ceilings throughout the mansion are of much beauty, and, besides several grand examples of the ancient masters and “throngs” of family portraits, there are some rare specimens of china. There are other curious relics—among them the chair of Alexander Pope, and the carved oak head of Cromwell’s bed, converted into a chimney-piece.

Audley End is not often visited: it is somewhat out of the highway of England, but of a surety it will largely repay those who love Nature and appreciate Art, and who rejoice that one of the grandest and most beautiful of our landmarks of family history is yet in its perfection and thoroughly “well cared for.”

BURLEIGH.

“BURLEIGH HOUSE by Stamford town,” as Tennyson has it in his simple and beautiful ballad, “The Lord of Burleigh,” stands in a noble park just outside the fine old town of Stamford. Stamford is in two counties—Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire—on the river Welland, which here divides them, and at the same time separates six parishes, five being in Lincolnshire, and the sixth, St. Martin’s, or Stamford-Baron, in Northamptonshire. In this latter county are Burleigh House and its surrounding demesne. The park for pedestrians is conveniently entered at Burleigh Lane, one of the outer streets of the town; thus the grounds, being so ready of access, are an incalculable boon to the inhabitants. The principal Lodges are on the North Road, immediately south of St. Martin’s, and are noble and important buildings, erected in 1801 at a cost of more than £5,000, by the tenth earl, the approach being greatly improved in 1828 by his immediate successor.

The park, nearly seven miles in circumference, was planted by “Capability Brown,” and besides its attractions of wood and temples, grottoes and other buildings, contains a fine sheet of water three-quarters of a mile in length, spanned by a handsome bridge of three arches, with noble sculptures of lions. The Roman road, Ermine Street, may be traced in some parts of the park on its way from Caistor to Stamford. The park, which contains about fourteen hundred acres, was principally laid out by the first Lord Burleigh, but has been since then considerably extended and improved, one of the greatest improvements being the filling up of the fish-pond, and the formation of the serpentine lake on the south front. The house is a mile distant from the Grand Lodge entrance, the approach being, for a considerable distance, among magnificent oak and other forest trees, through beautiful upland scenery.

In the reign of Edward the Confessor, Burleigh (variously spelled Burleigh, Burghley, and Burley) was let to farm by the Church at Burgh to Alfgar, the King’s chaplain, at whose death it was seized by the Crown, and afterwards redeemed for eight marks by Abbot Leofric, and was confirmed to Peterborough Abbey in 1146. At the time of taking the Domesday survey it was held of the Abbot of Peterborough by Goisfrid. In the reign of Henry III. it is stated to have been in like manner held by Thomas de Burghley, who died in 1280, and remained in that family for two or three generations. “Peter de Burlegh, it appears,” says Sharpe, “held possession here in the twenty-fourth of Edward I., and obtained a grant of free warren in the third of Edward II. Geoffry, his son, succeeded him, but, dying without issue, his widow, Mariot, married John de Tichmersh, who, in her right, held the manor in the third of Edward III., and continued to do so until the twentieth year of the same reign.” Somewhat later it is said to have belonged to Nicholas de Segrave, it “having descended to Alice de Lisle as part of the inheritance of John de Armenters. From Nicholas de Segrave it passed to Warine de Lisle, who, with others, took up arms against the king, was defeated at Borough Bridge, and executed at Pontefract. By Edward III., Gerard de Lisle, son of Warine, was restored to his father’s possessions, and held Burleigh with the other estates.” In 1360, Sharpe states, Burleigh was in the possession of Robert Wykes, one of whose descendants, Margaret Chambers, sold it to Richard Cecil, father of the Lord Treasurer, who also purchased the adjoining manor of Little Burleigh.

The present mansion was commenced in 1575 by the first Lord Burleigh, whose principal residence was, however, at Theobalds, in Hertfordshire. The old structure was mainly retained, the existing portions being “in the eastern part of the present building, and are exceedingly fine and substantial; they are—the kitchen, with a groined roof of vast extent and most peculiar construction (perhaps the largest apartment in Europe devoted to culinary purposes); the imposing banqueting-hall, with its magnificent bay window and open carved roof, surpassed by only one other in England (Westminster); and the chapel, reached by a unique vaulted stone staircase, elaborately ornamented, and remarkable for its radiating arch.” The building, when completed and finished, was said to be the most complete and splendid in the kingdom. It is recorded that when, in the civil wars, Burleigh was taken by the Parliamentarians, Cromwell and his officers and army behaved with the utmost consideration and courtesy to the family. Cromwell himself, “when he beheld it (Burlegh), forgot his rage for destruction, and, charmed with its magnificence, displayed his republican generosity by depositing his own picture (by Walker) among those of its fine collection.” It is also recorded that later on, William III., when he saw Burleigh, “with a jealousy and a littleness of spirit unworthy of a monarch, declared that it was much too gorgeous for a subject.”

Queen Elizabeth delighted to visit Burleigh; and we read that “twelve times did he (Lord Treasurer Cecil) entertain the Queen at his house for several weeks together, at an expense of £2,000 or £3,000 each time.” It is traditionally said that on one of her visits, when the Lord Treasurer was pointing out its beauties to Elizabeth, her Majesty, tapping him familiarly on the cheek, said to him, “Ay, my money and your taste have made it a mighty pretty place!” Burleigh was, in 1603, visited by King James I. on his way from Scotland, and in 1695 by King William III. The most magnificent royal visit was, however, that of Queen Victoria with the Prince Consort in 1842, when she was accompanied by her ministers and the Court.

The family of Cecil seems to be derived from Robert ap Seisylt, or Sitsilt, or Seisel, a Welsh chieftain, who, in 1091, assisted Robert Fitzhamon in his conquest of Glamorganshire, for which he received a grant of lands in that county. Without entering particularly into the genealogy of the early members of this family, it will be sufficient for our present purpose to say that fifteenth in succession from this Robert ap Seisylt was David Sicelt, who, having joined the Earl of Richmond (Henry VII.) in Brittany, was rewarded for his service by a grant of land in Lincolnshire. Under Henry VIII. he “was constituted Water Bailiff of Wittlesey, in the county of Huntingdon, as also Keeper of the Swans there and throughout all the waters and fens in the counties of Huntingdon, Cambridge, Lincoln, and Northampton for the term of thirty years; also, in the fifth of Henry VIII., he was made one of the King’s Sergeants-at-arms; and, having this employment at court, obtained for Richard, his son and heir, the office of a page to the Crown. Likewise, in the eighth of Henry VIII., he obtained a grant for himself and son of the Keepership of Clyff Park, in the county of Northampton; and in the fifteenth of Henry VIII. (continuing still Sergeant-at-arms) was constituted Sheriff of the King’s Lordship of Coly Weston, in that county; and was Escheator of the county of Lincoln from November 15th, 1529, to November 15th following. In the twenty-third of Henry VIII. he was constituted Sheriff of Northampton; and having been three times Alderman of Stamford,” departed this life in the year 1541. He married the heiress of John Dicons, of Stamford, by whom he had a son, Richard Cecil, who succeeded him.

This Richard Cecil, as a page, attended Henry VIII. at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and afterwards became Groom and Yeoman of the Robes, Constable of Warwick Castle, Bailiff of Whittlesea Mere, with the custody of swans, and steward of several manors. He purchased the manors of Burleigh and Little Burleigh, and had grants of land at Maxey, Stamford, &c. He married Jane, daughter and heiress of William Heckington, of Bourn, by whom he had, with other issue, a son, William Cecil, the famous Lord Treasurer.

This William Cecil, first Lord Burleigh, was born in 1520 at his mother’s house at Bourn, and early received marks of royal favour under Henry VIII. Under Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth he held, with other offices, that of Secretary of State; and by the latter was made Lord High Treasurer of England, and created Baron Burleigh of Burleigh, and installed a Knight of the Garter. His lordship remained Lord Treasurer until within a few days of his death in 1598. Lord Burleigh married twice, each time gaining a large increase both to his fortunes and to his social and political influence. His first wife, to whom he was married in 1541, was Mary, sister of Sir John Cheke, who, within a year of their marriage, died, after giving birth to his son and successor, Thomas Cecil. In 1545 he married, secondly, Mildred, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, by whom he had, with numerous other issue, a son, Robert Cecil, who was created Earl of Salisbury, and was the progenitor of the present Marquis of Salisbury. Lord Burleigh died in 1598, and was succeeded by his son—

Thomas Cecil, second Baron Burleigh, who held many important offices, and was, by King James I., in 1605, created Earl of Exeter. He married, first, Dorothea, one of the co-heiresses of John Nevil, Lord Latimer, and by her had issue five sons—viz. William, who succeeded him; Sir Richard, whose son David also became Earl of Exeter; Sir Edward, who was created Baron Cecil of Putney and Viscount Wimbledon; Christopher; and Thomas—and eight daughters. Lord Burleigh married, secondly, a daughter of the fourth Lord Chandos and widow of Sir Thomas Smith, by whom he had issue one daughter.

William Cecil, third Baron Burleigh and second Earl of Exeter, married, first, Elizabeth, only child of Edward, Earl of Rutland, by whom he had issue an only child, William Cecil, who, in his mother’s right, became Baron Roos, but who died without issue in his father’s lifetime; and, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Drury. Dying in 1640, he was succeeded by his nephew, David Cecil, as fourth Baron Burleigh and third Earl of Exeter; he married Elizabeth, daughter of John, Earl of Bridgewater; and, dying in 1643, was succeeded by his son, John Cecil, who was only fifteen years old at his father’s death. He married, first, Lady Frances Manners, daughter of the Earl of Rutland; and, secondly, Lady Mary, daughter of the Earl of Westmoreland and widow of Sir Bryan Palmes. By his first wife he had issue one son, John, who succeeded him; David, who died young; and a daughter, Frances, married to Viscount Scudamore. He died in 1687, aged fifty-nine, and was buried at Stamford. John Cecil, who succeeded his father as sixth Baron Burleigh and fifth Earl of Exeter, espoused Lady Anne Cavendish, only daughter of the Earl of Devonshire and sister of the first Duke of Devonshire (widow of Lord Rich), by whom he had issue, John, who succeeded him, and other children.

John Cecil, seventh baron and sixth earl, married, first, Annabella, daughter of Lord Ossulston; and, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Brownlow, by whom he had, with other issue, John and Brownlow, who succeeded as seventh and eighth earls. He died in 1721. John Cecil, his eldest son, who succeeded on his father’s death in 1721 as seventh earl and eighth baron, died unmarried in 1722, when the titles and estates devolved on his brother, Brownlow Cecil, who thus became ninth Baron Burleigh and eighth Earl of Exeter. This nobleman married, in July, 1724, Hannah Sophia, daughter and heiress of Thomas Chambers, of Derby and London, a beautiful and amiable woman, to whom a monument is erected in the gardens, bearing the following touching lines:—

“Oh, thou most loved, most valued, most revered, Accept this tribute to thy memory due; Nor blame me, if by each fond tie endeared, I bring again your virtues unto view.

“These lonely scenes your memory shall restore, Here oft for thee the silent tear be shed; Beloved through life, till life can charm no more, And mourned till filial piety be dead.”

By this lady, who died in 1765, aged sixty-three, the Earl had issue three sons—Brownlow Cecil, ninth Earl of Exeter; Thomas Chambers Cecil, whose son ultimately became tenth earl; and David Cecil—and two daughters, viz. Margaret Sophia and Elizabeth (who became the wife of John Chaplin, Esq.). His lordship died in 1754, and was succeeded by his son.

Brownlow Cecil, tenth baron and ninth earl, succeeded to the titles and estates in 1754, and having married Letitia, only daughter and heiress of the Hon. Horatio Townsend, he died without issue in 1793, and was succeeded in his title and estates by his nephew, Henry Cecil, only son of the Hon. Thomas Chambers Cecil, by his wife, Charlotte Garnier.

Henry Cecil, eleventh Baron Burleigh, tenth Earl of Exeter, and first Marquis of Exeter, was born at Brussels in 1754, and for many years in his early life was M.P. for Stamford. His lordship was married three times: first, to Emma, only daughter and heiress of Thomas Vernon, Esq., of Hanbury, from whom he was divorced in 1791, after having issue by her one son, Henry, who died young; secondly, to Sarah, daughter to Thomas Hoggins, of Bolas, Shropshire, by whom he had issue four children, viz. the Lady Sophia Cecil, married to the Hon. Henry Manvers Pierrepoint (whose daughter married Lord Charles Wellesley, second son of the first Duke of Wellington, and was mother of the present heir-presumptive to that dukedom); Lord Henry Cecil, who died young; Lord Brownlow Cecil, who became second Marquis of Exeter; and Lord Thomas Cecil, who married Lady Sophia Georgiana Lennox; and, thirdly, to Elizabeth, Duchess of Hamilton, by whom he had no issue. The second of these three marriages has supplied a theme to many novelists and dramatists. They have used the poet’s license somewhat; but it is certain that the bride and her family had no idea of the rank of the wooer until the Lord of Burleigh had wedded the peasant-girl. Thus Moore pictures Ellen, the “hamlet’s pride,” loving in poverty, leaving her home to seek uncertain fortune. Stopping at the entrance to a lordly mansion, blowing the horn with a chieftain’s air, while the porter bowed as he passed the gate, “she believed him wild,” when he said, “This castle is thine, and these dark woods all;” but “his words were truth,” and “Ellen was Lady of Rosna Hall.”

The story is more accurately and more plaintively poetically told by the Laureate Tennyson, who undoubtedly adheres more literally to fact when he describes the lady as bowed down to death by the heavy weight of honour laid upon her, “unto which she was not born.” Tennyson’s ballad of “The Lord of Burleigh,” in which the story of the “village maiden,” from her wooing when she was plain Sarah Hoggins to the time of her early death as Countess of Exeter, is so sweetly and touchingly told, is too sadly beautiful to be omitted here. It is as follows:—

“In her ear he whispers gaily, ‘If my heart by signs can tell, Maiden, I have watched thee daily, And I think thou lov’st me well.’

“She replies, in accents fainter, ‘There is none I love like thee.’ He is but a landscape painter, And a village maiden she.

“He to lips that fondly falter Presses his without reproof, Leads her to the village altar, And they leave her father’s roof.

“‘I can make no marriage present, Little can I give my wife, Love will make our cottage pleasant And I love thee more than life.’

“They by parks and lodges going, See the lordly castles stand; Summer woods about them blowing, Made a murmur in the land.

“From deep thought himself he rouses, Says to her that loves him well— ‘Let us see these handsome houses, Where the wealthy nobles dwell.’

“So she goes by him attended, Hears him lovingly converse, Sees whatever fair and splendid Lay betwixt his home and hers.

“Parks with oak and chestnut shady, Parks and order’d gardens great, Ancient homes of lord and lady, Built for pleasure and for state.

“All he shows her makes him dearer; Evermore she seems to gaze On that cottage growing nearer, Where they twain will spend their days.

“Oh, but she will love him truly, He shall have a cheerful home; She will order all things duly, When beneath his roof they come.

“Thus her heart rejoices greatly, Till a gateway she discerns, With armorial bearings stately, And beneath the gate she turns;

“Sees a mansion more majestic Than all those she saw before; Many a gallant gay domestic Bows before him at the door.

“And they speak in gentle murmur, When they answer to his call, While he treads with footstep firmer, Leading on from hall to hall.

“And, while now she wonders blindly, Nor the meaning can divine, Proudly turns he round and kindly, ‘All of this is mine and thine.’

“Here he lives in state and bounty, Lord of Burleigh, fair and free, Not a lord in all the county, Is so great a lord as he.

“All at once the colour flushes Her sweet face from brow to chin; As it were with shame she blushes, And her spirit changed within.

“Then her countenance all over, Pale again as death doth prove; But he clasp’d her like a lover, And he cheer’d her soul with love.

“So she strove against her weakness, Tho’ at times her spirits sank, Shaped her heart with woman’s meekness To all duties of her rank.

“And a gentle consort made he, And her gentle mind was such, That she grew a noble lady, And the people loved her much.

“But a trouble weigh’d upon her, And perplex’d her night and morn, With the burthen of an honour Unto which she was not born.

“Faint she grew, and even fainter, As she murmur’d, ‘Oh, that he Were once more that landscape painter, Which did win my heart from me.’

“So she droop’d and droop’d before him, Fading slowly from his side; Three fair children first she bore him, Then before her time she died.

“Weeping, weeping late and early, Walking up and pacing down, Deeply mourn’d the Lord of Burleigh, Burleigh House by Stamford town.

“And he came to look upon her. And he look’d at her and said, ‘Bring the dress and put it on her That she wore when she was wed.’

“Then her people, softly treading, Bore to earth her body, drest In the dress that she was wed in, That her spirit might have rest.”

The Countess, whose story is thus so plaintively told, died on the 18th of January, 1797, at the early age of twenty-four, and her portrait, preserved in the house, cannot but interest every visitor. The Earl, her husband, was in February, 1801, advanced to the dignity of Marquis of Exeter, and in May, 1804, he died, and was succeeded by his son by this romantic and happy, though brief, espousal.

This son, Brownlow Cecil, second Marquis and eleventh Earl of Exeter, and twelfth Baron Burleigh, was only nine years of age when, on the death of his father in 1804, he succeeded to the titles and estates. In 1824 his lordship married Isabella, daughter of William Stephen Poyntz, Esq., by whom he had issue eleven children—viz. William Alleyne, Lord Burleigh, the present Marquis of Exeter; a daughter, born in 1826; Lord Brownlow Thomas Montague Cecil; Lady Isabella Mary Cecil, who died in infancy; Lady Mary Frances Cecil, married to Viscount Sandon, M.P., heir to the earldom of Harrowby; Lord Edward Henry Cecil; Lady Dorothy Anne Cecil, who died in infancy; Lord Henry Poyntz Cecil; a son, who died as soon as born; Lord Adelbert Percy Cecil, to whom Queen Adelaide stood as sponsor; and Lady Victoria Cecil, to whom her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort were sponsors, married to the Hon. William Charles Evans-Freke, brother of Lord Carbery. His lordship died in 1867, and was succeeded by his son—

The present noble peer, William Alleyne Cecil, third Marquis and twelfth Earl of Exeter, and thirteenth Baron Burleigh of Burleigh, a Privy Councillor, and Hereditary Grand Almoner of England, who was born on the 30th of April, 1825, and was educated at Eton and St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he graduated as M.A. in 1847. He sat as M.P. for South Lincolnshire from 1847 to 1857, and for North Northamptonshire from 1857 to 1867, in which year he succeeded to the titles, and took his seat in the Upper House. In 1856 he was appointed Militia Aide-de-camp to the Queen, and in 1866 was made Treasurer of her Majesty’s Household. In 1867 and 1868 he was Captain of her Majesty’s Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, and he holds many local and other appointments. His lordship married, in 1848, Lady Georgiana Sophia Pakenham, second daughter of the second Earl of Longford, and has issue living—Brownlow Henry George Cecil, Lord Burleigh, born in 1849, and married to Isabella, daughter of Sir Thomas Whichcote, Bart.; Lord Francis Horace Pierrepoint Cecil, born 1851, married to Edith, youngest daughter of W. Cunliffe-Brooks, Esq., M.P.; Lord William Cecil, born 1854; Lord John Pakenham Cecil, born 1867; Lady Isabella Georgiana Katharine Cecil, born 1853; Lady Mary Louisa Wellesley Cecil, born 1857; Lady Catherine Sarah Cecil, born 1861; Lady Frances Emily Cecil, born 1862; and Lady Louisa Alexandrina Cecil, born 1864.

His lordship is patron of seventeen livings, five being in Rutland, one in London, and eleven in Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire.

The arms of the Marquis of Exeter, engraved on our initial letter, are—barry of ten, argent and azure; six escutcheons, three, two, and one, sable, each charged with a lion rampant, argent. Crest—on a chapeau, gules, turned up, ermine, a garb, or, supported by two lions rampant, the dexter argent, the sinister azure. Supporters—two lions, ermine. Motto—“Cor unum via una.” His seats are Burleigh, near Stamford, and Brookfield House, Ryde, in the Isle of Wight.

The visitor to Burleigh House is admitted by the Porter’s Lodge into the Outer Court, which is a quadrangle surrounded by the domestic and business offices of the establishment. He then passes into the Corridor, decorated with bas-reliefs by Nollekens, and so reaches the Great Hall, or Queen Victoria’s Hall, a banqueting-room of magnificent size and of matchless beauty, with open-work timber roof, stained-glass windows, richly carved gallery, and royal and other portraits. This noble apartment, shown in the accompanying engraving, which, with others of our series, is taken from a photograph by F. Robinson, is 68 feet long, 60 feet in height, and 30 feet in width, with, in addition, a deeply recessed bay window.

It has a magnificent open timber-work roof of carved oak, and the lower portions of the walls are wainscoted; and at one end is a music gallery, the cornice of the panelling and the gallery being supported on a number of richly carved spiral Corinthian columns. The fire-place is remarkably fine, and the window is filled with stained glass. Among the pictures in the Hall are a portrait of the Prince Consort in his Garter robes, presented to the Marquis by the Prince; Dahl’s full-length portraits of George I., George II., and the Queen of George II.; and portraits of Viscount and Viscountess Montague, Earl of Peterborough, Sir Walter Raleigh, &c. From the Hall, passing through Vestibule and Corridor, which contain busts of the Cæsars and other examples of sculpture, and the Ancient Stone Staircase—a part of the original building, shown in the opposite engraving—the Chapel is reached. The Chapel contains, among its other attractions, a fine assemblage of carving, said to be by Grinling Gibbons, and among the best of his productions; an altar-piece by Paul Veronese, the subject being the “Wife of Zebedee;” the seat used by Queen Elizabeth when she worshipped here, and used also for the same purpose by Queen Victoria; and many good paintings. The communion-table and altar-rails are of cedar-wood, and the pulpit and reading-desk of mahogany. The magnificent chimney-piece of various marbles was brought from a convent near Lisbon. The Ante-chapel is also an interesting room. The Chapel-room contains many paintings by Carlo Dolce, Domenichino, Lanfranco, Albert Dürer, Guercino, Andrea Sacchi, Parmigiano, the Carracci, Guido, Teniers, Bassan, Rubens, Carlo Maratti, Bolognese, Giulio Romano, Le Brun, and others.

The Billiard-room, panelled with Norway oak and enriched with a decorated ceiling, is hung with family and other portraits. Among them are Lawrence’s full-length group portraits of the tenth Earl and Countess—Sarah the “village maiden”—and their daughter, the Lady Sophia; several other Earls and Countesses of Exeter, and others of their families; the first Duke and Duchess of Devonshire; Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland; Duchess of Montrose, &c.

We will not, however, go through the various rooms in the order in which they are visited, but select, here and there, an apartment for notice, our object being, not to furnish a guide for the visitor’s use, but to give a general sketch of the mansion and its surroundings.

The Ball-room has its walls and ceiling painted by Laguerre in his best style, the subject of the latter being described as the “History of the Planetary System.” On the east side of the walls is painted “The Battle of Cannæ,” and on the west “The Continence of Scipio;” the others being “The Loves of Antony and Cleopatra,” &c. The Brown Drawing-room, lined with oak, contains many valuable paintings as well as some exquisite examples of Gibbons’s carvings, as also do the Black and Yellow Bed-rooms. In this latter room is the ancient state bed from which it takes its name. This is hung with black satin, ornamented with fine old needlework, and lined with yellow silk. In the windows is some good stained glass, and over the chimney-piece a fine example of Gibbons’s carving. Among the paintings in this and the West and North-west Dining-rooms are pictures by Guercino, old Franck, Libri, Angelica Kauffmann, Rubens, Scilla, Cimabue, Giordano, the Carracci, Elsheimer, Van Balen, Salvator Rosa, Castiglione, G. Bolognese, Van Eyck, Murillo, Claude Lorraine, Domenichino, Mola, Jordaens, and others.

In the China Closet, besides several good paintings, a case of ceramic treasures is preserved.

Queen Elizabeth’s Bed-room is one of the most interesting apartments in the mansion, “and presents almost the same appearance as on the day when the great virgin queen first reposed therein—the very bed on which her royal form reclined, the same rich ancient tapestry which then decorated the walls, and the same chairs which then furnished the room, and upon some of which Elizabeth herself was once seated. The bed is hung with dark green velvet, embroidered with gold tissue, and the walls are hung with tapestry representing Bacchus and Ariadne, Acis and Galatea, and Diana and Actæon.” Queen Elizabeth’s Dining-room, or the Pagoda Room, looks out upon the lawn, in the centre of which is a majestic and venerable tree planted by the “Virgin Queen,” the “Good Queen Bess,” herself. In this room are a Chinese pagoda and many interesting portraits and other paintings. Among these are Shee’s portrait of the late marquis; Cranach’s head of Luther; Holbein’s Henry VIII., Thomas Cromwell, Edward VI., Queen Mary, Duke of Newcastle, and Queen Elizabeth; Mark Gerard’s Queen Elizabeth and the Lord Treasurer Burleigh; Zucchero’s Robert Devereux; Rembrandt’s Countess of Desmond; and admirable examples of Van Eyck, Annibale Carracci, Velasquez, Titian, Cranach, Paul Veronese, Cornelius Jansen, Dobsone, Vandyke, old Stone, Dance, Romney, and others. The Purple Satin Rooms are also hung with valuable paintings, and the furniture is of superb character.

The George Rooms, as a magnificent suite of five apartments, occupying the south side of the mansion, are called, have the whole of their ceilings painted with allegorical and mythological subjects by Verrio. These are the apartments specially set aside for royalty, and have been repeatedly so occupied. The first George Room has its floor of oak inlaid with walnut, and the carvings over the doors are among the best existing examples of Gibbons. The Jewel Closet has a similar floor and equally good carvings; and in the centre, in a large glass case, are preserved numerous jewels and curiosities of great separate and collective value. “Here are a plate of gold, a basin, and spoons, used by Queen Elizabeth at her coronation; a curiously ornamented busk, also used by Queen Elizabeth, and a jewelled crystal salt-cellar, supposed to have belonged to that great queen; a minute jewelled trinket sword, once belonging to the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots; a handkerchief of William III.; Cæsar’s head carved in onyx (a choice antique, 2½ inches oval, and set in diamonds); Henry VIII. and his children cut in sardonyx; the head of the Lord Treasurer Burleigh on the back of an antique intaglio of Caracalla, depending from which is a small head of Elizabeth, both cameo on onyx. There are, besides, a multitude of enamelled trinkets, miniature vases in gold filigree, amber, diamonds, precious stones, &c., &c. To this collection have been added, of late years, a chrysanthemum wreath worn by Queen Victoria at the baptism of the Lady Victoria Cecil, youngest daughter of the second marquis, and a pair of white kid gloves worn by her Majesty at the same time: the wreath has been incrusted with metal by a process of electro-gilding, but in effecting this it was broken into several pieces. There is also a very elaborately ornamented trowel, used by Prince Albert, in 1842, in the ceremony of laying the first stone of the present building of the Royal Exchange, London, and presented by him to the Marquis of Exeter, who attended his Royal Highness at the time as Groom of the Stole. There are also here a magnificent jewelled crucifix, several feet in height, and of great value, some rare china, and other articles. One other object remains to be noticed in this apartment: this is a beautiful specimen of carving in white wood of a bird, nearly the colour and about the size of a canary: it is represented as dead, hanging by one leg from a nail, and so exquisitely is it worked, that looking upon it it is difficult to believe it merely the resemblance of reality.”

The State Bed-room, or second George Room, is the bed-room set apart for the repose of royalty, and its furniture and decorations are of great richness. A magnificent bed was here erected by the then marquis, in preparation for a visit from George IV. when Prince of Wales, and was subsequently several times used by various members of the royal family; but when Queen Victoria visited Burleigh in 1844, a bed even more rich and costly was substituted, in which her Majesty and her royal consort, Prince Albert, reposed during their stay. The hangings are of crimson velvet lined with white satin. The walls are hung with rare tapestry.

The State Dining-room, and the Great Drawing-room, or fourth George Room, are gorgeous in the extreme, and filled to repletion with choice works of Art and antiquity; while the fifth of these George apartments, named the Heaven, from the subjects of Verrio’s paintings, which cover alike the ceiling and walls, contains cabinets, paintings, and busts of great value. The whole of this suite of rooms is hung with choice pictures, of which, of course, space prevents our giving an account. The Grand Staircase, leading to the Great Hall, completes this suite; its ceiling is by Verrio, and the staircase and landings are adorned with sculpture and paintings.

We regret that we cannot find space to describe the numerous other admirably constructed and beautifully furnished apartments of this noble mansion, one of the most interesting of the many glorious baronial halls of the kingdom.

The burial-place of the family of Cecil is St. Martin’s Church, Stamford, where many monuments exist; and the visitor will find much to interest him in this and the other churches of that town.

HEVER CASTLE.

HEVER CASTLE was originally the stronghold of the family of De Hevre, said to have been of Norman extraction, one of whom, William De Hevre, is stated to have had license from King Edward III. to embattle this his manor-house. His daughters and co-heiresses inherited the estates, and through them, by marriage, they were conveyed to the families of Cobham and Brocas, the former of whom, having obtained the whole by purchase, sold it to Sir Geoffrey Bullen, or Boleyn, in which family it remained until it was seized by the Crown.

The family of Boleyn, or Bullen, traces from Sir Thomas Bullen, Knt., of Blickling and Saul, in Norfolk, and Joan, his wife, daughter and heiress of Sir John Bracton, Knt. The grandson of Sir Thomas was Sir Geoffrey Bullen, the purchaser of Hever Castle and other estates of the De Hevre family. Sir Geoffrey “was a wealthy mercer in London, as also Lord Mayor of that city in 37 Henry VI., and, having married Anne, eldest daughter and co-heiress to John, Baron Hoo and Hastings, by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Nicholas Wichingham, he had issue, Sir William Bullen, Knight of the Bath at the coronation of King Richard III.” Sir William married Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond (third brother to James, Earl of Wiltshire), and by her had, with other issue, a son, Thomas Bullen, afterwards created Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond.

This Thomas Bullen, or Boleyn, whose career, and that of his unfortunate daughter, Queen Anne Boleyn, are so intimately woven into the history of our country, was, in 1496, in arms with his father for suppressing the Cornish rebellion; and, under Henry VIII., “being one of the knights of the king’s body, was, jointly with Sir Henry Wyat, Knt., constituted governor of the Castle of Norwich. In the following year he was one of the ambassadors to the Emperor Maximilian, touching a war with France, and soon after was sole governor of Norwich Castle.”

In the eleventh year of this sovereign’s reign “he arranged the famous interview of King Henry VIII. and Francis I. between Guisnes and Ardres, and in the thirteenth year was accredited ambassador to the latter. The next year, being treasurer of the King’s household, he was sent ambassador to Spain, to advise with King Charles upon some proceedings in order to the war with France.” In 1525, with a view to further the suit of the monarch to his daughter Anne, Sir Thomas Bullen was created Baron and Viscount Rochfort, and afterwards successively Earl of Wiltshire and Earl of Ormond, a Knight of the Garter, and Lord Privy Seal. “He subscribed the articles against Cardinal Wolsey in 21 Henry VIII., and soon after was sent again ambassador to the Emperor Charles V.”

This Sir Thomas Bullen, afterwards, as we have shown, created Baron Rochfort, Viscount Rochfort, Earl of Ormond, and Earl of Wiltshire, married Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and by her had issue one son—George, commonly called Viscount Rochfort, but summoned as Baron Rochfort during the lifetime of his father—and two daughters, Anne and Mary. Lord Rochfort married Jane, daughter of Henry Parker, Earl of Morley. He was beheaded during the lifetime of his father, and left no issue. Of the daughters, the Lady Anne Bullen, who was created Marchioness of Pembroke, became second queen to King Henry VIII.; and the Lady Mary Bullen, married, first, William Cary, Esquire of the Body to King Henry VIII., and brother of Sir John Cary of Plashley, one of the gentlemen of the bed-chamber to the same monarch; and, secondly, Sir William Stafford, Knt. The husband of this lady, William Cary, was the son of Thomas Cary, of Chilton Foliat, in Wiltshire (son of Sir William Cary, of Cockington, Devon, Knt.—who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury—by his second wife, Alice, daughter of Sir Baldwin Fulford), by his wife, Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Robert Spencer, of Spencer Combe, by the Lady Eleanor Beaufort, daughter of Edmund, and sister and co-heiress of Henry, Duke of Somerset. Lady Mary Bullen had, by her first husband, William Cary, a daughter, Catherine, married to Sir Francis Knollys, K.G.; and a son, Sir Henry Cary, Knt., who was created Baron Hunsdon at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, and from whom descended the Barons Hunsdon and Earls of Dover and Monmouth; while from his brother, Sir John Cary, of Plashley, Knt., by his wife, Joyce, sister of Sir Anthony Denny, king’s remembrancer, are descended the Viscounts Falkland.

Anne Boleyn, or Bullen, was born at Hever in or about the year 1507; and in 1514, when only seven years of age, was appointed one of the maids of honour to the King’s sister—who had then just been married to Louis XII. of France—and was allowed to remain with her when her other English attendants were unceremoniously sent out of the country. On the Queen’s second marriage with Brandon, Anne Boleyn was left under the powerful protection of the new queen, Claude, wife of Francis I. She was thus brought up at the French Court. When war was declared against France in 1522, at which time her father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, was ambassador to that country, it is thought she was brought back to England by him, and, shortly afterwards, was appointed one of the maids of honour to Queen Catherine, wife of Henry VIII., and was thus brought under the notice of that detestable and profligate monarch. She had not been long at Court when, it is said by Cavendish, a strong and mutual attachment sprang up between her and the young Lord Percy, son and heir of the Earl of Northumberland, who made her an offer of marriage, and was accepted. At this time she was only sixteen years of age. The match, however, was not destined to be made, for the King “had already turned his admiring eyes in the same direction, and, jealous of the rivalry of a subject, he caused the lovers to be parted through the agency of Cardinal Wolsey, in whose household Percy had been educated; and that young nobleman, probably under compulsion, married, in 1523, a daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury.” Anne, on being thus compulsorily separated from her young and fond lover, was removed to Hever. Here, within a few weeks, she heard of the marriage of her accepted lover, and, with feelings which can well be imagined, kept herself secluded.

To Hever the King repaired on a visit, but probably suspecting the cause of his arrival, Anne, under the pretext of sickness, kept closely to her chamber, which she did not leave until after his departure. “But this reserve was more likely to animate than daunt a royal lover; and Henry, for the purpose of restoring the reluctant lady to court, and bringing her within the sphere of his solicitations,” created her father Baron and Viscount Rochfort, and gave him the important post of Treasurer of the Royal Household. He also surrounded himself with her relatives and friends. Among those who were his chief companions were her father, Thomas, Viscount Rochfort; her brother George; her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk; her cousin, Sir Francis Bryan; her near relative and admirer, Sir Henry Norris; her intimate friend, Sir William Compton; and the King’s old favourite, the Duke of Suffolk—a lively but dissolute society, not one of whom showed any high regard for marriage vows, or treated their infringement as anything but a jest. “Suffolk,” says Mr. Brewer, “had been betrothed to one lady; then married another; then abandoned her, on the plea of his previous contract, for the lady whom he had in the first instance rejected. Norfolk lived with his duchess on the most scandalous terms. Sir William Compton had been cited in the Ecclesiastical Court for living in open adultery with a married woman. The fate of Norris and George Boleyn is too well known to require comment. Sir Francis Bryan, the chief companion in the King’s amusements, and the minister of his pleasures, was pointed out by common fame as more dissolute than all the rest.” Sir Thomas Wyatt, though married, wore her miniature round his neck, and sang of her love. Still, however, Henry’s suit, which was dishonourable even to one so depraved and lost to honour as he was, was unprosperous when made; and she is said by an old writer, and one not favourable to her, to have replied firmly to the King, “Your wife I cannot be, both in respect of my own unworthiness, and also because you have a queen already; and your mistress I will not be.” Foiled in his attempt to gain her by any other means, the unscrupulous monarch now began seriously to set himself to the task of obtaining a divorce from Queen Catherine, who had been his wife for seventeen years, in order that he might replace her by Anne Boleyn. The history of these proceedings is a part of the history of the kingdom, and need not be here detailed. It is, however, a tradition of Hever that when the King came “a wooing” he sounded his bugle in the distance, that his lady-love might know of his approach. The divorce being obtained, Anne Boleyn, having previously been married to the King, became “indeed a queen;” and having given birth to two children—Queen Elizabeth and a still-born son—was arrested on a false and disgraceful charge, and was beheaded, to make room for a new queen in the person of one of her own maids of honour, Jane Seymour.

