na 
 
 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 FINE ARTS LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library } 
 
 NA7620.M29M8 l| 
 
 More famous homes of G' ea' Sr''^'" .^IJ,'' * 
 
 3 1924 015 196 631 
 
 
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The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924015196631 
 
Ifamoua Ibomee of (Breat Britain 
 ant) tbeir Stories 
 
 flDore 3famou0 Ibomes of (5reat Britain 
 anb tbeir Stories 
 
 ©tber jfamous Ibomes of (Breat Britain 
 anb tbeir Stories 
 
 JEOiteO bv H. 1b. /IDalan 
 
 £acb in ®ne IDoIume 1Rosa[ ®ctavo, Containing 
 meads 200 trilustcations 
 
"^MWi 
 
Comptori V\lynya;tes, trofa the Southeast 
 
MORE TAMOVS HOMES 
 
 OF 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 AND 
 
 THEIR STORIES 
 
 "^ITED BY 
 A^H: MALAN 
 
 ^& 
 
 COMPTON 
 
 WYNYATES 
 
 LEVENS HALL 
 
 MAWORTH CASTLE 
 
 COTEHELE 
 
 LONGLEAT 
 
 GLAMIS 
 
 MOUMT 
 
 EDGCUMBE 
 
 BUCKLING HALL 
 
 RUFFORD ABBEY 
 
 WILTON HOUSE 
 
 INVERARAY 
 
 KNOLE 
 
 E.V, 
 
Ube IRnicKetbacfier ^ress, mew J^otf; 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The first series of Famous Homes of Great Britain has met 
 with so gratifying a success that a second series has been pre- 
 pared ; and the editor of the magazine for which these papers 
 were written, and in which they originally appeared, has been 
 asked to write a few introductory words. This, in a way, is 
 with him a labour of love, as chance has willed it that he has 
 been familiar from childhood with many of the houses described 
 in this volume. As an Englishman, he will be pardoned the 
 conviction that nowhere in the world can the old English coun- 
 try home be surpassed, or even paralleled. In England, the 
 town house has always been an unimportant accessory — it is 
 round the country house that the family associations cluster ; it 
 is the country house which is regarded as the cradle of the race, 
 as the precious heritage to be faithfully handed over to the next 
 generations for further enrichment and care at their hands. And 
 in these old homes the predominant note is the sense of con- 
 tinuity. Three or four centuries ago the predecessors of those 
 now in possession walked along that same terrace, gazed upon 
 that same familiar view, or in winter sat before that same hearth 
 sculptured with the arms of the family — each generation attempt- 
 ing to leave its mark in some further adornment of the loved 
 home. It is true, and candour must admit it, that often the work 
 of the present generation is confined to removing all trace of the 
 vandalism and so-called "improvement" effected during the dis- 
 astrous period from 1800 to 1850, tersely described by the French 
 as "Vepoque du mauvais gout." Surely there is something 
 
IV 
 
 preface 
 
 typical of the ever-renewed stream of life passing through these old 
 homes in the mass of creepers and vines with which their time- 
 worn grey walls are so often clothed, which, bursting into fresh 
 green every spring, symbolises the never-ending procession of 
 generations peopling the old houses. Is it insular prejudice which 
 inquires where such velvet lawns can be matched ; where such 
 glorious stretches of green park can be found, with the deer 
 standing knee-deep in the bracken under the shade of the giant 
 elms, and the grey tower of the fourteenth- century village church 
 peering over the sweep of the woodlands ? This is the picture 
 of the old home of the race which the younger sons of the family 
 will carry always with them wherever their work may call them, 
 whether to an Embassy in some Continental capital, or to the 
 burning plains of India, or to far-off continents under the South- 
 ern Cross. 
 
 The houses selected for description in this series are admir- 
 ably representative. Cotehele, Levens, and Compton Winyates ] 
 are manor-houses — that is, buildings of comparatively modest 
 dimensions built and primarily intended for dwelling-houses; ; 
 Glamis and "Naworth are feudal castles built for defence, but have 
 been converted gradually into residences. Knole and Rufford 
 are excellent examples of monastic and ecclesiastical buildings 
 adapted to domestic use ; whilst Blickling, Longleat, and Wilton ] 
 are stately palaces built at a time when it was considered proper 
 for a great nobleman to surround himself with some degree of 
 magnificence. 
 
 Cotehele and Levens are perhaps the best examples in the 
 kingdom of the "Manor-house" as distinct from the Castle. 
 The interior decoration of Levens is of the best English period, 
 and a modern architect could, with advantage both to himself 
 and his patrons, make a prolonged study of it, and realise howl 
 admirable effects are produced by very simple means. He could 
 
preface v 
 
 note (and lay the lesson to heart) the absence of all "fussiness " 
 in the decoration, and the perfect proportions throughout. The 
 chief glory of Levens, however, will always be its garden. This 
 garden, so perfectly in harmony with its surroundings, has grown 
 up with the house, and is no afterthought. It can be taken as 
 the most finished type of what an old English garden should be, 
 with its fantastic forms of clipped yew, its wealth of old-fash- 
 ioned flowers, and the curious impression of completeness which 
 it leaves on the mind. The garden of Levens, seen in the blaze 
 of the sunshine of an August afternoon, musical with the hum of 
 myriads of bees, will never be forgotten. 
 
 Of smaller size, Cotehele, at the other extremity of England, 
 is equally perfect in its way. Shorn now, alas ! of the glory of 
 its timber, all the victims of one gale, the surroundings of the 
 house are rather prosaic in their bareness. But the chief interest 
 of Cotehele lies in the fact that its interior and furniture have 
 practically been untouched and unadded to since Charles I.'s 
 time. The visitor can form some idea of what an interior was 
 like at the beginning of the seventeenth century, though much 
 of the work is of older date. The shutters and hangings in most 
 of the bedrooms have been in their present position for four 
 centuries ; the fireplaces have been untouched for the same 
 period. The visitor privileged to stay at Cotehele will sleep in a 
 room which wore its present aspect in the times of the Stuarts. 
 Surely there are but few houses in the world where the hands of 
 the clock of time have remained stationary for three centuries. 
 
 It is a far cry from the warm, moist atmosphere of Cornwall, 
 to the bleak straths of Forfarshire, but in Glamis we have a build- 
 ing of absolutely unique interest. The lower portions of the 
 central keep are grey with an unknown age. They stood before 
 records existed, "their birth tradition notes not," and still they 
 are used as living-rooms. Think of the thousands of forgotten 
 
VI 
 
 preface 
 
 ones who must have passed through these grim stone halls, 
 where to-day children's feet patter as they did a thousand years 
 ago. It is not as the home of Macbeth that Glamis is best 
 known, but rather as the abiding-place of that strange mystery 
 which has puzzled so many generations, and had so lavish an 
 amount of useless conjecture wasted upon it. That the owner of 
 Glamis transmits to his successor in the title an awesome secret 
 is known throughout Europe, but knowledge stops there ; the 
 mystery remains, as it has always done, an impenetrable one. 
 Many of the finger-marks of the centuries were ruthlessly effaced 
 at Glamis during the early part of this century, and much of the 
 vandalism is irreparable ; also a large amount of modern work has 
 been added ; still the principal fafade is of matchless beauty, 
 with its bevy of clustered turrets and pinnacles, of a beautiful 
 pink sandstone mellowed into a hundred tints of grey, yellow, 
 and crimson. 
 