Of the personal appearance of Queen Anne Boleyn Mr. Brewer thus pleasantly discourses:—“The blood of the Ormonds ran in her veins. From her Irish descent she inherited—

‘The black-blue Irish hair and Irish eyes.’

And, like the Irish Isolt of the great poet, Anne Boleyn was remarkable for the exquisite turn of her neck and her glossy throat. She was a little, lively, sparkling brunette, with fascinating eyes and long black hair, which, contrary to the sombre fashion of those days, she wore coquettishly floating loosely down her back, interlaced with jewels. The beauty of her eyes and hair struck all beholders alike—grave ecclesiastics and spruce young sprigs of nobility. ‘Sitting in her hair on a litter’ is the feature at her coronation which seems to have made the deepest impression upon Archbishop Cranmer. ‘On Sunday morning (1st September, 1532), solemnly and in public, Madame Anne being then at Windsor, con li capilli sparsi, completely covered with the most costly jewels, was created by the king Countess of Pembroke.’ George Wyatt, grandson of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet, one of her admirers, describes her, in the fantastic language of the sixteenth century, as having ‘a beauty not so whitely as clear and fresh above all that we may esteem, which appeared much more excellent by her favour passing sweet and cheerful. There was found, indeed, upon the side of her nail upon one of her fingers some little show of a nail, which yet was so small, by the report of some that have seen her, as the work-master seemed to leave it an occasion of greater grace to her hand, which, with the tip of one of her fingers, might be and was usually by her hidden, without any least blemish to it.’”

The Earl of Wiltshire (Sir Thomas Boleyn), father of the ill-fated queen, died in 1538—two years after witnessing the beheading of his only son, Viscount Rochfort, and of his daughter, Queen Anne Boleyn; and on his death the family of Boleyn, in the main line, became extinct.

After the death of the Earl, Henry, with the rapacity that kept pace with his profligacy, claimed and seized the castle of Hever in right of his murdered wife, and subsequently settled it upon one of his later wives. He also purchased adjoining lands from others of the Boleyn family, and thus enlarged the estate. The castle and manor of Hever, and other adjoining lands, were settled upon Anne of Cleves, after her divorce, for life, or so long as she should remain in the kingdom, at the yearly rent of £93 13_s._ 3½_d._ She made Hever her general place of residence, and died there according to some writers, but at Chelsea according to others, in 1557. In “the same year the Hever estates were sold by commissioners, authorised by the Crown, to Sir Edward Waldegrave, lord chamberlain to the household of Queen Mary, who, on the accession of Elizabeth, was divested of all his employments, and committed to the Tower, where he died in 1561.” The estates afterwards passed through the family of Humphreys to that of Medley.

In 1745 Hever Castle was purchased by Timothy Waldo, of London, and of Clapham, in Surrey. The family of Waldo is said to derive itself, according to Hasted, from Thomas Waldo, of Lyons, in the kingdom of France, and was among the first who publicly renounced the doctrines of the Church of Rome, “one of the descendants of whom, in the reign of Elizabeth, in order to escape the persecutions of the Duke d’Alva, came over, it is said, and settled in England.” In 1575 Peter Waldo resided at Mitcham. His eldest son, Lawrence—according to Mr. Morris Jones, who has made much laudable research into the history of the family—had issue, by his wife Elizabeth, no fewer than fifteen children. Of these the twelfth child, Daniel Waldo, is the one pertaining to our present inquiry. He was a citizen and clothworker of London, and was fined as alderman and sheriff in 1661. He married Anne Claxton, by whom he had issue nine children. Of these the eldest son, Daniel Waldo, some of whose property was burnt down in the great fire of London in 1666, married twice, and from him are descended the Waldos of Harrow. Edward, the second son, became the purchaser, after the fire, of the sites of the “Black Bull,” the “Cardinal’s Hat,” and the “Black Boy,” in Cheapside, on which he erected a “great messuage,” where he dwelt; and in which, when it was taken down in 1861, was some fine oak carving, now at Gungrog.

This Edward Waldo was knighted—“at his own house in Cheapside,” the very house he had built—by the King, who was his guest, in 1677. On this occasion “he had the honour of entertaining his sovereign, together with the Princesses Mary and Anne and the Duchess of York, who, from a canopy of state in front of his house, viewed the civic procession pass along Cheapside on its way to Guildhall.” Sir Edward married three times. He died at his residence at Pinner in 1705, aged seventy-five, and was buried at Harrow. Nathaniel and Isaac, third and fourth sons of Daniel Waldo, died unmarried. Timothy, the fifth son, we shall speak of presently. Samuel, the sixth son, citizen and mercer of London, and freeman of the Clothworkers’ Company, married, first, a daughter of Sir Thomas Allen, of Finchley; and, secondly, Susan Churchman; and had, among other issue, Daniel Waldo, one of whose daughters, Sarah (married to Israel Woolliston), died at the age of ninety-eight, leaving her cousin, Col. Sibthorpe, M.P., her executor; Isaac Waldo, one of whose daughters, Sarah, married Humphrey Sibthorpe, M.D., Sheridan Professor of Botany, whose son, Humphrey Sibthorpe, M.P. (father of Col. Sibthorpe, M.P.), assumed for himself and his heirs, by royal sign-manual, the additional name and the arms of Waldo on inheriting the property left him by his relative, Peter Waldo, Esq., of Mitcham and of Warton.

Sir Timothy Waldo, to whom allusion has been made, the purchaser of Hever Castle, was admitted attorney of the King’s Bench and solicitor in Chancery in 1730; in 1739 he was under-sheriff of the city of London, and he was a liveryman and the clerk of the Salters’ Company. In 1736 he married Catherine Wakefield, and had by her an only child, Jane, who married, in 1762, George Medley, Esq., M.P., of Buxted. Sir Timothy, who was knighted in 1769, died at Clapham in 1786, his wife surviving him, and dying in 1806, aged ninety-five.

Their sole daughter and heiress, Jane, wife of George Medley, inherited all the property, including Hever Castle. She had no issue, and died in 1829, in her ninety-second year, leaving her large possessions, the personalty of which was sworn under £180,000, to her cousin, Jane Waldo, only daughter and heiress of Edward Waldo, of London, who administered to the estate as cousin and only next of kin. This lady, who thus became the possessor of Hever Castle, died at Tunbridge Wells in 1840, when the family became extinct. The name of Waldo had, however, been taken by royal sign-manual, in 1830, by Edmund Wakefield Meade, Esq., of Newbridge House, Dawlish, son of Francis Meade, of Lambeth. Edmund Meade-Waldo, Esq., became resident at Stonewall Park, near Hever Castle, which memorable edifice is still in possession of this family. He married Harriet, second daughter of Colonel Rochfort, M.P., by whom he left issue two sons and one daughter; the eldest son and heir being Edmund Waldo Meade-Waldo, Esq. The daughter, Harriet Dorothea, was married, in 1850, to the Rev. W. W. Battye, Rector of Hever, to which living he was presented by his father-in-law.

There are few ancient houses in the kingdom more deeply interesting to the curious occasional visitor than Hever; it does not, however, convey ideas of grandeur or magnificence. It never could have been large. Certainly at no period did it supply ample room to accommodate the suite of a luxurious monarch; and there is little doubt that the visits of the eighth Henry were made, if not secretly, without state, when he went to woo the unhappy lady he afterwards—and not long afterwards—murdered.

In the small chamber of the ground-floor, which still retains its minstrel’s gallery and its panelling of oak, was the bad king entertained by his victims; and in a very tiny chamber slept in pure innocence the object of his lust—a most reluctant bride and most miserable wife.

Yet Hever Castle was a stronghold, and a place well calculated for safety in the troublous times in which it was built and embattled. It is surrounded by a moat, across which a bridge leads to the entrance gateway. The entrance is defended by a strong portcullis, composed of several large pieces of wood laid across each other like a harrow, and riveted throughout with iron, designed to be let down in case of surprise, and when there was not time to shut the gate. To this succeeds an iron portcullis. It is followed by an inner solid oaken door, riveted with iron, firmly bound with iron pieces going the whole length across, and studded with iron knobs. A wooden portcullis then follows. Immediately adjoining these are two guardrooms, in which a dozen men-at-arms might long dispute the passage of an enemy.

Over the external gate, directly under the battlements, a series of machicolations project boldly forward: from these molten lead and other deadly appliances and missiles could be poured and discharged on the heads of assailants with terrible effect. Passing through these gates and beneath the portcullises, the visitor enters a spacious court-yard, surrounded on all its sides by the building. From this court-yard or quadrangle he enters the old Dining-hall, where the racks for hunting-spears are still visible, and where grotesque decorations will not fail to be noticed. In the stained-glass windows are the arms of the Boleyns and the Howards. Near this is the Chapel, and continuing along the passages are two rooms bearing the names of Anne Boleyn’s Bed-room and Anne of Cleves’ Room. Anne Boleyn’s Room “is really an interesting apartment, beautifully panelled, and contains the original family chairs, tables, muniment box, and what is called Anne’s bed.”[46] To this apartment several ante-rooms succeed, and the suite terminates in a grand Gallery occupying the whole length of the building, in which the judicial meetings and the social gatherings of the ancient family were held. It is about 150 feet in length, by 20 feet in width, with a vaulted roof, and panelled throughout with carved oak. On one side, placed at equal distances apart, are three recesses: the first, having a flight of three steps, is fitted up with elbowed benches, where the lord of the castle in old times held his courts, and where Henry VIII. is said, on the occasions of his visits, to have received the congratulations of the gentry; a second was occupied by the fire; and the third was used as a quiet corner for the old folks, while the younger ones frolicked throughout the mazes of the dance. At one end of the Gallery a trap-door leads to a dark chamber, called the Dungeon, in which the family are believed to have sheltered themselves in time of trouble, although it is manifest that the height of the room, compared with that of the building, must have betrayed its existence to even a careless observer.

The interior of that part properly called “the castle”—e.g. the entrance—is approached by a winding staircase in one of the towers. “About midway the staircase opens into the narrow vestibule of the great state-room. The Gothic tracery over the fire-place is extremely beautiful both in design and in execution. It consists of two angels, each bearing two shields, showing the arms and alliances of the Cary and Boleyn families, of Cary and Waldo, Boleyn and Howard, and Henry VIII. and Boleyn.”

WESTWOOD PARK.

WESTWOOD—one of the very finest, most perfect, and most interesting of the Elizabethan mansions that yet remain in England—lies about two miles from Droitwich, in Worcestershire, and six or seven from the “faithful city.” It stands in its own grand old deer park of some hundreds of acres in extent, and studded with such an assemblage of noble forest trees as is seldom seen. The oaks with which the park abounds are almost matchless for their beautiful forms and for their clean growth (for they are clear from moss or other extraneous growth from bole to crest), as well as, in some instances, for their gigantic stature. One of these “brave old oaks” in front of the mansion we had the curiosity to measure, and found it to be no less than eighteen yards in circumference of bole on the ground, and thirty-one feet in circumference at three feet from the earth, with a stem hollowed by time. It is one of the lions of the place, and looks venerable and time-worn enough to have braved the tempests of a thousand years. Another oak, not far from this, is one of the finest in England, having a clear trunk, without bend or branch, “straight as a mast,” to some forty feet or more in height before a single branch appears.

There are two Entrance Lodges to the park from the road leading from Droitwich to Ombersley; the principal of these we engrave. Entering the gates at this Lodge, the drive leads up the park to the mansion, which forms a conspicuous and striking object in front, the house and its surroundings being effectively situated on rising ground. Immediately in front of the mansion is the Gatehouse, one of the most quaintly picturesque in the kingdom. It consists of twin lodges of red brick, with ornamental gables and hip-knobs, with a central open-spired turret covering the entrance gates. The gates, which are of iron, and bear the monogram J P (for John Pakington), are surmounted by an open-work parapet, or frieze, of stone, in which stand clear the three garbs and the three mullets of the Pakington arms. Over this rises the open tower before spoken of. Passing through these gates, the drive sweeps up between the smooth grass lawns to the slightly advanced front portico which gives access to the mansion.

Before we enter let us say a few words on the general design and appearance of this unique and remarkable building. The general block-plan of the house may be described as a combination of the square and saltire, the arms of the saltire projecting considerably from the angles of the square, and forming what may almost be called wings, radiating from its centre—the whole of the surface of this general block-plan being cut up with numberless projecting mullioned windows. The four projecting wings, which, like the rest of the building, are three stories in height, are each surmounted with a spire. Around the whole building runs a boldly carved stone parapet, bearing the garbs and mullets of the Pakington arms, alternating the one with the other, and producing a striking and pleasing effect, while the mullets also appear on the ornamental gables, and on the vanes and hip-knobs. The advanced porch, erected at a later period, is of stone, and is in the Renaissance style; over its central arch is Jove on the eagle; and in front of the main building, over the porch, are the Pakington arms boldly carved.

Standing clear from the mansion, and at some distance in front of the north-east and south-east wings, are two so-called “turrets.” These are small residences, if they may so be termed, each three stories in height, and each having two entrance doors. They are surmounted with picturesquely formed spire roofs, covered with scale slating. Originally there were four of these square towers—the two now remaining, and two other corresponding ones at the opposite angles. They were all four in existence in 1775, but two have since been removed. At that time they were connected with the wings by walls, and then again were connected with the Gatehouse and other walls in a peculiar and geometrically formed device. A highly interesting and curious bird’s-eye view of Westwood, drawn by Dorothy Anne Pakington in the year above named, is preserved in the Hall, and shows the arrangement of the ornamental flower-beds, terraces, fruit walls, &c., with great accuracy.

From the Gatehouse, on either side, an excellent fence of pillar and rail encloses in a ring fence the mansion and its surrounding ornamental grounds, and kitchen and other gardens. These pleasure-grounds, several acres in extent, are admirably laid out, and planted with evergreens of remarkably fine growth. The hedges, or rather massive walls, of laurel, box, Portugal laurel, and other shrubs; the grand assemblage of conifers, which here seem to find a genial home, and to grow with unequalled luxuriance; and the cedars of Lebanon, yews, and numberless other evergreens, form these grounds into one of the most lovely winter gardens we have ever visited. Among the main features of these ornamental grounds are the “Ladies’ Garden,” a retired spot enclosed in walls of evergreens seven or eight feet in height, having on one side an elegant summer-house, which commands a beautiful view of the Malvern Hills and of the rich intervening country, and in the centre a sundial surrounded by a rosary and beds of rich flowers; and the Lavender Walk, where, between a long avenue of tall lavender-bushes, planted by the present Lady Hampton, the elegant and accomplished successors of the “stately dames of yore” can stroll about and enjoy the delicious scent. Another great feature is the splendid growth of some of the trees—notably a Wellingtonia, nine feet in girth at the ground, and fully thirty feet in height, and a magnificent specimen of Picea pinsapo, measuring ninety feet in circumference of its branches, and said truly to be the finest and most perfectly-grown tree of the kind in the kingdom. The kitchen gardens are of considerable extent, and well arranged, but there is no conservatory. Altogether the ornamental grounds are of great beauty, and harmonize well with the character of the building.

One of the great glories of Westwood is its water. It has three lakes, the largest of which, no less than seventy acres in extent, forms a grand feature in the landscape, and, with its many swans and the numbers of wild fowl that congregate upon and around it, adds much to the beauty of the park scenery. On one side the lake is backed up by a wood through which, on the banks, a delightful grassy walk leads to the Boat-house, from whose upper rooms delightful views of land and water are obtained.

The principal apartments in this noble mansion are the Great Hall, or Front Hall, as it is usually called; the Library, the Dining and Drawing Rooms, the Saloon, the Grand Staircase, and the Chapel; but, besides these, there are a number of other rooms, and all the usual family and domestic apartments and offices. To the interior, however, we can but devote a very brief space.

The Entrance Porch (shown in the preceding engraving), on the north front, opens into the Front Hall. This occupies the entire length of the main body of the building from east to west, and is about sixty feet in length. The entrance door is in the centre, and on either side are deeply recessed mullioned and transomed windows, and there is a similar window at each end. From one of the recesses a doorway and steps lead up to the Dining-room; while from the other, in a similar manner, access is gained to the Library. On the opposite side a doorway leads to the Grand Staircase. This hall, one part of which is also used as a billiard-room, contains some magnificent old carved furniture and cabinets, and the walls are hung with family portraits. In the windows are a series of stained-glass armorial bearings and inscriptions, representing the arms of Pakington and the family alliances. These are:—

1413. Robert Pakington and Elizabeth Acton.

1436. John Pakington and Margaret Ballard.

1490. John Pakington and Elizabeth Washbourne.

1537. Robert Pakington and Anne Baldwynne.

1559. Sir John Pakington and Anne Darcy.

1575. Sir Thomas Pakington and Dorothy Kytson.

1620. Sir John Pakington and Frances Ferrars.

1625. Sir John Pakington and —— Smith.

1633. Sir John Pakington and Margaret Keys.

1679. Sir John Pakington and Dorothy Coventry.

1727. Sir John Pakington and Hester Preest.

1727. Sir John Pakington and Frances Parker.

1743. Sir Herbert Perrot Pakington and Elizabeth Conyers.

1762. Sir John Pakington and Mary Bray.

1795. Sir Herbert Perrot Pakington and Elizabeth Hawkins.

“1822. John Somerset Pakington, Esq., born 1799, wedyd 1stly, Mary, dau. of Moreton Aglionby Slaney, of Shiffnall, Esq.”

1830. Sir John Pakington died unmarried.

“1844. John Somerset Pakington, Esq., created Bart. 1846, wedyd 2ndly, Augusta, dau. of Geo. Murray, Bp. of Rochester.”

Among the portraits in this fine old room are the present Lord Hampton; the Earl of Strafford; Hester Perrott, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Herbert Perrott, of Haroldstone, and second wife of Sir John Pakington, Bart.; Sir John Perrott, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1583; Margaret Pakington (afterwards Mrs. Dowdeswell), daughter of Sir John Pakington of Hampton Lovett, the celebrated Recorder of Worcester; Sir John Pakington, M.P. for Worcester from 1690 to 1727; Ursula, Lady Scudamore, daughter of Sir John Pakington; and many others.

The Dining-room, which occupies the lower story of the north-east radiating wing, has an effective geometrical ceiling, and its walls are hung with family portraits. The Library similarly occupies the lower story of the corresponding or south-east wing. It is a noble room, lined with a large and valuable assemblage of books, and fitted and furnished in an appropriate manner. The ceiling, whose geometric panelling and other decorations are in high relief, bears among its other devices the mullet of the family arms. In the Library are, among many other Art treasures, two important historical pictures—contemporary portraits of Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and Mary, his wife, daughter of Henry VII., King of England, and widow of Louis XII. of France—on panel.

The view from these rooms is truly magnificent. Immediately in front is the enclosed space already spoken of, with its grass lawns, its broad carriage drives, its luxuriant shrubberies; the ivy-grown and picturesque towers, one on either side; the grand old Gatehouse, with its central open-work tower, and picturesque boundary railings cutting it off from the park. Beyond this is seen the park, with its herds of deer, its forest trees of centuries of growth dotted about the landscape; its noble sheet of water, on which swans and wild fowl abound; and beyond, again, the thickly wooded confines of the grounds and the distant heights. Thus a view of imposing loveliness and of vast extent is gained from the windows of this side of the mansion. But, indeed, one of the main characteristics of Westwood is that, from whatever point the mansion is seen, it forms a striking and a pleasing object; and that, from whatever window one looks, a scene of surpassing beauty is presented to the eye.

The Grand Staircase, of which we give an engraving, is a marked feature of the interior of the house, and differs in general character from any other with which we are acquainted. It is of four landings, and at each angle, as well as in the intermediate spaces, standing clear to a considerable height above the banisters, rises a Corinthian pillar with richly carved capital, supporting a ball. The whole is of dark oak, and has a rich and singular appearance. The series of these pillars and balls numbers thirteen. The Staircase has a panelled oak ceiling, which forms the floor of the upper gallery, from which the bed-rooms are gained. The walls of the Staircase are hung with fine old portraits, and others of more modern date: among them are the “Du^{sse} Dou^e de la Tremouille, née Princesse d’Orange,” 1626; General Monk; Master Herbert and Miss Cecilia Pakington; and the late Bishop Murray, of Rochester, full length, by Falconer. At the foot of the Staircase is the Baron Marochetti’s admirable bust of Lord Hampton, before that well-deserved title was conferred upon him. It bears the following inscription:—“Presented to Lady Pakington by the Medical Officers of the Royal Navy, in grateful acknowledgment of the benefits conferred upon that department of H.M. service during the administration of the Right Hon. Sir John S. Pakington, Bart., G.C.B., &c., 1858-9.”

From the landing at the head of the Grand Staircase access is gained, on the one hand, to the Saloon and the apartments connected with it; and, on the other, to Lady Hampton’s private rooms, the sleeping apartments on the same floor, and to the staircase to the upper story.

The Private Chapel, approached from the foot of the Staircase, occupies the wing at the opposite angle from the Library. Its ceiling is of oak, and it is fitted with open seats, also of oak, with fleur-de-lis poppy-heads. The stained-glass window, representing the Adoration and the Ascension, is remarkably good in design and pure in colouring. On a bracket on the wall is a splendid piece of sculpture, representing Mary Magdalene supporting the dead Christ.

The Saloon—the principal internal feature of Westwood—occupies the entire space, in the central block of building, over the Front Hall. It is a noble and lofty apartment, lit by two deeply recessed large mullioned and transomed windows to the front, and one, of equally large size, at each end. The ceiling, although of a somewhat later period, is a marvellously fine example of modelled plaster-work, the wreaths and festoons of flowers standing out clear from the surface, and modelled true to Nature. It is divided into ornamental panels, enclosing wreaths and festoons, and round the room is a boldly moulded and richly decorated oak frieze. In the centre of the side opposite the windows is a massive and elaborately designed oak chimney-piece, reaching up to the ceiling. The pillars, and mouldings, and panels, and, indeed, every part of this fine example of ancient Art, are elaborately carved with arabesques and foliage; the mouldings and cornices being likewise richly carved with grotesque figures and other characteristic ornaments. In the centre panel, over the fire-place, is a fine contemporary half-length portrait of King Henry VIII.

The walls are hung with grand old tapestry, and this, at three of the corners, conceals the doors leading respectively to the Drawing-room, the Staircase, and another apartment. The subjects of the tapestry, commencing at the doorway from the Staircase, are—First, “Isaac, blind; Rebecca sends Jacob for two kids.” Second, “Laban overtakes Jacob at Mount Gilead; kisses his daughter.” Third, “Jacob kisses Rachel at the well, and removes the stone from its mouth.” Fourth, “Jacob brings home the kids.” Fifth, “Jacob meets his brother Esau, and bows at his feet.” Sixth, “Jacob divides his flocks.”

The Drawing-room opens from the Saloon, and is over the Library: it is an elegant room, with a ceiling of moulded pargetting in scrolls and foliage, and is of great elegance in all its appointments. At the opposite end of the Saloon a doorway opens into an apartment over the Dining-room. It is now disused, but, with its panelled frescoed walls and beautifully decorated ceiling, is an apartment of much interest.

The remainder of the rooms of this grand old mansion do not require special notice; it is enough to say they are all full of interest, and that they contain many pictures of value.

OF the many families of note upon which we have treated in these pages, few are of greater antiquity or possessed of more historic interest than that of Pakington, of which the Right Hon. Lord Hampton is the head. It dates from Norman times, and presents a long succession of notables, whose history is that of the various ages in which they lived, and moved, and had their being. It is clear, from the foundation of Kenilworth Monastery, that the family flourished in the reign of Henry I., and from that time down to the present moment its members have been among the most celebrated men of the country. In the reign of Henry IV. Robert Pakington died, and was succeeded by his son John, who in turn was succeeded by his son of the same name, who married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Thomas Washbourne, of Stanford, and thus the family became connected with the county of Worcester. By this lady he had issue three sons—John, Robert, and Humphrey. The eldest of these, John Pakington, was of the Inner Temple, and was constituted Chirographer of the Common Pleas in the reign of Henry VII., and in the next reign was made Lent Reader and Treasurer of the Inner Temple; and in the same year (20 Henry VIII.) had a grant from the King “that he, the said John Pakington, for the time to come shall have full liberty during his life to wear his hat in his presence, and his successors, or any other person whatsoever; and not to be uncovered on any occasion or cause whatsoever, against his will and good liking; also that he shall not be appointed, called, or compelled to take the order of knighthood, or degree, state, or order of a baron of the Exchequer, serjent-at-law, or any office or encumbrance thereto relating.”

In 1532, however, he was appointed serjeant-at-law, and received a discharge so as to enable him to accept that office. Having been appointed a justice of North Wales, he was, in 1535, commissioned to conclude and compound all forfeitures, offences, fines, and sums of money due to the King or to his late father, Henry VII. He received many other appointsovereign ments and honours, and was ultimately knighted. He received from the a grant of all the manors belonging to the dissolved monastery of Westwood, and thus that fine property came to the Pakingtons. At the time of his death, in 1560, Sir John was seized of thirty-one manors, and of much other land which he had purchased from seventy different persons. Leland says that he resided “at a goodly new house of brick, called Hampton Court, six miles from Worcester.” Sir John is variously stated to have married Anne Rolle (widow of Tychebourne) and Anne Dacres. Whichever of these is correct, he died without male issue, leaving his estates divided amongst his two daughters—Ursula and Bridget—and his two brothers, Robert and Humphrey.

His brother, Robert Pakington, was M.P. for the City of London in the time of Henry VIII., and was murdered in the streets of that city in 1537. By his wife, Catherine, daughter of Sir John Baldwin, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (by his wife, a daughter of Dormer of Wycombe, through whom the manor of Ailsbury came to the family), he had issue one son—Sir Thomas—and three daughters.

Sir Thomas Pakington, who was knighted by Queen Mary, succeeded to the estates of the Pakingtons and Baldwins. He was sheriff of Worcestershire in the 3rd of Elizabeth, and, dying in 1571, at Bath Place, Holborn, was conveyed in great pomp to Ailsbury, the officers of the College of Arms attending, and buried there in state. By his wife (who survived him, and married, secondly, Sir Thomas Kitson, of Hargrave), Sir Thomas had, with other issue, a son—Sir John, by whom he was succeeded—and three daughters.

Sir John Pakington, the “Lusty Pakington” of Queen Elizabeth’s Court, was an especial favourite of the “Virgin Queen,” and a man of rank in his day and generation. It is said that “Good Queen Bess” “first took notice of Sir John in her progress to Worcester, where she invited him to attend her Court, where he lived at his own expense in great splendour and reputation, with an equipage not inferior to some of the highest officers, although he had no greater honour than Knight of the Bath, which was conferred upon him in the lifetime of his father. He was remarkable for his stature and comely person, and had distinguished himself so much by his manly exercises that he was called ‘Lusty Pakington.’”

“Having by his expensive life contracted great debts, he took the wise resolution of retiring into the country, and said he would feed on bread and verjuice until he had made up for his extravagances; which coming to the royal ear, the queen gave him a grant of a gentleman’s estate in Suffolk, worth eight or nine hundred pounds a year, besides goods and chattels, which had been escheated to the Crown; but after he had been in the country to take possession, he could not behold the miseries of the distressed family without remorse and compassion; and the melancholy spectacle of the unhappy mother and her children wrought so effectually upon his fine feelings, that he repaired to court immediately, and humbly besought the queen to excuse him from enriching himself by such means, and did not leave the presence until he had obtained his request, which involved the restoration of the property to the rightful owner. Soon after this he left the court, but not before he had liquidated all his debts, and then, with great reputation and honour, he commenced his journey into the country, being handsomely attended by servants and tenants to the number of sixty, well mounted and appointed, who came purposely from his estates to pay him this compliment, and waited at the court gates while he was taking leave of the queen. After settlement in the country, Elizabeth granted him for sixty years (in the 25th of her reign), for his good and faithful services, several lordships, manors, and lands which had fallen to the Crown, in no less than seventeen counties. He was also constituted lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of Worcestershire, and appointed bowbearer of Malvern Chase, one of the best in England, which he retained until he had finished his noble park at Hampton Lovet; and then, that chase being at too great a distance from his dwelling, he obtained the queen’s leave to dispose of it. He was in Elizabeth’s favour to the end, as appears as well from other evidence as from a grant she made him for eight years (in the 40th year of her reign, he paying into the Exchequer £40 per annum) that no one should import into the kingdom, or make any starch, but by his permission. By his affability and obliging deportment he acquired the good opinion of his equals and inferiors, and by his courage and resolution on occasions requiring the exercise of those attributes, he became formidable to persons in power. A memorable instance of this occurred when he executed the office of sheriff for his county. The Lord Chief Baron Periam having committed a gentleman at the assizes, Sir John, sitting in his sheriff’s seat, called to him to stay, telling the judge he would answer for his forthcoming; neither could he be dissuaded by all the menaces he received, boldly alleging in his defence that the gentleman was his prisoner, and he as sheriff was accountable for him. Sir John is said on one occasion to have betted with three courtiers to swim against them from Westminster, i.e. Whitehall Stairs, to Greenwich for a stake of £3,000; but Queen Elizabeth, out of her special regard for him, and her fear for his life or health, by her imperative command prevented it.” “The good queen,” it is said, “who had particular tenderness for ‘handsome fellows,’ would not permit Sir John to run the hazard of the trial.”

From this worthy member of a worthy family the popular tune of “Pakington’s Pound,” or “Paggington’s Pound,” which has held its own for three centuries, takes its origin. This tune, which in Queen Elizabeth’s Virginal Book is named “Packington’s Pound,” is called by Ben Jonson “Paggington’s Pound,” as also in an ancient MS. “A Fancy of Sir John Paginton” appears in many of the early books of tunes, and numberless ballads were written to it. Even Shakspere’s ballad (supposed to have been written by him) on Sir Thomas Lucy is written to this tune. It has been stated by some writers that, besides the tune of “Pakington’s Pound,” that of “Sir Roger de Coverley” took its origin from this worthy; but this is surely a mistake, as the latter tune takes its origin from one of the Calverleys of Yorkshire.

Sir John Pakington married the daughter of Mr. Humphrey South, Queen Elizabeth’s silkman, of Cheapside, London, the representative of an ancient family in Leicestershire. She was the widow of Alderman Barnham, “who left her very rich; and that consideration, together with her youth and beauty, made it impossible for her to escape the addresses even of the greatest persons about the court; but Sir John was the only happy man who knew how to gain her, being recommended by his worthy friend, Mr. William Seabright, town clerk of London, who had purchased the manor of Besford, in Worcestershire.” This lady, by her first husband, had four daughters; and by Sir John one son—John, his successor—and two daughters: Anne, married, first, to Sir Humphrey Ferrars, Knt., of Tamworth, and, secondly, to Philip, Earl of Chesterfield; and Mary, who married Sir Robert Brooke, of Nacton, Master of the Ceremonies to James I. Sir John died in 1625, aged seventy-seven, and his widow married, thirdly, Lord Kilmurry; and, fourthly, Thomas, Earl of Kelly.

By this great Sir John Pakington the house at Westwood was erected. “After he had finished his stately structure at Westwood,” it is recorded, “Sir John invited the Earl of Northampton, Lord President, and his countess to a housewarming; and as his lordship was a jovial companion, a train of above one hundred knights and gentlemen accompanied him, who staid for some time, and at their departure acknowledged they had met with so kind a reception that they did not know whether they had possessed the place or the place them. The delightful situation of his mansion was what they had never before seen, the house standing in the middle of a wood cut into twelve large ridings, and at a good distance one riding through all of them: the whole surrounded by a park of six or seven miles, with, at the further end facing the house, an artificial lake of one hundred and twenty-two acres. His most splendid entertainment was given, however, to James I. and his queen at Ailsbury, when his majesty honoured him with a visit after his arrival from Scotland, before his coronation. Upon this occasion he set no bounds to expense, thinking it a disparagement to be outdone by any fellow-subject when such an opportunity offered; and the king and court declared that they had never met with a more noble reception.”

Lloyd, in his “Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of England since the Reformation,” thus speaks of Sir John Pakington:—“His handsome features look the most, and his neat parts the wisest at court. He could smile ladies to his service, and argue statesmen to his design with equal ease. His reason was powerful, his beauty more. Never was a brave soul more bravely seated; nature bestowed great parts on him, education polished him to an admirable frame of prudence and virtue; Queen Elizabeth called him her Temperance, and Leicester his Modesty. It is a question to this day whether his resolution took the soldiers, his prudence the politicians, his compliance the favourites, his complaisance the courtiers, his piety the clergy, his integrity and condescension the people, or his knowledge the learned, most. This new court star was a nine days’ wonder, engaging all eyes until it set, satisfied with its own glory. He came to court, he said, as Solomon did, to see its vanity, and retired, as he did, to repent it. It was he who said first, what Bishop Sanderson urged afterwards, that a sound faith was the best divinity, a good conscience the best law, and temperance the best physic. Sir John Pakington in Queen Elizabeth’s time was virtuous and modest, and Sir John Pakington in King Charles’s time loyal and valiant; the one did well, the other suffered so. Greenham was his favourite, Hammond his; the one had a competent estate and was contented, the other hath a large one and is noble; this suppresseth factions in the kingdom, the other composed them in the court, and was called by courtiers Moderation. Westmorland tempted his fidelity, and Norfolk his steadfastness, but he died in his bed an honest and a happy man.”

His son and heir, John Pakington, was created a baronet in 1620, as Sir John Pakington of Ailsbury, where he resided. He married Frances, daughter of Sir John Ferrars, of Tamworth (who married, as her second husband, the Earl of Leven): by her he had issue one son, John, and two daughters. John died at the early age of twenty-four, during the lifetime of his father, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his infant son, who ultimately became possessed of the whole of his grandfather’s estates.

Sir John Pakington, the second baronet, who was only five years of age when he succeeded, was placed under the guardianship of the Lord Keeper Coventry, “by whose vigilant care of his education, both by travel and other advantages, he became a most accomplished gentleman.” He was elected M.P. for Worcestershire (15 Charles I.), and when the rebellion broke out was member for Ailsbury; and, having on all occasions given proofs of his fidelity to the Crown and the rights of the subject, was intrusted by the King, in 1642, with a commission for arraying men for his service in Worcestershire, on account of which he was taken prisoner, committed to the Tower, and fined £5,000; had his estate sequestered, his house in Buckinghamshire (one of the best in that county) levelled with the ground, and such great waste committed in his woods, that an estimate of the loss, still remaining, in the handwriting of his lady, amounts to £20,348. His zeal in the loyal cause never swerved, for, notwithstanding he had suffered so much for his loyalty, he had the courage to join King Charles II. with a troop of horse at the battle of Worcester, and was taken prisoner there, yet was so popular that, when afterwards tried for his life, not one witness could be produced to swear against him. He was consequently acquitted and set at liberty, but afterwards fined £7,670, and compelled, “for the said fine, to convey the market-house, the tolls, the court leet, and certain grounds called Heyden Hill, parcel of the estate at Ailsbury, to Thomas Scott (who was one of the king’s judges), and other trustees, for the use of the town, which they kept until after the Restoration, when, by a special act of parliament, the said conveyances were made void.”

Sir John married Dorothy, daughter of his guardian, the Lord Keeper Coventry, by whom he had issue one son, his successor, and two daughters. This lady, Dorothy Pakington, was a woman of remarkable talent, and possessed of every acquirement which a natural goodness of disposition and the best tutorship could give. To her gifted mind it is, with all but positive certainty, averred that the world is indebted for that admirable book—about which almost as much controversy has been evoked as over the “Letters of Junius”—“The Whole Duty of Man,” and for the several other works by the same pen. The authorship of “The Whole Duty of Man” has been variously ascribed to Lady Pakington, Archbishop Sancroft, Archbishop Frewen, Archbishop Sterne, Bishop Fell, Bishop Chapel, William Allestry, Abraham Woodhead, William Fulman, and others; but the weight of probability, and certainly the weight of evidence, goes to prove that that honour belongs to her ladyship. An almost incontrovertible evidence of Lady Pakington being its authoress “arises from the assertions of Archbishop Dolben, and Bishops Fell and Allestry, who are said to have declared this of their own knowledge, after her death, which she obliged them to keep private during her life—that she really was the author of that best and most masculine religious book extant in the English language, ‘The Whole Duty of Man.’” Upon a finely sculptured monument in Hampton Lovett Church she and her husband are recorded in these words:—“In the same church lyes Sir John Pakington, Kt. and Bart., and his lady, grandfather and grandmother to the said Sir John. The first, try’d for his life and spent the greatest part of his fortune in adhering to King Charles I.; and the latter justly reputed the authoress of the Whole Duty of Man, who was exemplary for her great piety and goodness.” Sir John died in 1680, and was succeeded by his son—

Sir John Pakington, who, having married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Keys, died in 1688, and was in turn succeeded by his only child, Sir John Pakington, the fourth baronet, who, when only nineteen years of age, became M.P. for Worcestershire, and so remained, with one exception, when he voluntarily withdrew himself, to the time of his death. He was “a strenuous asserter of the rights and liberties of the country,” and in 1702 preferred that remarkable complaint against the Bishop of Worcester and his son for unduly interfering in the elections, which resulted in the Bishop being removed by the Queen from his office of almoner, and other proceedings being taken. Sir John married, first, Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Parker; and, secondly, Hester, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Herbert Perrott. By his first marriage he had issue two sons, who died young, and two daughters, one of whom married Viscount Tracy. By his second wife, Hester Perrott, Sir John had a son, Sir Herbert Perrott Pakington, by whom, on his death in 1727, he was succeeded.

Sir Herbert Perrott Pakington, fifth baronet, M.P. for Worcestershire, married, in 1721, Elizabeth, daughter of John Conyers, Esq., of Walthamstow, and by her had issue two sons—John and Herbert Perrott, each of whom enjoyed the baronetcy—and two daughters. Dying in 1748, he was succeeded by his son—

Sir John Pakington, as sixth baronet, who married Mary, daughter of Henry Bray, Esq., of Bromyard, but, dying in 1762 without issue, was succeeded by his brother—

Sir Herbert Perrott Pakington, as seventh baronet. Sir Herbert married, in 1759, Elizabeth, daughter of Cæsar Hawkins, Esq., and widow of Herbert Wylde, Esq., of Ludlow, and by her had issue two sons and four daughters—viz. John, his successor; Thomas, who died without issue; Dorothy; Anne; Louisa; and Elizabeth, who married William Russell, Esq., of Powick, Worcestershire, by which marriage she had an only son, the present Lord Hampton, who, as will be shown, ultimately succeeded to the estates. Sir Herbert Perrott Pakington died in 1795, and was succeeded, as eighth and last baronet, by his son—

Sir John Pakington, D.C.L. This gentleman was born in 1760, and died without issue, and unmarried, in 1830, when the title became extinct, and the estates passed to his nephew, John Somerset Russell, Esq. (son of his sister, Elizabeth Pakington, by her marriage with William Russell, Esq., of Powick), who at once assumed the family name of Pakington in lieu of that of Russell, and became John Somerset Pakington, Esq., and is the present noble owner of Westwood.

The Right Hon. Lord Hampton—the first peer of the family—was born in 1799, and, as we have stated, is the son of William Russell, Esq., by his wife, Elizabeth Pakington. He succeeded, as John Somerset Russell, to the estates of his uncle, Sir John Pakington, in 1830, and assumed the patronymic of Pakington in lieu of his own name of Russell. He was educated at Eton and at Oriel College, Oxford. In 1837 he was elected M.P. for Droitwich, which town he continued to represent until 1874, when, after nearly forty years of able, useful, and faithful public servitude, he was defeated at the general election. In 1846 he was created a baronet, by the name of Sir John Somerset Pakington, of Westwood Park. In 1852 Sir John held office as Secretary of State for the Colonies; in 1858-9 was a member of the Committee of Council for Education; in 1858-9, and again in 1866-7, was first Lord of the Admiralty; and in 1867-8 was Secretary of State for War. In 1874 he was created Baron Hampton, of Hampton Lovett and of Westwood, in the county of Worcester, in the peerage of the United Kingdom. Lord Hampton, who is a Privy Councillor, a G.C.B., an Hon. D.C.L. of Oxford, an Elder Brother of the Trinity House, a Magistrate, for many years Chairman of the County Quarter Sessions, and Deputy Lieutenant of the county, has married three times: first, in 1822, Mary (who died in 1843), daughter of Moreton Aglionby Slaney, Esq., by whom he has issue living one son, the Hon. John Slaney Pakington (heir to the title and estates), who was born in 1826, and married, in 1849, the Lady Diana Boyle, daughter of the Earl of Glasgow; secondly, in 1844, Augusta Anne (who died in 1848), daughter of the Right Rev. George Murray, D.D., Bishop of Rochester, by whom he has issue living one son, the Hon. Herbert Perrott Murray Pakington, born in 1848; thirdly, in 1851, Augusta, daughter of Thomas Champion de Crespigny, Esq., and widow of Colonel Davis, M.P., of Elmley Park, Worcestershire, by whom he has no issue.

Lord Hampton is by no means entirely, or even mainly, indebted for renown to the high positions he has occupied, although they are among the very highest. There have been, of late years, few projects designed and calculated to benefit mankind to which he has not been, in some way, a contributor; foremost, indeed, he has always been in every good work that may lessen suffering, extend social advantages, and advance the cause of education and religion. The descendant and representative of a race that has for centuries given to England true patriots, in the best sense of the word, he has been a powerful benefactor wherever his influence could reach.

The arms of Lord Hampton, who is patron of the living of Hampton Lovett, are—per chevron, sable and argent; in chief three mullets, or, and in base as many garbs, one and two, gules. Crest—an elephant, or. Supporters—dexter, an elephant, or; sinister, a talbot, argent; each charged on the shoulder with a mullet, pierced, sable. Motto—“Fidelis et audax.” His seats are Westwood Park, Droitwich, and Powick Court, Worcester.

The pretty little Church of Hampton Lovett—one of the burial-places of the family—lies about two miles from the mansion, from which it is approached by a delightful drive across the park and the outlying portions of the estate. The Church is charmingly situated, and possesses some features of interest. It consists of a nave, chancel, and north aisle, with a tower at the west end, and contains a modern stone pulpit of exquisite design; and, besides recent stained-glass windows, there are some good remains of ancient armorial stained glass, including the royal and Pakington arms, &c. In the chancel, which is paved with encaustic tiles, is a piscina on the south side, and on the north a fine canopied tomb, on which has been placed an explanatory brass plate, bearing the inscription, “This monument was discovered behind another, which was removed to the west wall of the side chapel, during the repair of the church in 1859. Though much mutilated, the design was preserved, and the heraldic escutcheons (which were uninjured) show it to have been erected to the memory of Sir John Pakington, Kt., of Hampton Lovett, and Anne, his wife, daughter of Henry Dacres, sometime Sheriff of London. He was eminent as a Lawyer and a Judge, and amongst other honours received a grant of the lands of Westwood from King Henry VIII.”

The monument here noted as being removed in 1859 stands against the west wall of the north aisle, or “side chapel.” It is a fine piece of sculpture in the style of Roubilliac, with a semi-recumbent figure of St. John. It bears this highly interesting inscription:—“Here lyes Sir John Pakington, Kt. and Bart., aged 55 years, an indulgent father to his children, a kind master to his servants, charitable to the poor, loyal to the king, and faithful to his country. Who served in many parliaments for the county of Worcester speaking his mind there without reserve; neither fearing nor flattering those in power, but despising all their offers of title and preferment upon base and dishonourable terms of competition. He was chosen Recorder for the City of Worcester the 21st day of February, 1725, in the room of Other, Earl of Plymouth, deceased, which few ever enjoyed the honour of under the degree of a Peer of the Realm. He dyed the 13th of Augt., 1727. In the same church lyes Sir John Pakington, Kt. and Bart., and his lady, grandfather and grandmother to the said Sir John. The fyrst try’d for his life and spent the greatest part of his fortune in adhering to King Charles I., and the latter justly reputed the Authoress of The Whole Duty of Man, who was exemplary for her great piety and goodness.” There is also a tablet to Dorothy Anne, second daughter and co-heiress of Sir Herbert Perrott Pakington, 1846; her father, 1785; her mother, Dame Elizabeth Pakington, daughter of Sir Cæsar Hawkins, 1783; and Sir John Pakington, 1830; and one to the memory of Mary, the first wife of Lord Hampton, and daughter of Moreton Aglionby Slaney, Esq., who was born in 1799 and died in 1843.

In the churchyard are some venerable yew-trees, and near the path is a tall and lovely cross, of simple but effective design, restored by Lord Hampton in memory of his second wife. At the head of the lofty shaft is a crocketed cross bearing the sacred monogram: beneath this are beautifully sculptured figures of the four evangelists under crocketed canopies. At the base are the four evangelistic symbols, and beneath is the inscription, “To the beloved memory of Augusta Anne, second wife of Sir John Pakington, Bart., this cross was restored A.D. MDCCCXLIX. She was the daughter of George Murray, Lord Bishop of Rochester, and departed this life in the true faith of Christ, February xxiii., MDCCCXLVIII., after the birth of her second child, and in the XXXIST year of her age. + Not my will but thine be done.”

We said, at the commencement of our notice, that Westwood Park lies a couple of miles or so from Droitwich, and it therefore behoves us, before closing, to say a word or two about that town, and the “healing waters” which are its great attraction and blessing.

The neighbourhood of Westwood and Droitwich is very charming, the walks and drives are beautiful, and the whole locality is rich in historic lore and in antiquated traditions. Venerable church towers, pretty villages, homely yet comfortable cottages, fruitful orchards, productive meadows and corn lands, delicious lanes rich in wild flowers, wooded slopes, broad and narrow rivers (notably, majestic Severn), are in view from any ascent. But the eye takes in more than these: ancient mansions are numerous; among them several of our justly boasted baronial halls. There are houses of prosperous gentry, and picturesque dwellings of wood and plaster of a long-ago time. Indeed, the rich and the poor may be equally content with their lot in this fair, fertile, and rarely gifted locality. It is suggestive of prosperity, and indicative of content, although the whistle of the railroad is often heard, and the mysterious wires of the telegraph skirt the principal highways. The distant views are even more graceful and majestic than those near at hand. Grand old Malvern, the Abberley Hills, the Clees, the “hunchbacked Wrekin,” the Clents, the Lickeys, Tardebigge, Astwood, and even the far-off Cotswolds, may be seen from any of the neighbouring heights.

Droitwich itself is a town devoid of beauty or interest, but it is situated in a lovely district, with a glorious country around it, and a neighbourhood rich in scenery and in picturesque localities. Internally the town is a “land of many waters,” its brine wells, from which thousands of gallons per hour are constantly being pumped up, producing an enormous quantity of salt, which is sent out to supply the tables, and the workshops, and the manufactories of our native population, as well as to help to render our fields more prolific, and find employment for nearly the whole of its population. Droitwich, there can be no doubt, is a town of Roman foundation, and its salt-works were worked by that people on precisely the same system of evaporation in vats as now. A portion of an interesting Romano-British tesselated pavement—part of a Roman villa—was discovered here some few years ago, and is preserved at Worcester. It is indisputable evidence of Droitwich and its springs being known to the Romans. Although small, and mainly depending for its prosperity on its salt-works, Droitwich has always, since the Conquest, been a place of importance, and until the passing of the Reform Bill sent two members to Parliament; it now sends only one. It is governed by a mayor and corporation, possesses abundance of schools and charitable institutions, has spacious churches and other places of worship, and has every facility of railway and canal communication.

The main feature of the place, however, is its recently re-established Brine Baths. The efficacy of the saline springs was first brought into notice of late years during the sad visitation of cholera to the town in 1831. In that year, when numbers of the inhabitants were being carried off by the pest, some parties, in their agonies of distress and their desire to find means of saving the lives of those near and dear to them, dipped the sufferers into the warm brine in the evaporating vats of the salt-works, and this was found to produce such marvellous results that it was generally adopted; indeed, it is affirmed that all who were so treated, even those in a state of collapse, recovered from the attack. The fame of these cures spread far and wide, and numbers being brought there for that and other complaints, it was determined to form a bath. This was done, and the efficacy of the brine firmly established. Later on a company was formed; but although baths were erected, and patients were not wanting to visit them, the whole matter fell into a state of unfortunate inanition, despite the attention which had been directed to the place by Dr. Hastings and other men of eminence. In 1871 Mr. Bainbrigge, F.R.C.S., a medical man of enlarged experience and skill, visited the baths for the purpose of examining, and analyzing, and reporting upon their properties and efficacy. The result was, that a joint-stock company for the erection of new baths, the opening up of the curative properties of the waters, and the development of Droitwich into an inland sea-bathing place, was formed, and baths were erected. These baths were opened in 1873, and since then the whole affair has passed into the hands of a few private individuals. The old George Hotel, with its pleasant garden (closely adjoining the bath), has been converted into a private boarding-house, and about eight acres of pleasure-grounds and gardens, with here and there a pleasant residence attached, have been added and laid out with taste.

The visitor will find many objects of interest in Droitwich; and many places of note—Whitely Court, the truly “Stately Home” of the Earl of Dudley, being one of them—are within easy drive of the place.

MELBOURNE HALL.

MELBOURNE HALL is interesting from the curious and unique character of its gardens rather than from the elegance or beauty of the house; but it possesses in its historical associations, and its connection with famous families, a larger share of importance than falls to the lot of many more pretentious places. It is to the history of the “Home,” and its charming and curious grounds, as well as to the history of the noble families to which it has belonged, that we purpose to direct attention.

Melbourne itself—from which is derived the title of Viscount Melbourne, as well as the name of the thriving city of Melbourne, in our far-distant dominion of Australia—is a small manufacturing and market town in Derbyshire, being situated on the borders of Leicestershire, and lying in the charming valley of the Trent. It is only eight miles from Derby, from which place it is conveniently reached by a branch railway; it is, therefore, now, since the opening of this line, of easy access from that great centre of railway traffic. The town contains some goodly manufactories of silk and Lisle-thread gloves, figured lace, &c., for which it is much noted; and it is also well known for its productive gardens and nurseries. It is but seven miles from famous Ashby-de-la-Zouch, the scene of Sir Walter Scott’s undying “Ivanhoe,” and where the splendid ruins of the grand old castle of the Zouches still stand in all their beauty, and are among the most majestic and picturesque in the kingdom, Kenilworth scarcely excepted. Melbourne is also within some few miles of Calke Abbey, the elegant seat of Sir John Harpur Crewe, Bart.; and not much farther from Donington Park, the seat of the late Marquis of Hastings and the present Earl of Loudoun; Staunton Harold, the charming residence of Earl Ferrers; and Elvaston Castle, the ancient seat of the Earl of Harrington, whose gardens are much of the same character as those we are about to describe. Indeed, the whole district, turn in whatever direction one may, is full of interest and beauty.

At Melbourne, as stated in Domesday Book, King Edward VI. held “six carucates of land for geld. Land for six ploughs. The King has one plough there, and twenty villanes, and six bordars, having five ploughs. A priest and a church there, and one mill of three shillings, and twenty-four acres of meadow. Wood, pasturable, one mile in length and half a mile in breadth. In the time of King Edward it was worth ten pounds; now six pounds; yet it renders ten.” It was from very early times a royal manor, and was granted by King John to Hugh de Beauchamp, whose eldest son gave it in marriage with his daughter to William Fitz-Geoffrey, but within a short period it again reverted to the Crown. By Henry III. it was, in 1229, granted to Philip de Marc, from whom it again passed into the sovereign’s hands. The manor and castle were afterwards held by Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, brother to Edward I., and passed to his son Thomas, by whom they were conveyed to King Edward II., who granted them to Robert de Holland. This person was summoned to Parliament as a baron, but having joined in the insurrection, he surrendered himself at Derby, and was ultimately beheaded for high treason, and his estates were confiscated. They were then held by Henry, Earl of Lancaster, who had a grant of a market, &c.; and they continued attached to the earldom and duchy of Lancaster until 1604, when they were given by King James to the Earl of Nottingham, who soon afterwards conveyed them to the Earl of Huntingdon, from whom they passed to the Marquis of Hastings.

In the reign of Henry V. the country around the royal manor and castle of Melbourne sent many warriors to the battle of Agincourt; and although it may be a question whether the hills in the neighbourhood, which are called “Derby Hills” to this day, or those in the Peak, at the north end of the county, are intended in the ballad—

“Recruit me Cheshire and Lancashire, And Derby Hills that are so free; No marry’d man or widow’s son: For no widow’s curse shall go with me.

“They recruited Cheshire and Lancashire, And Derby Hills that are so free; No marry’d man or widow’s son: Yet there was a jovial bold company”—

certain it is that Derbyshire men were among the most valiant in that battle, and that John, Duke of Bourbon, who was taken prisoner, was brought to Melbourne Castle, and there kept in close confinement for nineteen years. Melbourne Castle, now entirely destroyed, is traditionally said to have been founded by Alfred the Great in 900. There appears, however, to be no mention of it until 1307. In 1319 it passed into the hands of Thomas de Holland, who obtained a license to crenellate the place in the fourth year of Edward II. In 1322 “John de Hardshull was joined in the governorship of the castles of Melbourne and Donington,” and a few years later it became the property of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. In 1414. as already stated, John, Duke of Bourbon, was prisoner here under Sir Ralph Shirley, the governor of the castle, and afterwards under Nicholas Montgomery, the then governor. It is said to have been dismantled by order of Margaret, Queen of Henry VI. It was, it seems, repaired by Edward IV., and in Henry VIII.’s reign is said to have been in “good reparation.” In 1602 a survey was made, by order of Queen Elizabeth, by Thomas Fanshawe, then auditor of the duchy of Lancaster, in which it is said, “Her Majesty hath a faire and ancient castle which she keepeth in her own hands, and that Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, was then constable of the same and bailiffe there by letters patent during his life, with the annual fee of £10.” It afterwards came into the hands of the Huntingdons, and was suffered to fall into decay. The site now belongs to Mr. Hastings.

Melbourne was formerly in the honour of Tutbury, its officers in that honour being the “Steward of Melbourne,” the “Constable of Melbourne Castle,” the “Keeper of Melbourne Park,” and the “Bayliffe of Melbourne.”

The Bishops of Carlisle had formerly a palace and a park at Melbourne, and occasionally resided there, the palace being near the church, tolerably close to the castle, and on the site of what is now Melbourne Hall. After being long held on lease from the see, it ultimately became the property of the Coke family. An arch, in the early English style, conjectured to have belonged to the old nunnery near the church, was taken down about 1821.

The Cokes, to whom Melbourne Castle and Hall belonged, are an old Derbyshire family, whose estates lay principally at Trusley, Marchington, Thurvaston, Pinxton, Egginton, and other places, The head of the family, in the forty-third year of the reign of Edward III., was Hugh Coke, son of Robert Coke. His eldest son, Thomas, married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Odingsells. By this lady, who brought the Trusley estates into the family, he had issue a son, William Coke, who, marrying Joan, daughter of John Hilton, by her had issue a son, William Coke, who, by his first wife, Cicely Brentwood, had a son, also William Coke, by whom he was succeeded. This William Coke married a daughter of Sir Ralph Longford, by whom he had issue his son and successor, William Coke, who, marrying Dorothy, daughter of Ralph Fitzherbert, of Tissington, had issue two sons—John and Richard—and six daughters, viz. Elizabeth, Dorothy, Margaret, Anne, Ellen, and Mabel. He was succeeded by his son, Richard Coke, who married Mary, daughter and sole heiress to Thomas Sacheverell, by whom he acquired considerable property. By this marriage Richard Coke had issue six sons—viz. Sir Francis Coke, of Trusley, Knt.; Sir John Coke, Secretary of State; Thomas Coke; Philip Coke; George Coke, Bishop of Hereford and Bristol; and Robert Coke—and four daughters, viz. Elizabeth, Mary, Margaret, and Dorothy.

Sir John Coke, the first of the family who settled at Melbourne, was born in 1563, and greatly distinguished himself by his learning. He was successively Professor of Rhetoric at Cambridge, Secretary of the Navy, Master of the Court of Requests, Secretary of State to King Charles I., and for several years a member of Parliament, where he took an active and dignified part in the debates. Sir John, who died in 1644, was married twice: first, to Mary, daughter of John Powell, of Presteign, by whom he had issue; and, secondly, to Joan, daughter of Alderman Sir John Lee, Knt., and widow of Alderman Gore. He was succeeded by his son (by his first wife), Thomas Coke, whose son (by his wife Mary, daughter of —— Pope, of Wolferston), John Coke, married Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Leventhorpe, by whom, with other issue, he had three sons, one of whom, the Right Hon. Thomas Coke, became Vice-Chamberlain to Queen Anne and King George I., and served in Parliament for many years. This gentleman was so great a favourite with his sovereign, Queen Anne, that she presented to him, among other marks of royal favour, the two splendid vases now placed in the grounds of Melbourne Hall. By his first wife, Mary, daughter of Philip, Earl of Chesterfield, he had issue two daughters—Mary, married to Viscount Southwell, and Elizabeth, married to Bache Thornhill, Esq.; and by his second wife, the Hon. Mary Hale, sister of Bernard Hale, Esq., one of the maids of honour to Queen Anne, he had issue, with others, a daughter, Charlotte, who became his sole heiress on the death of her brother, George Lewis Coke.

This Charlotte Coke married, in 1740, Sir Matthew Lamb, Bart., of Brockett Hall, Hertfordshire, nephew and co-heir of Peniston Lamb, Esq., and was the mother, by him, of Sir Peniston Lamb, Bart., who was created Baron Melbourne, Baron Kilmore, and Viscount Melbourne of Melbourne. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Ralph Milbanke, by whom he had four sons and three daughters—viz. the Hon. Peniston Lamb, who died unmarried; the Hon. William Lamb, who succeeded him; the Hon. Frederick James Lamb, who also succeeded to the titles and estates; the Hon. George Lamb, M.P. (well known for his literary attainments), who married Mdlle. Caroline Rosalie St. Jules; the Hon. Emily Mary Lamb, married, first, to Earl Cowper, and, secondly, to Viscount Palmerston; the Hon. Harriette Lamb; and a daughter who died in infancy. Lord Melbourne, who died in 1828, was succeeded in his titles and estates, as second viscount, by his second son, William, who, after holding many important posts, and taking an active part in the administration of this country, became Prime Minister. He was born in 1779, and educated at Eton, Cambridge, and Glasgow, and in 1804 was called to the bar. In 1805 he entered Parliament, and in the same year married Lady Caroline Ponsonby, daughter of the Earl of Bessborough, a lady who became, as “Lady Caroline Lamb,” distinguished in the literary circles of the day.

In 1818 Mr. Lamb became Secretary for Ireland under Canning, and so continued under the next two administrations. In 1828 he succeeded to the titles and estates as second Viscount Melbourne, Baron Melbourne, and Baron Kilmore. In 1830 his lordship became Home Secretary, and in July, 1834, was made Prime Minister, but only retained that office till the following November. In 1835 he again became Prime Minister, and so continued until 1841. Being Premier at the time of the Queen’s accession to the throne, Lord Melbourne became her Majesty’s confidential adviser. His lordship died, in 1848, without surviving issue, when the title passed to his brother, the Hon. Frederick Lamb, who had been, in 1839, created Baron Beauvale, and had held many important posts. His lordship, who married the Countess Adela, daughter of Count Maltzan, Prussian Ambassador at Vienna, died without issue, when the title became extinct. The estates then passed to his only surviving sister, the Hon. Emily Mary, married, first, to Earl Cowper, and, secondly, to the late Prime Minister, Viscount Palmerston. This lady was born in 1787, and married, in 1805, Peter Leopold Louis Francis, fifth Earl Cowper, by whom she had issue—George Augustus Frederick, Viscount Fordwich, who became sixth Earl Cowper; Lady Emily Caroline Catherine, married, in 1830, to the present Earl of Shaftesbury; the Hon. William Francis Cowper, who, on the death of Lady Palmerston, in 1869, became the owner, under his will, of Lord Palmerston’s estates, and assumed the additional surname of Temple (Cowper-Temple); the Hon. Charles Spencer Cowper, who married the Lady Blessington, and afterwards Jessie Mary, only surviving child of Colonel Clinton McLean; and the Lady Frances Elizabeth. Earl Cowper dying in 1837, Lady Cowper, in 1839, was married to Viscount Palmerston, who, dying in 1865, left her again a widow, and his title became extinct. At Lady Palmerston’s death, in 1869, her estates passed to her grandson, the present Earl Cowper, who now owns Melbourne Hall and its surrounding estates.

The Hon. Henry John Temple, third Viscount Palmerston and Baron Temple of Mount Temple, was the son of Henry, second Viscount Palmerston, by his second wife, Mary, daughter of Benjamin Mee, of Bath. He was born in 1784, and was educated at Harrow and at St. John’s College, Cambridge, and succeeded his father in the titles and estates as third Viscount Palmerston and Baron Temple in 1802, and entered Parliament in 1807, from which time his name was intimately mixed up with the political history of this country. He successively became a Knight of the Garter and a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, and, among other offices, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Constable of Dover Castle, Elder Brother of Trinity House, Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, a Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary at War, Foreign Secretary, and Home Secretary. In 1855 he became Prime Minister, and so continued until 1858. In 1859 he again became Prime Minister, and died whilst holding that office in 1865. The title then became extinct. Lord Palmerston by his will, dated November 22nd, 1864, left his real and leasehold estates in England and Ireland to Lady Palmerston for life, and after her decease to her second son, the Right Hon. William Francis Cowper. The will expressed an earnest wish that Mr. Cowper, upon coming into possession of the estates, should immediately apply for a royal license to take and use, for himself and his descendants, the surname of Temple, either in substitution for, or in addition to, that of Cowper, but so that Temple should be the final name; and the family arms of Temple to be quartered with those of Cowper. This was accordingly done. The arms of Lord Palmerston were—quarterly, first and fourth, or, an eagle displayed, sable; second and third, argent, two bars, sable, each charged with three martlets, or. Supporters—dexter, a lion reguardant, pæan; and sinister, a horse reguardant, argent, maned, tailed, and hoofed, or. Crest—a hound sejant, sable, collared, or. Motto—“Flecti non frangi.”

It is a somewhat curious circumstance, as will have been gleaned, and one worth noting, that Melbourne Hall became the seat, within twenty years, of two Prime Ministers, and that the titles of each, Lords Melbourne and Palmerston, have become extinct.

The present noble owner of Melbourne Hall and its surrounding estates is the Right Hon. Francis Thomas De Grey Cowper, seventh Earl Cowper, Viscount Fordwich, Baron Cowper, Baron Butler, and Baron Dingwall, and a Baronet. His lordship (who is grandson of Lady Palmerston) was born in 1834, and is the son of George Augustus Frederick, sixth earl, by his wife, Anne Florence, Baroness Lucas, daughter of the second Earl De Grey, and was educated at Harrow and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he proceeded M.A. in 1855. He succeeded to the titles and estates on the death of his father in 1856, and from 1871 to 1874 was Captain and Gold Shell of H.M. Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms. In 1870 Earl Cowper married Katrine Cecilia, daughter of Lord William Compton, heir-presumptive to the Marquis of Northampton, by whom, however, he has no issue, the heir-presumptive being his brother, the Hon. Henry Frederick Cowper, M.P.

The arms of Earl Cowper are—argent, three martlets, gules; on a chief engrailed, of the last, three annulets, or. Crest—a lion’s jamb erased, or, holding a cherry branch, vert, fructed, gules. Supporters—two dun horses, close cropped (except a tuft on the withers) and docked, a large blaze down the face, a black list down the back, and three white feet, viz. both hind and the near fore foot. Motto—“Tuum est.”

The Gardens and Grounds of Melbourne Hall are its chief attractions They are a curious and elegant relic of the old style of horticulture, which was brought from Holland by William III., consisting of groves, fountains, statues, &c., and are of the most strikingly peculiar character. In one place, on entering, the visitor finds himself in the Lover’s Walk, a literal tunnel (the outside, of which is shown in our view of the grounds) formed of very aged yew-trees, arched and netted and intergrown one with another, only here and there pierced by rays of light. In another he finds himself by the side of a basin, in the centre of which a fountain is ever playing; while in its clear waters magnificent carp are lazily swimming or basking in the sun. In another place he comes upon a “cool grot”—a mineral spring, over which is erected a charming rustic grotto of spars, shells, stalactites, and other natural objects, and bearing on a marble tablet lines by the Hon. George Lamb:—

“Rest, weary stranger, in this shady cave, And taste, if languid, of the mineral wave; There’s virtue in the draught; for health that flies From crowded cities and their smoky skies, Here lends her power from every glade and hill, Strength to the breeze, and medicine to the rill.”

The lawn in front of the mansion is laid out in ornamental beds, filled with the choicest flowers, and dotted over with groups, single figures, vases, &c., of fine sculpture, of which it may be interesting to note that the pair of black figures only cost, about the year 1630, £30, and the Perseus and Andromeda £45. At the opposite side of the grounds from the house is an alcove of elaborate design in wrought-iron, bearing the arms of Coke, which, with the central basin and fountain, is shown in our engraving of the gardens as seen from the hall. The Scotch firs which form the background of the gardens were planted in the time of William III., the trunks being, in many instances, 80 feet in height, and 13 or 14 feet in circumference. One of these Scotch firs, which fell in the spring of 1875, was known to be one hundred and seventy-six years old; its dimensions were extraordinary. They were as follows:—Height, 82 feet; length of butt, 39 feet; circumference at eight feet from the ground, 10 feet 8 inches; circumference at thirty-nine feet from the ground, 9 feet 2 inches; total contents of timber, 340 cubic feet. Leading in a south-easterly direction from the parterred lawn, the gardens become entirely changed in character, and the visitor wanders through sylvan walks, bounded on either side by impenetrable yew hedges, which intersect each other in every direction, at every turn coming upon a fine piece of sculpture, or rippling stream, or bubbling fountain.

One of the walks leads to a gentle eminence at the junction of three splendid glades, with gigantic lime hedges, in the centre of which is placed the enormous bronzed vase of lead—one of the finest pieces of modelling in existence—called the “Seasons,” which, with another exquisite, though plainer, vase placed almost in close contiguity, was presented by Queen Anne to her Vice-Chamberlain, Thomas Coke. On the pedestals is the monogram, “T. C.,” of the Thomas Coke to whom they were given. On occasion of its being repaired, in 1840, the following inscription, written by Mr. H. Fox, was placed in its interior:—

HOC SIMULACRUM EX DONO ANNÆ REGINÆ THOMA COKE ARMIGERO DOMINI CUBICULARII VICEM FUNGENTE POSITUM E LOCO MOTUM ET AD VETEREM NORMAM RESTITUTUM GULIELMUS VICECOMES MELBOURNE PRINCEPS DOMINORUM REGII THESAURI REPOSUIT ANNO VICTORIÆ REG. QUARTO ANNO CHRISTI 1840.

The Terrace Walk, formed so as to overlook the magnificent lake, is a pleasant and favourite promenade for visitors, and commands some charming views of the grounds, the lake, the church, and neighbourhood.

The Lake, or Pool, as it is commonly called, is nearly twenty-two acres in extent, and is beautifully wooded on its banks, and, with its island, the swans which are always sailing on its surface, and the pleasure-boats frequently gliding about, forms a beautiful picture from whatever point it is viewed. The gardens, it may be added, cover an extent of nearly twenty acres of ground; and it is worth noting that on the wall near the Conservatory and the Muniment-room is the finest and largest Wistaria in existence—its extent along the wall being no less than two hundred and sixty-four feet.

In the hall itself is a splendid collection of pictures, including many very rare examples—family portraits, principally of the old celebrities of the Coke family and others. In this house Baxter wrote his “Saint’s Rest;” and here many distinguished men have at one time or other resided. Of this Baxter himself thus wrote:—“The second book which I wrote (and the first which I began) was that called ‘Saint’s Everlasting Rest.’ While I was in health I had not the least thoughts of writing books, or in serving God in any more public way than that of preaching; but when I was weakened with much bleeding, and left solitary in my chamber at Sir John Coke’s in Derbyshire, without any acquaintance but my servant about me, and was sentenced to death by my physicians, I began to contemplate more seriously the Everlasting Rest which I apprehended myself just on the borders of; and that my thoughts might not be scattered too much in my meditation, I began to write something upon that subject, intending but a sermon or two (which is the cause that the beginning is in brevity and style disproportionable to the rest); but being continued long in sickness, where I had no poor or better employment, I followed it on till it was enlarged to the bulk in which it is now published.” The hall was at one time, about 1811, occupied by Sir Sidney Smith, the “Hero of Acre,” and also by Sir William Rumbold: it was likewise for many years in the occupation of Colonel Gooch, one of the heroes of Waterloo—in fact, one of the seven brave men immortalised in history as having defended the important and critical post of Houguemont in that great battle. It is now occupied by William Dashwood Fane, Esq.

Closely adjoining the hall is Melbourne Church, which is, without doubt, one of the very finest and most perfect Norman structures remaining to us, reminding one forcibly, in its massive piers and other features, of Durham Cathedral. Indeed, it is far more of a cathedral in appearance than a parish church. The western doorway is one of its most striking external features; but internally it is full of interest in every part. It is a cruciform structure, with massive central tower, and two other lantern towers at its west end. The nave is divided from the side-aisles by a series of massive round piers supporting semicircular arches, above which is a fine open triforium running entirely round the nave. Remains of a circular apse are to be traced at the east end. Its monuments, too, are worthy of careful examination; they are mainly to the family of Hardinge, of King’s Newton, the head of which family is the present Lord Hardinge.

One mile from Melbourne is the pleasant village of King’s Newton, with its Holy Well and its Hall, now in ruins, but long the paternal residence of the Hardinge family, and from which its then representative, Viscount Hardinge, of King’s Newton—the heroic Governor-General of India—took his title. This distinguished family had been settled at this place for several centuries, the hall being built by them circa 1400. Sir Robert Hardinge, who was Master of the Court of Chancery and Attorney-General to Charles II., resided here, and was visited by that monarch, who remained his guest for some days. On the glass of the window of his room King Charles scratched the anagram, Cras ero lux, being a clever transposition of the words, Carolus rex, and meaning “To-morrow I shall shine.” In the garden is a famous old mulberry-tree, under which it is said the monarch used to sit: it is still luxuriant in foliage and in fruit. The hall was destroyed by fire only a few years ago, and its picturesque ruins and grounds are now open to the public, who during the summer months “there do congregate” for pic-nic parties and rural enjoyments. Our engraving shows the hall as it appeared before the fire.

The village of King’s Newton, one of the most delightful of villages, has a literary celebrity attaching to it. Here Thomas Hall, who wrote “Wisdom’s Conquest” in 1640, resided; and here, too, Speechly, the Rural Economist; Mundy, who wrote “The Fall of Needwood” and “Needwood Forest;” Mrs. Green, the authoress of “John Gray of Willoughby;” the Ortons, one of whom is known by his “Excelsior” and his “Three Palaces,” and the other by his varied writings, were residents, as was also the author of “Thurstan Meverell;” and here, in his native place, resided till his death, in February, 1876, the able historian of Melbourne, Mr. John Joseph Briggs, who also ranked high as a writer on natural history. The locality has other attractions “too numerous to mention.” Independently of its great natural beauties, its most attractive associations are undoubtedly with a grand and honourable past. Of King’s Newton Mr. Briggs thus wrote:—

“Sweet Newton, first to thee my song I raise. Thy charms, loved hamlet, need no poet’s praise; O’er thy green meads first trips the laughing Spring, And shakes primroses from each flower-wreathed wing: There the first swallow skims the daisied vale, And the loved cuckoo breathes her mellow tale, And merry chiff-chaff from the budding tree Gives out his joyous notes so wild and free. And when old Autumn sheds o’er field and bower The radiant hues of many a gorgeous flower, And bids the sun lead down his stately dance, Thy fields are last to catch his parting glance. Within thy bounds I drew mine earliest breath, And there, grant Heaven, these eyes may close in death!”

Besides its ruined hall, there is at King’s Newton a Holy Well, the structure over which was erected by Robert Hardinge in 1660, and restored a few years back by one of his descendants. It bears on its front the inscription—“FONS SACER HIC STRVITVR ROBERTO NOMINIS HARDINGE, 1660.”

In the neighbourhood of Melbourne, too, are many pleasant places and delightful “bits” of scenery. Weston Cliff,

“Just rising from fair fields clad now in green, Its beauteous church-spire tap’ring o’er the wood,”

on the banks of “silver Trent,” is one of the most favourite and famous fishing resorts of the district, and its manifold attractions have often been the theme of the local poet’s song:—

“Sweet Weston Cliff! how beautiful art thou! How dark the firs that crown thy rugged brow! Adown thy sides the straggling white sloe falls, And blossom’d thorns outspread their snowy palls, And the glad furze hath beauteously unrolled For the Spring’s feet her gorgeous cloth of gold.”

Donington Cliff, too, on the river margin of the broad lands of Donington, the seat of the late Marquis of Hastings and of Mr. Hastings, father of the present Earl of Loudoun, is a charming spot, especially where, as shown in our engraving,

“Proud trees bend, and on Trent’s waves descry Their own bright image as it passes by,”

just where the boat-house and landing-place are situated. But we have no space wherein to describe the beauties of the neighbourhood, and must leave Melbourne to pass on to our next chapter.