 Passing from Strathmore to the hop gardens of Kent we find 
 another building without rival in its particular style. At a first ; 
 glance the vast bulk of Knole recalls an Oxford college, and the 
 impression is heightened by passing into the green quadrangles 
 whose very counterpart could be found on the banks of the river 
 Isis. The monastic impression given by Knole is explained when 
 we remember that the greater portion was erected by Archbishop 
 Bourchier as a palace for the See of Canterbury. Knole is indeed 
 fortunate in its surroundings. The immense park with its superb 
 timber and broken ground forms a typical English setting for the 
 long, low grey building, covering in all some four acres. The 
 chief interest of Knole, however, lies in the fact that the greater 
 portion of the house, though daily tended and garnished, has not 
 been inhabited for one hundred and fifty years. It is thus rather 
 a museum than a dwelling-house, and has remained with its 
 furniture and fittings intact in a way that would be impossible 
 
preface vii 
 
 were they subjected to the daily wear and tear of life. Surely 
 no such collection of precious things has ever been gathered 
 under the roof of a private house. The rooms, the halls, the 
 masses of works of art and curiosities seem endless. The visitor 
 can step into the centuries at will. Here relics of the Spanish 
 Armada, here the gorgeous bedroom of King James 1. precisely as 
 he left it, there King Charles I.'s billiard-table complete with balls 
 and cues as the maker delivered it, or the bedroom of a beauty of 
 the time of George II., with her favourite books, her needlework, 
 and paint-box. This is certainly the enchanted castle of the 
 Sleeping Beauty ; here, again, the centuries stand still at word of 
 command, and this constitutes the unique interest and charm of 
 Knole. 
 
 Once more, let us cross England from leafy Kent to the blue 
 waters of Plymouth Sound and take a glimpse of Mount Edg- 
 cumbe. The house here is not the chief attraction, being merely 
 a rambling family mansion, most desirable to inhabit, but with no 
 pretensions to magnificence. It is the glorious park, occupying 
 the whole of the peninsula separating Plymouth Sound and the 
 Hamoaze from the English Channel, and the curiously novel 
 effect of seeing huge forest trees actually dipping their branches 
 into the salt water, which gives Mount Edgcumbe its peculiar 
 charm. Mount Edgcumbe is indeed a mine of unexpected 
 contrasts. Very beautiful, though of small extent, are the 
 lower gardens, named severally the "English," "French," and 
 " Italian." From the Italian garden, where groves of orange trees 
 flourish apparently as vigorously in the soft Cornish air as on the 
 shores of the Bay of Naples, and where an old Italian fountain 
 of many-coloured marbles tinkles harmoniously, whilst white 
 marble balustrades and giant ilex complete the illusion, it is literally 
 but five steps to a terrace lapped by the deep water of the Sound, 
 where torpedo-boat destroyers dart in every direction, and stately 
 
viii preface 
 
 war-ships move slowly up to their moorings in the Hamoaze, 
 whilst all around is the busy life of a large seaport. Everywhere 
 at Mount Edgcumbe is this note of the unexpected. A long 
 glade of beech trees leads the eye straight into the sea. A 
 battery of modern guns peeps out of the thickets of greenery. 
 Under the luxuriant subtropical foliage of the Terrace Walk are 
 apparently innocuous little platforms. These are to work the 
 deadly Brennan torpedoes for the defence of Plymouth, for, owing 
 to its position, Mount Edgcumbe is the key of the system of 
 defences for the dockyard and arsenal. 
 
 Of Longleat and Wilton, the twin palaces of Wiltshire, it 
 may be said that they have been placed amidst beautiful sur- 
 roundings, and that every succeeding generation has endeavoured 
 to supplement Nature's work. Each house contains countless art 
 treasures, and the exterior of Longleat is one of the most beautiful 
 in Europe. Each of them, in its way, is the very type of the 
 stately English country house, enriched by the loving care of 
 many generations. 
 
 The articles describing these and other Houses comprised in 
 this volume are necessarily brief, and being in many instances 
 from the pen of the respective owners, are characterised by a 
 certain reticence in eulogy. Should the American readers of these 
 pages have an opportunity of visiting the originals, they may 
 rest assured that they will be amply repaid. 
 
 Frederic Hamilton. 
 
 London, July, igoo. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Blickllng Hall . . . . . . . A. H. Malan i 
 
 Situated in Norfolit, and gives the second title to the Earl of Buck- 
 inghamshire, who is also Baron Hobart of Blickling. Is said to have 
 been the birthplace of Anne Boleyn. It is now occupied by the 
 Dowager Marchioness of Lothian, and is conveniently reached from 
 Aylsham. It is peculiarly rich in MSS. A beautiful specimen of a 
 large Elizabethan mansion, with lovely gardens. 
 
 Knole Lord Sackville 31 
 
 Situated near Sevenoaks in Kent, and is the home of Lord Sackville. 
 Was occupied by Archbishop Cranmer, who gave it up to Henry Vlll. 
 Mary gave the house to Cardinal Pole, on whose death it passed again 
 to the Crown. Elizabeth then gave it to Dudley, who subsequently 
 surrendered it to her, and it then passed into the hands of Thomas 
 Sackville, an ancestor of the present Lord Sackville and a relative of 
 the Boleyns. He was also author of Gorboduc. It is within one 
 hour of London. A vast treasure-house of works of art, and one 
 of the most interesting and unique houses in the world. 
 
 Cotehele A. H. Malan 55 
 
 Situated in. Cornwall, and is one of the seats of the Mount Edgcumbe 
 family, into which it was brought by Hillaria, an orphan girl who mar- 
 ried William of Eggecombe, a small Devon squire, in the middle of 
 the fourteenth century. It is easily accessible from Plymouth by 
 steamer up the Tamar, and is an excellent specimen of an old feudal 
 manor house. Many of the rooms have remained untouched and 
 unaltered since the time of Charles I. 
 
 Glamis Lady Glamis 91 
 
 Situated in Forfarshire, and is the seat of the Earl of Strathmore. It 
 is the castle referred to by Shakespeare in Macbeth. The oldest in- 
 habited house in the United Kingdom, and the home of the curious 
 "Glamis Mystery." 
 
X 
 
 Contents 
 
 Levens Hall Mrs. Bagot 119 
 
 Situated in Westmorland. The home of Captain Bagot, M.P. It is 
 full of Jacobite associations. Both house and gardens are perfect of 
 their kind and have been little changed for two hundred years. 
 