SOMERLEYTON.

SOMERLEYTON, the Sumerledetun of Domesday survey, and occasionally in later times written Somerley, lies about six miles from Lowestoft, in the county of Suffolk, its nearest point on the coast being some four miles distant. At the time of the Conquest, Wihtred, a free man and a priest, held forty acres for a manor, and Ulf, a free man under the protection of Earl Gurth, held two carucates of land for a manor. The whole place was seized by the Conqueror, and given to Roger Bigod as steward. It was soon after held as one manor by Sir Peter Fitz-Osbert, whose son, Sir Roger Fitz-Osbert, was lord of the place, temp. Henry III., and was, 22nd Edward I. summoned to Parliament as Baron Osborne: he died in 1305-6. His sister, Isabel Fitz-Osbert, wife of Sir Walter Jernegan, or Jerningham, of Horham Jernegan, in Suffolk, and widow of Sir Henry de Walpole, became heiress to the Somerleyton estates on the death of her brother, and thus they passed into the Jernegan family.

The Jernegans, even at that time, boasted an ancient pedigree. The earliest of whom there is any record was living in 1182, and left by his wife Sibilla a son, Hubert, who, in 1203, married Margery, daughter and heiress of De Harling, of East Harling, and by her had issue, besides others, a son, Sir Hugh Jernegan, who married Ellen, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Englethorpe. Their son it was who married Isabel Fitz-Osbert, and thus acquired the manor of Somerleyton in her right. Their son, Sir Peter Jernegan, Knt., married three wives: first, Alice, daughter of Sir Hugh Germayne; secondly, Matilda, daughter of Sir Roger Herling; and thirdly, Ellen, daughter of Sir Roger de Huntingfield. By his first wife he had issue Sir John Jernegan, Knt., of Somerleyton, whose wife was Agatha, daughter of Sir Robert Shelton, of Shelton, Knt. Their son, Sir John Jernegan, who died in 1375, married Joan, daughter and co-heiress of Sir William de Kelveden and widow of Sir John Lowdham, by whom he had issue his son and successor, Sir John Jernegan, who, by his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Vise de Lou, Knt., of Shotley, had, besides other issue, a son, Sir Thomas Jernegan, Knt., who succeeded him, and who married Joan Appleyard, of Dunston, by whom he left a son, John Jernegan, who succeeded him. This gentleman married twice: by his first wife, Jane, daughter of Sir John Darell, of Calehill, he had a son and heir, John Jernegan, who married Isabel, daughter and heiress of Sir Gervase Clifton, Knt. The issue of this marriage was a son, Sir Edward Jernegan, who was knighted, and succeeded his father in the estates.

This Sir Edward Jernegan was married twice: first, to Margaret, daughter of Sir Edmund Bedingfield, Knt.; and, secondly, to Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Richard Scroope, son of Lord Scroope. By this second marriage he had, among other issue, a son, Sir Henry Jerningham, of Wingfield and Huntingfield Hall, in Suffolk, and of Coney, in Norfolk, Vice-Chamberlain and Master of the Horse to Queen Mary, from whom are descended the present Jerninghams of Staffordshire and other counties. By his first wife Sir Edward had issue six sons—Sir John, Sir Robert, Thomas, Olyf, Nicholas, and Edward—and two daughters: Ann, who became the wife of five husbands, and Margaret, who was twice married. He died in 1515, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir John Jernegan, of Somerleyton, who married Bridget, daughter of Sir Robert Drury, Knt., of Halsted, by whom, with other issue, he had a son, George Jernegan, who succeeded him, and who, having espoused Elye, daughter of Sir John Spelman, of Narborough, Knt., was succeeded by his son, John Jernegan. This gentleman married Catherine, daughter of George Brooke, Lord Cobham, and had by her issue four daughters, his co-heiresses—viz. Elizabeth; Katherine, married to Wymond Carew; Frances, married, first, to Thomas Bedingfield, and, secondly, to her relative Henry Jerningham, of Coney Park; and Margaret, married to —— Ford, of Butley. Frances, the third daughter, inherited Somerleyton, and conveyed it to her second husband, Henry Jerningham, who sold it to John Wentworth, Esq.

It will thus have been seen that the Jernegans (whose arms were—argent, three buckles, gules) held Somerleyton for no fewer than thirteen generations. In addition to this, they became possessed of the greater part of the King’s manor of the Island of Lothingland—a district occupying the north-east corner of the county of Suffolk, and containing the sixteen parishes of Somerleyton, Lowestoft, Corton, Gunton, Oulton, Ashby, Lound, Fritton, Flixton, Hopton, Blundeston, Gorleston, Belton, Burgh, Bradwell, and Herringfleet. In 1619 Henry Jerningham died at Cossey, nine years after having sold Somerleyton to John Wentworth, whose son was Sir John Wentworth, one of the chiefs of the Cavalier party of the district during the civil wars; and Cromwell and his troopers paid several visits to the old hall, making free with its forage, and “carrying away its musquets.” The village of Somerleyton appears, like its master, to have been staunchly loyal, and was harassed in consequence by the quartering of soldiers and the exaction of forced loans by the partisans of the Commonwealth. Ireton, in 1648, summoned the bailiffs of Yarmouth to meet him in conference at Somerleyton Hall, and there delivered to them the Lord General’s peremptory command, either to “ingarrison their town, or to demolish their walls and fortifications.” A rousing bonfire and bountiful distribution of bread and beer celebrated the restoration of King Charles II.

Sir John Wentworth records that “on the 14th day of March, 1642, Collonell Cromwell’s troope, and Captain Fountayne with his troope, and divers others, to the number of 140, came to Somerley Hall;” the day after they “tooke away muskets, bandeliers, rests, head-pieces, and one fowling-piece,” and other things of which no note was made. The Protector was, therefore, certainly an inmate of Somerleyton, and probably more than once. Matters changed, however: in 1660 an order was issued to the constables of Somerleyton and Ashby “to re-provide prayer books for their churches;” also to warn “all alehouse-keepers and butchers to enter recognisance for the observation of Lent and fish dayes.” The stout old knight did not live to see the King “enjoy his own again;” but his loyal widow did, and subscribed ten shillings “towards the building of a bone fire” upon St. George’s Day, 1661.

Sir John Wentworth married Anne Soame, but died without issue in 1651. From the Wentworths, Somerleyton passed to John Garneys, the son of Elizabeth Wentworth, sister of Sir Thomas Wentworth, who had become the wife of Charles Garneys, a member of the fine old Suffolk family who bore the alliterative motto of “God’s Grace Guides Garneys.” The Garneys (whose arms were—argent, a chevron engrailed, azure, between three escallop shells, sable) were originally seated at Boyland Hall, Morningthorpe, Norfolk, and at Heveringham and Kenton, in Suffolk. In 1672 the then representative of the family, Thomas Garneys, sold the estate to Admiral Sir Thomas Allin, Bart., a Suffolk worthy whose name figures prominently in history. Thomas Garneys then removed from Somerleyton to Boyland Hall, where he had a son, Wentworth Garneys, who married Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Abdy. Sir Thomas Allin was born in 1613, and was captain of one of the ships in the service of the Commonwealth which went over to the Prince of Wales. In 1663 he was constituted commander-in-chief in the Downs, and later on of the Mediterranean. In 1665 he struck the first blow of war with the Dutch by attacking their Smyrna fleet of forty ships with eight sail of the line, when, after making prizes of four ships, he drove the remaining thirty-six into Cadiz harbour. In the same year, in the great sea-fight off Lowestoft, when the English fleet, under the Duke of York, Prince Rupert, and others, engaged the Dutch fleet under Van Tromp, Admiral Allin held a command.

In the following year Allin was at the head of the White Squadron when the fleet fell upon the Dutch van, routing it and killing the three Dutch admirals who commanded that division. In the same year Allin attacked the French fleet, boarding and capturing the Ruby of fifty-four guns. Three years later “he sailed with a strong squadron to chastise the Algerines,” which he accomplished, and returned home worn out in the heavy services of his country. In consideration of these many services Admiral Allin was created a baronet in 1673, and retired to Somerleyton, which, as has been stated, he had recently purchased. A portrait of the brave old admiral, who was called “the Scourge of Yarmouth,” is now at Somerleyton. That town took the side of the Parliament in the civil war, while Lowestoft was profoundly loyal. Sir Thomas married, first, Alice, daughter of Captain Whiting, of Lowestoft, by whom he had issue one son—Thomas Allin, his successor—and two daughters: Anne, who died unmarried, and Alice, married to Edmund Anguish, Esq., of Moulton, in the county of Norfolk, whose son inherited the estates and title; and, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Anguish, Esq., and sister of his son-in-law, by whom he had no issue. Sir Thomas died in 1686 or 1688, and was buried at Somerleyton. He was succeeded by his son, Sir Thomas Allin, who married Mary, daughter of John Caldwall, of London; but, dying without issue in 1696, the baronetcy became extinct, and the estates devolved upon his nephew, Richard Anguish, Esq., son of Alice Allin and her husband, Edmund Anguish, Esq. The arms of Allin were—gules, three swords barwise, points to the sinister side, argent, hilts and pomels, or, between four mullets of the third. Crest—a sword in pale, point upwards.

This Alice Allin had issue by her husband, Edmund Anguish, three sons—Richard, Edmund, and Allin—the eldest of whom, Richard, inherited Somerleyton, and having, in accordance with the will of his uncle, assumed the arms and surname of Allin, was created a baronet in 1699: the descendants of Edmund, the second son, afterwards inherited the estates. Sir Richard Allin (formerly Anguish) married Frances, only daughter of Sir Henry Ashurst, Bart., of Waterstock, by whom he had issue four sons—Thomas Allin, Henry Allin, Richard Allin, and the Rev. Ashurst Allin—and one daughter, Diana, married to Thomas Henry Ashurst, Esq., of Waterstock. Sir Richard died in 1725, and was succeeded in his title and estates by his eldest son, Sir Thomas Allin, Bart., who, dying unmarried in 1764, was succeeded by his brother, the Rev. Sir Ashurst Allin, Bart., Rector of Blundeston-cum-Flixton, who married Thomasin Norris, and, dying in 1770, was succeeded by his only son, Sir Thomas Allin, Bart. This gentleman died unmarried in 1794, when the baronetcy again became extinct, the Somerleyton estates passing to his distant kinsman, Thomas Anguish, Esq., as will now be shown.

Edmund Anguish, second son of Alice Allin, and her husband, Edmund Anguish, married Mary Betts, by whom he had issue two sons—the Rev. Thomas and Edmund—and two daughters, Mary and Dorothy. The Rev. Thomas Anguish, who was of Halesworth, married Mary Eling, of Beccles, and, dying in 1763, was succeeded by his son, Thomas Anguish, Accountant-General to the Court of Chancery; who, marrying Sarah Henley, of Docking, had issue by her three sons—Thomas, the Rev. George, and Charles—and three daughters, Catherine, Anne, and Charlotte. The eldest of the sons, Thomas Anguish, it was who inherited the estates of Somerleyton on the death of his kinsman, Sir Thomas Allin, Bart., when the title became extinct. This Thomas Anguish died unmarried in 1810, and was succeeded by his brother, the Rev. George Anguish, from whom, in 1843 (when the line became extinct), the estates passed to the son of his sister, Catherine Anguish, who, in 1788, had married Francis Godolphin-Osborne, fifth Duke of Leeds, she being his second wife. By this union she had issue Lord Sidney Godolphin-Osborne and Lady Anne Sarah Godolphin, married to John Whyte-Melville, Esq. Their son, Captain Whyte-Melville, is the distinguished author of many works of fiction. The arms of Anguish were—gules, a cinquefoil, pierced, or; the crest—a snake coiled, encircled with grass; and the motto—“Latet anguis in herbâ.”

The Somerleyton estate, having come by descent to Lord Sidney Godolphin-Osborne, was sold by him, in 1844, to Samuel Morton Peto, Esq., the extensive “contractor,” who had become the purchaser of the Norwich and Lowestoft ship canal, and to whose enterprise Lowestoft owes its railway, its pier, its harbour, &c. By Samuel Morton Peto the old mansion was entirely rearranged, extended, and altered; and by him also was the church, in a measure, rebuilt, and the village entirely remodelled, at a large outlay.

We should neglect an essential part of our duty if we omitted to do tender homage to that most enterprising and liberal gentleman. He “created” Somerleyton, so to speak, made it the grand and beautiful edifice it now is, formed its grounds, constructed and ornamented its delicious winter garden, hung the rooms with pictures, and filled the library with useful and pleasant books. Unhappily, circumstances prevented his enjoying them. Fortune, ever capricious, consigned it to other hands; the rich contractor had to sustain a reverse, and the “earthly paradise” passed from his hands into those of another. Happily, however, that other was the well-known late Sir Francis Crossley, who became the owner of the property, by purchase, in 1862.

Sir Francis Crossley had no pedigree to trace; his father was a self-made man, and he a self-made millionaire. His father was a journeyman carpet-weaver; his mother, herself a farmer’s daughter, was a farm servant. The mother lived to a ripe old age; the father to start the now famous firm of Crossley and Sons, and see it in a fair way to success. The humble origin of Sir Francis Crossley was a matter which he loved unostentatiously to trace. “Many years after the marriage,” he related on one occasion, “my father and mother took Dean Clough Mills. As my mother went with her usual energy to that place, down the yard at four o’clock in the morning, she made a vow—‘If the Lord does bless us at this place, the poor shall taste of it.’ It is to this vow, given with so much faithfulness, and kept with so much fidelity, that I attribute the great success my father had in business.” Sir Francis Crossley’s benefactions were large. To the town of Halifax, in 1857, he gave the People’s Park, at a cost of about £40,000. About 1861 there was commenced the erection of the Crossley Orphan Home and School on Skircoat Moor, which was built and endowed by Messrs. John, Francis, and Joseph Crossley, at a cost of £65,000. The building has accommodation for four hundred children. It was provided by the Messrs. Crossley with an endowment of £3,000 a year, but this sum has been increased from other sources. In 1871 he gave £10,000 to the Corporation of Halifax as a loan fund for the benefit of deserving inhabitants. Out of this fund men may borrow to the extent of £300, and women to the extent of £100, at 2½ per cent., on certain conditions, one being that £10 of the principal shall be paid back annually. Then he gave £10,000 to the Congregational Pastors’ Retiring Fund; £10,000 to a fund for the relief of widows of Congregational pastors; and £20,000 to the London Missionary Society—making a total within a short time of £60,000. He was a member of the Independent body, but he was a liberal contributor to every good cause. Sir Francis was born in 1817, and from 1852 to 1859 sat as M.P. for Halifax; from 1859 to 1865 for the West Riding of Yorkshire; from 1865 to 1868 for the North-west Riding; and from the latter year until 1872 for the north division of the West Riding of the same county; having thus sat in Parliament for an unbroken period of twenty years. He married, in 1845, Martha Eliza, daughter of the late Henry Brinton, Esq., of Kidderminster, by whom he left issue an only surviving child, the present Sir Savile Brinton Crossley. Sir Francis was created a baronet in 1863.

The present baronet, and owner of the immense estates and wealth of Sir Francis, is his son, Sir Savile Brinton Crossley, who was born in 1857, and succeeded to the title in 1872.

The arms of Crossley are—gules, a chevron indented, ermine, between two cross-crosslets in chief, and a saltire couped in base, or. Crest—a demi-hind erased, proper, charged with two bars, or, and holding between the feet a cross-crosslet, or. Motto—“Omne bonum ab alto.” The family seats are Somerleyton, near Lowestoft, in Suffolk, and Belle Vue, Halifax, Yorkshire.

The old hall of Somerleyton was one of the finest of the old brick mansions remaining, and possessed many interesting features. Fuller, the quaint old writer whose words are so often quoted, ranked it among the best of the many fine houses of the county of Suffolk, and says that it well deserved the name of Somerleyton, for here summer is to be seen in the depth of winter—the grounds being planted with evergreens, and the pleasant walks beset on both sides with fir-trees, green all the year round, besides other curiosities.

The Park, about two hundred acres in extent, is rich in beauty, and includes a deer park. Two miles from the house, in the direction of Yarmouth, there is a drive through ornamental grounds, and a “decoy” on a splendid sheet of water three miles long, and a quarter of a mile in breadth, called Fritton Lake. It abounds with a variety of fish, and is the resort of widgeons, ducks, teal, grebes, and other wild fowl during the season, which begins in October and ends in April. Vast quantities are taken yearly. The banks of this fine sheet of water are fringed with wood, and two or three gentlemen’s houses and pleasure-grounds add interest to the scenery. The lake separates the parishes of Fritton, Herringfleet, Belton, Lound, and Ashby; and in the Herringfleet woods, belonging to Major Leathes, there is a heronry. The owner of Somerleyton, to whom belongs a large portion of the lake, has a beautiful drive on one side of it, extending for nearly two miles, winding through plantations comprising choice specimens of pines, &c., with occasional peeps of the lake on one side, and heath and woods on the other. The lake—such is its natural and yet cultivated beauty—might be a bit of the lovely shire of Devon planted among the bare plains of Suffolk. It is zig-zag in form; tiny peninsulas jut into it, clothed with graceful firs and thick underwood, among which tall ferns luxuriate; the steeps have gradual ascents from the banks; closely planted trees of many varieties completely cover them; and it is only now and then that glimpses are caught of the water.

The lake is close and compact, and on no side does there seem any opening, only footpaths lead to it from the adjacent roads. Its solitary character—out of the way of passing intruders—and its thickness of composition, render it a favourite shelter of wild fowl. They do not, however, enjoy solitude in security. Man is always astir in search of prey: three “decoys” are active at all seasons to entrap the unsuspicious and unwary. One of them was in operation during our visit. Domestic ducks were sailing in and out of a narrow passage, quacking and playing and feeding, to show their wild cousins outside that no danger was near. Two or three bolder than the rest summoned courage to enter, and very soon were in the net-trap that furnished the bag of the gamekeeper.

This charming scene of mingled wood and water adds materially to the attractions of the locality; and here Art has been brought to the aid of Nature.

Passing in at the North Lodge, visitors are generally conducted through the kitchen and fruit gardens, the vineries, hothouses, and conservatories, to a sloping lawn facing the Winter Garden and north front of the house, from which point a charming scene presents itself. “Before us,” says a recent writer, “in a setting of old forest trees, cedars, aged thorns, clumps of azaleas, and rhododendrons, rises, as if evoked by a magician’s wand, a range of fantastic palaces of glass, their many sheeny domes and pinnacles sparkling like diamond facets in the noonday sun, and their contours and traceried outlines of graceful arabesques backed and thrown into relief by the deep red brick-work of the towers, gables, and campaniles of the hall.”

On the left is an aviary of gold and silver pheasants, screening a part of the offices. The area covered by the Winter Garden is one hundred feet square. Within the decorations are Renaissance, of a light and elegant character. Four main alleys converge under the great mosque dome, beneath which is a fountain supported on a rockery of ferns by four dolphins, and surmounted by a marble statue of the “Nymph of the Lily.”

From the central alley numerous aisles diverge to an outer one, circumscribing the building. The roof is supported by light iron columns covered with fuchsias and beautiful creepers, with wire baskets of flowers suspended overhead. Parterres of rare exotics, and large majolica vases filled with flowers, occupy the grand space. At the corners and in other parts are life-sized statues: mirrors and other appliances add to the beauty of the whole. The south side opens to the Billiard, Morning, and Withdrawing Rooms. Aviaries of singing-birds are placed at intervals throughout the garden, and in the corridor leading to the Palm-house are a fern-grotto and fountain. The whole, it should be specially noted, may be lit with gas.

From the Winter Garden the visitor is shown the Italian Garden, opposite the west front. This front of the house opens upon a noble terrace, three hundred feet in length, enriched with statuary, vases, &c., from which three flights of steps lead down to the Dutch Garden, laid out in geometrical form by Nesfield, in the same general manner as that by him at Castle Howard, which we have heretofore described. In the centre of this parterre is a noble sundial, and from this point, looking to the south, a view is obtained of the grand avenue of fine old lime-trees, four hundred and fifty yards in length, at the termination of which the Church of Somerleyton is seen. Near to this avenue, in which are some fine sculptured figures and groups and other objects, is a double avenue of elm-trees. In this garden will be especially noticed two admirably sculptured figures of “Night” and “Morning,” by the late John Thomas, an artist of eminence and great ability, whose advice is understood to have greatly guided Sir Morton Peto in the adornment of the beautiful house; he may, indeed, be described as “the architect.” There is also (but on the other side of the Winter Garden) a drinking-fountain, created by a statue, the work of Joseph Durham, A.R.A., of a milkmaid, her pail at her feet, in an attitude that implies outlook for the kine.

The West Front, one hundred and fifty feet in length, is composed of a central tower and two wings, with large bay windows. The entrance is by a porch in the central tower.

The Corridor, lined with wainscot, leads to a finely panelled Hall, from which a staircase ascends to the upper suites of apartments. The Hall is hung with arms and curious and valuable armour, one suit of which, of remarkably fine design and the most exquisite workmanship, is inlaid with gold, and bears a German motto, and the date 1652. Over the massive chimney-piece the wall is decorated by Maclise’s large oil-painting of “Chivalry.” It contains also other valuable works of Art; among them a fine picture of deer by Sir Edwin Landseer, in his best manner and his best time. In the stained-glass windows are the arms of some of the successive owners of Somerleyton—Allin, Anguish, Godolphin-Osborne, Peto, Crossley, &c. On the landing is a portrait-picture of George and Robert Stephenson, and in the passage from the Staircase to the Boudoir are “Edward the Confessor leaving his Crown to Harold,” and “Harold’s Oath to William, Duke of Normandy,” pictures of great merit by John Cross. There is also in the Hall a grand colossal statue of Æneas. In the outer Hall—placed on a very graceful pedestal—is a marble statue of a boy who has been gathering shells by the seashore; it is a portrait-statue of the present baronet, and is one of the charming works of Joseph Durham, A.R.A.

The Dining-hall, which is two stories in height, has a rich carved polychrome ceiling in compartments, and cornices of oak, with gilt reliefs, and clusters of fruit and wreaths of flowers. It has a huge pyramidal chimney-piece, supported by two full-length caryatides, “Summer” and “Winter,” by John Thomas. The ceiling is carried on brackets supported by heads of the roebuck, wild boar, &c. In the stained-glass windows are medallion-portraits of Newton, Watt, Chaucer, Shakspere, Wren, and Reynolds, surmounted by allegorical figures of the liberal sciences. On either side the fire-place are chefs-d’œuvre of Stanfield fitted into panels, and above these are frescoes by Maclise and Horsley. The furniture is massive and appropriate, and a fine minstrel’s gallery adds much to the beauty of the room. In this gallery is a fine mechanical orchestral organ. The two paintings by Stanfield are, we believe, the largest in size of his productions, and undoubtedly his best works. They are so well known as to need no description here: one is the Storming of St. Sebastian, the other the dismantled Victory towed into Gibraltar after the battle of Trafalgar. These are monuments to the memory of one of the greatest painters of any age. In this most beautiful room also hang a “St. Simeon,” by Guido, and a large and very fine example of G. Lance: it is called “The Seneschal,” and is certainly the best work of this artist.

The Breakfast-room, a charming apartment filled with choice objects, commands a view down one of the avenues; in it are the “Italian Peasants,” by Armitage, landscapes by Constable, a fruit-piece by Hunt, &c.

The Library has a beautiful ceiling, and is fitted with carved book-cases, containing editions of all modern authors. In the extensive collection few works of merit and interest are omitted. Over the chimney-piece, with its motto, “Learn to live, live to learn,” is Rembrandt’s grand picture of “Ferdinand and Isabella;” and there are also portraits of Milton and Shakspere, the latter a “life” portrait from Stowe.

The old Drawing-room is wainscoted throughout, and the cornices, door-heads, and mirror-frame are exquisitely and elaborately carved with game, and groups and festoons of fruit and flowers, attributed to Gibbons. In the upper lights of tho windows, of modern insertion, landscapes are introduced.

The Drawing-room, Billiard-room, and other apartments are all of equal elegance, and all filled with costly furniture and choice works of Art, among which are paintings by Beverley, Lance, Solomon, Mole, and others.

In the upper rooms of the house—not, of course, shown to visitors—is preserved the ancient tapestry which adorned the walls of the old mansion; and here, too, are many gems of Art, including examples of Wright of Derby, Wilson, Bright, and others; with Manuel’s “Voyage Subjects,” twenty-two in number. The subjects of the tapestry are as follows:—In the Tapestry-room, the “Story of Lucretia;” in the Dressing-room, portions of a very large tapestry, “The Passage of the Red Sea,” “Moses striking the Rock,” &c. The “Story of Lucretia” is in five panels, very beautifully wrought, obviously from the designs of an accomplished artist. There are also pictures of great worth in some of these rooms; notably a portrait by Holbein of his mother, a series of charming drawings by Henry Bright, and several fine proof engravings of great pictures. Many of the pieces of furniture were purchased at Stowe, and are of great rarity and worth—brilliant examples of Art of a past but honoured age.

The Business-room is a finely groined apartment, hung with rich old tapestry, and contains, among other works of Art, three pictures by Herring, one attributed to Rubens, and some good examples of the old Dutch masters.

The Stables (flanked by a clock-tower of much elegance) lie to the right of the main entrance; they are models of architectural beauty, and are, of course, fitted up with all the modern appliances of comfort and convenience.

In the Church of Somerleyton are preserved the old rood-screen, containing sixteen painted panels of saints, and some of the monuments from the older edifice. Among these are memorials to Admiral Sir Thomas Allin, to Sir John Wentworth and his lady, and to Sir Thomas Jernegan—an altar-tomb, on which, according to Weever and Camden, there was formerly the inscription—

“Jesu Christ, both God and Man, Save thy servant Jernegan.”

On the front of the tomb are three, and at each end one, lozenge-formed panels, in each of which is a quatrefoil with trefoiled cusps. In the centre of each is a shield of arms. On the top of the tomb are places where brasses have at one time been fixed. Among the arms are Appleyard impaled with Jernegan. This tomb has been much impaired by time. It is now, however, carefully preserved.

Another slab bears the inscription, “Margaret Jernegan, the wyef of Edward Jernegan, Esquyer, daughter of Sir Edmund Bedingfelde, Knt., which Margaret dyed the xxiiij of Marche, anno MDIII.”

The monument to Sir John Wentworth and his lady bears figures of the knight in armour, with the peaked beard of the times, and the lady habited in a plain dress; an escutcheon has the arms of Wentworth, azure, a saltire, ermine, between four eagles displayed, or; impaling Soame, gules, a chevron between three mullets, or, quartered with, second, azure, two bars gemelles and a canton, or, charged with a tun, and, third, gules, six annulets, or.

The memorial to Sir Thomas Allin is a tablet bearing the following inscription:—“Near this place lies interred Sir Thomas Allin, Bart., whose unshaken fidelity to his sovereign, Charles ye 2nd, was rewarded with many marks of his royal favour, having had the honour of serving him as Admiral in his fleets, in the British and Mediterranean Seas; Controller of the Navy, Captain of Sandgate Castle, and Master of the Trinity House. He died in 1686 in ye 73 year of his age.”

The Church is seen from many parts of the grounds of Somerleyton Hall—always a pleasant object in the landscape—through a grand avenue of elms: a wood-walk footpath leads to it from the house. A fine piece of the park forms a portion of the glebe. The Church is dedicated to St. Mary. A singular and interesting octangular font (in some parts recut), with an inscription, now illegible, is one of its few remains of antiquity.

There is also a small modern Chapel at a little distance from the house, where service is held on Sundays. It was originally erected as a Baptist chapel by Sir Morton Peto. Close to it is a Maze of dwarf yews, kept with exceeding nicety: in the centre is a graceful temple, from the seats of which views are obtained of the gardens and conservatories.

The Conservatories are of great extent, divided into “houses” for all the rarer plants, with vineries, pine-pits, and all the other accessories of abundance at every season of the year.

The principal entrance to the mansion is through iron gates, the stone piers, supporting deer couchant, sculptured by John Thomas. This view we have engraved on page 207: it is at once graceful and commanding.

Somerleyton is a magnificent house, but it was erected with a view to comfort as well as elegance; all the rooms, both above and below, are so constructed as to suggest the idea of home; the “appliances and means” of wealth have been judiciously exerted to promote the rational enjoyment of life; ease has not been sacrificed to state; and grandeur has been less studied than content. The house is splendid, and yet homely; there is none of the burden of magnificence either in the mansion or the grounds, while ostentation seems as far removed from the lofty and munificently furnished apartments as from those which ornament a simple cottage dwelling.

Its perfect architectural details, its noble conservatories, its garden, its avenues—one of elm, another of lime trees, stretching from the house across the park—its numerous vases and statues, happily placed—and especially its Winter Garden—all perfect when viewed separately, and all joined in admirable harmony—render Somerleyton remarkable among the most beautiful modern mansions of the kingdom, and do honour to the sculptor-architect under whose superintendence it was planned and executed. Somerleyton, therefore, may be described as one of the gems of the county of Suffolk—a county rich in baronial mansions, abundant of historic events, and full of traditions of the earliest, as well as of mediæval, ages in England.

It would be a long list that which gave even the names of the baronial halls in this grand historic county, and it would far exceed our space to give details of its ancient monuments—Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman—to say nothing of those that have descended to us from the still earlier Britons, many relics of whom are yet to be found in the neighbourhood. Suffolk is, indeed, if less graced by natural beauties than some other of our English shires, rich among the richest of them in antiquities and in traditions, while it has a high and prominent place in British history.

The scenery that neighbours Somerleyton is purely English; the lanes are pleasant and picturesque in spring and summer; the land is productive; the broad river Waveney fertilises miles upon miles of green or arable banks between which it runs; the trees have prodigious growth; and, above all, the sea is near at hand; the German Ocean rolls its waves into the harbours of these eastern shores, bearing the wealth that thousands of hardy fishermen gather in during every month of the year.

From any of the heights, which, though not numerous, occur occasionally, and, in a degree, from any of the roads that skirt the shore, may be seen a “multitudinous shipping,” so to say, from the huge three-master and the grand steamship to the comparatively small fishing-smacks that dot the sea-scape, and the heavily weighted coal vessels that are bearing sources of wealth to all parts of the world. It is to the fishing-smacks the locality is mainly indebted for its prosperity; but Lowestoft now holds rank among the fashionable and most frequented sea watering-places of the kingdom.

WILTON HOUSE.

WE do not refer to the earlier families who held the title of Earls, &c., of Pembroke—those of Montgomery, of Clare, of Marshall, of De Valence, and of Hastings—as they, although the predecessors of the Herberts in the title, were not so in regard to the estates. It has been well said by Sir Bernard Burke that “the name of Pembroke, like the scutcheons and monuments in some time-honoured cathedral, cannot fail to awaken a thousand glorious recollections in the bosoms of all who are but tolerably read in English chronicles. Sound it, and no trumpet of ancient or modern chivalry would peal a higher war-note. It is almost superfluous to repeat that this is the family of which it has been so finely said, that ‘all the men were brave, and all the women chaste;’ and what nobler record was ever engraved upon the tomb of departed greatness?”

We commence our notes with William ap Thomas, whose ancestors traced back to Henry Fitz-Herbert, chamberlain to King Henry I. This Sir William ap Thomas (who was the son of Thomas ap Gwillim ap Jenkin, by his wife Maud, daughter and heiress of Sir John Morley, Knight, Lord of Raglan Castle) married Gladys, daughter of Sir Richard Gam, and widow of Sir Roger Vaughan, by whom he had three sons and a daughter. The eldest of these sons was “created Lord of Raglan, Chepstow, and Gower, and commanded to assume the surname of Herbert, in honour of his ancestor,” the chamberlain to King Henry I., and afterwards Earl of Pembroke. “He was succeeded by his son, who renounced the earldom of Pembroke for that of Huntingdon, at the request of King Edward IV., that monarch being anxious to dignify his son, Prince Edward, with the title of Earl of Pembroke.

The honour, however, reverted to the Herberts in the reign of Edward VI., who conferred it upon Sir William Herbert.” This William Herbert, who had married Anne, sister of Queen Catherine Parr, was knighted by Henry VIII., and was appointed executor, or “conservator,” of the King’s will; and shared with Sir Anthony Denny the honour of riding to Windsor in the chariot with the royal corpse, when Henry’s ashes were committed to their final resting-place. By Edward VI. Sir William was elevated to the peerage by the titles of Baron Herbert of Cardiff and Earl of Pembroke. In 1551 his wife, the Countess of Pembroke, “died at Baynard’s Castle, and was carried into St. Paul’s in this order: first, there went an hundred poor men and women in mantle-freez gowns; next followed the heralds, and then the corse, about which were eight bannerels of armes, then came the mourners, lordes, knights, and gentlemen; after them the ladies and gentlewomen mourners, to the number of 200 in all; next came in coats 200 of her own and other servants. She was interred by the tomb of the Duke of Lancaster; and after, her banners were set up over her, and her armes set on divers pillars.” The Earl died March 17th, 1569-70, and was succeeded by his son Henry as Earl of Pembroke. This nobleman was thrice married; first, to Catherine, daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, from whom he was afterwards divorced; secondly, to Catherine, daughter of George, Earl of Shrewsbury; and, thirdly, to Mary Sidney, daughter to Sir Henry Sidney, Knight of the Garter, by his wife, the Lady Mary, daughter of John, Duke of Northumberland. This lady, the third wife of the Earl of Pembroke, was sister to one of the greatest of all great Englishmen—Sir Philip Sidney; and it was for her special delight that he, while visiting her at Wilton, wrote his inimitable “Arcadia.” By this lady the Earl of Pembroke had two sons, William and Philip, both of whom in turn succeeded to the earldom. The Countess, “Sidney’s sister, Pembroke’s mother,” “a principal ornament to the family of the Sidneys,” and of whom Spenser wrote that she was

“The gentlest shepherdess that liv’d that day, And most resembling, both in shape and spirit, Her brother dear,”

survived her husband some time, and at her death, which took place in 1621, that beautiful epitaph so often quoted, and as often erroneously ascribed to Ben Jonson, was penned by William Browne, and will bear again quoting here:—

“Underneath this sable hearse Lies the subject of all verse; Sidney’s sister! Pembroke’s mother! Death, ere thou hast slain another Fair, and learn’d, and good as she, Time shall throw a dart at thee! Marble piles let no man raise To her name for after days; Some kind woman, born as she, Reading this, like Niobe Shall turn marble, and become Both her mourner and her tomb.”

William, third Earl of Pembroke under the new creation, eldest son of the Earl and of “Sidney’s sister,” succeeded to the title and estates on the death of his father in 1600-1. Of him Aubrey says, “He was of a most noble person, and the glory of the court in the reigne of King James and King Charles. He was handsome and of an admirable presence.

‘Gratior et pulchro veniens a corpore virtus.’

He was the greatest Mecænas to learned men of any peer of his time—or since. He was very generous and open-handed. He gave a noble collection of choice bookes and manuscripts to the Bodleian Library at Oxford, which remain there as an honourable monument of his munificence. ‘Twas thought, had he not been suddenly snatcht away by death, to the grief of all learned and good men, that he would have been a great benefactor to Pembroke College, in Oxford; whereas, there remains only from him a great piece of plate that he gave there. He was a good scholar, and delighted in poetrie; and did sometimes, for his diversion, write some sonnets and epigrammes which deserve commendation. Some of them are in print in a little book in 8vo., intituled ‘Poems writt by William, Earle of Pembroke, and Sir Benjamin Ruddyer, Knight, 1660.’”

His lordship married Mary, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Gilbert, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury, by his countess, Mary, daughter of Sir William Cavendish, of Chatsworth, and his wife, Elizabeth Hardwick—“Bess of Hardwick”—afterwards Countess of Shrewsbury. By this marriage the Earl of Pembroke had two sons, who died in their infancy. Dying without surviving issue, he was succeeded in the title and estates by his brother, Philip Herbert, who thus became fourth Earl of Pembroke, and was shortly afterwards created Earl of Montgomery, and appointed Lord Chamberlain, Gentleman of the King’s Bed-chamber, and Lord Warden of the Stannaries. He was twice married: first, to Lady Susan Vere, daughter to the Earl of Oxford, by whom he had a numerous family; and, secondly, to Anne, daughter and heiress of George, Earl of Cumberland, and widow of Richard, Earl of Dorset.