 Mount Edgcumbe . . Lady Ernestine Edgcumbe 147 
 
 Situated on the extreme boundary of the county of Cornwall, and 
 is divided from Plymouth— which is in Devonshire— only by the 
 estuary of the river Tamar. The home of the Earl of Mount Edg- 
 cumbe. It was formerly known as East Stonehouse, and was brought 
 into the family by Joan Durnford, who married Sir Piers Edgcumbe in 
 the reign of Henry VIII. His son Richard rebuilt the house and named 
 it Mount Edgcumbe. It is most beautifully situated, overlooking Ply- 
 mouth Sound, and has fine subtropical gardens. 
 
 Wilton House. . . The Countess of Pembroke 175 
 
 Situated in Wiltshire, and is the home of the Earl of Pembroke. It 
 contains a wonderful collection of pictures; and boasts the finest 
 room in England, the "Double Cube," entirely painted by Van Dyck. 
 The gardens of Wilton are very beautiful. It is easily accessible from 
 Salisbury. 
 
 Longleat A. H. Malan 203 
 
 Situated in Wiltshire, and is the seat of the Marquis of Bath. It was 
 built by Sir John Thynne in 1567 to 1569. One of the most mag- 
 nificent private houses in Europe, and surrounded by a superb park. 
 
 Rufford Abbey Lord Savile 233 
 
 Situated in Nottinghamshire, and is the seat of Lord Savile. It 
 was originally a Cistercian monastery and remained so until the ab- 
 olition of monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII. Rufford was then 
 given to the Earl of Shrewsbury, whose grandson was one of the 
 jailers of Mary, Queen of Scots, and married " en secondes noces ' ' 
 the celebrated Bess of Hardwick. His second daughter by this 
 marriage married Charles Stuart, and became the mother of the 
 ill-fated Arabella Stuart. A daughter of his by his first marriage 
 married Sir George Savile, and the Rufford estate was made over 
 to him. The house is situated not far from the forest of Sherwood, 
 made famous in history and romance by the exploits of Robin Hood. 
 Rufford contains the finest collection of tapestry in England. 
 
Contents xi 
 
 ^^ PAGE 
 
 Compton Wynyates .... Miss Alice Dryden 255 
 
 Situated in Warwickshire, and is one of tiie seats of the Marquis 
 of Northampton. The surname of the family is Compton, which 
 was assumed from the ancient Lordship of Compton. The present 
 house was built about the beginning of the sixteenth century. 
 
 Naworth Castle A. H. Malan 283 
 
 Situated in Cumberland, and is one of the seats of the Earl of Carlisle. 
 Came into the family in 1603 through the marriage of Lord William 
 Howard — the "Belted Will" of Scott — ^with Elizabeth, sister and 
 co-heir of George, Lord Dacre. Prior to that time it was the home 
 of the Dacre family. It is situated in most picturesque country, 
 and is the scene of Sir Walter Scott 's love-making. The rooms of 
 Lord William are still intact. 
 
 Inveraray A. H. Malan 307 
 
 Situated in Argyleshire, in the heart of the western Highlands. One 
 of the seats of the Dukes of Argyle, and is therefore the residence of 
 the present Duchess, the Princess Louise. It has been the home of the 
 Chiefs of the Campbell Clan for centuries. It is especially notable 
 for its fine timber, and is easily accessible from Glasgow in the 
 summer months. The Castle itself is comparatively modern. The 
 scenery in the vicinity exceedingly fine. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Compton Wynyates, from the Southeast 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Blickling Hall 
 
 The West Front .... 
 
 The South Front and Flower Garden 
 
 A Corner of the Lake . 
 
 The Moat and Bridge . 
 
 The Morning Room 
 
 Portico of the South Front 
 
 Lady Lothian's Sanctum 
 
 The Main Staircase 
 
 The South Drawing-Room 
 
 The Library, showing Ornate Ceiling 
 
 The Library, containing 12,000 Volumes .... 
 
 Some of the Effects of Anne Boleyn, preserved at Blickling 
 
 Hall 
 
 Tapestry representing Peter the Great and the Battle of 
 
 Pultowa. 
 
 White Polled Cattle, descended from the Wild Cattle of 
 
 Britain 
 
 The Flower Garden 
 
 Knole and its Memories 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 1 1 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 17 
 19 
 
 21 
 
 25 
 
 27 
 28 
 
 Green Court . 
 The Porter's Lodge 
 
 33 
 34 
 
XIV 
 
 miudtratione 
 
 PAGE 
 
 35 
 
 The Chapel-Room 
 
 The Stone Court 36 
 
 Green Court 
 
 The Painted Staircase 
 
 The Great Hall 
 
 A Corner of the Ballroom 
 
 The King's Room ; also called the Silver Room . 
 
 The Spangle Room 
 
 King James the First's Chair 
 
 The Brown Gallery, containing Portraits of Famous Men of 
 
 the Sixteenth Century 
 
 The Cartoon Gallery, containing Copies of the Famous 
 
 Raphael Cartoons 
 
 Cotehele 
 
 The Eastern Wing (Summer) 
 
 The Eastern Wing (Winter) . 
 
 The South, or Guard, Tower 
 
 Porch of the Guard Tower . 
 
 South Front .... 
 
 West Side of the Quadrangle 
 
 The Iron Hand 
 
 Retainers' Court, showing Arrow Slit at Side of Doorway 
 
 A Corner of the Hall 
 
 The Hall, showing Fireplace . 
 
 George, Third Lord Edgcumbe, died 1795 
 
 After Reynolds. 
 
 Lady Edgcumbe 
 
 After Reynolds. 
 
 View of the Chapel, showing East Window 
 
 A Corner of the Dining-Room 
 
 King Charles's Room .... 
 
 37 
 39 
 41 
 43 
 
 45 
 
 47 
 48 
 
 49 
 51 
 
 59 
 61 
 
 63 
 64 
 
 65 
 67 
 68 
 69 
 
 71 
 
 73 
 75 
 
 76 
 
 77 
 79 
 81 
 
miustrationd 
 
 XV 
 
 The Old Withdrawing-Room .... 
 
 Ancient Steel Mirror 
 
 Ancient Silver Plate, showing Great Saltcellar 
 Ancient Irish Horns, etc., in the Hall . 
 
 Glamis 
 The Main Front 
 
 From a Photograph by Valentine Sons, Dundee. 
 
 " Malcolm's Stone," in the Garden of Glamis Manse 
 The Crypt 
 
 Formerly the Retainers' Hall. 
 
 Room in which King Malcolm II. died, A.D. 1034 
 The Spiral Staircase, seen from the Crypt . 
 A Corner of the Crypt . ... 
 The Dining- Room 
 
 From a Photograph by Valentine Sons, Dundee. 
 