Dying in 1649-51, the Earl was succeeded by his fourth but eldest surviving son, Philip, as Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. This nobleman married, first, Penelope, daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Naunton; and, secondly, Catherine, daughter of Sir William Villiers, and, dying in 1669-70, was in his turn succeeded by the eldest son of his first marriage, William, who, dying unmarried, was succeeded by his half-brother, Philip (the son of his father by his second wife), who thus became seventh Earl of Pembroke, and fourth Earl of Montgomery. This nobleman married Henrietta de Querouaille, sister to the Duchess of Portsmouth, but dying without male issue, the title and estates devolved on his younger brother, Thomas, eighth Earl of Pembroke, who held distinguished offices under William III., Queen Anne, and George I., and was the founder of the noble collection of sculptures, &c., at Wilton. His lordship married three times, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry, as ninth earl, of whose taste Lord Orford says, “Besides his works at Wilton, the new lodge in Windsor Park, the Countess of Suffolk’s house at Marble Hill, Twickenham, the water house in Lord Orford’s park at Houghton, are incontestable proofs of his taste: it was more than taste, it was passion for the utility and honour of his country, that engaged his lordship to promote and assiduously overlook the construction of Westminster Bridge by the ingenious Monsieur Labeyle.”

He was succeeded in the title and estates by his son, Henry, as tenth Earl of Pembroke and Earl of Montgomery, who, marrying Elizabeth, second daughter of Charles Spencer, Duke of Marlborough, had issue one son and one daughter, and, dying in 1794, was succeeded by his son, George Augustus Herbert, as eleventh Earl of Pembroke, &c.

That nobleman married, first, in 1784, Elizabeth, daughter of Topham Beauclerk, Esq., son of Lord Sidney Beauclerk, and by her, who died in 1793, had issue the Lady Diana, married to the Earl of Normanton, and one son, Robert Henry, who succeeded him; and, secondly, in 1808, Catherine, daughter of Count Woronzow, the Russian ambassador, by whom he had issue one son, the Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., and Secretary for War, created, in 1861, Lord Herbert of Lea (which title has now merged into the earldom of Pembroke), and five daughters—viz. the Lady Elizabeth, married to the Earl of Clanwilliam; the Lady Mary Caroline; the Lady Catherine; the Lady Georgiana; and the Lady Emma. His lordship, dying in 1827, was succeeded by the son of his first marriage, Robert Henry Herbert, as twelfth Earl of Pembroke, &c. This nobleman was born in 1791, and married, in 1814, the Princess Octavia Spinelli, daughter of the Duke of Lorraine, and widow of the Sicilian Prince Buttera de Rubari, by whom he had no issue. He died in 1862, and (his half-brother, Sidney Herbert, Baron Herbert of Lea, the heir to the title, having died a few months before him) was succeeded by his nephew (the son of that honoured statesman), George Robert Charles Herbert, the present peer—the thirteenth earl—then a minor.

The Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, who was born in 1810, married, in 1846, Elizabeth, only daughter of Lieutenant-General Charles Ashe A’Court, who survives him, and is the present Baroness Herbert of Lea. By her he had issue four sons and three daughters—viz. George Robert Charles Herbert, now Earl of Pembroke; Sidney, Lord Herbert, who is heir-presumptive to his brother, and was born in 1853; William Reginald Herbert, born in 1854; Michael Henry Herbert, born in 1857; Mary Catherine Herbert, born in 1849; Elizabeth Maude Herbert, born in 1851; and Constance Gwladys, born in 1859. Lord Herbert of Lea died in 1861, and was succeeded in that title by his eldest son, George Robert Charles Herbert, then eleven years of age, and who, eight months later, succeeded to the full family estates and earldom.

The present peer, the Right Hon. George Robert Charles, thirteenth Earl of Pembroke, Earl of Montgomery, Baron Herbert of Cardiff, Baron Herbert of Shurland, and Baron Herbert of Lea, Hereditary Visitor of Jesus College, Oxford, and High Steward of Wilton, was born July 6th, 1850, and succeeded his father as second Baron Herbert of Lea, in 1861, and his uncle as Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, &c., in 1862. His lordship, in 1874, married the Lady Gertrude Frances Talbot, daughter of the eighteenth Earl of Shrewsbury, and sister of the present earl.

The arms of the Earl of Pembroke are—party per pale, azure and gules, three lions rampant, argent. The crest is a wyvern, vert, holding in its mouth a sinister hand couped at the wrist, gules. The supporters are—dexter, a panther guardant, argent, incensed, spotted, or, vert, sable, azure, and gules alternately, ducally collared, azure; sinister, a lion, argent, ducally collared, or. Motto—“Ung je serviray.” The Earl is patron of twelve livings, ten of which are in Wiltshire, one in Dorsetshire, and one in Shropshire.

His lordship’s brothers and sisters, children of Lord Herbert of Lea, were, on his succeeding to the earldom, raised to the rank of earls’ children by royal warrant in 1862.

Wilton, a town of “great antiquity,” is situated at the conflux of the rivers Nadder and Willey, from the latter of which it is said to derive its name—“Willytown” or “Wilton:” “in Latin it is called Ellandunum.” The ancient Britons had one of their chief seats here; it was a capital of the West Saxons, and was undoubtedly famous long before the Norman Conquest. Afterwards it obtained renown from the number and importance of its monastic establishments. Leland informs us that it had over twelve parish churches. Of its abbey there are no remains. It was dissolved in the thirty-fifth year of King Henry VIII., and the site and buildings given to Sir William Herbert, afterwards created Earl of Pembroke; while from its relics Wilton House was principally built.[47]

Wilton House—one of the grandest and most beautiful in the kingdom, and the entrance to which adjoins the town—stands on the site of a monastery of Saxon foundation, which, on the dissolution, was levelled with the ground. As we have just intimated, no portion whatever of the monastic buildings remains, but there can be no doubt they were of considerable extent and importance. The mansion was built partly from the designs, it is said, of Hans Holbein, to whom is ascribed the porch, which, however, in the early part of the present century was much altered. “The garden front was built by M. Solomon de Caus in the reign of Charles I., and, having been destroyed by fire in 1648, was re-erected by Webb from plans which are presumed to have been furnished by Inigo Jones. In the commencement of the present century the house was considerably enlarged and remodelled by James Wyatt, R.A., one of the principal additions being the cloisters for the display and preservation of the magnificent collection of sculptures. The general plan of the house is a hollow square, the glazed cloister occupying the central space.”

In this Cloister, and in the Hall that leads to it, are the famous “marbles” which form so prominent a feature in the attractions of Wilton—statues, busts, bassi-relievi, urns, vases, fragments of various kinds—a wonderful assemblage of remains of Greece and Rome.[48] The collection was formed towards the close of the last century by Thomas, Earl of Pembroke, who purchased such of the Earl of Arundel’s collection as had been placed in the house, which were principally busts; to these he added many purchased at the dispersion of the Giustiniani collection of marbles, and also at the dispersion of the Mazarin collection, and from various other sources.

The Hall contains several statues; but its interest is derived from the many suits of armour by which it is adorned: they are chiefly trophies and memorials of the battle of St. Quentin, fought in 1557, in which the Earl of Pembroke commanded the forces of England. One of the suits was worn by the Earl, and two of them were, it is said, worn by the Constable Montmorency and the Duc de Montpensier, both taken prisoners at that eventful fight. A passage from the Hall leads to the Cloisters, from which, on either side, are entrances to the various apartments: these are furnished with judgment and taste, but their attractions are the pictures that adorn the walls.

The renowned “family picture” by Vandyke is beyond question the great painter’s masterpiece: it is 17 feet in length, by 11 feet in height, and fills one end of the drawing-room. It contains ten whole-length figures, the two principal of which are Philip, Earl of Pembroke, and his lady, Susan, daughter of Edward, Earl of Oxford. On the right stand their three sons, on the left their daughter and her husband, Robert, Earl of Carnarvon. Before them is Lady Mary, the wife of Charles, Lord Herbert, and above them, in the clouds, are two sons and a daughter who died young. It is a most grand and glorious work, the value of which is not to be estimated by money.

The room, which is called also the Cube Room, contains some thirteen other pictures, the productions of Vandyke.

Other of the great old masters are well represented in the several apartments of the mansion: many of them are, indeed, of great beauty and value.

We might occupy much space by printing a list of these pictures: they comprise a large number of the great Italian artists. They are, however, such as one usually meets in these palatial residences, and are thrown into comparative obscurity by the glorious assemblage of Vandykes.

In Lady Pembroke’s Summer Dressing-room there is a Gothic window by Price, “to whom Parliament granted £5,000 for having discovered the ancient method of staining glass.”

The house is made thoroughly comfortable as a home; it has never been abandoned by the family, but has been their continual residence. Everywhere, consequently, there is an aspect of thorough comfort. Grace, elegance, and indeed splendour, are sufficiently apparent, but the obvious study has long been to render the dwelling in all respects the abode of an English nobleman who loved to live among his own people. None will wonder at this who knew the late Lord Herbert of Lea, who so long and so continuously lived in that delightful home.

To the Gardens and Grounds of Wilton House we desire to direct the reader’s especial attention; they have been by no means left solely to the guardianship of Nature. Art has done much to give aid to the beauties of hill and dell, and river and wooded slopes and pasture-land. Immediately around the mansion the skill of the gardener is manifest: trim walks, and pastures, and summer-houses, and conservatories add to the natural grace and beauty of the scene. One garden especially, into which there is a passage from the Drawing-room, is very beautifully laid out, overlooked by a graceful arcade, in which are vases and busts, and to which, no doubt, the family and their guests often retreat to enjoy the bounties of free air and light among the adornments that are here so lavish.

A most picturesque and singularly beautiful bridge joins the park to the grounds, crossing the Nadder. It was built from a design by Palladio, and has an open Ionic colonnade. The park slopes up from the river; and in the grounds are some of the finest cedars to be seen in England.

Here, it is said, Sir Philip Sidney wrote the “Arcadia;” and the memorable book bears conclusive evidence that he drew much of his inspiration from these gardens and grounds. The book may be, as Milton styles it, “a vain amatorious poem;” but it is full of beautiful descriptions of Nature, and shows how dearly the chivalric writer really loved the natural and the true; and it demands no strong stretch of fancy to imagine Philip Sidney, accompanied by William Shakspere, Edmund Spenser, and Philip Massinger (he was born in the place, and probably in the house), walking among these now aged trees, along these embowered walks, and by the banks of the fair river that runs to enrich them as it did centuries ago:—

“And all without were walkes and alleys dight With divers trees enrang’d in even rankes; And here and there were pleasant arbors pight, And shadie seates and sundry flowring bankes, To sit and rest the walker’s wearie shankes.”

Yes; it is obviously to these grounds and gardens that reference is made in the “Arcadia:”—

“There were hilles which garnished their proud heights with stately trees; humble vallies whose base estate seemed comforted with refreshing of silver rivers; medowes enamel with all sortes of eypleasing floures; thickets, which, being lined with most pleasant shade, were witnessed so too, by the cheerfull disposition of many well-tuned birds; each pasture stored with sheepe feeding with sober securitie, while the pretie lambes with bleating oratorie craved the dams’ comfort; here a shepheard’s boy piping as though he should neuer be old; there a young shepherdesse knitting and withall singing; and it seemed that her voice comforted her hands to worke, and her hands kept time to her voice’s musick.”

It is to-day as it was so long ago—when the sweetest of all the singers and the most heroic of all the cavaliers of old times had their healthy walks through these woods, and their poetic “talks” under the branches of these patrician trees—old then, and very old now. Truly Wilton is “a place for pleasantnesse,” and “not unfit for solitarinesse.”

“Gloriana”—Queen Elizabeth—did certainly visit this “chosen plot of fertile land;” partook of “a very fair and pleasant banquet” in this park; and from Wilton she carried away many rich gifts, including “a mermaid of gold, having a maid upon her back garnished with sparks of diamonds.”

From a queen to a man of genius, who was a good man, is not a long leap. What visitor to Wilton will forget the name of that George Herbert who was the humble and faithful servant of God—who did His work in this locality, and who, while he threw a line across the glistening Nadder (for he was the disciple as well as the friend of Izaak Walton), here wove those fancies into verse which after ages have not suffered to die?

And surely we may well close our notes on Wilton by quoting good old Izaak’s summary of the character of Lord Edward Herbert:—

“He was one of the handsomest men of his day, of a beauty alike stately, chivalric, and intellectual. His person and features were cultivated by all the disciplines of a time when courtly graces were not insignificant, because a monarch-mind informed the court, nor warlike customs rude or mechanical, for industrial nature had free play in the field, except as restrained by the laws of courtesy and honour. The steel glove became his hand, and the spur his heel; neither can we fancy him out of his place, for any place he would have made his own.”

There is yet another of the worthies of Wilton to claim and receive the homage of every visitor—the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, created Lord Herbert of Lea before his premature death. He did not outlive his brother, the Earl, but his son inherited the titles and estates, and is now, as we have stated, the thirteenth Earl of Pembroke.

There is a statue of Sidney Herbert, by Marochetti, in the Market-place at Salisbury; and a far better statue of him, by Foley, fronts the War Office in Pall Mall: it honours him as the Secretary of War, and makes record of some of his triumphs as the gentle and genial advocate of peace and Christian charity to all mankind. “Sidney Herbert,” says Mr. Hall, who was associated with him as one of the Honorary Secretaries of the Nightingale Fund, “seemed to me a copy, and without an atom deteriorated, of his renowned relative-predecessor, Lord Herbert of Cherbury. He lived in another age, and had to discharge very different duties; but there was the same heroic sentiment, the same high chivalry, the same generous sympathy with suffering, the same stern and steady resolve to right the wrong. It is not too much to say that what we may have imagined of the chivalry of a past age we have witnessed in our own: a gentleman who gave dignity to the loftiest rank; who thought it no condescension to be kind and courteous to the very humblest who approached him. To rare personal advantages he added those of large intellectual acquirements. He spoke, if not as an orator, with impressive eloquence; as a man of practical business, few were his superiors; he had the mind of a statesman, yet gave earnest and thoughtful care to all the minor details of life. His death was a public calamity.”

No one who visits Wilton—either the town or the mansion—will leave it without seeing and examining “the New Church,” of which we give an engraving. It was erected in 1844, at the cost of Sidney Herbert, the architects being F. H. Wyatt and D. Brandon. The style, as will be perceived, is that of the ordinary Romanesque. It is a singularly beautiful and very gorgeous structure, built without regard to expense: perhaps there is nothing more perfect, of its class, in the kingdom. The following details from a local newspaper give a technical description of this edifice:—

“The church is raised on a terrace with a noble flight of steps 100 feet long, and a platform 20 feet in width. The centre entrance of the east front forms an open-recessed porch within a rich archway, which contains four columns on each side. Over this centre entrance is a series of small circular-headed arches, forming a sort of exterior gallery at the back of the one within, and producing a good deal of relief and richness. Immediately above it is a very large rose window, of elaborate design, set within a square, whose spandrils are sculptured with the emblems of the four evangelists. The lofty campanile tower is connected with the south-east angle of the building by a vestibule or cloister, whose elaborately carved open arches and columns present a pleasing contrast to the breadth and solidity of the other parts. On the same side of the church, at the west end, is a projecting porch (or vestry), which naturally increases the play and picturesqueness of the composition. Upon entering the rich door in the east front, already described, we pass between two screens of twisted columns, dividing the gallery staircase from the centre porch. Immediately opposite to this entrance is placed the font, a massive structure of black and variegated Italian marble. It is carved with lions’ heads at the corners, and the basin is richly foliated. The pedestal is of white marble in panels, inlaid with vine-leaves in black marble. The whole is raised on a black marble plinth.... The pulpit is of stone, inlaid with panels of marble, and glittering with rich mosaic-work, having also four twisted columns wholly composed of ancient mosaic, and supported by the black marble columns with alabaster capitals. The roofing of the nave and aisles is of open timber-work, stained to imitate dark chestnut.... The height of the campanile is 100 feet; and in it are hung a peal of six bells, brought from the old church. The remaining dimensions are as under: from the western porch to the chancel apse, 120 feet; width, 53 feet; width of nave between the columns, 24 feet; height, 57 feet; aisles, 13 feet wide, and 24 feet high.”

One of the most interesting places in Wilton is the famous “Royal Axminster and Wilton Carpet Factory” of Messrs. Yates and Co., and this, through the courtesy of the proprietors, may be seen by visitors to this district. This manufactory, which occupies nearly two acres of ground and gives employment to nearly four hundred people, was the first place in England where carpets were made. A charter was granted in 1701, and other charters of 1706 and 1725 (by which the weavers were made a corporate body, with stewards, &c.) were also granted. By these all persons who were not members of the body of weavers were prevented from carrying on the same business within three miles of the borough of Wilton, stamped certificates, after seven years’ apprenticeship, being given by the corporation to such men as were elected by them. The carpets then made were naturally of a coarse and very inferior character to those produced after on. To Henry, ninth Earl of Pembroke and sixth Earl of Montgomery, of whom we have spoken in a preceding page, and who died in 1751, England is indebted for the introduction of the manufacture of superior descriptions of carpets. Like many of his ancestors, he was a man of refined taste, and spent large sums of money in adorning his mansion at Wilton. Lord Orford says of him, “The soul of Inigo Jones, who had been patronised by his ancestors, seems still to hover over its favourite Wilton, and to have assisted the muses of Art in the education of this noble person. The towers, the chambers, the scenes which Holbein, Jones, and Vandyke decorated, and which Earl Thomas had enriched with the spoil of the best ages, received the last touches of beauty from Earl Henry’s hand.” The Earl during his travels in Flanders and France had taken great interest in the carpet works of those countries, and he noticed the much more general use of this article of furniture there than in England, where it was then regarded as an exotic luxury, and the idea occurred to him that the manufacture might be established in England, so as to form a new industry, and be a source of employment to the poor. He therefore entered into arrangements with artists, superintendents, and a body of workmen; brought them to England about the year 1745; and settled them in Wilton—thus laying the foundation of that branch of manufacture which now in England surpasses by far that of any other country.

The productions of this famous historical factory, to which, years ago, the looms and trade from Axminster were transferred, are entirely hand-made, and in this particular the manufactory is the only one in existence in this kingdom. Carpets of various degrees of quality and of different descriptions are here made, but whether “Brussels,” “Saxony,” “Velvet-pile,” “Axminster,” or what not, all are “real hand-made,” and all of extreme excellence, both in design and in superiority of make. “Royal carpets” for Windsor Castle, for Buckingham Palace, and other abodes of royalty, may now and then be seen by the visitor in course of weaving, and many of these better-class carpets, which are an inch or more in thickness, and of the softness of down to the tread, are of the most gorgeous character in design and in brilliancy and arrangement of colours. A “Wilton carpet” indicates a high degree of refinement in furnishing, and its enduring quality gives it a strong recommendation.

Wilton House is within three miles of venerable Salisbury, six miles or so from Stonehenge, and some three or four miles from “Old Sarum;” the visitor may, therefore, with but little sacrifice of time, examine three of the most interesting of all the relics of ancient England, while Wilton itself may well be ranked as a fourth.

If we have cathedrals grander, more extensive, and more magnificent than that of Salisbury, we have none more graceful: “the singular uniformity displayed in its design and style, the harmony which pervades its several parts and proportions, and the striking air of brightness, simplicity, and elegance, that reigns throughout the whole, all conspire to invest it with a charm peculiarly its own; whilst the great elevation of its graceful spire renders it without exception the most lofty building in the kingdom.” Grace is, indeed, its especial attribute, and beauty has not been here “a fatal gift;” for the sacred edifice seems as perfect to-day as it was many centuries ago.

Stonehenge is near at hand; that wonderful assemblage of stones which tell us—nothing, defying even the guess-work of the antiquary, concerning which tradition is dumb; yet there they stand as they stood thousands of years ago, solitary in their solemn grandeur upon the plain where the grouse and hares are even now their only neighbours.

“Old Sarum” seems but a huge waste heap: it rises high above environing scenery; there are no dwellings on the “mound”—not even one where might have been registered the return to Parliament of the member by whom it was represented, until Reform arrested its chronicles, and swept it away as a city for ever.

RABY CASTLE.

FEW counties are so rich in ancient fortresses and castellated buildings as Durham; but pre-eminent among these in historical interest, and perhaps in antiquity, is Raby Castle, which we add to our series. Situate about six or seven miles from Barnard Castle, a trifle more than that from Bishop Auckland, and about a dozen from Darlington, Raby Castle, with its grand old park, lies close to the pretty little town of Staindrop, about which we shall say a few words later on. The castle itself, with its many massive towers and turrets, is built on rising ground, on a foundation of solid rock, and is surrounded and enclosed by a massive battlemented wall, the area of the edifice, within the wall, comprising about two acres of land. The castle was formerly surrounded by a moat, the course of which, although now filled up, is clearly traceable; in its place extensive sheets of ornamental water have been very judiciously laid out, and give to the scene the effect, in approaching the castle from the park, of a fine but placid river.

Raby Park, which surrounds the castle, consists of several hundred acres of the finest land, and contains a noble herd of more than five hundred red and fallow deer. The park is entered by three Lodges of ancient and unpretentious appearance. The South Lodge, which is the main entrance, is situated about one hundred yards from Staindrop Church. On entering the Lodge, within a very short distance from here the towers of the castle are visible, and continue in sight for some considerable distance, when a sharp incline cuts off the view. On attaining the summit the grand old pile is again seen standing boldly out from the grounds, and forming a most imposing prospect, which is greatly enhanced by the sheet of water that at this point separates the castle from the observer. The carriage drive from the Lodge has hitherto been wavy and circuitous in its route, but from here it takes a straight course across the Pond, or Lake, of ten acres in extent, by means of an embankment, and again continues in a circuitous form through an avenue of grand old venerable beech-trees, which terminates at the entrance, or Porter’s Lodge, to the castle itself.

The Pond, or Lake, which is divided by the carriage drive, is situated on the west side of the castle, its western portion overflowing into the eastern half, that flows to and surrounds the south battlement walls; the Moat, which is now dry, receding from it to the east and west. The Lake is well supplied with swans and other aquatic birds.

The East Lodge is a foot entrance for the workpeople; the North Lodge, or back entrance, has two low castellated towers, one on each side of the entrance gates.

The Home Park and Woods consist of nine hundred and forty acres, which are intersected by fifteen miles of drives and walks. The Woods are beautifully varied and picturesque, especially the North Wood, which forms the north boundary of the park, and rises considerably above the castle, commanding a most extensive and charming landscape, especially on a clear sunset evening, when the old dark walls of the castle are lit up by its golden rays, which are also reflected on the far-distant Yorkshire and Richmond hills.

The Bath Wood, which is quite of a different nature from the North Wood, is situated a short distance to the west of the castle in a valley that is thickly wooded, and through which walks and drives wind their way in such varied forms as to render it one of the most enjoyable summer retreats that can possibly be desired. The walks and drives all terminate at the Bath-house, somewhat west of the centre of the wood. In front of the Bath, which consists of two rooms, supplied by a natural spring of intensely cold water, is a fine open lawn, well laid out with rhododendron beds and single specimens of conifers, with a lake-stream of water winding its way in various falls and artificial forms. This open space, or lawn, is thickly surrounded with grand old beech and spruce-fir trees, blending most charmingly together. At the back and on the north side of the Bath-house is a picturesquely built lodge or cottage, inhabited by persons who have charge of the Baths.

The Gardens are situated on the north side of the castle, on a slight incline, which commands some of the most interesting views of the north side of the building. The whole grounds pertaining to the Gardens, including the head and under gardeners’ dwellings, are enclosed within substantial time-worn brick walls, which are strictly in keeping with the castle itself. The interior is formed into various sections by brick walls and massive yew hedges, that are kept closely clipped in tapering form; in measure they are ten feet wide, and eleven feet high, and probably were planted in the days of the first occupiers of the castle. Formerly these sections were almost exclusively devoted to the culture of fruit and vegetables, but of late years bedding plants of all descriptions have been extensively introduced, associating very agreeably the ornamental with the useful. On a terrace which is bounded on one side by a stream of water is a ribbon border extending its whole length; and on the south side of the boundary wall the effect produced by the bends and receding form of the border is very charming, and the perfection of what a ribbon border should be. Glass structures are extensive, and principally devoted to fruit culture, especially to pines and grapes. Excepting the Conservatory and two or three other houses containing some very fine specimens of tropical plants, plant culture is little regarded. Most of these houses have been reconstructed on the most approved modern principles, but they are scattered about in all directions. The noble range of vineries erected some thirty years since, that contained the vines which caused so much controversy amongst horticulturists on the carrion system of vine culture, are now things of the past, and are succeeded by fine healthy canes, which must, to all present appearance, produce in the future fruit of the most approved excellence. In addition to the many glass structures devoted to fruit culture, hot-air walls are also introduced for the same purpose, which, especially in the case of apricots, insure a full crop in spite of unpropitious weather.

The most-cared-for antique occupant in the Garden is, however, the famous “Raby Fig-tree,” which, although known to be upwards of one hundred years old, still produces annually thousands of figs of the finest quality. This remarkable tree is covered by a primitive glass structure, very much in keeping with its own venerable character. The house in which the tree is planted is fifty feet in length, eight feet in width, and nearly twelve feet in height; and every possible space of this house, both walls and rafters, is occupied by this one tree, which bids fair to live and flourish and produce fruit for many a century yet to come. The house is heated by flues. Another speciality of the Gardens is the original “Raby Red Currant,” whose trees are still in as good preservation, as prolific, and as much in repute as ever.

The name of Raby points to a Danish origin, and it is first named, so far as any record is known, in connection with King Canute, who, after making his celebrated pilgrimage over Garmondsway Moor to the shrine of St. Cuthbert at Durham, offered it, with Staindrop and its shire, to the shrine of that saint. It continued, except for a time during the life of Bishop Flambard, in the peaceful possession of the monks until 1131, when they granted it, for an annual rent of £4, to Dolfin, son of Ughtred, of the blood royal of Northumberland.

To him, Mr. Hodgson is of opinion, is to be ascribed the first foundation of the manor. The descendant of Dolfin, Robert Fitz-Maldred, lineal heir to Ughtred, Earl of Northumberland, was described as “Dominus de Raby,” when, early in the thirteenth century, he married Isabel de Nevil (daughter to Geoffrey de Nevil, the grandson of Gilbert de Nevil, who came over with the Conqueror, by the daughter and sole heiress of Bertram de Bulmer), who, by the death of her brother, the last male of his line, became sole heiress and representative of the great Saxon house of Bulmer, Lords of Brancepath and Sheriff-Hutton. Their son Geoffrey assumed his mother’s surname of Nevil, and thus laid afresh the foundation of the great house of that name. He had issue two sons—Robert, who succeeded him, and Geoffrey, who became Constable of Scarborough Castle and Justice Itinerant, and from whom the Nevils of Hornby, afterwards merged in the Beauforts, descended. Robert de Nevil, who was Governor of Norham, Werke, York, Devizes, and Bamborough Castles, Warden of all the King’s forests north of the Trent, Justice Itinerant, General of all forces beyond the Trent, and Sheriff of Yorkshire, joined the rebellious barons, but was afterwards restored to favour. His son Robert, called the “Peacock of the North,” dying without issue during his lifetime, this elder Robert was succeeded by Ralph de Nevil, who took a prominent part in the troublous internal wars of his time. He in turn was succeeded by his son, John de Nevil, Baron of Raby, who was Admiral of the King’s fleet from the Thames northward, Warden of the East Marches, Lieutenant of the Duchy of Aquitaine, and Seneschal of Bordeaux. He died 12th Richard II., and was succeeded by his eldest son, Ralph, his second son being Thomas, Lord Furnival. This John, Lord Nevil, was the builder of the present castle of Raby.

Ralph, Lord Nevil of Raby, held many important offices, and founded the collegiate church of Staindrop. By his first wife, Margaret, daughter of Hugh, Earl of Stafford, he had issue two sons—John, who died during his father’s lifetime, and Ralph, “who married the daughter and heir of Ferrers of Oversley, by whom he had John Nevil, called Lord Ferrers, whose daughter Joan (heir to the baronies of Oversley and Newmarch), being married to Sir William Gascoigne, brought forth Margaret Gascoigne, their daughter and heir, wife to Wentworth; whence the Barons Raby of that surname do descend”—and seven daughters: Maud, married to Baron de Mauley; Alice, to Sir Thomas Grey; Philippa, to Baron Dacres of Gillesland; Margaret, to Baron Scrope; Anne, to Sir Gilbert de Umfraville; Margery and Elizabeth, nuns. His second wife was Joan, daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, “by whom he had issue eight sons—Richard, Earl of Salisbury; William, Baron Falconberg; George, Baron Latimer; Edward, Baron Bergavenny; Robert, Bishop of Durham; Cuthbert, Henry, and Thomas, which three last died issueless. Also five daughters—Catherine, married first to John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, secondly to Thomas Strangways, Esq., thirdly to John, Viscount Beaumont, and lastly to Sir John Widville, Knight; Eleanor, or Elizabeth, to Richard, Baron Spencer, secondly to Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland; Anne, to Humphrey, Duke of Bucks, and afterwards to Walter Blunt, Baron Mountjoy; Jane, a nun; and Ciceley, to Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York.” He was created Earl of Westmoreland, being “the first who was made earl of this county;” and at his death, in the 4th of Henry VI., he was succeeded by his grandson, Ralph Nevil, as second Earl of Westmoreland and Baron Nevil of Raby, who in turn was succeeded by his cousin, Ralph Nevil, son to Sir John Nevil, as third Earl of Westmoreland. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir Roger Booth, by whom he had issue, with others, one son, who died in his father’s lifetime, leaving a son, Ralph, who in turn succeeded his grandfather.

Ralph, fourth Earl of Westmoreland and Baron Nevil of Raby, married Catherine, daughter of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckinghamshire, by whom he had issue seven sons and five daughters, and was, at his death, succeeded by his eldest son, Henry Nevil, as fifth earl. This earl married Anne, daughter to Thomas Manners, Earl of Rutland, by whom, amongst others, he had issue a son, Charles, who succeeded him as fifth Earl of Westmoreland and Baron Nevil of Raby.

This nobleman, Charles, fifth Earl of Westmoreland, having taken an active part in the rebellion against Queen Elizabeth, known as the “Rising in the North,” was defeated, and all his possessions confiscated to the Crown. He left only female issue.

Raby, having passed into the hands of the Crown, was afterwards sold to the Vanes, to which family we now draw attention.

It will thus be seen that Raby Castle holds a very high rank among the ancient castles of England, and is one of the few of its old glories that continue to be the habitation of its lords.

The family of Vane, of which the Duke of Cleveland, the owner of Raby Castle, is the head, is of very high antiquity, and, unlike many of our noted families, has been continued in unbroken succession from at least the time of the Norman Conquest down to the present hour. The first of whom we have any authentic record—although doubtless the family might be traced much further back still—is Howell ap Vane, who was living in Monmouthshire antecedently to the Conquest. His son, Griffith ap Howell Vane, married Lettyce, daughter of Bledwyn ap Kynvyn, Lord of Powys, who was founder of three noble tribes of Wales, and by usurpation sovereign of North and South Wales. Their son was Enyon, or Ivon, “the Fair,” who married a daughter of Owen ap Edwyn Meredith. Passing on through the next three generations, we come to Sir Henry Vane, knighted at the battle of Poitiers, in 1356, where he claimed to have assisted in taking prisoner John, King of France, who, in token of his captivity, took off his dexter gauntlet and gave it to Vane: from that moment he adopted it as his cognisance, and it has been continued both as a crest and as a charge on the shield of arms.

He married Grace, daughter of Sir Stephen de la Leke, and was succeeded by his son, John Vane, whose great-grandson, Henry Vane (his elder brother having died without issue), married Isabella, daughter of Henry Persall, or Peshall, by whom he had a family of eight sons and two daughters, and, in default of issue of the eldest two, was succeeded by his third son, John Vane (whose younger brother, Sir Ralph Vane, married Elizabeth, known as “the good Lady Vane,” and was knighted at the siege of Bulleyn, in 1544; he afterwards purchased Penshurst, was attainted 4th Edward VI., executed on Tower Hill, and his estates forfeited). John Vane, who was of Hilden, in Kent, assumed the name of Fane in lieu of Vane, and married Isabella, daughter of John Darknoll, or Darrell, and was succeeded by their second son, Richard Fane, of Tudeley, at whose death, in 1540, he was succeeded by his only son, George Fane, of Badsall, who married Joan, daughter of William Waller, of Groombridge, from whom the present Earl of Westmoreland is descended. The fourth son of John Vane, or Fane, of Hilden, was John Fane, who was in possession of Hadlow when his uncle, Sir Ralph, was executed. He married Joan, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Edward Hawte, of Tonbridge, by whom, with others, he had a son, his successor, Henry Fane, of Hadlow, who took part in Wyatt’s insurrection, was committed to the Tower, but afterwards pardoned and released.

His grandson, Sir Henry Fane, resumed the ancient patronymic of his family, Vane, in lieu of Fane, and this has continued to the present time. This Henry Fane, or Vane, was knighted in 1611, and was constituted one of the regents of the kingdom for the safe keeping of the Queen, Prince Charles, and the rest of the royal children. In 1616, on the disgrace of Robert Carr of Fernyhurst, Earl of Somerset, Sir Henry Vane received a lease from the trustees for support of the household of Charles, Prince of Wales, for the remainder of the term granted to Carr. He was principal Secretary of State to James I., and Cofferer of the Household to Charles I. In 1626 he purchased the castle and manor of Raby, and in 1632 was sent as ambassador to Sweden to expostulate with Gustavus Adolphus in favour of the Elector Palatine. In the following year he nobly entertained the King at Raby, on his journey to and from Scotland, on the occasion of his coronation. He married Frances, daughter of Thomas Darcy, of Tolleshunt Darcy, and died at Raby Castle in 1654. By this union he had seven sons—viz. Thomas and John, who died in infancy; Sir Henry Vane, who succeeded him; and Sir George Vane, from whom the Marquis of Londonderry, who sits as Earl Vane, is descended; Sir Walter Vane, Charles Vane, and William Vane—and eight daughters, among whom were Margaret, married to Sir Thomas Pelham, from whom are descended the Duke of Newcastle and the Earl of Chichester; and Frances, wife of Sir Robert Honeywood.

Sir Henry Vane (third son), who succeeded his father in the estates of Raby, Fairlawn, Shipborne, &c., in 1654, had a very chequered, but historical life. He was educated at Westminster and Oxford, proceeded to Geneva, and afterwards to America, where he was elected Governor of Massachusetts. He was also M.P. for Hull and other places, and was knighted in 1640. He is characterized as “one of the most turbulent enthusiasts produced by the rebellion, and an inflexible Republican,” by some, but by Milton as

“Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old.”

In 1659 he was, in Pepys’s own words, “this day voted out of the House, and to sit no more there; and that he would retire himself to his house at Raby.” And again, a month later, “This day, by an order of the House, Sir H. Vane was sent out of town to his house in Lincolnshire.” In 1661 he, with Lambert and others, was sent prisoner to Scilly. He had in former years been joined with Sir William Russell in the office of Treasurer of the Navy, which yielded an annual income of £30,000; but although, as survivor of Russell, the whole of this was his by patent for life, he voluntarily and disinterestedly gave it up to Parliament, reserving only a salary of £2,000 a year for an agent. A series of charges having been drawn up against Vane—principally arising out of his just indignation at the title of Raby having been bestowed upon the Earl of Strafford—he was, on the 6th of June, 1662, found guilty of high treason, and, on the 14th of the same month, beheaded on Tower Hill. Of this execution it is needless to give any particulars beyond those written, the same day, by Pepys. He says, “Up by four o’clock in the morning and upon business at my office. Then we sat down to business, and about eleven o’clock, having a room got ready for us, we all went out to the Tower Hill; and there over against the scaffold, made on purpose this day, saw Sir Henry Vane brought. A very great press of people. He made a long speech, many times interrupted by the sheriffe and others there; and they would have taken his paper out of his hand, but he would not let it go. But they caused all the books of those that writ after him to be given the sheriffe; and the trumpets were brought under the scaffold that he might not be heard. Then he prayed and so fitted himself, and received the blow; but the scaffold was so crowded that we could not see it done. But Boreman, who had been upon the scaffold, came to us and told us, that first he began to speak of the irregular proceeding against him; that he was, against Magna Charta, denied to have his exceptions against the indictment allowed: and that there he was stopped by the sheriffe. Then he drew out his paper of notes, and began to tell them first his life; that he was born a gentleman, that he was bred up and had the quality of a gentleman, and to make him in the opinion of the world more a gentleman, he had been till he was seventeen years old a good fellow, but then it pleased God to lay a foundation of grace in his heart by which he was persuaded, against his worldly interest, to leave all preferment and go abroad, where he might serve God with more freedom. Then he was called home and made a member of the Long Parliament, where he never did to this day anything against his conscience, but all for the glory of God. Here he would have given them an account of the proceedings of the Long Parliament, but they so often interrupted him that at last he was forced to give over, and so fell into prayer for England in generall, then for the churches of England, and then for the City of London: and so fitted himself for the block, and received the blow. He had a blister, or issue, upon his neck, which he desired them not hurt: he changed not his colour or speech to the last, but died justifying himself and the cause he had stood for; and spake very confidently of his being presently at the right hand of Christ; and in all things appeared the most resolved man that ever died in that manner, and showed more of heate than cowardice, but yet with all humility and gravity. One asked him why he did not pray for the King? He answered, ‘Nay,’ says he, ‘you shall see I can pray for the King: I pray God bless him!’ The King had given his body to his friends, and, therefore, he told them that he hoped they would be civil to his body when dead; and desired they would let him die like a gentleman and a Christian, and not crowded and pressed as he was.”

This unfortunate, but gifted member of the family of Vane had married, in 1639, Frances, daughter of Sir Christopher Wray, Bart., of Ashby and Glentworth, in Lincolnshire, by whom he had issue seven sons, five of whom died young. The fifth son was Sir Christopher Vane, who was knighted in 1688, made a Privy Councillor, and in July, 1699, created Baron Barnard of Barnard Castle, county of Durham. He married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Gilbert Holles, third Earl of Clare, and sister of John Holles, Duke of Newcastle. By her Baron Barnard had issue, with others, a son—Gilbert Vane, who succeeded him; and another son—William Vane, who was created Viscount Vane and Baron Duncannon. This Viscount Vane married Lucy, daughter of William Jolliffe, Esq., of Caverswall, in Staffordshire, and was father, by her, of William Holles Vane, second Viscount, whose wife (Frances, daughter of Francis Hawes, of Purley Hall, and widow of Lord William Hamilton) was the notorious Lady Vane, whose intrigues and disreputable course of life form the subject of the “Memoirs of a Lady of Quality” in “Peregrine Pickle,” which were “written by herself, which she coolly told her lord to read.”

Gilbert Vane, second Baron Barnard, who succeeded his father, the first baron, in 1723, and died in 1753, married Mary, daughter and heiress of Morgan Randyll, of Chilworth, by whom he had six sons and three daughters. His eldest son and successor was Henry, third Baron Barnard, a Lord of the Treasury, who, in 1754, was advanced to the dignity of Viscount Barnard and Earl of Darlington. This nobleman, of whom Lord Orford wrote, “He never said a false thing nor did a bad one,” married, in 1725, the Lady Grace, daughter of Charles Fitzroy, first Duke of Cleveland, by whom he had issue three sons and three daughters. The eldest son was Lord Henry Vane, who succeeded his father as second Earl of Darlington and fourth Baron Barnard; he married Margaret, sister of the first Earl of Lonsdale; and, dying in 1792, was succeeded by their eldest son, William Henry, as fifth baron and third earl.

This nobleman, who held many important appointments, was born in 1766; in 1827 he was advanced to the dignity of Marquis of Cleveland; and in 1833 was again advanced to the title of Duke of Cleveland, and had the barony of Raby conferred upon him. He was married twice: first, in 1787, to the Lady Katharine Margaretta Powlett, daughter and co-heiress of the sixth and last Duke of Bolton, and a co-heiress of the barony of St. John of Basing; and secondly, in 1813, to Elizabeth Russell, of Newton House, Yorkshire. By his first marriage the Duke had issue three sons (who have each in succession become Dukes of Cleveland) and five daughters—one of whom, Lady Louisa Catherine Barbara, married a brother of the first Lord Forester, and another, the Lady Arabella, married the third Lord Alvanley. The Duke was succeeded at his death, in 1842, by his eldest son—

Henry Vane, second duke and marquis, third earl and viscount, and sixth baron, who was born in 1788, and died, without issue, in 1864, having married, in 1809, Lady Sophia, daughter of the fourth Earl Powlett. He was succeeded by his brother, William John Frederick Vane, as third duke and marquis, fourth earl and viscount, and seventh baron, who assumed the surname of Powlett in lieu of that of Vane, but in 1864 resumed his original patronymic of Vane. His grace married, in 1815, Caroline, fourth daughter of the first Earl of Lonsdale, but died without issue in 1864, when he was in turn succeeded in his titles and estates by his brother, the present Duke of Cleveland.

The present noble head of this grand old family, whose genealogy we have thus briefly traced, is Harry George Powlett (late Vane), Duke of Cleveland, Marquis of Cleveland, Earl of Darlington, Viscount Barnard of Barnard Castle, Baron Barnard, and Baron Raby, a Knight of the Garter, &c. His grace is, as has been shown, a son of the first Duke of Cleveland, and brother of the second and third dukes. He was born in 1803, and succeeded to the titles and estates in 1864, when, by royal license, he assumed the surname and arms of Powlett in lieu of those of Vane. His grace, who was educated at Eton and at Oriel College, Oxford, was attached to the embassy at Paris in 1829, and was appointed Secretary of Legation at Stockholm in 1839. In 1854 he married Lady Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina Stanhope, daughter of the late Earl Stanhope (President of the Society of Antiquaries), and widow of Lord Dalmeny, son of the Earl of Rosebery, by whom, however, he has no issue, so that at his decease—his brothers, the second and third dukes, having also died without issue—the titles, with the exception of that of Baron Barnard, will become extinct. The heir to the barony of Barnard is Morgan Vane, Esq. (only son of the late Rev. Robert Morgan Vane), great-grandson of the Hon. Morgan Vane, brother of Henry, third Baron Barnard, who, as we have shown, was created Viscount Barnard and Earl of Darlington. This Robert Morgan Vane married, as his first wife, Margaretta, daughter of Robert Knight, and ultimately heiress to Robert, Earl of Catherlough, from which marriage the present heir-presumptive is descended.

The arms of Vane are (as already explained, from the circumstance of one of the family taking the French king prisoner at the battle of Poitiers)—azure, three dexter gauntlets, or. These were borne by the Duke of Cleveland quarterly with those of Fitzroy, being the royal arms of King Charles II., viz.—one and four France and England quarterly, two Ireland, three Scotland; the whole debruised by a baton sinister, componé of six pieces, ermine and azure, the supporters being dexter, a lion guardant, or, ducally crowned with a ducal coronet, azure, gorged with a collar counter-componé, ermine and azure; sinister, a greyhound, argent, gorged with a collar, counter-componé, ermine and azure, being the supporters of Fitzroy, Duke of Cleveland, granted to Vane on being advanced to the marquisate in 1827. Crests: Vane—a dexter arm in a gauntlet grasping a dagger; Fitzroy—on a chapeau, gules, turned up, ermine, a lion passant guardant, or, crowned with a ducal coronet, argent, and gorged with a collar, counter-componé, ermine and azure. Motto—“Nec temere, nec timide.” On the assumption of the name and arms of Powlett, the arms, as now borne by the Duke of Cleveland, are—sable, three swords in pile, points downwards, proper, pomels and hilts, or. Crest, on a wreath, a falcon rising, or, belled of the last, and ducally crowned, gules. Supporters and motto as before. The arms of the Earl of Catherlough, which the heir-presumptive is entitled to quarter with his own of Vane, are—argent, three bendlets, gules; on a canton, azure, a spur with the rowel downwards, strapped, or. Crest, on a wreath, argent and gules, a spur, or, between two wings erect, gules. Motto—“Te digna sequere.”

The Duke of Cleveland is patron of twenty-four livings, thirteen of which are in Shropshire, one in Northamptonshire, two in Durham, two in Somersetshire, one in Yorkshire, two in Devonshire, two in Dorset, and one in Cornwall. His principal seats are Raby Castle, Durham, and Battle Abbey, Sussex.

The present castle of Raby, it would appear, was built by John, Lord Nevil, who died in 1388. In 1379 he had license from Thomas Hatfield, Bishop of Durham, to crenellate. Whether the old castle was mainly pulled down and rebuilt by John Nevil, or whether he simply added to it fresh towers and fortifications, is a matter we have not space, nor is it necessary to our purpose, to inquire into. That it could not all have been taken down is, however, pretty evident, as the lozenge-shaped tower in the centre is said to have been built by Bertram de Bulmer, or Bolemes, in 1162. The Nevils, who were at the same time Lords of Raby, Brancepath, Sheriff-Hutton, and Middleham, were all described as “Dominus de Raby;” and thus it is evident that Raby was their chief residence and stronghold.

Raby, says the Rev. Mr. Hodgson (who has done more than any other antiquary in searching into and elucidating the history of this grand old pile, and to whom we express our deep obligation for much of the critical description of the building we are about to give), in its present state (although some parts of the older edifice were left and incorporated in it) “presents essentially the work and ideas of one period,” the fourteenth century. Leland speaks of it as “the largest castell of logginges in al the north cuntrey, and is of a strong building, but not set other on the hill or very strong ground;” but he does not mention the moat, which was probably filled up and the water drawn off before his time.

The general arrangement of the castle is as follows:—First, the central nucleus, or castle proper, consisting of a compact mass of towers connected by short curtains, and of which the block shape may be described as something between a right-angled triangle and a square, having the right angle to the south-west. Next, a spacious platform entirely surrounding this central mass; then a low embattled wall of enceinte, strengthened by a moat-house, and perhaps a barbican, as well as by numerous small square bastions rising from its exterior base; and then the moat. The south front of the castle being so amply defended by water, its structural defences were naturally less important.

Quite unlike the others, it was, with the exception of the flanking towers at either end, nearly flat. The first, or western of these, called the Duke’s Tower, is very large and square, and of different heights, being, in fact, two towers laid together. Considerably in recess, a rather low curtain connected it with the end of the Great Hall, which, till lately, rose up tower-like, but without projection. Beyond, and nearly in a line, came another curtain, short, but lofty; and then the wedge-like projection of Bulmer’s Tower, which flanked the whole towards the east. This tower, which commemorates Bertram Bulmer, one of the Saxon ancestors of the Nevils, by two raised B’s in its upper story, being of somewhat unusual shape, viz. a pentagon, formed by the application of an equilateral triangle to a square, has given rise to comments and conjectures of the wildest sort. An underground passage, there is little or no doubt, extends from the substructure of this tower to a small blocked-up doorway in one of the bastions of the wall of enceinte above the lake, from which, again, there is reason to think, another traverses its whole length westwards. Passing onwards, we come to the east or north-east front. This is a very fine work, extremely bold and vigorous, set thick with towers, and broken by deep re-entering angles into immense masses. Thoroughly fortress-like and utilitarian in its character, without the least pretence to ornament, it is a masterpiece no less of artistic than constructive skill. Beginning at the south-east angle, we have, in the first place, the great pentagon of Bulmer’s Tower, and the short curtain spoken of as connecting it with the Hall, standing out transept-wise from the latter, and defending it to the east.

A little farther on, and about midway in its length, the Chapel, with its substructure terminating in a lofty tower, performs the same service. Projecting from the lower part of this tower, until destroyed in modern times, was an advanced portal, the exact nature of which cannot be particularised. Again, at about an equal distance, a third transeptal mass, terminating in a tower called Mount Raskelf, stands out from and protects the Hall. A short high curtain, extending between the Chapel Tower and this last, forms at the same time the limit of a small court-yard and a screen to that portion of the Hall which lies behind it. Mount Raskelf is the angle tower between what are, strictly speaking, the east and north fronts. Its northern face and curtain fall back deeply till they join the great square of the Kitchen Tower, which projects at right angles, and is connected by a strong machicolated curtain to the east fabric of Clifford’s Tower, by far the largest in the castle, and of immense strength. This tower is planned with consummate skill. In shape an oblong square, standing almost detached, and set diagonally to the north and west fronts, it not only completely flanks them both, but also, from its close proximity to the Moat-house, could either lend it effectual aid in case of an assault, or render it, if captured, utterly untenable. Turning the angle of Clifford’s Tower, we gain the west front. A strong machicolated curtain, bending slightly westward, connects it with a lofty tower of slight projection, and separated by a short wall space from the well-advanced and diagonally set turrets of the great Gatehouse. A deep recess in the elevation intervenes between the latter and our starting-point, the Duke’s Tower, which stands well out again, and terminates the whole. Passing under the long vault of the great Gatehouse, we reach the Court-yard. Lofty walls close it in on all sides with very picturesque and fine effect, the Great Hall lying to the east. A central tower of beautiful proportion, which stands out at right angles to it, shuts off a smaller court-yard to the north. There are many points about the exterior which require careful examination. First as to detail. What may be considered the typical form of window is very characteristic and peculiar—a single square-topped light, with a rounded trefoil in the head, the eye of which is either sunk or pierced. It is very domestic, and has an excellent effect. In Clifford’s Tower they are superimposed. The windows of the Chapel, which, though good in themselves, are of an ordinary form, square-headed, with net tracery, raise an important and interesting question, viz. What is their probable date, and can we possibly assign them to what may fairly be called the time of the builder of the great Gatehouse? Now the Chapel, which is unquestionably the earliest part of the castle, and thoroughly fortress-like in character, determines by its date the period when the general work of reconstruction and fortifying began. In the Moat Tower, above segmental, circular, and depressed four-centred arches, we have on the summit concave, shoulder-arched doorways of wonderfully pure and early-looking character. The side-windows of the Great Hall, again—pairs of long lancets set closely together, and without hood-moulds—though Transition or Early Perpendicular in date, are almost Early English in composition. We need feel no very great surprise, therefore, if in the Chapel we find a type adopted which was generally expiring. An examination of the masonry on either hand of the great Gate Tower will show that an extensive alteration was made in that part of the castle. It would seem that the face of the original Gatehouse, which probably stood midway between the back and front of the present one, just about where the inner doorway spans the passage, was taken down, and the whole structure brought forward as we see it. The roof proves this almost to demonstration. Within the central archway, towards the Court-yard, it is a simple barrel vault, strengthened with plain chamfered ribs. Without it, where the passage-way widens, it is a well-moulded, beautiful lierne, the ribs producing, perhaps intentionally, the Nevil saltire four times repeated. At the same time the short curtain which connected the old Gatehouse with the tower to the north was advanced level with the face of the latter, and the western half of the Duke’s Tower, already described as a double one, added, so as to flank the front, which now, instead of having a salient angle in the centre, as at first, was, so to say, made square. The outer entrance of the Gatehouse is very fine. Its boldly moulded four-centred arch is surmounted by a second of the same contour, but richly cusped and trefoiled. Above it are three shields, each surrounded with the garter. They are—1st, Nevil; 2nd, St. George; 3rd, Latimer; and fix certainly the erection of this Gatehouse, though it looks so much later, between 1382—the probable date of John Nevil’s second marriage with Elizabeth Latimer—and his death in 1389.

Another most noticeable point about the work is the entire absence of buttresses. Every tower and curtain stands in its own unaided strength. The great diversities of design, especially as seen in the towers, should also be noticed. Without the least approach to affectation or extravagance in any, yet of all the nine included in the central group there are no two which bear the faintest resemblance to each other—the variety and beauty of proportion in its parts, and the admirable way in which they are combined, producing, as they did once, a sky-line perhaps unmatched in England, are really the glories of the castle. A perfect simplicity and directness of purpose, with infinite change and play of line, characterize the building throughout, and stamp it as the work of a master.

Modern alterations have so obscured and destroyed John Nevil’s work in the interior that there is little of it left to see. Still there is something. Leland, who mentions it, says, “The Haul and al the Houses of Offices be large and stately. The Great Chaumber was exceeding large, but now it is fals rofid and divided into two or three partes.” Now if by the “Haul” and “Great Chaumber” he refers to the same thing, which internal evidence seems to show he must, then the worthy itinerant was entirely mistaken. “A recent investigation, accompanied by a vigorous use of the pick, has shown me,” says Mr. Hodgson, “that the Hall, as its external appearance indicates, was always, from the very first, a double one, consisting, that is, of two halls of nearly equal height, one above the other. About ten feet below the present floor I came upon the line of the old one, which had been of wood carried on pillars (whence, perhaps, the mistake of being ‘fals rofid’), the mutilated remains of the great fire-place, and three doorways, all of which I partially opened out. The upper, or Baron’s Hall, called so, perhaps, to distinguish it from the lower, was a noble room. Ranges of long narrow transomed windows lighted it on each side, as well as two large traceried ones of three lights to the south, and another to the north. The roof, a very fine one of oak, was carried on cambered beams, each displaying the saltire on its centre. These were the ordinary arrangements. Extending the full width of the north end was a lofty stone music gallery, with arch cornice. In advance of it the screens, behind which, and leading to the Kitchen, Pantry, and Buttery, were once most likely the usual three doorways, but of these, owing to mutilations, I could only find one. At either end of the passage was a large arched doorway. One of these opened upon a staircase close to the Chapel door, the other upon the roof of a sort of cloister in the Great Court, which must have formed a promenade, and of which also I have found the traces. Platforms of this sort, carried on arches, and occupying an exactly similar position, occur in the castles of Coucy and Creil.”

The Kitchen, though it has a certain air of rudeness, and has lost its ancient fire-place, is still a very interesting relic, and one of the most perfect things in the castle. It occupies the whole interior of a large strong square tower. The windows, which have stepped sills, are set high up in the walls, and are connected by a perforated passage of defence provided with garde-robes, which runs all round. Two pairs of very strong vaulting ribs, intersecting in the centre, carry the louvre, which is of stone and of immense size. The lower part, twelve feet square, rises to upwards of the same height above the leads, and is surmounted by an octagon fifteen feet higher still. Externally it forms a very striking and effective feature. Below the Kitchen a cellar of the same shape and size has a well-groined vaulted roof carried on a central pillar. Another to the east, which has a large double fire-place at one end, has a strongly ribbed circular segmental vault. All the first-floor chambers of the west front, including Clifford’s Tower, have plain barrel vaults. The lower chamber of Bulmer’s Tower had till lately a richly groined vault of great strength and beauty. The Hall Tower has both its lower stories vaulted; the first ribbed, the second plain. The whole of this tower, inside and out, has been wonderfully preserved. Vaults, windows, grilles, doorways, stairs, garde-robes, all are nearly intact, and will bear careful examination. It is really the most perfect thing in the place. The Chapel, all mutilated as it is, still deserves notice. The Sanctuary, which forms the central portion of a tower, has a boldly ribbed quadripartite vault. Above it is a guard-chamber. Its exterior window, above the eastern one of the Chapel, is marked by a very remarkable little hanging machicoulis.

The entrance to Raby is by the Porter’s Lodge in the north-west portion of the embattled outer wall. In this Lodge are found some family relics; among others, the sword worn by Lord Barnard, son of the first Earl of Darlington, at the battle of Fontenoy, where a bullet, striking his sword, broke it, and then, glancing off, disabled its wearer. The Gateway is flanked by two towers, each of which is surmounted by a figure of a mail clad warrior.

The main entrance to the castle itself is on the west side, between two towers. It is a long passage, with groined roof and traces of portcullis; and carriages drive through this passage into the Quadrangle, or Court-yard. Crossing this, and facing the main entrance just alluded to, is the enormous doorway opening into the Great or Entrance Hall. Through this doorway the carriages literally drive into the mansion, and there set down the guests in the Hall itself, which is of great size, with an arched roof, supported by eight octagonal pillars in its centre. “When the brilliant gas above combines its glare with that of two enormous fires, and the roof is echoing to the tramp of horses and the roll of wheels, the visitor cannot but be struck with the unusual entrance,” says a recent writer. In this Hall is hung Turner’s famous picture of Raby Castle.

Above this Great Hall is the famous Baron’s Hall immortalised by Wordsworth, where

“Seven hundred knights, retainers all Of Neville, at the muster’s call, Had sate together in Raby’s hall.”

This Hall, which is 126 feet long by 36 feet broad, is ceiled with oak and contains a large number of family portraits; also “Interior of an Artist’s Studio,” by Teniers, and portraits of Queen Elizabeth, Cromwell, James II., and Frederick, Prince of Wales. The south end of the room is modern, being built over the Octagon Drawing-room. A staircase leads from the Baron’s Hall to the Chapel, renovated by the second duke. Some of the windows are filled with stained glass by Wailes; others with old German glass. The Chapel contains Murillo’s “St. Catherine” and “The Saviour bearing the Cross.”

In most of the apartments of the castle are many fine pictures, portraits and others, among which are the Duke of Cleveland, son of Charles II.; Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland; Lady Barnard, wife of Christopher, Lord Barnard; Harry, second Duke of Cleveland, in his Garter robes; and the first Duke of Cleveland in his uniform as Colonel of the Durham Militia. The Octagon Drawing-room, built by the second duke, is, in all its details, a most elaborate and highly finished apartment. The furniture is elegant. In this room is Hiram Powers’ celebrated statue of the “Greek Slave,” purchased by the second Duke of Cleveland for £1,800.

The Kitchen is a fine specimen of mediæval architecture, and is evidence of the lavish hospitality of a former age. “The enormous oven would have baked bread for an army, and is described by Pennant as being, in his time, used as a wine-cellar, ‘the sides being divided into two parts, and each part holding a hogshead of wine in bottles.’”

It is not necessary for us to enter further into the details of the interior arrangements of the castle. All we need say is, that the rooms are fitted and furnished with all the appliances of Art which might be expected in the home of so enlightened and so liberal-minded a nobleman as his Grace the Duke of Cleveland.

Staindrop, closely adjoining Raby Park, is an interesting town, whose Church contains many monuments to members of the noble families of Nevil and Vane. The Church was restored in 1849. Among the monuments, perhaps the most interesting are an altar-tomb, with recumbent effigies, to Ralph Nevil, Earl of Westmoreland, and his two wives, Margaret, daughter to Hugh, Earl of Stafford, and Joan, daughter to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; and a monument in wood, with effigies of Henry, fifth Earl of Westmoreland (1564), and his two wives. There is also a magnificent white marble altar-tomb to the first Duke of Cleveland, by Westmacott, the recumbent figure on which is beautifully executed. In the chancel there is a monument, of exquisite design, in the purest white marble, in memory of Sophia, Duchess of Cleveland (wife of the second duke), who died in 1859. Within the altar-rails are other monuments, including those of Henry, second Earl of Darlington, who died in 1792; Margaret, Countess of Darlington, who died in 1800; and Katharine Margaret, Countess of Darlington, who died in 1807. There are also stained-glass windows in memory of Henry, second Duke of Cleveland; one erected by the friends and tenants of the Duke, and the other by Lady Augusta Powlett, his sister-in-law. A monumental brass of chaste design, on the north side of the Church, preserves the memory of William, third Duke of Cleveland. North of the Church is a Mausoleum, erected by the second Duke of Cleveland, in which the remains of the Duke and other members of the family repose.

CLIEFDEN.

OUR notice of “charming Cliefden” must necessarily be brief; not because the “Stately Home” itself lacks of stateliness, of beauty, of grandeur, or of interest; not because the episodes in its history are “few and far between,” or devoid of incident; not because its glorious situation and its picturesque surroundings present few features for the pen to dwell upon, and the poetic or artistic mind to linger over; and not because the genealogies of the families to which it has belonged will not vie both in point of antiquity, in fame, and in noble and illustrious actions with others; but simply because the space at our disposal will admit only of words where we would gladly have written paragraphs. In interest, in beauty, and picturesque surroundings, Cliefden will bear favourable comparison with most others of our series, while it yields to none in the loveliness, the romantic beauty, and the attractiveness of its situation. To take only a cursory glance at such a place is like peeping in at the door of a picture gallery, without having time to note any of the treasures spread on its walls.

Cliefden, now one of the seats of his Grace the Duke of Westminster, is situated in Buckinghamshire, and overlooks the river Thames in its most attractive part. It is to Cliefden that the river here owes its chief loveliness, but it is also to the river that Cliefden is indebted for one of its principal attractions. From the Berkshire side of the Thames the woods and the mansion form a magnificent scene, but it is from the bosom of the stream that its beauties are best understood and most enjoyed. “Cliefden runs along the summit of a lofty ridge which overhangs the river. The outline of this ridge is broken in the most agreeable way; the steep bank is covered with luxuriant foliage, forming a hanging wood of great beauty, or in parts bare, so as to increase the gracefulness of the foliage by the contrast; and the whole bank has run into easy-flowing curves at the bidding of the noble stream which washes its base. A few islands deck this part of the river, and occasionally little tongues of land run out into it, or a tree overhangs it, helping to give vigour to the foreground of the rich landscape. From the summit the views are really magnificent; both up and down the river they are of surpassing beauty. Looking over Windsor, the eye ranges far away till it loses itself in the hazy distance, to which the royal pile gives an aërial grace, while it adds majesty to the whole view. Looking up the river towards Hedsor the charming seat of Lord Boston, we have a prospect little less splendid, though of a different character. A vast extent of country lies at one’s feet, covered with dense wooded tracts, from which ever and anon peeps up an old grey tower; and the blue smoke marks a secluded village, while the glorious river winds away like a broad stream of molten silver.” The immediate grounds, whether Thamesward or landward, are well laid out, and present at every turn spots of beauty and loveliness not excelled elsewhere.

Speaking of the river scenery about Cliefden, Mr. Hall, in his “Book of the Thames,” says, “Those who accuse our great island river of insipidity, who, if they concede its claims to beauty, deny its pretensions to grandeur, will do well to row beneath the thick woods of Taplow and Cliefden, and, looking up, they will have no difficulty in imagining themselves in one of the grandest and richest, in picturesque attractions, of our English lakes; indeed, they will require only the near and distant mountains to fancy themselves under the heights of Glena, in all-beautiful Killarney. Well may we rejoice to scan the charms of our glorious river, and ask the aid of Poetry and Art to give them fame and power. But the painter will fail here. He may select graceful nooks, and a thousand objects will, singly or in groups, present themselves as fitting subjects for his pencil; but he cannot convey to the eye and mind a just idea of the mingled grandeur and beauty of this delicious locality; while the poet will find only themes which have been, ever and everywhere, the chosen and the favoured of his order. Those who row past these charming woods, and note what has been done by taste, in association with wealth, to render every part delightful, ascend any of the heights and examine the ‘prospect,’ near or distant, their enjoyment will be largely enhanced. It is impossible, indeed, to exaggerate the beauty and harmony of the foliage which everywhere surrounds us:—

‘Beautiful in various dyes, The gloomy pine, the poplar blue, The yellow beech, the sable yew, The slender fir that taper grows. The sturdy oak with broad-spread boughs; And, beyond., the purple grove. Haunt of Phyllis—Queen of Love!’

But there are here hundreds of other trees which the poet could not commemorate, for they were unknown in England in his time. All climes and countries have contributed to the wealth of foliage at Cliefden—woods, lawns, and gardens are enriched by tributes from every land to which enterprise has conducted British science to gather treasures converted from exotics into subjects naturalised and ‘at home.’”

Cliefden formerly belonged to the ancient family of Manfeld, of Buckinghamshire, from whom it was purchased by the infamously profligate George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, who built the mansion, and expended large sums of money in laying out the grounds and planting them with all the rarities of arboriculture he could procure. He employed Archer, the architect, to design and erect the mansion, and to adorn the grounds with alcoves and other buildings of a like nature.

The house was a commanding square structure, of three stories in height, besides the terrace (440 feet long), and it had wings connected with the main building by a colonnade. It was built of red brick, with stone dressings. He furnished it in a sumptuous manner, and hung its walls with fine tapestry and valuable pictures. Here the Duke brought his mistress, the Countess of Shrewsbury, and here gave full bent to his licentious habits. Thus Cliefden gained an unenviable notoriety, and has been immortalised in song and in prose:—

“Gallant and gay, in Cliefden’s proud alcove, The bower of wanton Shrewsbury and love.”

In 1667-8 the Duke had taken part in a singular triple duel about the Countess, and had mortally wounded her husband by running him through the body. Pepys thus wrote of this duel:—“January 17th. Much discourse of the duell yesterday between the Duke of Buckingham, Holmes, and one Jenkins, on one side, and my Lord of Shrewsbury, Sir John Talbot, and one Bernard Howard, on the other side: and all about my Lady Shrewsbury, who is at this time, and hath for a great while been, a mistress to the Duke of Buckingham. And so her husband challenged him, and they met yesterday in a close near Barne-Elmes, and there fought: and my Lord Shrewsbury is run through the body, from the right breast through the shoulder; and Sir John Talbot all along up one of his armes; and Jenkins killed upon the place, and the rest all in a little measure wounded.

This will make the world think that the King hath good counsellors about him, when the Duke of Buckingham, the greatest man about him, is a fellow of no more sobriety than to fight about a mistress. And this may prove a very bad accident to the Duke of Buckingham, but that my Lady Castlemaine do rule all at this time as much as ever she did, and she will, it is believed, keep all matters well with the Duke of Buckingham; though this is a time that the King will be very backward, I suppose, to appear in such a business. And it is pretty to hear how the King had some notice of this challenge a week or two ago, and did give it to my Lord Generall to confine the Duke, or take security that he should not do any such thing as fight: and the Generall trusted to the King that he, sending for him, would do it; and the King trusted to the Generall. And it is said that my Lord Shrewsbury’s case is to be feared that he may die too: and that may make it much worse for the Duke of Buckingham: and I shall not be much sorry for it, that we may have some sober man come in his room to assist in the Government.”

The Countess of Shrewsbury (the Duke’s mistress), who was Anna Maria, daughter of Robert, Earl of Cardigan, is said to have held the Duke’s horse, habited as a page, while the duel was being fought, and that she thus not only saw her husband mortally wounded, but then went home with the murderer, where she took him to her arms “in the shirt covered with her husband’s blood.” The Duke was married to the Hon. Mary Fairfax, daughter and heiress of Lord Fairfax, the Parliamentary general—a woman of pure tastes and faultless habits—whom he shamefully neglected. Pepys, under date the 15th of May, 1668, says, “I am told also that the Countesse of Shrewsbury is brought home by the Duke [the Earl had died of his wounds in March] of Buckingham to his house, where his Duchesse, saying that it was not for her and the other to live together in a house, he answered, ‘Why, madam, I did think so, and therefore have ordered your coach to be ready to carry you to your father’s;’ which was a devilish speech, but, they say, true; and my Lady Shrewsbury is there, it seems.”

Large as was the income of the Duke, his profligacy, extravagance, and immoralities so swallowed it up that he did not complete Cliefden, and died in wretchedness; and but for the timely help of Lord Arran, a few days before his decease, in abject poverty and loneliness. “There is not,” wrote Lord Arran, “so much as one farthing towards defraying the least expense;” and Pope, in one of his epistles to Lord Bathurst, remarks—

“Behold! what blessings wealth to life can lend, And see what comforts it affords our end! In the worst inn’s worst room, with mat half-hung, The floors of plaster, and the walls of dung, On once a flock bed, but repaired with straw, With tape-tied curtains, never meant to draw, The George and Garter dangling from that bed, Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red, Great Villiers lies—alas! how changed from him, That life of pleasure, and that soul of whim, Gallant and gay in Cliefden’s proud alcove, Tho bower of wanton Shrewsbury and love; Or just as gay at council in a ring Of mimick’d statesmen and their merry king. No wit to flatter, left off all his store; No fool to laugh at, which he valued more; There victor of his health, of fortune, friends, And fame, this lord of useless thousands ends.”

Soon after the Duke’s death all his property, being deeply mortgaged, was sold, but did not realise enough to pay his debts; and dying without issue, “his titles, which had been undeservedly conferred on his father, and only disgraced by himself, became extinct.”

Cliefden was purchased by Lord George Hamilton (fifth son of the Duke of Hamilton), who was created Baron Dechemont of Linlithgow, Viscount Kirkwall of Orkney, and Earl of Orkney, in 1696. His lordship completed the mansion, and did much towards beautifying the grounds. Dying without male issue in 1737, his eldest daughter, Anne, became Countess of Orkney, and succeeded to the Cliefden estate. She, however, did not reside here, but let it to H.R.H. Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of King George III., who for many years made it his summer residence. Here, at Cliefden, on the 1st of August, 1740, was first performed Thomson and Mallet’s masque of Alfred, in which occurs the ever-famous and patriotic “ode in honour of Great Britain,” “Rule Britannia”—

“When Britain first, at Heav’n’s command, Arose from out the azure main”—

the music of which was composed by Dr. Arne. It was, therefore, within the walls of Cliefden that “Rule Britannia” was first heard, and this gives it a literary interest of no small note. The masque in which it formed so prominent a feature was prepared and given at Cliefden, to commemorate the accession to the throne, in 1714, of King George I. (grandfather of Frederick, Prince of Wales), and in honour of the third birthday of his daughter, the young Princess Augusta. It was repeated the following night, and soon became the most popular of all compositions.

In 1795 the mansion (it is traditionally said through the carelessness of a maid-servant reading a novel in bed) was totally destroyed by fire, the wings, at some distance from the main building, being alone saved; while nearly all the sumptuous furniture, pictures, and tapestry were devoured by the flames. The estate was afterwards purchased by Sir George Warrender, by whom the mansion, which had been left in ruins since the fire, was rebuilt in 1830. After his death the estate was sold by Sir George’s executors to his Grace the Duke of Sutherland, and on the 15th of November, 1849 (the day of thanksgiving for the cessation of the cholera), only a few months after its purchase, it was again burned down.

In the following year, 1850, the Duke of Sutherland set about rebuilding the mansion on a scale of princely magnificence, and having engaged the services of Barry as architect, the present pile soon rose from the ruins of the former buildings. The “centre portion, which is a revival of the design for old Somerset House, now extends to the wings, which, together with the terrace, are made to harmonize with the new building.” The house and grounds, like Trentham, owe much of their beauty and loveliness to the good taste of the Duke and Duchess, the latter of whom, when a dowager, made it one of her favourite residences. The interior of this “Stately Home” needs no particular description. The rooms are, of course, one and all sumptuously furnished with all the appliances of wealth and taste, and are lavish in their attractions. It is truly a “home of beauty and of taste.”

Cliefden passed from the Duke of Sutherland to his daughter, the Lady Constance Leveson-Gower, married to the present Duke of Westminster, whose property this splendid domain is.

The family of Grosvenor, of which the present owner of Cliefden is the illustrious head, is one of high antiquity, tracing, as it does, in England, from the Norman conquest, when his grace’s ancestor came over with William the Conqueror. The principal line of the Grosvenors was seated at Hulme, in the hundred of Northwich, in Cheshire, and was descended in direct line from Gilbert le Grosvenour, nephew of Hugh Lupus, the Norman Earl Palatine of Chester, whom he accompanied to this country. The name, it is said, was derived from le Gros Venour, from the family having held the hereditary post of chief huntsman to the Dukes of Normandy. This main line was extinct in the twenty-second year of the reign of Henry VI., the line being continued by Ralph Grosvenor, second son of Sir Thomas Grosvenor, of Hulme. He married Joan Eaton, daughter and sole heiress of John Eaton, of Eaton, or Eton, in Cheshire, Esq., early in the fifteenth century. In 1621-2 a baronetcy was conferred on the representative of the family; and in 1676, Sir Thomas Grosvenor having married Mary, sole daughter and heiress of Alexander Davies, of Ebury, in the county of Middlesex, Esq., laid the foundation of the immense wealth and rapidly increasing honours of the Grosvenors.

In 1761 the then baronet, Sir Richard Grosvenor, was elevated to the peerage by the title of Baron Grosvenor of Eaton, in Cheshire, and in 1781 was advanced to the titles of Viscount Belgrave and Earl Grosvenor. He married Henrietta, daughter of Henry Vernon, Esq., by whom he had issue an only son, Robert Grosvenor. The Earl died in 1802, and was succeeded by his son, Robert Grosvenor, as second earl.

This nobleman was born in 1767, and married, in 1794, the Lady Eleanor Egerton, daughter of the first Earl of Wilton, by whom he had issue his successor, Lord Richard, who became third earl and second marquis; Lord Thomas, who became Earl of Wilton; and Lord Robert, M.P. In 1831 Earl Grosvenor was advanced to the dignity of a marquis, by the title of Marquis of Westminster being conferred upon him. He died in 1845, and was succeeded by his eldest son—

Richard, second Marquis of Westminster and third Earl Grosvenor. He was born in 1795, and in 1819 married the Lady Elizabeth Mary Leveson-Gower, second daughter of the first Duke of Sutherland, and by her had issue a family of four sons and nine daughters. His lordship, dying in 1869, was succeeded by his eldest son, the present peer, Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, in all his titles and estates, who, in 1874, was created Duke of Westminster.