 The Drawing-Room 
 
 Formerly the Banqueting Hall. 
 
 The " Lion of Glamis " Cup . 
 Sword of " King James VIII." 
 Glamis Castle, from the "North-West . 
 
 The Chapel 
 
 Patrick, Lord Glamis, A.D. 1600 . 
 Elizabeth, Countess of Strathmore, A.D. 1700 
 Helen, Countess of Strathmore, A.D. 1672 . 
 Charles Lord Lyon, A.D. 1715 
 Claverhouse's Coat 
 The Sunk Garden .... 
 The Great Sun-Dial 
 Castle of Glamis in 1686 
 
 From a Painting in the Castle. 
 
 Glamis Castle in 1730 . 
 
 From an Old Print. 
 
 The Front Door .... 
 
 83 
 85 
 87 
 89 
 
 93 
 
 94 
 95 
 
 96 
 96 
 
 97 
 99 
 
 101 
 
 102 
 103 
 105 
 107 
 108 
 108 
 109 
 109 
 110 
 II I 
 112 
 
 113 
 115 
 117 
 
xvi "flllustratione 
 
 Levens Hall 
 
 Front View 
 
 Levens Bridge 
 
 Levens Hall 
 
 The Hall, with Arms of Queen Elizabeth over the Fireplace 
 The Dining-Room 
 
 Formerly called the " Gilded Parlour." 
 
 The Drawing-Room, showing Old Oak Panelling. 
 
 Mrs. Bagot's Room 
 
 Chimneypiece in Drawing-Room 
 
 The " Yellow Room " . 
 
 The Servants' Hall. 
 
 The Gardens .... 
 
 View of the Hall from the Gardens 
 
 Mount Edgcumbe 
 
 The East Front 
 
 In the Italian Garden 
 
 The Italian Garden, showing some of the Famous Orange 
 
 Trees 
 
 Barn Pool, from the Entrance to the Lower Gardens 
 
 The Old Hall or Saloon 
 
 The Drawing-Room or " Gallery " 
 
 View of Plymouth and Drake's Island 
 
 Looking Seaward from the Deer-Park 
 
 The Hamoaze, from the Park 
 
 View from the Front Door on a "Public " Day 
 
 PAGE 
 
 121 
 122 
 123 
 127 
 129 
 
 131 
 
 13} 
 
 .137 
 139 
 
 141 
 143 
 
 149 
 
 159 
 163 
 165 
 167 
 169 
 171 
 
 Wilton House 
 
 The Entrance Gates 177 
 
 The West Front 179 
 
 The " Double Cube " Room 181 
 
miustratione 
 
 xvu 
 
 The " Holbein " Front . 
 
 The Corner Room. 
 
 The Great Van Dyck in the " Double Cube " Room 
 
 The " Single Cube " Room . 
 
 Another View of the " Single Cube " Room 
 
 The Palladian Bridge, over the River Nadder 
 
 The Colonnade Room .... 
 
 The Cloisters 
 
 The Cloisters 
 
 Sitting Room of the Countess of Pembroke 
 
 The Library 
 
 People at Cards 
 
 By Lucas Van Leyden. 
 
 The Lawn 
 
 The Holbein Porch .... 
 
 Formerly the Main Entrance to IVilton House 
 
 The Italian Garden 
 
 Longleat 
 
 The East and North Fronts .... 
 
 Sir John Thynne 
 
 Longleat 
 
 The Hall, showing Armour and Hunting Scenes 
 
 The Hall, showing Screen with Carved Shields 
 
 Lady Louisa Carteret . 
 
 The Corridor .... 
 
 Mary Villiers, Lady Thynne . 
 
 The Library .... 
 
 The Drawing-Room 
 
 The Long Gallery . 
 
 The State Dining-Room 
 
 The Long Gallery, showing Fireplace 
 
 182 
 183 
 184 
 185 
 187 
 188 
 189 
 191 
 192 
 193 
 195 
 196 
 
 197 
 199 
 
 201 
 
 205 
 206 
 207 
 211 
 213 
 214 
 215 
 216 
 217 
 219 
 222 
 223 
 224 
 
XVlll 
 
 ■flUustrations 
 
 The Old Library 
 
 For Twenty Years the Study of Bishop Ken. 
 
 The Winter Garden 
 
 Longleat from the Lake 
 
 " Heaven's Gate " 
 
 yiew from the Ridge. 
 
 Rufford Abbey 
 
 Rufford Abbey 
 
 The Brick Hall 
 
 The Ancient Banqueting Hall. 
 
 The Picture Gallery 
 
 Rufford Hall 
 
 The Grand Staircase ..... 
 
 The Chapel ....... 
 
 The Servants' Hall ; The Old Crypt of the Abbey 
 View of the Abbey from the Lake . 
 View of the Abbey from the Lawn 
 
 Compton Wynyates 
 
 The West Front 
 
 The North Front 
 
 Spencer Compton, Earl of Northampton 
 
 From the Engraving in Lodge's " Portraits." 
 
 South-West Angle and Garden 
 
 The South and West Fronts .... 
 
 The Porch, showing Arms of Henry Vill. 
 
 A View in the Court 
 
 The Porch from Inside of the Court 
 
 Interior of the Court, showing the Twisted Chimneys 
 
 The Minstrels' Gallery 
 
 Carving over the Drawing-Room Fireplace, brought 
 Canonbury House 
 
 225 
 
 227 
 229 
 231 
 
 
 • 235 
 
 ■ 237 
 
 . 239 
 
 . 241 
 
 . 245 
 
 • 247 
 
 • 249 
 
 . 251 
 
 • 253 
 
 • 257 
 
 
 ■ 259 
 
 
 . 260 
 
 
 . 261 
 
 
 . 263 
 
 
 . 265 
 
 
 . 267 
 
 
 . 268 
 
 neys 
 
 . 269 
 
 
 . 272 
 
 from 
 
 275 
 
miuatrations 
 
 XIX 
 
 The Drawing- Room, showing Panelling from Canonbury 
 
 House 277 
 
 Carved Door 278 
 
 A Corner in the Council-Room 280 
 
 Naworth Castle 
 
 Gateway and Dacre Tower from the Garden 
 
 The Gateway with Dacre Shield 
 
 Interior of Court . 
 
 The Hall .... 
 
 Lord William Howard's Armour 
 
 Howard Miniatures 
 
 Mabuse's " Adoration " 
 
 The Library .... 
 
 The Chapel as it was before the Fire 
 
 From a Water-Colour Drawing. 
 
 Warder's Turret on Dacre Tower 
 
 The Corridor 
 
 Bust and Portrait of the Earl of Carlisle 
 
 From the West .... 
 
 On the Irthing .... 
 
 Lanercost Priory, near Naworth Castle 
 
 Another View of Lanercost Priory . 
 
 Recently Excavated Roman Camp, near Naworth Castle 
 
 Inveraray Castle 
 
 Inveraray Castle . 
 A Street in Inveraray Town 
 Inveraray Castle . 
 Inveraray Castle from Above 
 A Corner of the Hall 
 The Hall from Above , 
 
 285 
 287 
 289 
 291 
 292 
 293 
 294 
 295 
 295 
 
 296 
 297 
 298 
 299 
 300 
 301 
 302 
 303 
 
 309 
 310 
 311 
 
 315 
 
 317 
 318 
 
XX 
 
 miudtratione 
 
 Arms in the Hall .... 
 
 The Saloon 
 
 Another Aspect of the Saloon 
 
 Small Drawing-Room . 
 
 Scotch Fir, 125 Feet High 
 
 Beech Avenue leading to Dhu Loch 
 
 Dundarawe Castle 
 
 View of Loch Awe and Cruachan, from 
 
 Inveraray Town from the South . 
 
 The Town Cross .... 
 
 Carlonan Pool .... 
 
 Inveraray Castle from Dun-a-quoich Hill 
 
 Ruined Chapel. Pass of Brander beyond 
 
 above Cladich 
 
 319 
 321 
 
 323 
 325 
 326 
 
 327 
 328 
 329 
 
 331 
 332 
 332 
 333 
 334 
 
Buckling Iball 
 
THE WEST FRONT OF BUCKLING HALL 
 
 BUCKLING HALL 
 
 BY A. H. MALAN 
 
 THE Manor of Blickling can claim the honour of having 
 afforded some sort of domicile — if it were but a one- 
 storeyed shed — to Harold, Earl of East Anglia ; and of 
 having been, if not the birthplace, at all events the usual place of 
 abode, in her youthful years, of the luckless Anne Boleyn. 
 
 The site of Harold's palace, still known as the Old Manor 
 meadow, lies about a mile from the present Hall, in a pretty 
 piece of rough pasture, not unlike a nook in the New Forest or 
 a bit of Surrey common ; and the disturbed surface of the ground 
 seems to indicate that the foundations might still be unearthed, 
 by anyone interested enough to set some spades to work with- 
 out expecting any surprising discoveries. 
 
 After Hastings, the Conqueror gave the manor to Bishop 
 
4 Blicftttng Iball 
 
 Herfast, his chaplain ; and thenceforward it became a pleasant 
 country retreat to the Bishops of Thetford, who continued to 
 hold it for that purpose even after the see was transferred to 
 Norwich. Then, after occupation by members of the families 
 of Fitz-Roger, Engain, and De Holveston, in the latter part of 
 the fourteenth century a portion of the manor came into pos- 
 session of Sir Nicholas Dagworth, who, after a stirring life of 
 public service in Brittany, France, and Ireland, built himself a 
 residence thereon, of which nothing is now known except that . 
 it was surrounded by a moat with a portcullis. 
 
 Presently there succeeded Sir Thomas de Erpingham, that 
 fine old knight, for whose good white head, at Agincourt, Henry 
 V. considered a good soft pillow were better than a churlish turf 
 of France. He came over with Bolingbroke from Bretagne, and 
 was Warden of Dover Castle^ where his arms are said to be still" 
 visible on the side of the Roman pharos. The Erpingham gate, ; 
 leading into the close at Norwich, was built by Sir Thomas ; also 
 the tower of Erpingham church. Then there followed Sir John- 
 Fastolfe, who in turn sold the estate, circa 1459, to Sir Geoffrey 
 Boleyn, mercer, and Lord Mayor of London, whose grandson, 
 created by Henry VIII. Viscount Rochfort, was the father of 
 Anne, and while in residence at Blickling was apprised of the 
 beheading of his two children. He was succeeded, it appears, 
 by Sir James Boleyn, great-uncle to Elizabeth'; and from him 
 the property passed to Sir John Clere of Ormesby, whose spend- 
 thrift heir was forced to sell it, and met with a purchaser in Sir 
 Henry Hobart, grandson of the Attorney-General of Henry VII. 
 
 This is but a scrappy outline of the early history, but suffi- 
 cient ; an article for the general reader being hardly the place for 
 long genealogical extracts from those voluminous tomes, the old 
 county histories. It brings us down to the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century ; at which time Dagworth Manor Hall was 
 
THE SOUTH FRONT AND FLOWER GARDEN, BUCKLING HALL 
 
6 Blicf^ling Iball 
 
 demolished, to make way for the mansion as one now sees it. 
 This was begun by Sir Henry, 1619, and completed by his son, 
 John, in 1628; the latter, from receiving Charles II. here, gave 
 occasion to Stephenson's couplet : 
 
 " Blickling two monarchs and two queens has seen ;. 
 One King fetch'd thence, another brought a Queen." 
 
 The striking resemblance of the south front to the central 
 
 A CORNER 01^ THE LAKE 
 
 part of one of the fronts of Hatfield is accounted for by the sup- 
 position that the same architect, Limminge, was the draughtsman 
 of both. Approaching from Aylsham, along a road skirted on 
 the right by the park, and on the left by a " loke " (Anglo-Saxon 
 loc: a footpath separated from the road by a thorn-hedge), it is 
 this front which shows itself first. At that distance the hall, 
 wings, avenues, yew-hedges, and drive compose a scene of 
 lordly formality, dignified and severe ; on a nearer approach the 
 eye confines itself to the front only, and then the stone, 
 
8 IBlicftlina Iball 
 
 shield-bearing figures, perforated parapet of the bridge, well pro- 
 portioned windows, decorated white porch of Roman outline, dark 
 oak door and quaint iron knocker, together make a picture pleas- 
 ant to gaze on, whether viewed directly or obliquely from either 
 side. There may be noticed, on the Portico, grouped around the 
 arms of Hobart (and of Hobart impaling Bell, and Hobart and 
 Sidney), several examples of the canting arms of Boleyn : a 
 graceful compliment to the previous owners of the soil on Sir 
 Henry's part, since it is not apparent that he was any connection 
 of the Boleyn clan. 
 
 Looking over the bridge down into the moat, it seems rather 
 incongruous to observe golden polyanthuses and well-mown 
 grass where water should be,- and soft-billed birds regaling them- 
 selves on the legitimate prey of eels ; but it is not easy to say 
 what else should be done with a moat that has lost its raison- 
 d'etre. Possibly, as light against dark counts for so much in all 
 ornamental gardening, and as there is such a ubiquitous spread 
 of turf elsewhere, a flooring of white crushed spar might be 
 more effective, as a line of demarcation between the dull red of 
 the house and the dingy ivy-clad wall of the moat. A matter 
 of opinion. 
 