The present noble head of this illustrious family, his Grace, Hugh Lupus, first Duke and third Marquis of Westminster, Earl Grosvenor, Viscount Belgrave, Baron Grosvenor of Eaton, a Baronet, and a Knight of the Garter, was born on the 13th of October, 1825, and succeeded his father in 1869. His grace was educated at Eton and at Balliol College, Oxford, and represented Chester in Parliament from 1847 to 1869, when he entered the Upper House. In 1852 his grace, then Marquis of Westminster, married his cousin, the Lady Constance Leveson-Gower, daughter of the second Duke of Sutherland, and sister of the present noble owner of Trentham. By this union his grace has issue, living, five sons and three daughters. These are—Victor Alexander, by courtesy Marquis of Westminster, to whom (born in 1853) her Majesty the Queen stood sponsor in person, who married, in 1874, the Lady Sibell Mary Lumley, daughter of the Earl of Scarborough, by whom he has issue, and is heir to the titles and estates; Lord Arthur Hugh Grosvenor, born in 1863; Lord Henry George Grosvenor, born in 1864; Lord Robert Edward Grosvenor, born in 1869; Lord Gerald Richard Grosvenor, born in 1874; the Lady Elizabeth Harriet, born in 1856; the Lady Beatrice Constance, born in 1858; and the Lady Margaret Evelyn, born in 1873.

The Duke of Westminster is patron of eleven livings, four of which are London churches; and his seats are Eaton Hall, Cheshire; Cliefden, Buckinghamshire; Halkin, Flintshire; and the mansion in Upper Grosvenor Street.

The ancient arms of the Grosvenors, settled in the famous Scrope and Grosvenor trial in the fourteenth century, were claimed to be azure, a bend, or; but these were declared to belong to Scrope. Sir Richard Grosvenor then, after the trial, assumed the arms azure, a garb, or, as showing his descent from the ancient Earls of Chester. On or after the creation of the marquisate of Westminster the arms of that city were granted as an augmentation, and ordered to be borne quarterly with those of Grosvenor. The arms now are—quarterly, first and fourth, azure, a portcullis with chains pendent, or; on a chief of the last, in pale, the arms of King Edward the Confessor, between two united roses of York and Lancaster (being the arms of the city of Westminster); second and third, azure, a garb, or, for Grosvenor. Crest—a talbot statant, or. Supporters—two talbots reguardant, or, collared, azure. Motto—“Virtus non stemma.”

The glorious grounds of Cliefden have been pleasantly discoursed upon by many writers, but by none more graphically or technically than in a brief notice in the Garden, which to some extent we cannot do better than quote. Cliefden, “the birthplace of spring gardening,” he says, “well maintains the high character it has so long and deservedly received for the beauty of its early flowers, its banks full of wild hyacinths, primroses, and forget-me-nots; its closely shaven lawns so overspread with wild thyme that every footstep brushes up its fragrance; and, above all, its flower-beds brimful of spring beauty, which in turn give place to summer bedding plants. Looking from the terrace on the lawn, a huge sunken panel with flower-beds proportionate in size on either side of it, the floral display when we saw it was magnificent.

Brilliant pink, supplied by a large circle of Silene pendula compacta, set in emerald green, was conspicuous in the distance; nearer were lavender and blue, furnished by Nepeta cærulea and forget-me-nots; buff, by Limnanthes Douglasi; golden yellow, by Lasthenia Californica; and crimson, by the old China rose of that colour and rhododendrons. Other colours, too, were equally striking, and these only a secondary display, that earlier and brighter being made by early tulips. The plan is, when the tulips are planted, to cover the surface of the beds with annuals, sown in July and August, and transplanted when the bulbs are put in. These commence flowering when the tulips are over, and remain in beauty until the bedding plants are planted out. Vasefuls of Tom Thumb pelargoniums stand on the grass near the walk at the base of the terrace wall, close to which is a ribbon border bright with pansies, for which Cliefden is justly celebrated; and right and left are gardens of early flowers, arranged on the one hand in the form of a huge shell, and on the other in beds on the grass that have been bright all the season with spring flowers in great beauty. But, brilliant as the floral display on the dressed ground undoubtedly has been, and soon will be again, it cannot arrest attention long. The eye is naturally carried beyond it to the wood-clad hills and dales, the rich meadows, and the river Thames, at this season alive with water-parties from Maidenhead and pleasure-boats of every description. These form the foreground, as it were, to a landscape unmatched for picturesque beauty, its distant boundary being the Surrey hills on the one hand, and the Chilterns, in Buckinghamshire, on the other.

“Vistas, too, have been cut here and there through the trees, so as to bring into view the water or some more distant object of interest. By reclaiming pieces of land here and there from the river, a wide and agreeable promenade has been formed along its bank, overhung at intervals by stately trees, consisting of beech, ash, and elm, with here and there a tulip-tree and scarlet chestnut. This is reached from the plateau above, on which the mansion stands, by means of winding walks and flights of rustic steps, through what may be termed a gigantic wild garden, consisting of ancient yews, whose hold on mother earth is but small, their roots—weather-beaten and weird-looking—being half out of the ground, and tangled brushwood, fantastically overrun in places with honeysuckle and traveller’s joy. Here, too, even on the chalk, are masses of ferns, and nearer the river-side a very fine Judas-tree, clumps of pampas grass, mulberry-coloured hazels, and other flowering and fine-leaved subjects, while in spring every open space is a garden of wild flowers.

“Let us now return to the entrance front of the mansion. This has been strikingly improved, by removing the old kitchen garden, and laying its site down in grass as level as a bowling-green, cut off from its surroundings right and left by newly built walls, and in front by a thick yew hedge, still kept in vigour by means of good root treatment. These, with the mansion, enclose a spacious quadrangle, on the side of which farthest from the windows are large vases; these in early spring are gay with tulips, and later in the season with annuals, the most effective of which is Silene pendula compacta in masses of rosy blossoms. On the walls, which are covered with climbing and other wall plants, are rare roses, and honeysuckles in profusion. In another part is a rose hedge, consisting of Fellenberg, a kind not very full when open, but excellent in the bud state for table decoration.

“Shut out from view of the mansion by these walls are the glasshouses, a conservatory being on the one side, and the forcing-houses on the other—all new, and arranged with consummate skill and forethought, as regards saving of labour: the whole, with the exception of the conservatory, are built in parallel lines right and left of a central pathway, under which are the hot-water pipes, a glass-covered corridor running round the whole, and binding them, as it were, together. Close to them are the offices and young men’s rooms, the latter built in a style and furnished with appliances such as are to be found in but few gardens. Grapes, peaches, and other tender fruits are grown here in perfection, and among other things we noticed a houseful of tree, or perpetual, carnations in flower, a brilliant sight—the blooms being abundant, large, and fragrant. The extension system of vine-growing is that which is most in favour here. In one vinery—an old one, sixty feet long—one vine has been allowed to fill the house; it is in excellent condition, and is carrying some two hundred bunches of promising fruit. Near here, too, is a glass corridor, the roof of which is covered with an aged fuchsia of the corallina kind; several other varieties have been grafted on it, all of which are literally masses of flower, and most effective, owing to the contrast produced by their different colours. Ivies, grown in zinc boxes and trained on trellises for indoor screens, are here out of doors in the shade. These fit into ornamental trays, and when taken indoors have a pelargonium or nasturtium, or some other flowering plant plunged in the box in front of them.

“The conservatory is fifty-six yards in length and twelve yards in width, and span-roofed, the spans being placed at right angles with the wall against which it is built. It is in two divisions, but so arranged that both can be thrown into one, which, when lighted up at night (which it is on certain occasions) has a fine effect. It is as gay as a house of the kind can well be—arum lilies, as they are called, being especially good and conspicuous. Among the more arborescent vegetation which it contains are oranges, carrying heavy crops of ripe fruit, and a vigorous specimen of Abutilon Boule de Neige, loaded with drooping white bell-shaped flowers, which, when inverted in bouquets with the stamens removed, have a charming effect. Against the back wall is Lantana mutabilis, quite a mass of variously coloured flowers, exhibiting, in fact, a luxuriance of blossom wholly unattainable by plants in pots.

“With the noble entrance to Cliefden most people are familiar. It consists of a straight avenue of dimensions commensurate with the palatial residence to which it leads. This remains as it always has been; but the approach in connection with it has of late been greatly altered and improved. On the one side we have natural wood intermixed with flowering shrubs and trees; and on the other, here and there glades of grass pleasantly undulated, and furnished with clumps of rhododendrons and azaleas—some near, some distant, but all effectively planted, and more or less over-canopied with lofty trees, chiefly beeches, whose stems rise for an unusual height clear of branches. A large stagnant pond, by which the road passes, has been drained, filled up, and converted into a grassy lawn, one side of which hugs the approach for a considerable distance, while the other loses itself in the wood on the other side of the valley. Vistas, too, have been judiciously cut through the trees where the planting and views are most beautiful, thus rendering this portion of the grounds by no means the least interesting feature of Cliefden.

“Of the kitchen garden we have said nothing; nor of the miles of green drives, in summer shady and pleasant, with which the woods abound; nor of the indoor fruit-growing, which is excellent; but enough has been said to show that Cliefden, since it has become the property of the Duke of Westminster, has been greatly improved, both as regards its buildings and its gardens, and is now one of the most charming of seats.”

WARNHAM COURT.

WE have chosen Warnham Court to form one of our present series, not because it is, strictly speaking, a “Stately Home,” nor because its history is a stirring one, or the family to whom it belongs can boast of high antiquity in descent, or of nobility in extraction; but simply because it is a good and pleasing and fine example of a modern Elizabethan home, the characteristic features of which have been made suitable for the tastes and requirements of the present day. Its beauties are manifold, but they are purely of that quiet domestic character that is utterly opposed to ostentation and show, and that give it an air of comfort possessed by but few of its more pretentious neighbours.

Sussex is a county of “many mansions,” and they are as varied in their style and their architectural character as they are in the periods in which they have been erected; but few can, out of the whole, compare with Warnham Court in pleasantness of situation, in beauty of external surroundings, or in comfort of internal arrangements. It is a house fitted for hospitality, and for the enjoyment of the guests its owner delights to have around him.

Warnham Court lies near the village of Warnham, which is about three miles from Horsham, and it has a station on the Horsham line of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. The village—and a pretty Sussex village it is—consists mainly of one long street, running north and south, and it has many pleasant residences in its neighbourhood. The Church, dedicated to St. Margaret, is of Norman foundation, but was enlarged and altered in 1848. It consists of “a nave, with north and south aisles, with three chancels, the north of these latter portions being divided from the south aisle by a fine Gothic oak screen. It has a square embattled tower, with clock and six bells. The interior contains several monuments” to the Carills and others.

The Court was built in the Elizabethan style, in place of an older house, in the beginning of this century, by Henry Tredcroft, Esq., of Horsham—a fine old Sussex squire—and, at his death, was sold to Sir Thomas Pelley, Bart., who made it his residence. The whole estate passed, by purchase, from the executors of Sir Henry Pelley, in 1866, to its present owner, Charles T. Lucas, Esq., the head of the well-known firm of Lucas Brothers, the eminent builders and contractors. By Mr. Lucas the house has been remodelled and considerably enlarged, its Elizabethan character being, however, carefully preserved in every detail. He has also built new stabling, lodges, gardener’s house, terraces, garden appliances, &c., at a very large outlay, which, however, has been most judiciously expended.

Mr. Lucas, who is the eldest son of the late James Lucas, Esq., was born in 1820, and in 1840 was married to Miss Tiffin, by whom he has, with other issue, a son, Charles James Lucas, born in 1853, and educated at Harrow. Mr. Lucas is Lord of the Manor of Warnham, a governor of Christ’s Hospital, and a magistrate for the county of Surrey. He is brother to his partner, Thomas Lucas, Esq., of Eastwicke Park, Surrey, who was born in 1822, and in 1852 married Mary Amelia, daughter of Robert Chamberlain, Esq., of Cotton Hall, Norfolk, by whom, with other issue, he has a son, Arthur Charles Lucas, born in 1853, and educated at Harrow: he is a J.P. and D.L. for Suffolk, and a magistrate for Middlesex and Westminster. Both are gentlemen highly esteemed and honoured, and few are more thoroughly entitled to the lofty positions to which, by honourable industry, great ability, and high character, they have attained.

The arms of the family of Lucas are—party per bend, gules and argent, a bend, dovetailed, between six annulets, all counterchanged; a crescent for difference. Crest—a demi-griffin, wings expanded, gules, semée of annulets, argent. Motto—“Spes et fides.”

The mansion is approached from the principal Lodge Entrance by a drive through the park, which is finely timbered with forest trees of large growth. These are chiefly oaks, of which there are some remarkably fine and gigantic examples. Under these roam innumerable herds of red and fallow deer, which add much to the beauty of the park scenery. The Lodge, with its overhanging roofs, its mullioned windows, its geometrical chimney-shafts, and its advanced porch, is one of the most picturesque and pleasant in the county.

The mansion itself is situated on an eminence, and commands extensive views of the surrounding country. On the east side is the Carriage Entrance, which is a spacious gravelled court-yard, enclosed next the park by a stone balustrade. On the south side is the South or Grand Terrace, a fine promenade walk some six hundred feet in length by twenty feet in width, adorned with statuary, and overhung and shaded by magnificent trees. This terrace is supported, at an elevation from the park of about ten feet, by a massive stone wall and elegantly designed balustrade. In the recesses are fine examples of sculpture, and the balustrade itself supports a number of elegant vases, terminals, and other ornaments, placed at regular distances. The park from this point slopes gently away till it ends in a fine ornamental Lake. Looking to the eastward, down a lovely glade in the park, another and more magnificent piece of water, covering an area of over thirty acres, is seen in the distance.

On the right, while passing along to the west end of this terrace, stands the Conservatory. It is filled with the choicest exotic palms, tree ferns, and flowering plants; and in the centre, on a massive marble base, stands a magnificent sculptured group of figures in white marble. The floor is geometrical in pattern, and the appointments, the vases, the flower-stands, &c., are all characterized by good taste in their arrangement.

The surrounding grounds are beautifully undulating and diversified, and comprise the Flower Garden, Croquet Lawn, and American Garden. The latter is situated in a natural dip of the grounds, and is completely encircled and sheltered by a dense mass of oaks and other forest trees, at the foot of which is a broad belt of common laurel, rhododendron, &c. Then follows a winding walk, encircling about an acre of grass lawn, on which are planted masses of azalea, rhododendron, kalmea, andromeda, specimen coniferæ, &c., the whole producing a strikingly pleasing effect. Arrived at the end of this terrace, the visitor descends, by means of a broad flight of steps, to another terrace walk nearly a quarter of a mile in length, and flanked for most of that distance on each side with masses of rhododendrons alternated with some fine specimens of Cedrus deodara and the Chinese juniper. Again descending by another flight of steps to the left, access is gained to the Rose Garden. This “garden of roses,” which is of perfect Eastern loveliness, takes the form of a half-circle, the whole of which is filled with the choicest roses, the outer line being backed by a broad belt of flowering rhododendrons. Some idea may be formed of the size and importance of this Rose Garden from the fact that it contains upwards of a thousand standard roses, and nearly as many dwarf roses, and these comprise examples of every colour, shade, and variety that are worth cultivating. The effect, when these are fully in flower, is enchanting in the extreme.

In close proximity to this, but shut out by a high wall covered with Magnolia grandiflora, are the Forcing and Plant Houses: these occupy three sides of a square. Passing through the upper side, which is a range of span-roofed houses, we find it embraces a Show House (kept gay with flowers the year round), Fernery, Plant, Stove, and Camellia House, in which latter is a plant of the old double white camellia twenty feet across, and rather more than that in height, besides many other fine specimens of those choicest and most beautiful of flowers. Leaving this house, the visitor passes through about two hundred feet in length of Vineries and Peach Houses, filled with their luscious treasures in different stages of growth. Thus the third side of the square is gained. This is another range of span Plant Houses, the centre division being a Rose House, planted chiefly with tea-scented roses. In the centre of this square, and running parallel with the two end ranges, is a large late Peach House, 65 feet long by 24 feet wide: this spans the walk which connects this square with the lower terrace.

At the back of these houses are the Kitchen Gardens, which comprise about four acres: these are well walled, and have a good wall to the south. The soil being a retentive clay, fruit trees, as well as most vegetables, thrive well. Here, also, are extensive ranges of pits used for forcing early vegetables, pot vines, melons, cucumbers, and bedding plants, of which latter about thirty thousand are grown and planted annually. Here, too, are the Orchid House, containing many valuable plants; Gardenia House; and range of Fig Houses. Covering the back wall of the range of Vineries before alluded to, and facing the Kitchen Gardens, are the Fruit Rooms, Mushroom House, Potting Sheds—also the young men’s rooms: these are spacious, and contain every convenience for their comfort. Too much credit cannot be given Mr. Lucas for the manner in which he thus studies the comfort of his employés, both in this and in other particulars.

The most striking feature in the Kitchen Gardens is the Head Gardener’s Cottage. This is a picture of architectural beauty, and, from its elevated position, commands a view of every part of the gardens, as well as most extensive prospects of the surrounding country. Not only has the external appearance of this model cottage been made matter of study, but the interior, also, is replete with every domestic convenience. It is one of the most charming of residences, and its occupant, Mr. Lucas’s head gardener, is one of the most accomplished in his profession. To his good taste and skill much of the beauty and attractiveness of the place is due.

The north side of these gardens is bounded by a newly planted Orchard, containing above a hundred fine standard trees of all the best varieties of apples, pears, plums, &c. This is followed by about two acres planted as a Pinetum, in which are many valuable and promising young specimen coniferæ. This is continued down to the north carriage drive, where it is bounded by a belt of evergreen shrubs, &c. It may not be out of place here to add that the whole of these gardens owe their existence, as well as their present state of high keeping, to their present estimable owner, who has spared no expense in their formation or subsequent management, and whose love of the beautiful, whether in Nature or in Art, is unbounded.

The internal arrangements of the house—which, besides all the customary reception and state apartments and the domestic offices, contains an unusual number of bed-rooms—are all that can be desired, both for elegance and for home comforts; and the furnishing and appointments are such as eminently to entitle Warnham Court to be ranked as a home of taste. Mr. Lucas is a liberal patron of Art, and both here and at his town mansion the walls are hung with pictures of matchless excellence and of great price. They are chiefly by modern, and most of them by British, artists: a list of them would include nearly all the best painters of the age.

The park is some three hundred and fifty acres in extent, the farm occupies about six hundred acres more, and the pleasure-grounds add another fifty acres to the total, so that Warnham Court is a fine and noble property, and one unmatched in its district.

It would ill become us, in any notice of the parish of Warnham, to omit the mention of one of its worthies—Percy Bysshe Shelley. This ill-fated, but gifted, poet was born at Field Place, on Broad-bridge Heath, Warnham, on the 4th of August, 1792. He was the grandson of Sir Bysshe Shelley, Bart., of Castle Goring, who married twice, and had, by his first wife, with other issue, a son and successor, Sir Timothy Shelley, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Pinfold, Esq., of Etchingham, in Surrey: their eldest son was the poet. Percy Bysshe Shelley received his first education from the Rev. Mr. Edwards, vicar of Warnham, and was then sent to school at Brentford, with his young cousin, Thomas Medwin. At thirteen Shelley was sent to Eton. At eighteen, having previously written much poetry, he produced his “Queen Mab;” and in 1810 he entered University College, Oxford. “At the age of nineteen he published a pamphlet embodying the arguments of Voltaire and the false philosophy of that school, which was speedily circulated amongst those in authority.”

This reckless act coloured all his subsequent life: it led to his expulsion from college, to the breaking off of a match with his cousin, and to his being discarded by his father. Soon afterwards young Shelley married Miss Westbrook, at Gretna Green, and resided first at Keswick, next in Ireland (where he published some political pamphlets), and afterwards in Wales. After three years of married life and the birth of two children, Shelley and his wife separated in 1814, and he went to Switzerland, where he formed the friendship of Lord Byron, which closed only with his death. In 1816 he was recalled from Switzerland by the tragic fate of his wife, who committed suicide by drowning; and shortly afterwards, her father, Mr. Westbrook, succeeded in an application to deprive him of the guardianship of his children. Soon after the death of his wife, Shelley married Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, daughter of the notorious free-thinker William Godwin, and herself the authoress of “Frankenstein,” and they settled at Great Marlow, where he published his “Alastor” and “The Revolt of Islam.” In 1818 they quitted England for Italy, and from that time to his death every year “gave evidence of Shelley’s untiring intellectual energy in the production of numerous poems and other pieces,” including “Adonais,” “The Cenci,” “Prometheus Bound,” &c. After spending some time in Rome and Naples and various places, “Mr. and Mrs. Shelley engaged a house at Lerici, on the Bay of Spezzia, and it was here that he met his premature and lamented death. On the 8th of July, 1822, he set sail in his little schooner-yacht, a vessel wholly unfit to encounter the squalls of the Mediterranean, accompanied by his friend Captain Williams, to meet Leigh Hunt, who was with Lord Byron at Pisa. A few days afterwards Shelley left his friends, intending to return with Captain Williams, and set sail, in spite of the unfavourable change in the weather, with an English boy, named Charles Vivian, added to the party. They were off Via Reggio, at some distance from the shore, when a storm was driven over the sea which enveloped all in darkness; the cloud passed onwards, but the little schooner had vanished. At the end of a dreadful week of suspense the worst fears of his friends were confirmed. The body of Shelley was washed on shore near Via Reggio, that of Captain Williams at a spot about four miles distant, but that of Charles Vivian was not found for three weeks afterwards. The bodies were burnt in accordance with the Italian laws of quarantine, in the presence of Lord Byron and Leigh Hunt, and Shelley’s ashes were afterwards enclosed in an urn, and deposited in the English cemetery at Rome, by the side of his infant son William.” “You will have heard by this time,” says Byron, when writing to Moore on the 2nd of August, 1822, “that Shelley and another gentleman (Captain Williams) were drowned about a month ago (a month yesterday), in a squall off the Gulf of Spezzia. There is thus another man gone about whom the world was ill-naturedly, and ignorantly, and brutally mistaken. It will perhaps do him justice now, when he can be no better for it.” Dying before his father (Sir Timothy), Shelley did not, of course, succeed to the family estates; but, on the death of Sir Timothy in 1844, the son of the poet succeeded, and is the present head of the family, Sir Percy Florence Shelley, Bart., of Field Place, Warnham.

Around Warnham the neighbourhood is one unbroken succession of pleasant scenery and of delightful “nooks and corners;” and the district is studded with many pleasant residences. Within a few miles, too, are Horsham, with its fine old church and other objects of interest; St. Leonard’s Forest, Longhurst, Graylands, Rusper, and a score or two other places that are full of beauty and interest, and show well what charms are furnished by the scenery of Sussex.

LOWTHER CASTLE

WHETHER from its own nobleness of character, the innate beauty and loveliness of its situation, the magnificence and even sublimity of its surroundings, the grandeur and sumptuous richness of its appointments, the extent of its domains, the historical incidents with which it is connected, the interesting and stirring events which have been associated with its history, or the true nobility of character of its long line of illustrious owners, Lowther Castle may indeed be classed as one of the finest, most important, and most stately of the “Stately Homes” of this favoured land of ours. Situate in one of the most lovely of shires—Westmoreland—and surrounded on all sides by the most magnificent of scenery, Lowther is indeed a “favoured spot”—a spot where Nature has been profuse in her gifts, and where Art has found a fitting shrine. Here

“hills on hills, on forests forests rise; Spurn the low earth, and mingle with the skies.”

Mountain and dale, hill and valley, fell and lake, moor and meadow, wood and stream, are spread around in such lavish profusion that the eye wanders on from one to another in constant change of scene, and the mind vainly endeavours to grasp their varied beauties. Its situation is, indeed, a scene of loveliness not easily conceived, and which but few “earthly Edens” surpass.

The castle itself, as it now stands, is modern; but it was erected on the site of an older mansion, belonging to the same family, which was taken down by Sir John Lowther in 1685, who enlarged and rebuilt it on a scale of much magnificence. The greater part of this second building, Lowther Hall as it was called, was destroyed by fire in 1720, the wings only being left standing; but these were sufficient “to show the ancient magnitude and grandeur of this formerly noble structure.” In 1808 Lord Lonsdale, whose predecessor for very many years had been making preparations by cutting down timber and collecting together materials for the work, commenced the erection of the present edifice. In January, 1808, the first stone was laid, and by the summer of 1809 a portion of the mansion was inhabited by the family. This new structure, which is of castellated character, was dignified by the name of “Lowther Castle,” in place of the old designation of “Hall.” It was erected from the designs of Sir Robert Smirke, at an enormous cost, and is considered to be his chef-d’œuvre in that style of architecture, in which, however, he was not at all times happy. The north front is thoroughly castellated in its style, the south more ornate and ecclesiastical in its character; the whole, however, from whichever side it is seen, or from whatever point a glimpse is obtained, has a picturesque appearance and an air of princely magnificence about it that are eminently striking and pleasing to the eye.

Lowther Castle stands in a grand old well-wooded park of some six or eight hundred acres. In front, at a little distance, runs the lovely river Lowther, with its rocky bed and its wildly romantic banks; at the back (the south front) are the Lawns and the Deer Park; to the west are the Terrace and Pleasure Gardens and wooded walks; and to the east the Stables, Kitchen Gardens, and village.

The family of Lowther, of which the present Earl of Lonsdale is the noble head, is of considerable antiquity in the border counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland.

The names of William and Thomas Lowther appear as witnesses to a grant as early as the reign of Henry II., and in the reign of Henry III. were Sir Thomas de Lowther, Knight, Sir Gervase de Lowther, Knight, and Gervase de Lowther, Archdeacon of Carlisle. Succeeding them was Sir Hugh de Lowther, Knight, who was Attorney-General in 1292, represented the county in 1300 and 1305, became Justice-Itinerant and Escheator in Eyre north of the Trent; and was in 1331 made one of the Justices of King’s Bench. Sir Hugh married a daughter of Sir Peter Tilliol, Knight, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir Hugh Lowther.

This Sir Hugh was married twice: first, to a daughter of Lord Lucy, of Cockermouth; and, secondly, to Margaret, daughter of William de Quale. At his death, after serving in many important offices, he was succeeded by his son(?) Sir Robert Lowther, Knight, who died in 1490, leaving issue by his wife, Margaret Strickland, a son, Sir Hugh, who succeeded him, and three daughters, married respectively to Sir Thomas Curwen, Sir James Pickering, and William Lancaster.

Sir Hugh de Lowther married Margaret, daughter of John de Derwentwater, by whom he left, with other issue, his son and successor, Sir Hugh de Lowther, Knight, who represented the county of Cumberland. He married Mabel, daughter of Sir William Lancaster, of Sockbridge, by whom he had a son and heir, Sir Hugh de Lowther, Knight of the Bath, who married Anne, daughter of Sir Launcelot Threlkeld, and died circa 1511.

Sir John de Lowther, his eldest son, succeeded him, and having married Lucy, daughter of Sir Thomas Curwen, of Workington, had issue by her a son, Sir Hugh, who, having married Dorothy, daughter of Henry, Lord Clifford, had issue as follows:—Sir Richard Lowther, who succeeded to the estates (of whom presently); Gerard Lowther, a bencher of Lincoln’s Inn; Margaret Lowther, married to John Richmond, Esq., of Highead Castle; Anne, married to Thomas Wybergh, Esq., of Clifton; Frances, married to Sir Henry Goodyer, Knight of Powlesworth; and Barbara, married to Thomas Carleton, of Carleton. Sir Hugh, dying during his father’s lifetime, the estates passed to his eldest son—

Sir Richard Lowther, Knight, who succeeded his cousin, Henry Lord Scrope, as Lord Warden of the West Marches. Sir Richard “was three times commissioner in the great affairs between England and Scotland under Elizabeth.” He had also the unfortunate and ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots under his charge, and conveyed her to Carlisle. He died in 1607, leaving with other issue, by his wife, Frances, daughter of John Middleton, Esq., four sons—viz. Sir Christopher (of whom presently); Sir Gerard Lowther, Chief Justice of Common Pleas and Lord Chancellor of Ireland; Sir Launcelot Lowther, Knight, a Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland; and William Lowther, Esq., of Ingleton.

Sir Christopher Lowther was knighted by King James at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He married Eleanor, daughter of Sir William Musgrave, of Hayton, by whom he had a family of eight sons and four daughters. He was succeeded by his son, Sir John Lowther, M.P. for Westmoreland (married to Eleanor, daughter of William Fleming, of Rydal), who, dying in 1637, was in turn succeeded by his son, Sir John Lowther, M.P. for the same county, who was created a baronet in 1640. Dying in 1675, he was succeeded by his grandson, Sir John Lowther, who was “the thirty-first knight of the family in nearly direct succession.” In 1689 he was made Lord-Lieutenant of Westmoreland and Cumberland, and the following year appointed First Commissioner of the Treasury. In 1696 Sir John was created Baron Lowther of Lowther and Viscount Lonsdale, and, in 1698, was made Lord Privy Seal, and held many other offices. Dying in 1700, he was succeeded in his titles and estates by his son—

Richard, second Viscount Lonsdale, who died in 1713, when the titles and estates devolved on his brother Henry, third Viscount Lonsdale, at whose death the barony of Lowther and viscountcy of Lonsdale ceased, the estates and baronetcy devolving upon his great-nephew, Sir James Lowther, eldest son of Robert Lowther, Esq., Governor of Barbadoes.

Sir James was M.P. for Cumberland and Westmoreland. In 1782 he offered to build and completely to furnish at his own expense a man-of-war of seventy guns, but the coming peace rendered this unnecessary. Sir James was, in 1784, created Baron Lowther of Lowther, Viscount Lowther, and Earl of Lonsdale. He married a daughter of the Earl of Bute, but, having no issue by her, his lordship, in 1797, obtained a new patent, creating him Baron and Viscount Lowther, with remainder to the heirs male of his cousin, the Rev. Sir William Lowther, Bart., of Swillington. Dying in 1802, the earldom and other titles of the first creation became extinct, those of the second patent descending to Sir William Lowther, who thus became Baron Lowther and Viscount Lowther, and was, in 1807, created Earl of Lonsdale. His lordship married the Lady Augusta Fane, daughter of John, ninth Earl of Westmoreland, by whom he had issue—William, Viscount Lowther, by whom he was succeeded; the Hon. Henry Cecil Lowther, M.P.; the Lady Elizabeth Lowther, who died unmarried; the Lady Mary Lowther, who married Major-general Lord Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck, third son of the third Duke of Portland, and was mother of Mr. G. A. F. Cavendish-Bentinck, M.P. for Whitehaven; the Lady Anne Lowther, married to the Right Hon. Sir John Beckett, Bart.; and the Lady Caroline Lowther, married to Lord William John Frederick Poulett, son of the Duke of Cleveland. Dying in 1844, the Earl was succeeded by his eldest son—

William, second Earl of Lonsdale, Viscount and Baron Lowther, and a baronet, who had been summoned to the House of Peers during his father’s lifetime as Baron Lowther. He had sat as M.P. for various places from 1801 to 1841, and, among other appointments, successively held those of a Lord of the Admiralty, a Lord of the Treasury, First Commissioner of Woods and Forests, Treasurer of the Navy, Vice-President of the Board of Trade, Postmaster-General, and President of Council. His lordship died unmarried on the 4th of March, 1872, and was succeeded by his nephew—

Henry Lowther, as third Earl of Lonsdale and Viscount and Baron Lowther of Whitehaven, of the second creation, who was the son of Colonel the Hon. Henry Cecil Lowther (second son of the first earl, by Lady Lucy, daughter of the fifth Earl of Harborough). He was born on the 27th of March, 1818, and succeeded his uncle at his death in 1872. His lordship was educated at Westminster and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of M.A. in 1838. He was appointed cornet and sub-lieutenant in the 1st Life Guards in 1841, became lieutenant in 1843, captain in 1849, and retired in 1854. For twenty-four years he retained the confidence of the electors of West Cumberland, sitting uninterruptedly for this division from 1847 to 1872, when he succeeded his uncle in the title and estates. The seat thus vacant by the late earl’s accession to the House of Lords was obtained without a contest by Lord Muncaster. His lordship was Lord-Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of Cumberland and Westmoreland, a magistrate for Rutland, Hon. Colonel of the Royal Cumberland Militia and of the Cumberland Rifle Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Westmoreland and Cumberland Yeomanry Cavalry, and a member of the Carlton, Boodle’s, Jockey, and Turf Clubs. Lord Lonsdale married, in 1852, Emily Susan, daughter of St. George Francis Caulfield, Esq., of Dunamon Castle, county Roscommon, by whom he left issue living four sons and two daughters. These are—St. George Henry Lowther, the present Earl of Lonsdale; the Hon. Hugh Cecil Lowther, born in 1857; the Hon. Charles Edwin Lowther, born in 1859; the Hon. Lancelot Edward Lowther, born in 1867; the Lady Sybil Emily Lowther; and the Lady Verena Maud Lowther. His lordship died somewhat suddenly on the 15th of August, 1876, and was buried the Saturday following in Lowther Church.

The present noble head of the House of Lowther, St. George Henry, fourth Earl of Lonsdale and Viscount and Baron Lowther of Whitehaven, and a baronet, was born on the 4th of October, 1855, and therefore succeeded to the titles and estates a few weeks before attaining his majority. His lordship was, in 1875, appointed Sub-Lieutenant of the Royal Cumberland Militia, and shortly afterwards transferred to the Nottingham Royal Sherwood Rangers. He is patron of forty-three livings—viz. Aikton, Armathwaite, Bootle, Bolton, Bowness, Brigham, Buttermere, Cockermouth, Cleator, Corney, Distingdon, Embleton, Gosforth, Hensingham, Haile, Kirkandrews-upon-Eden, Kirkbride, Lorton, Loweswater, Moresby, Mosser, St. Bees, Threlkeld, Whicham, Whitbeck, St. James, Christchurch, St. Nicholas, and Holy Trinity, Whitehaven; Askham, Bampton, Barton, Kirkby Stephen, Lowther, Patterdale, Clifton, Ravenstonedale, Shap, Startforth (Yorkshire), Bampton Kirk, Orton, St. John’s-in-the-Vale, and Crosthwaite.

The arms of the Earl of Lonsdale are—or, six annulets, three, two, and one, sable. Crest, a dragon, argent. Supporters, two horses, argent, gorged with wreaths of laurel, vert. His seats are Lowther Castle, Westmoreland; Whitehaven Castle, Cumberland; Barleythorpe, near Oakham, Rutland; and Carlton House Terrace, London.

Lowther Castle is entered by a massive porch in the centre of its north front, the door, which is garnished with magnificent bronze knockers, giving access to the grand Entrance Hall. This is a noble Gothic apartment, some sixty feet long by thirty feet in width, ceiled with panelled oak. The entrance doorway is in the centre of the north side, and immediately in front is the Grand Staircase, across the landing of which is a noble arcade of three lofty pointed archways rising from clustered columns. From the angled corners of the Hall doorways open to passages leading to the domestic offices. At each end of this fine apartment, and again in front of each pillar between and adjoining the flights of stairs, are suits of ancient armour standing on lofty pedestals, ranges of the old “Black Bess” guns of the old Cumberland Militia and other trophies of arms decorating the walls.

The Grand Staircase, sixty feet square and ninety feet in height, leads up from the Entrance Hall to the various suites of apartments. It is entirely of stone, and has a richly groined ceiling rising from clustered columns. Facing the entrance, on the first landing, is a magnificent vase, and in canopied niches in the wall are exquisitely sculptured figures, the arms of Lowther and the alliances of the family also appropriately decorating the walls. The Staircase is of four heights, the upper forming a triforium passage, over which are windows filled with rich Gothic tracery and stained glass. The centre of the elaborately groined ceiling is panelled, and bears the inscription: “+ Edif^t. Cul^s. Com. de Lonsdale an^o. Regni L^o. R^s. Geo^i. III. A^o. D^i. MDCCCX: cur^e. Rob^o. Smirke.” Arms and banners decorate the walls, and plants and flowers, arranged to line the staircases in every direction, add immeasurably to the beauty and the comfort as well as to the stateliness of this fine portion of the edifice.

It will not be necessary to enter fully into a description of the various apartments of this noble residence; they are all sumptuous in their furnishing, admirable in their appointments, and replete with everything that can make a “home of taste” enjoyable. Some of the apartments, however, require special notice, and to each of these we proceed to devote a few lines—not taking them in any given order, but as we saw them on our recent visit.