 To the right, through a curtain-arcade, is a short cut to the 
 flower garden, that has been evolved, in recent times, from that 
 " elegant wilderness" which Blomefield specified as being one of 
 those attractions of the place "well worthy of the attention of 
 such as make the Norfolk tour." With its gorgeous display 
 of spring bloom, it is a fair enough Eden to walk in, in the cool 
 of the day, when the breeze has died down at sunset, and all is 
 still ; when the mellow and spirited snatches of blackbirds and 
 thrushes are the only sounds audible, save the brusque, muffled 
 callings of some restless cuckoo ; when the wallflowers are giving 
 out their richest fragrance, and vie with auriculas and pansies in 
 
lo Blichling tball 
 
 producing a perfect feast of colour, to delight and almost dazzle the 
 eye. Alas, the bright April sunshine so soon scorches up all the 
 primrose tribe, and mars the beauty of the beds, that one almost 
 thinks a preferable way of displaying such flowers would be as 
 a ring just around the foot of a tree on a lawn ; the semi-shade 
 in which they are thus grown considerably prolonging the bloom, 
 and the rising ground at the base of the tree-trunks being so well 
 out of the way of the mowing-machine that the lawn can be 
 kept mown, and yet the flowers allowed to die down in peace. 
 This method of culture is very extensively and prettily practised 
 at Belton, the Lincolnshire home of Lady Lothian's sister ; where 
 also may be noted large breadths and strips of Lent lilies at the 
 lake-edge, and a profusion of narcissi forming natural borderings 
 to shrubberies, such as are to be found here, studded about on 
 the grass, in among the specimen trees beyond this garden.- 
 
 Of these trees, an oriental plane, computed to be two hund- 
 ■ red years old, is particularly noticeable ;-the more so when, not 
 being in leaf, its anatomy can be observed. At' considerable 
 spread from the trunk the pendulous limbs have long ago estab- 
 lished themselves as almost independent saplings ; the modus 
 operandi being that when a branch, through its drooping habit, 
 touches the ground, presently it begins to ascend, thus forming 
 an elbow ; then, on being swayed by the wind, this elbow frets 
 away the soil into a hollow, at the same time forming a callosity 
 on its bark, and one fine day it manages to stick in its bed and 
 protrude roots, and so become a fixture. In this case, the parent 
 stem being still full of vitality, the whole operation is visible ; but 
 in the lime-walk, hard by, another method of reproduction pre- 
 sents itself, where clumps of young limes, apparently planted in 
 a circle, stand up like the pillars of a miniature temple of Vesta, 
 and have really arisen as suckers, at the base of a perished 
 ancestor's trunk, of which not the smallest trace survives. 
 
13 
 
14 Blichling IDall 
 
 A stroll along the lake-side brings you to a noble group of 
 beeches, beyond some fine oaks ; in fact, the oaks throughout 
 the park are everywhere good and abundant, in spite of a lament- 
 able gale which not long ago swept down hundreds. Should 
 you think fit to prolong the stroll round the lake, and turn 
 southward, you will come across some delightful glades, where 
 beeches and birches of silvery stem and delicate leafage, growing 
 at their own sweet will, well show what Nature will do when 
 left to herself; while what can be done when she is not left to 
 herself may be seen in the avenues of pollard limes, running 
 parallel with the offices flanking the Hall, that have been lopped 
 and trimmed till their resentment has evidently been aroused. 
 
 When the mood of man is merry, these little glades (as Lady 
 Suffield's cottage in the wood testifies) serve admirably for pic- 
 nics and other simple country joys ; but the mood is not always 
 merry, and if a place be wanted to- be wretched in, then you 
 might wend your way to the pyramidal mausoleum, circum- 
 scribed by darkest spruces and a forbidding fence ; of sombre and 
 depressing aspect, and shunned by all things living, except, it 
 may be, one or two of those long-eared owls which delight in 
 densest shade, it is the resting-place of the departed John, Earl 
 of Buckinghamshire : far indeed from one's idea of a beautiful 
 burial-place, such as (to give an example) the Tomnahurich cem- 
 etery at Inverness. 
 
 Let us attack the house from the Porch. The " curious brick 
 fabric," built as it was by a Hobart, is thought to be in the form 
 of an H : no unreasonable supposition, if the end-pieces be con- 
 nected, and the letter formed of such "solid " type as to leave little 
 space (the courts) on either side of the central span. The arch- 
 way passed, the first small court crossed, and the Hall entered, 
 on the right lies the Dining-room, panelled and over-mantelled in 
 chestnut, but not calling for further description than that it 
 
15 
 
i6 BUcftUnQ Iball 
 
 contains a good fireplace, surmounted by arms. Next, the Break- 
 fast-room, where, as in the other sitting-rooms, are several of the 
 water-colour sketches of the late Lady Waterford, aunt to the 
 lady of the house. These are recognised by a peculiar boldness 
 of touch and outline, and comprise a variety of figure-subjects. 
 The artist evidently used to advantage the abundance of time at 
 her disposal, at Curraghmore, while her lord, the third Marquis, 
 was engaged in his " everlasting hunting." Possessed of a power, 
 of expressing her ideas in a few masterly strokes, her sketches 
 (like these articles on historic houses) are "thoughts and impres- 
 sions, rather than finished pictures." No body-colour is seen in 
 any of her work. 
 
 The Morning-room, next door, has a highly finished ceiling ; 
 also a stone chimneypiece originally forming the arch of a win- 
 dow at Caistor Castle, the residence of that reputed "craven," 
 Sir John Fastolfe, who, at the battle of Patay, "before a stroke 
 was given, like to a trusty squire, did run away." Sir John is 
 said by Hall to have been degraded for cowardice ; but Heylin, in 
 his History of St. George, tells us that "he was afterwards, upon 
 good reason by him alledged in his defence, restored to his 
 honour." Skipping two bedrooms, one arrives at Lady Lothian's 
 sanctum, where may be seen the daintiest of English and Dresden 
 china, set off against a black oak mantelpiece, some arras hang- 
 ings from the Orford sale, and everything else which a boudoir in 
 the best possible taste should possess. Situated at the north- 
 east angle on the ground floor there is a convenient exit (behind 
 the tapestry) direct into the garden ; another door, opposite, 
 leads into the deserted study of the eighth Marquis, whose life, 
 of the highest mental promise, was so prematurely cut short 
 in 1870. 
 
 From this point it is possible to continue your course, east 
 and south, until you get back to the right of the Porch ; when. 
 
THE SOUTH DRAWING-ROOM, BLICKLINQ HALL 
 
 17 
 
i8 BUcftlittG Iball 
 
 if so minded, you can proceed, by a subterranean passage, to the 
 kitchens, etc., which are detached from the house itself, and are 
 supposed to be the successors of some previous almshouses. 
 
 But we will ascend the main staircase instead. It is a 
 double-headed stairs having dark oak balusters, coeval with the 
 house, but with figures thereupon placed here by the Earl of 
 Buckinghamshire, 1765, because, of the original figures, "Hector 
 had lost his spear, David his harp, Godfrey of Boulogne his ears, 
 Alexander his shoulder." In canopies in the wall are statues, of 
 the Georgian epoch, of Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth. The win- 
 dows (one stained glass), opening into the small courts, give by 
 no means sufficient light to show off the Hall to advantage. The 
 pictures are mostly by Aikman. At the top we enter a small 
 apartment over the Breakfast-room, where Abraham and Sarai 
 and Lot, with swarthy Eastern mien, look out from the old tap- 
 estry, not upon a city of the plain, but upon the less notorious, 
 if anachronistic, plane of a billiard-table. On one side of this Bil- 
 liard-room is the south Drawing-room, with an extremely ornate 
 ceiling and chimneypiece of the period ; with ottomans, and 
 sofas, and chairs upholstered in yellow silk ; an ebony suite, 
 china, mirrors, etc. ; the pictures comprising a portrait of Eliza- 
 beth (and a doubtful Mary Tudor), George 111. and Queen Char- 
 lotte, Sir Robert Walpole, Lord Townshend, and that Lady 
 Suffolk (Aikman) whom Scott introduces in the Heart of Mid- 
 lothian. On the other side is the Library, a hundred and 
 twenty-seven feet long, with an elaborate ceiling, showing, in 
 relief, all down its length, three rows of emblematical figures 
 with an expansive range of subject, from a woman riding a griffin 
 to the world's conflagration. Arranged around the walls are the 
 twelve thousand volumes of the famous Blickling Library, got 
 together by Mattaire for Sir Richard Ellis, from whom they were 
 inherited by the owner of Blickling. The rarest books and 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 M' 
 
 ,r» • 
 
 THE LIBRARY, BLICKLINQ HALL, SHOWING ORNATE CEI.INQ 
 
 T9 
 
22 Blicftling Iball 
 
 missals are very properly under lock and key ; amongst them 
 one is allowed to inspect the following : 
 
 The first printed Latin Bible, 1462, the concluding sentence 
 of which may be translated thus : "This work was made by the 
 artificial invention of printing, or characterising without the use 
 of the pen, in the town of Moguntium [Mayence] to the piety of 
 God, by the industry of John Fust, citizen, and Peter Schwiffher, 
 clerk, and is finished in the vigil of . . . " ; 
 
 "The Blickling MS.": a collection of original homilies in 
 Anglo-Saxon, dated 971, with some seventeenth-century scrib- 
 lings, apparently by members of the Lincoln Chapter ; 
 
 Three books of Hours, fifteenth century, with bright illumin- 
 ated headings and tailpieces, and quaint little coloured pictures, 
 more or less borrowed from the Bestiaries ; 
 
 A French MS. Bible, thirteenth century ; a LatinTVlS. Psalter, 
 said to be a thousand years old, with synonyms above certain 
 words, in Anglo-Saxon characters ; 
 
 Two works of Caxton ; the rare edition of Coverdale's Bible, 
 1535 ; the Prayer Book proposed for Scotland; a collection of 
 nursery rhymes, in Hebrew, based upon the vicissitudes of the 
 great nations ; and Aldine publications from 1490 to 1590. 
 
 There is also an old Latin MS. Bible of uncertain date, on a 
 page of which appears the autograph of the Duke of Wellington, 
 18 1 9, and of the Princess of Wales, 1888. 
 
 The adjoining room is a sort of State Drawing-room, con- 
 taining two Gainsboroughs (the second Earl of Buckinghamshire 
 and his Countess), and a large piece of tapestry, in the highest 
 relief, presented by the Empress Catharine to that Earl when he 
 was Ambassador at St. Petersburg. Here, in a cabinet, away 
 from public gaze, are carefully stored some of the effects of Anne 
 Boleyn, recently shown at a Tudor Collection. They consist of 
 some long strips of the thinnest gauze or gossamer, delicate, soft. 
 
SOME OF THE EFFECTS OF ANNE BOLEYN, PRESERVED AT BLICKLING HALL 
 
 23 
 
24 BlicIilinG Iball 
 
 and flimsy, with flowers thereon worked by hand ; the toilet- 
 case (showing small relief portraits of Henry VIII. and Anne 
 Boleyn), with mirror, brushes, combs, depilatories, unguentarium, 
 etc. ; a sort of morning-gown or dressing-gown, and a set of 
 nightcaps. The latter seem over-extensive for a small Iread ; but 
 perhaps they were "worn large," like the former straw hats of 
 the Norfolk peasantry, as appears from a specimen in the attics, 
 of build as massive as a beehive, and weighing no less than two 
 pounds seven ounces. 
 
 i Grouping for such a photograph is not an unpleasant task ; 
 in fact, grouping becomes essential to save time, especially with 
 oil paintings. Thus, in taking the tapestry afore-mentioned — 
 where the smirk on Peter the Great's countenance so aggravat- 
 ingly diverts the eye from the more artistic battle of Pultowa in 
 the background — quite an array of pictures connected with the 
 House could be put together and worked in. Of these, to the right, 
 first comes the Countess of Buckinghamshire and her daughter 
 Caroline, Lady Suffield, who, as a stone let into the west wall of 
 the house relates, "beqlieath'd her jewels towards the expense 
 of erecting this^ front, MDCCLXIX." Next, the Ambassador's 
 eldest daughter, who wedded the sixth Marquis of Lothian, and 
 brought Blickling into the present family. Then Sir Henry 
 Hobart, Lord Chief Justice, who built the house in 1619, wearing 
 the SS. chain ; then Sir James Hobart, Attorney-General to Henry 
 VII. — "a right good man of great learning and wisdom," who, 
 in 1495, built Loddon church, from the east window in which 
 the picture is copied, showing the kneeling figures of Sir James 
 and his wife, — the tower of Loddon church on one side, a bridge 
 over the Waveney on the other; and of which picture the 
 inscription translated runs : "Pray for the soul of James Hobart, 
 Knight, and Attorney to the Lord King, who built this church 
 entirely from its foundation in three years out of his own goods, 
 
TAPESTRY REPRESENTINQ PETER THE GREAT AND THE BATTLE OF PULTOWA 
 
26 BUcltling Iball 
 
 in the eleventh year of King Henry." Lastly, Lady Londonderry, 
 another daughter of the Ambassador, and a wife of the minister 
 best known as Viscount Castlereagh, 
 
 Beyond is the room occupied by George 111., with watered 
 silk facings to the walls, a bed in an alcove, and a cot for a page. 
 It is situated at the north-west angle, and by proceeding thence, 
 past some bedroom doors severally lettered L-o-t-h-i-a-n, and so 
 known as the Lothian Row, and round through some south bed- 
 rooms, the Drawing-room, with which we began, is once more 
 reached, and the circumambulation is complete. In the bedroom 
 over the porch there is a truly marvellous bedstead, without any 
 foot posts, but making up for the deficiency by being equipped; 
 with , a surrounding curtain, actuated by cords and a wheel, 
 which can be caused to descend from the canopy above in one 
 fell swoop upon the inmates, hermetically sealing them from all 
 external air ; and, as though such imprisonment were insufficient, 
 there is a longitudinal descendable curtain as well, passing down 
 between the divided mattress, thereby creating two cubicles : 
 surely the happy thought of some sorely tried Mr. — why not 
 Mrs. ? — Caudle. 
 