Passing to the second landing through an “ante-room to the sleeping apartments,” in which are preserved a valuable and extensive collection of Ceramics arranged in glass cases, and also a number of antiquities, are the State Bed-room and its suite of dressing-rooms. These are all hung with remarkably fine Gobelins tapestry. These noble apartments occupy the space in the centre of the south front, and from the windows are lovely views of the Grounds and Deer Park. The state bed, which is hung with white satin richly embroidered, is of black and gold, the massive cornice, solidly gilt, being surrounded by angels, five on each side and four at the foot, and reminding one of the charming nursery rhyme of our childish days:—

“Four corners to my bed, Four angels round me spread; One to sing, and one to pray, And two to carry my soul away!”

The appointments of the room are of the most sumptuous character, the toilet service of silver gilt adding much to its magnificence.

On the landing of the Grand Staircase, among other Art treasures are Lawrence’s full-length portrait of George IV., Greenhill’s Walpole, Kneller’s Duke of Marlborough, Addison, and other paintings; and in the east ante-room leading to the sleeping apartments in that part of the castle are various objects of note.

On the first or ground floor landing of the Grand Staircase, to the right, between the private apartments, is a corridor leading to various rooms, and to the left a similar corridor, from which open the Library and other apartments, leads to the Gallery of Worthies, and gives access to the Sculpture Gallery; it has a groined ceiling, and contains a large and powerful organ, wall-cases of books, and some valuable paintings and busts.

The Library is in the north front, and is a noble and well-appointed room, fitted in a style of quiet sumptuousness that is in full accord with the rich collection of rare literary treasures with which the walls are lined. The ceiling is of panelled oak of suitable Gothic character, heightened with gold, and the presses for books are also of oak richly adorned with cinquefoil cusps. Besides its literary treasures, the Library is hung with a fine collection of family portraits of surpassing interest. These are (beginning at the north-east corner of the apartment)—Sir John Lowther, of Lowther, Bart., 1657; Sir John Lowther, fils, 1675; James, Earl of Lonsdale, known as “the eccentric earl;” Sir Christopher Lowther, Bart.; Eleanor, wife of Sir John Lowther; Henry, third Viscount Lonsdale; Richard, second Viscount Lonsdale; Sir John Lowther, Bart.; Hon. Anthony Lowther; Jane, wife of Sir John Lowther; Rev. Sir William Lowther, Bart.; Sir James Lowther, Bart.; Robert Lowther, Esq.; Sir John Lowther, Bart.; and William, Earl of Lonsdale, K.G. Among other objects of interest preserved in this room is a table formed of the wood of one of the piles of old London Bridge, with a small portion of the “Abdication Tree” of Napoleon inserted. It bears this inscription, “Made out of one of the piles supporting the chapel arch of London Bridge. Supposed date, 1176. The gift of John Rennie, architect, 1829.” “Le cinq d’avril dix-huit cent quatorze Napoleon Bonaparte signa son abdication sur cette table dans le cabinet de travail du Roi, le 2^{me} après la chambre à coucher à Fontainebleau.” “Wilkinson & Sons, 14, Ludgate Hill, 6881.”

The Billiard-room, not on account of any architectural features or of the use to which it is assigned, but from the remarkably interesting character of the collection of pictures contained within its walls, is one of the most important features of the castle. Its walls are hung with portraits of “Westmoreland Worthies,” forming a gallery of celebrities of which not only the county, but the nation may indeed well be proud, and the founding of which is a lasting honour to the House of Lowther. Well indeed would it be if the example of forming local Galleries of Worthies, so nobly set by the second Earl of Lonsdale, were followed by the Lords-Lieutenant of other counties whose high functions and important positions point them out especially as the right parties to honour native worth, and their mansions as the right and proper and only place in which such a gallery should be enshrined. The collection of “Westmoreland Worthies” at Lowther Castle is a noble beginning in the right direction, and it is to be hoped the spirit and feeling that caused its foundation by one of the noble heads of the House of Lowther may still actuate his successors, and cause what is now a glorious nucleus to become a full and complete collection. The portraits at present contained in this gallery are—Queen Catherine Parr, wife of Henry VIII., born at Kendal Castle; Christopher Baynbrigg, Cardinal of St. Praxede, Legate to the Court of Rome, Archbishop of York, Master of the Rolls, &c.; George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland; Sir Gerard Lowther, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, Ireland; the Marquis of Wharton; the Right Hon. Joseph Addison; John, First Viscount Lonsdale; the Hon. Justice Wilson; Sir Alan Chambre; Dr. Burn, LL.D., the historian of Westmoreland and Cumberland, and author of the “Justice of the Peace;” Lord Langdale; Alderman Thompson, Lord Mayor of London; Sir George Fleming, Bishop of Carlisle; Gibson, Bishop of London; John Bell, Chancery barrister; Richard Braithwaite, author of the “English Gentleman,” &c.; Dean Addison; Dr. Shaw; Waugh, Bishop of Carlisle; Duke of Wharton; Admiral Sir Charles Richardson; John Langhorne, D.D.; Watson, Bishop of Llandaff; Bernard Gilpin; General Bowser; Thomas Barlow; William Hogarth, whose ancestors belonged to the county; Dr. Fothergill; the Countess of Pembroke, who once wrote, when pressed to put in a court candidate for the borough of Appleby, “Sir, I have been bullied by an usurper, I have been neglected by a court, but I will not be dictated to by a subject. Your man shan’t stand;” Admiral Pearson, famous for his engagement with Paul Jones; John Robinson, Surveyor-General of Woods and Forests, who is represented holding in his hand a “Report of Acorns planted in and about Windsor Great Park,” &c.[49]

It may be named en passant that in various parts of the castle are a number of paintings—supposed to be veritable Hogarths—which were brought from the old Vauxhall Gardens.

The Drawing-room, opposite the Library, is a lovely apartment—the walls hung with costly figured satin, the ceiling richly groined in elaborate fan-tracery, and the furniture as sumptuous and elegant as the most exquisite and fastidious taste could desire, or the most lavish expenditure procure. Among the furniture is a magnificent suite of couch, chairs, and stools, which are of historic interest; they belonged to Tippoo Sahib, and are marvels of Indian Art workmanship in ivory and gold. It is not, however, our province to speak in detail of any of the appointments or furnishing of the rooms; all we can say is that the Drawing-room and other apartments are rich storehouses of exquisite gems of loveliness, such as one might naturally expect would characterize a home presided over by a lady of such pure taste and such high accomplishments as the present Countess of Lonsdale. We must, however, casually allude to one literary treasure which is kept in the Drawing-room—an album in which have been written by their own hands, at various times when visiting Lowther, poetical or prose contributions by Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, Robert Southey (13th October, 1824), Samuel Rogers (January 23rd, 1826), the Duke of Wellington (January 2nd, 1829), Sir Humphry Davy (Sept. 11th, 1826), Hon. G. O’Callagan, Amelia Opie, and others; while it is also graced by original drawings made on its pages by Dewint, Page, Sir George Beaumont, Lady Anne Beckett, Lady Delamere, Lady Farnborough, Lady F. Bentinck, the Marchioness of Stafford, &c.

The Saloon, in the centre of the south front, has a Gothic panelled ceiling, and contains many fine paintings by Zuccarelli, Guido, Elisabetta Sirani, &c., and (as well as other parts of the house) some grand old china. The Dining-room has two fine paintings—Pitt, by Hoppner, and Wellington, by Jackson; and in the centre of the gorgeous display of gold plate on the buffet is a full-sized silver-gilt copy of Flaxman’s chef-d’œuvre, the Shield of Achilles.

The Countess’s or Breakfast Room contains some of the richest treasures of Art in the castle. Among them are the Wakes, the Feast, and the Fête Champêtre of Teniers; a Holy Family of Rubens; and marvellously fine examples of Vandyke, Fyt, Wouvermans, Leonardo da Vinci, Gerard Douw, FrankHals, Ruysdael, Borgognone, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Bischey, Sassoferrato, Titian, and others.

The Picture Gallery, with its glass ceiling, is a noble room, filled with pictures of high merit, many being chefs-d’œuvre of the various artists. It will be sufficient to say that it contains, among others, no less than ten Snyders of large size and of almost unmatched excellence (the only others we know of equal or more excellence being those at Welbeck), and admirable examples of Tintoretti, Titian (a remarkably fine picture), Guido, Paolo Veronese, Paris Bordone, Luca Giordano, Backhuysen, Zuccarelli, Hogarth, Bernardo Canaletto, Poussin, Carlo Cignani, Salvator Rosa, Bordenone, Lely (a nude Nell Gwynne, which contrasts very unfavourably with the Titian on the same walls), Paul Bril, Bronzino, Bassano, Fyt, Delia Nottie, Murillo, Zucchero, &c.

The other apartments, beautiful as they all undoubtedly are, and filled as they are with choice works of Art, are not necessary to be named. There are, however, two of the most important features of Lowther yet to be noticed. These are the two Sculpture Galleries and the passages and corridors leading to them. To these we proceed to direct brief attention.

In one part of the Gallery is a marvellously extensive and highly important assemblage of Roman inscribed stones—altars, monumental stones, inscriptions of cohorts, &c.—from the Roman wall and from the old stations in the three counties; mediæval sculptures from the neighbourhood; and a number of Celtic and Roman urns and other antiquities of more than passing interest: to these, however, we cannot find space to direct attention.[50] Among the Roman sculptured stones at Lowther Castle are the following:—From Drumburgh a fragment, bearing the words—

PEDATVRA VINDO MORVCI

Vindomora being a station in the first Iter of Antonine; another with the words COH VII (cohors septima); and a stone bearing a female helmeted figure, holding a wreath in her right, and a distaff in her left, hand. From Kirkby Thore the upper part of an altar, inscribed IOVI SERAPI L ALFENVS PATE[RNVS] (Iovi Serapi Lucius Alfenus Pate[rnus]); a singular sculptured stone bearing a representation of a death-bed scene, the sufferer partaking of her last meal preparatory to her departure, the only inscription left being FILIA CRESC IMAG NIER (Filia Crescentis imag[i]nif[e]r[i]); a stone representing a mounted warrior with uplifted sword, trampling on a foe; a fragment of another, where the mounted warrior is in full career, spearing his prostrate foe; another stone, bearing much the same design as the last, but in a more complete state; a fir-cone; a female head; and a lion overpowering a ram. From Plumpton, or Old Penrith, a remarkably fine sepulchral inscribed stone, bearing a figure, probably intended to represent a deceased child. He is dressed in a tunic, and holds in his left hand a whip, and in his right a kind of toy. The inscription is—

DIS MANIB M COCCEI NONNI ANNOR V HIC SITVS EST

(Diis Manibus Marci Cocceii Nonni annorum quinque his situs est); and another bearing the inscription—

D M YLAE ALVM NI KARIS SIMI VIXI[T] [A]N XIII CL S[E] VERVS INL ...

(Diis Manibus Ylæ alumni carissimi. Vixit annos tredecim. Claudius Severus....)

Among the antique sculpture contained in the galleries is the Venus from the temple to that goddess at Cnidus. The exquisite torso, the remainder of the figure being restored, was from the Stowe collection; and it is undoubtedly an example of the purest Greek, of an age “when Art was a religion.”

It has with reason been attributed to Praxiteles; and it is believed to be the work alluded to by Lucian and Pliny as one of the triumphs of Greek Art—a belief which obtains force with all Art-lovers by whom it has been seen. There are also a statue of Diana, of exceeding grace and beauty; a Statue of Julius Caesar, half life-size, seated in a consular chair, and of fine conception; the upper half of a seated female figure, draped, brought to England by Lord Guildford, and the only specimen brought home by him—a great work, certainly a production of the best era of Greece, and a majestic, yet tender creation; a statue of Agrippina, of rare excellence, from the Stowe collection; a torso of a Venus, from the Marquis of Hertford’s collection—a work of refined delicacy, yet exhibiting intense power; a statue of Bacchus, a relic of great worth; a beautiful statue of Hygeia, from the Besborough collection—a work of pure Art, originally from the Capitol; a Roman sarcophagus, from the same collection, with Cupids hunting in relief; a monument from the Besborough collection, inscribed “Honos est præmium virtutis,” and several other sarcophagi and monuments; a rich example of moulding from the Palace of the Cæsars; a figure of Mars; some vases; statues of Marcus Aurelius, Bacchus, Agrippina, and Diana; busts of Livia, Trajan, Janus, Cato, Vitellius, Nero, Sylla, Seneca, Plato, Marcus Pompeius, Galba, Agrippina, Faustina, Matidia, Homer, Nerva, the Cæsars, and Æsculapius; and a bronze statue of Hercules.

There are also some fine stone chairs, an Egyptian bath, statues of Pan, Augustus, a roman Senator, Hygeia, Euterpe, Flora, Cybele, Adonis, Paris, the Water-carrier, Sphinx, Cicero, Aristides, &c.; and “the Olympian Meta, brought from Greece by the Emperor Nero, and placed in the circus at Rome.” It was purchased by the Marquis of Hertford, and was formerly in his collection. It now forms one of the more interesting features of the Lowther Gallery.

Among other interesting objects are roman sarcophagi (the form of one of which was copied for one of the Earls of Lonsdale to be interred in) bearing the inscriptions—

D M D M C MESSIO C TVTILIO RVPINO SEQVMDINO XVO VENATORI QVI VIXIT T. CAVDIVS SECVNDVS ANNIS AMICO B M; XVII MESES IIII

a curious mosaic picture of fish, bearing the following inscription:—“This mosaic, containing 20,000 siliceous pebbles, is the work of Sosus Pergami, who flourished 320 years before Christ, and is mentioned in the writings of the elder Pliny. Discovered in the ruins of the Palace of Pope Leo the 12th, at Villa Chichignola. Presented by Pope Gregory the 16th to Sir Edward Thomason, in the year 1832;” and some other mosaics. There are also exquisite marble busts of Pitt, Wellington, George III., the Duke of York, Lord Liverpool, and others, as well as Chantrey’s charming head of our present beloved Queen Victoria when a little child.

The Grounds and Gardens of Lowther Castle are among its most glorious and charming attractions. Nature has done much for it in the beauty of its situation and the majestic character of its surroundings; and the purest taste in Art, allied to the most consummate skill, has taken advantage of those natural beauties, and added charm upon charm to the place. On the west front are lawns (divided from the Deer Park by a sunk fence) laid out tastefully in beds rich in their profusion of colours. At the west end of the mansion is the Conservatory, and near, but below it, approached by a flight of steps from the Terrace, is the Countess’s Garden. The site of this exquisitely lovely spot is a natural dell, and its sloping sides are turfed and planted, while the centre is somewhat elaborately, and with faultless taste, laid out in geometrical form, and filled with the choicest and richest of flowers; the disposition of the vases, the arrangement of the beds, and the harmonious blending of the colour showing the purest taste and a high order of skill on the part of the head-gardener, to whom it owes its origin. Near this is the Yew Avenue—a walk densely covered in by the intertwined branches and foliage of the rows of yew-trees, hundreds of years old, which range along its sides. From here pathways lead on to the Terrace outside the wood.

Of the Terrace it is impossible to convey an idea. It is simply a tract of high land, thickly wooded with the finest of forest trees and the most majestic of conifers, around the outer edge of which runs a broad grassy walk or drive, commanding almost a panorama of the finest of views that even this district of marvellous scenery can produce. From here, in one direction, is Knipe Scar, rising above the village of Bampton; and behind it, again, are Swindale, Walla Crag, beneath which is the lovely lake of Haweswater, and above these, again, rise Harter Fell and High Street (over which runs the old Roman road). Then the hamlet of Helton, and further to the right Helvellyn and other mountains above Ulleswater. Again, there is Askham, with the heights of Blencathra or Saddleback, and the mountains in the Keswick district; while through the Park, far down below, runs the river Lowther, whose murmurs over its rocky bed are distinctly audible. In the wood which skirts the Terrace are some gigantic conifers and other trees which are “great among the greatest.”[51]

The Kitchen Gardens, at some distance from the mansion, are well arranged, very extensive (about seven acres), and extremely productive; and their pleasing effect is much heightened by the judicious introduction of richly arranged flower borders: the glass houses of all kinds are of great extent.

At a little distance across the park is Lowther Church, with the family Mausoleum in its churchyard. The Mausoleum, upon which the gifted poet, the Rev. James Dixon, wrote the following stanza—

“A grander, fairer spot of English ground To rest in till the trump of doom shall blow From the high heavens through land and sea below, In all this ancient realm could not be found. Sheer from beneath, the river’s amber flood, Breaking in white waves ‘gainst the stony shores, Round this green eminence for ever pours The loud voice of its waters, through the wood That clothes its banks, and crowns the airy hills And verdant slopes of Lowther’s wide domain, Swelling and falling with the grand refrain Of Nature’s voice omnipotent. What heart but thrills To these wild charms, lit by the vernal beams, Grey wood, green lawn, and river’s dancing gleams?”——

is a plain Gothic building, containing in its upper room a finely sculptured figure, by Stephens, of “William, Earl of Lonsdale,” 1863. The Church possesses some good Norman features which are worthy of careful examination, and many interesting monuments to the Lowther family. Among these may be named the following:—

In the north transept a large altar tomb to William, first Earl of Lonsdale of the second creation, who died March 19th, 1844; and Augusta, his countess (daughter of John, ninth Earl of Westmoreland), who died March 6th, 1838. Here, too, was buried the late third Earl, who died in August, 1876. There are also tablets to the memory of James, first Earl of Lonsdale, 1802, and his countess, Mary, daughter of John, Earl of Bute, 1824; and to Richard, Lord Lonsdale; and brasses to Colonel the Hon. Henry Cecil Lowther (father of the late earl), 1867; and to Lucy Eleanor, his wife, daughter of Philip, fifth Earl of Harborough, 1848; and to the Hon. Arthur Lowther, their son, 1855.

In the south transept are a remarkably finely sculptured monument with a reclining figure to the memory of John, Viscount Lonsdale and Baron Lowther, 1700, and Catherine, his countess; and other noble monuments to Sir John Lowther, 1637; Sir John, 1675; and Lord William Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck, who married the Hon. Mary Lowther, 1828. In the same transept is a recumbent effigy in plate armour, over which is a tablet of remarkable character, bearing a family pedigree. This almost unique example of inscription is as follows, each item being, on the tablet, enclosed in squares, which, however, we have not followed:—

“IOHN LOWTHER of Lowther in ye═╤═LUCYE his wife davghter of S^r Covetye of Westmerland Knight │ Christopher Curwin Knight │ ┌————————————————————————┬——┘ │ │ HVGNE LOWTHER Esqvire═╤═DORATHYE davghter of Hen^{ry} married │ L^d Clifford They had issve │ ┌——————————————┬————————┴———————┬————————————————————————* │ │ │ MARGARET ANNE married FRAVNCIS married married to Ioh to Tho Wibersh to S^r Henrye Richmond of of Clif to Goodyer Highet Esq^r Esqvire they of Powlswoorth Hath issve Have issve Knight they have iss^e

*——————┬————————————————————————————————┬———————————————┐ │ │ │ RICHARD LOWTHER═╤═FRANCES the GERARD LOWTHER BARBERRIE Knight │ davghter of Esqvier married to married and │ Iohn Middleton Tho Carleton Esqvier had issve │ of Middleton of Carleton Apprentice by │ Esq Esqvi of y^e Law │ they have iss^e │ │ ┌——————┬——┴—————┬—————————┬———————————┬———┬——————┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ANNE married │ GERARD LOWTHER │ HVGH LOWTHER │ WILLIAM LOWTHER to Alexander │ Esq: one │ Capitayne │ married Fetherston │ of y^e Ivstices │ in y^e voyage │ Elinor Wel-Berye of Fetherst │ of y^e Comon │ of Portvgale │ and by Esqvire they │ Pleas in Ireland │ A Dni is │ Her hath Have issue │ │ │ issve │ │ │ ┌—————┘ │ │ │ │ │ FRAVNCIS married S CHRISTOPH LANCELLOTT to Tho: LOWTHER Knt LOWTHER Esqvire Cliborne of married Elinor Sollicitor Cliborne Esq Musgrave General and hath and hath to Qveene Anne issve issve

“S^r Rich: Lowther Knig: succeded Hen: Lo^d: Scroope in ye office of Lo Warden of y^e West Marches, & was thrice a Commissionor in y^e grete affayres betweene England & Scotland, all in ye time of Qveene Elizabeth & after he had seene his children to ye 4th degree geven them vertuous edvcation & meanes to live advanced his brothers & sisters ovt of his owne patrimonye governed his family & kept plentifvll hospitalitye for 57 yeares together, he ended his life ye 27th of Ian: A^o Dni. 1607. Ætas. svæ 77 vttring at his last breth these verses followinge”

Beneath this inscription is a plain black tablet let into the stone, which has, there can be no doubt, at one time borne, or been intended to bear, the verses. It is now quite black and plain, so that the “verses” Sir Richard was “vttring at his last breth” are literally “blank verse.”

In the south aisle are tablets to Colonel Lowther (grandfather of the present Earl of Londale), 1867, and Lucy Eleanor Shorard, his wife, 1848; to Elizabeth, second daughter of William, Earl of Lonsdale, 1869; to Mary, third daughter of the same earl, and widow of Lord Frederick Bentinck, 1863; and to Anne, fourth daughter of the same, and widow of Sir John Beekett of Sowerby, 1871.

From Lowther Church a delightful path leads by the side of the river Lowther to Askham Bridge, near which are the village Church, the charming Rectory-house, and Askham Hall, a noble old Border stronghold, now the residence of the Rev. Dr. Jackson, the respected and venerable Provost of Queen’s College and Rector of Lowther. Few spots in the whole district can compare in loveliness with Askham Bridge. The rocky bed of the river—flat table rock, full of deep wide cracks—the masses of stone hurled down upon its surface, the rich green and brown of its water, the number of fish seen disporting among the rocks, and the rich, deeply tinted, and massive foliage by which the whole is overhung, form a picture of faultless loveliness.

Of the district around Lowther we cannot say more than a few brief words. It is, as we have already observed, a district rich in natural beauties of mountain and lake, of hill and valley, of wood and river; but it is also equally rich in places of historic interest and in objects of antiquarian importance. The whole of the Lake district, including the two counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland, is, indeed, one grand storehouse of places of note, and objects to which attention is worthy to be drawn. It is only of a few that we can speak.

Penrith, one of the oldest towns of the district, with its ruined castle, its beacon, its “giant’s grave” and other Danish or Saxon remains, its famous old grammar school, its interesting church, its plague record,[A] and its altar-piece, the exquisite work of Jacob Thompson; Clifton, memorable as the scene of the battle of Clifton Moor, and where the old border stronghold, the house where the Duke of Cumberland slept, and the oak-tree under which the slain were buried, are still pointed out; Eamont Bridge, where “A welcome into Cumberland” is held out as the sign of the inn on crossing the river into that county, and close by which are the curious earth-works of “King Arthur’s Round Table” and “Mayborough;” Brougham Castle, a grand old ruined fortress, on the site of the Roman station Broconiacum, and the place from which Lord Brougham derives his title; Brougham Hall, “the Windsor of the North,” the seat of Lord Brougham and Vaux, a fine castellated mansion, with a glorious chapel, full to repletion with Art-work of costly and elaborate character; the famous stone circle “Long Meg and her daughters,” three hundred and fifty yards in circumference; Dacre Castle, a grand old fortress, whose owners fought at the siege of Acre under Cœur de Lion, and thus named their own stronghold now in ruins; Eden Hall, famous as the hall where is preserved the goblet called the “Luck of Eden Hall,” about which hangs so much traditional mystery, and the prophetic import of the couplet—

“If that glass should break or fall, Farewell the luck of Eden Hall”—

is implicitly believed in; Askham, of which we have already spoken; Greystoke Castle, where “Belted Will” Howard and his wife, “Bessie with the braid apron,” lived; Shap, with its ruined abbey; Ulleswater, the grandest of lakes—wild, lovely, and beautiful, with its banks at its more sylvan end here and there studded with charming villas; Sharrow Bay, a “home of taste,” the seat of Anthony Parkin, Esq., where Art is more happily wedded to Nature than is usually the case, and where the views of the lake are more charming than from any other point; Lyulph’s Tower; Haweswater, another exquisite lake; Hackthorpe, rich in antiquarian interest, but rendered for all time famous as the residence of one of the most gifted sons of Art, Jacob Thompson,[52] from whose easel at the “Hermitage” emanate those marvellous conceptions which have created for him his “name and fame for all time;” Lowther village, planned in military style, and with adjoining battery; Bampton, Helton, and a score or two other places—these are not a tithe of the attractions which the immediate neighbourhood of Lowther Castle presents, and which are all easily visited by the stranger. Thanks to the railway companies—to the Midland more especially, by the formation of its Settle and Carlisle line—the Lake district is opened out to the world, and is able to be visited with real pleasure, with economy of time, with immense benefit, and with perfect comfort. By the line to which we have alluded the traveller passes along the side of one of the loftiest of the whole ranges of mountains, and sees the country mapped out beneath him in rich profusion of wood and meadow and stream, the towns and villages dotted about here and there, and the becks and streams, the tarns and lakes, the rocks and mountains, opened out before him, charmingly diversified and rendered rich in colouring by the ever-changing atmosphere. From London, without change, all this can be reached by the Settle and Carlisle route, and the visitor may thus in a few brief hours be transported from the busy town life of the metropolis into the very heart of the most lovely scenery the world can produce.

CLUMBER.

CLUMBER, the seat of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, is charmingly situated within about four miles from Worksop, and on the borders of Sherwood Forest. The drive from Worksop, up Sparkin Hill, and so along the highway for the forest, is lovely in the extreme, the road being well wooded on either side, and presenting glimpses of forest scenery that are peculiarly grateful to the eye. Leaving the main road to the left, and entering the grounds by the Lodge, a carriage drive of a mile or more in length through the well-wooded park leads to the mansion, which is at once elegant, picturesque, and “homely.” To it, however, we are only able to devote very brief attention.

Clumber is of comparatively modern erection, having been first built in 1770, and received since then many important additions. It has, therefore, no history attached to it. The place was, till about that time, simply a wild tract of forest land, which the then noble duke who planned and carried out the works cleared and cultivated at an enormous outlay, forming the extensive lake at an expense of some £7,000, and erecting the mansion at a princely cost.

The main feature of the house is its west front, facing the lake: this we have engraved. Its centre is a colonnade, and this gives access to the entrance hall, the oldest portion of the house being a part of the shooting-box, to which magnificent additions have been made. Between the mansion and the lake are the Italian gardens, elegantly laid out in beds of the richest flowers, and well diversified with vases and statuary; in the centre is a fountain of large size (the bowl being nearly thirteen feet in diameter), of white marble and of Italian workmanship.

The family of Pelham, which, with that of Clinton, is represented by the Duke of Newcastle, is of considerable antiquity in the county of Hertford, deriving the name from the manor or lordship of Pelham, in that county, which, in the reign of Edward I., belonged to Walter de Pelham. He died in 1292, leaving two sons—William, who died without issue, and Walter, who was succeeded by his son, Thomas de Pelham. John de Pelham, the grandson of this latter, “was a person of great fame in the reign of King Edward III.; and in memory of his valiant acts, his figure, in armour, with the arms of the family on his breast, was painted on glass in the Chapter-house at Canterbury, being (’tis probable) a benefactor to the cathedral, or was buried there.” At the battle of Poictiers he shared the glory of taking the French king prisoner with “Lord la Warr, and in memory of so signal an action, and the king’s surrendering his sword to them, Sir Roger la Warr, Lord la Warr, had the crampet or chape of his sword for a badge of that honour, and John de Pelham (afterwards knighted) had the buckle of a belt as a mark of the same honour, which was sometimes used by his descendants as a seal manual, and at others the said buckle on each side a cage, being an emblem of the captivity of the said King of France, and was therefore borne as a crest, as in those times was customary.” The “Pelham buckle” is still the badge of the family. Sir John married Joan, daughter of Vincent Herbert, or Finch, ancestor of the Earls of Winchelsea and Nottingham, and was succeeded by his son, John de Pelham, who was no less famous than his father for many great achievements and honourable exploits. He was Constable of Pevensey Castle, Treasurer to the King, Ambassador to the French King, and held many other important offices, and was knighted. Dying in 1428, Sir John was succeeded by his son, Sir John de Pelham, who also held many offices. He married twice: first, Joan, co-heiress of Sir John d’Escures; and, secondly, Joan de Courcy, by whom he had issue, with others, his son and successor, Sir John de Pelham, who married Alice, daughter of Sir Thomas Lewknor, but died without male issue, when the estates passed to his brother, William de Pelham, who also died without issue, and was succeeded by his brother Thomas.

Thomas Pelham was consecutively succeeded by his sons, John and Sir William, the latter of whom married, first, Mary, daughter of Sir Richard Carew; and, secondly, Mary, daughter of William, Lord Sands of the Vine, Lord Chamberlain to Henry VIII. By his first wife he had issue, with others, a son Nicholas, of whom hereafter; and by his second, with others, a son William, who became famous: from him descended the Pelhams of Brocklesby. Sir Nicholas Pelham married Anne Sackville, and, at his death in 1559, was succeeded by his son, Sir John Pelham, who married Judith, daughter of Oliver, Lord St. John of Bletsoe, by whom he had a son, Oliver, who died young four years after his father. He was succeeded by Thomas, brother to Sir John, who was created a baronet in 1611. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Walsingham, and was succeeded by his son, Sir Thomas Pelham, as second baronet, who married three times, and left issue by his first and third wives. The eldest of these was his successor, Sir John Pelham, Bart., who married the Lady Lucy, daughter of the Earl of Leicester, by whom he had a family of three sons and three daughters. He died in 1702-3, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir Thomas Pelham, Bart., who, in 1706, was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Pelham of Laughton, in Sussex.

Lord Pelham married, first, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Jones, Attorney-General, and, secondly, the Lady Grace Holles, youngest daughter of Gilbert, Earl of Clare, and sister of John Holles, fourth Earl of Clare, created Duke of Newcastle (who had married the Lady Margaret Cavendish, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Cavendish, second Duke of Newcastle), by whom he had issue two sons—Thomas and Henry—and five daughters. He died in 1711-12, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas, as second Baron Pelham.

This peer was born in 1693, and by the will of his uncle, John Holles, Duke of Newcastle, “was made his heir, and authorised to bear the name and arms of Holles.” Besides many other important offices, he was made Steward, Keeper, and Warden of the Forest of Sherwood and the Park of Folewood, in the county of Nottingham, and in 1714 was promoted to the dignity of Earl of Clare and Viscount Haughton, with remainder, in default of male issue, to his brother, the Hon. Henry Pelham and his heirs male. In the following year he was created Marquis of Clare and Duke of Newcastle, with the like remainder, and was made a K.G. He married, in 1717, Lady Harriet Godolphin, co-heiress of Lord Godolphin, and granddaughter of John, Duke of Marlborough, but died without issue in 1768. His brother, Henry Pelham, who had married Lady Catherine Manners, daughter of the Duke of Rutland, having also died without surviving male issue, the estates and the titles of Duke of Newcastle and Baron Pelham passed to Henry Clinton, ninth Earl of Lincoln, who had married Catherine, daughter of Henry Pelham, and whose mother was the Lady Lucy Pelham, the Earl assuming the name of Pelham in addition to that of Clinton. His grace had issue—Henry Pelham-Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, who died during his father’s lifetime without male issue, and Lord Thomas Pelham-Clinton, who succeeded to the titles and estates.

Thomas Pelham-Clinton, third Duke of Newcastle, was born in 1752, and married the Lady Anna Maria Stanhope, daughter of the second Earl of Harrington, and by her had issue two sons and two daughters. He died in 1795, and was succeeded by his eldest son—

Henry Pelham Pelham-Clinton, fourth Duke of Newcastle and eleventh Earl of Lincoln, who held many local appointments, and was a man of high attainments. He married, in 1807, Georgiana Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Miller Mundy, Esq., of Shipley Hall, Derbyshire, and by her had issue five daughters—viz. the Ladies Anna Maria, Georgiana, Charlotte, Caroline Augusta, and Henrietta—and six sons, viz. Henry Pelham, Earl of Lincoln (who succeeded him), and Lords Charles Pelham, Thomas Charles Pelham, William, Edward, and Robert Renebald. His grace died in 1864, and was succeeded by his eldest son—

Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, as fifth duke. This nobleman was born in 1811, and, as Earl of Lincoln, represented South Nottinghamshire and the Falkirk burghs in Parliament. His grace, who was a man of the highest integrity, was the confidential friend of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (who visited Clumber in 1861), was successively Lord Warden of the Stannaries, Chief Secretary for Ireland, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Secretary of State for War. He married, in 1832, the Lady Susan Harriet Catherine, daughter of the tenth Duke of Hamilton (which marriage was dissolved in 1850, the Duchess in 1860 being married to M. Opdebeck, of Brussels), and by her had issue three sons and one daughter. These were—the present duke (of whom directly); Lord Edward William Pelham-Clinton, born in 1836, married to Matilda, daughter of Sir W. E. Cradock-Hartopp, Bart.; Lord Arthur Pelham-Clinton, M.P., born 1840, who died in 1870; Lord Albert Sydney Pelham-Clinton, born in 1845, and married to Frances Evelyn, widow of Captain E. Stotherd; and the late Lady Susan Charlotte Catherine Pelham-Clinton, born in 1839, married to Lord Adolphus Frederick Charles William Vane-Tempest, son of the third Marquis of Londonderry.

The present head of this illustrious house, Henry Pelham Alexander Pelham-Clinton, sixth Duke of Newcastle, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and thirteenth Earl of Lincoln, was born in 1834, and educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford. He sat, when Earl of Lincoln, for Newark, and was attached to Lord Grenville’s mission to Russia in 1856. In 1861 his grace married Henrietta Adela, only daughter of the late Henry Thomas Hope, Esq., of Deepdene, Surrey, and Castle Blaney, county Monaghan (by his wife, the Hon. Gertrude Elphinstone, daughter of the fourteenth Lord Elphinstone), by whom he has issue living—Henry Pelham Archibald Douglas, Earl of Lincoln, born in 1864; Lord Henry Francis Hope Pelham-Clinton, born in 1866; the Lady Beatrice Adeline Pelham-Clinton, born in 1862; and the Lady Emily Augusta Mary Pelham-Clinton, born in 1863.

The arms of the Duke of Newcastle are—quarterly, first and fourth argent, six cross-crosslets, three, two, and one, sable, on a chief, azure, two mullets pierced, or, for Clinton; second and third, the two coats of Pelham, quarterly, viz. first and fourth azure, three pelicans vulning themselves, argent, second and third gules, two pieces of belts with buckles erect, in pale, the buckles upwards, argent (being an augmentation in commemoration of the part Sir William Pelham took in the capture of the French king at the battle of Poictiers). Crests—first, out of a ducal coronet, gules, a plume of five ostrich feathers, argent, banded azure, for Clinton; second, a peacock in pride, proper, for Pelham. Supporters—two greyhounds, argent, plain collared and lined, gules.

His grace is patron of ten livings—viz. Worksop, Shireoaks, Cromwell, Elksley, Bothansall, Brinsley, Markham Clinton, East Markham, Kirton, and Mapplebeck.

It will not be necessary to describe minutely any of the apartments of this “Home” of the Newcastles—Clumber. The house has been said, very absurdly, to be “a second Chatsworth,” and that “it embraces magnificence and comfort more than any other nobleman’s mansion in England;” but it is not so. It is a noble mansion, some of its rooms being characterized by great elegance and beauty, and by pureness of taste, while others are of a more mediocre character. To some of the apartments and their contents we proceed to direct attention.

The Entrance Hall, with an arcade supporting its ceiling, contains, among other works of Art, a semi-colossal statue of Napoleon, which has usually been ascribed to Canova, but has also, with reason, been stated to be Franzoni’s reproduction of Chaudet’s great work: it was purchased at Carrara, in 1823, by the then Duke of Newcastle. In the same hall, besides others, are Bailey’s statue of the poet Thomson, a fine figure of Paris, and busts of the Duke of Newcastle by Nollekens, Sir Robert Peel, Cromwell, Verschaffer’s Triton and Dolphins, &c.

The Library, perhaps the finest apartment in the mansion, is a noble room, of large size and lofty proportions, and fitted in a style of great magnificence. The geometric ceiling is richly decorated, and around the upper part of the room is a light and elegant gallery. Besides the choice collections of rare old books, and those of more modern times, which are arranged round the walls of the Library and the Reading-room (to which access is gained by a lofty arch springing from pilasters of the composite order), they contain Sir R. Westmacott’s noble statue of Euphrosyne, Bailey’s Thetis and Achilles, many good bronzes, and an assemblage of objects of virtu. From the windows of these rooms fine views of the Grounds, the Park, and the Lake are obtained.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us