 Before quitting the Hall acknowledgment is due to a schol- 
 arly guide-book by Canon Meyrick, which has been drawn upon 
 in this article. Visitors are fortunate if they may be able to pro- 
 cure a copy in advance, before they go the round of the rooms on 
 that particular week-day throughout the summer when the house 
 is courteously thrown open to their inspection. 
 
 On our way up to the church we can get through the left- 
 hand block of offices into the dairy-yard, in order to see a herd of 
 white polled cattle to be found there at milking-time. They are 
 some of the last lingering descendants of what is said to be a 
 unique breed of the wild cattle of Britain, and are characterised 
 by black muzzles, ears, and hoofs, short legs, straight backs ; the 
 
27 
 
28 Blicfilina Iball 
 
 skulls also are different in some respects from those of domestic 
 breeds. The cows are said to be bad milkers ; but that is of little 
 consequence, as when grazing together among the trees in the 
 park they look picturesque enough to make up for all shortcom- 
 ings. The previous lord of the herd was a high-spirited, not to 
 say savage animal, worthy of his illustrious ancestry, with a 
 matter-of-fact way of doing business — promptly knocking any 
 
 THE FLOWER GARDEN 
 
 one down against whom he was incensed, and then kneeling on 
 him, lest the prostrate foe should attempt to get up. But the 
 present bull is a very degenerate offshoot of Caesar's urus, and 
 it is difficult to believe he represents a race ' ' of enormous 
 strength and speed, which neither spare man nor beast when 
 once they have caught sight of him." Nature, if not in-and-in 
 breeding, has made him a queer sort of hirsute monster, much 
 undersized for a bull, but (given a pair of tusks) not doing at all 
 
^BlicIiHnd Iball 29 
 
 badly, as to his forequarters, for a primeval boar. The creature 
 takes life calmly enough, except upon sight of a bovine stranger 
 in the offing, when he stands at gaze, and challenges the uni- 
 verse in a hoarse, gruff roar. 
 
 Unfortunately, the parish church has lost much of whatever 
 original individuality it may have possessed, through that modern 
 restoration which tends to reduce our churches to one dead level 
 of uniformity ; but it contains the brass of Sir Nicholas Dag- 
 worth, who died in 1401 ; several brasses of the Boleyn family, 
 in excellent preservation ; an altar-tomb of the Cleres ; the monu- 
 ment (Watts) of the eighth Marquis of Lothian, with two angels, 
 the one at the head, the other at the feet ; and a massive oak 
 chest (circa 1490), armoured with carvel-built iron plates, the 
 ponderous cover, or lid, of which no two men can lift. The 
 chest bears an inscription running along the front — " Maystyr 
 Adam Uee mad ys chyst and Robert Filipis payed yer for, God 
 have mercy on yar soules." Near to it is the fine font, with lions 
 sejant on bowl and base ; it has an old appearance, but is reput€d 
 to be comparatively modern. 
 
 The golf-links are approached by entering the park from past 
 the inn — and past, also, an ideal English hamlet, with delightful 
 little flower gardens and miniature orchards, backed by well 
 grown forest trees. And properly to appreciate this most pic- 
 turesque village, the inhabitants should have sojourned awhile 
 in some desolate mining region, where trees are rare and stunted, 
 and nature is represented by a few scraggy pot-plants, peeping 
 out from monotonous rows of windows, in some long, unlovely 
 street. 
 
IRnole anb its fIDemories 
 
 31 
 
*^^^1 
 
 GREEN COURT, KNOLE 
 
 KNOLE AND ITS MEMORIES 
 
 BY LORD SACKVILLE 
 
 THE first authentic record of the occupancy of Knole is to 
 be found in the reign of King John, when it belonged to 
 William Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke ; but in the time 
 of Henry III. we find it in the possession of the family of Say 
 and Sele, where it remained until Sir William Fiennes, Lord Say 
 and Sele, being deeply involved in the contentions between the 
 Houses of York and Lancaster, was obliged to sell the greater part 
 of his possessions. Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, bought Knole for a sum equal to /2500 of our money, 
 rebuilt the house and enclosed it in a park, bequeathing it at his 
 death (i486) to the See of Canterbury. There can be little doubt 
 that it was Archbishop Bourchier who built the greater part of 
 the present house, although there are portions the architecture 
 of which seems to indicate an earlier origin. Bourchier's Chapel, 
 
 the beautiful oriel window of which is one of the chief features 
 
 33 
 
34 
 
 Iknole anb its fIDemories 
 
 of the Green Court, contains his device, the " Bourchier-knot,"' 
 carved on one of the stone corbels, while his arms are found in 
 another room of the house. His Immediate successor, John 
 Moreton, lived much at Knole from i486 to 1500, and w^as visited 
 
 / , , there by Henry 
 
 ^.>^>'.»i^^^'.' VII. Knole con- 
 
 tinued to be the 
 private residence 
 of the Archbish- 
 ops until the time 
 of Thomas Cran- 
 mer — who lived 
 there seven years, 
 and whose arms 
 are found on five 
 shields, in a room 
 still called Cran- 
 m e r ' s Room. 
 Finding that the 
 vast possessions 
 of the Church ex- 
 cited envy, Cran- 
 mer resolved to 
 give it up to Henry VIII., who is said to have determined to make 
 it a royal residence, but never carried out that intention. 
 
 Queen Mary granted the manor-house and lands of Knole 
 to Cardinal Pole, at whose death, in 1558, they passed again into 
 the hands of the Crown. Then Elizabeth made Knole over to 
 her favourite, Dudley, who left behind a trace of ownership in 
 the " Leicester Gallery " before surrendering it back to her ; after 
 which the Queen granted it to her cousin, Thomas Sackville, 
 whose grandmother was a Boleyn ; she also created him Baron 
 
 THE PORTER'S LODGE 
 
^ 'Kyi Iv^ 
 
 ^-^i 111 -it -^ -'• ' 
 
 :«la^ 
 
 
 -^'^^^ 
 
 
 V- 
 
 THE CHAPEL-ROOM, KNOLE 
 
 35 
 
36 
 
 Iknole anb its fiDemories 
 
 Buckhurst, which title he took from his estates in Sussex, and 
 appointed him Lord High Treasurer ; her motive in giving him 
 Knole being, according to several publications, "to keep him 
 near her Court and Councils, that he might repair thither on any 
 
 emergency with 
 more expedition 
 than he could from 
 his seat of Buck- 
 hurst, in Sussex, the 
 roads in which 
 county were at 
 times impassable." 
 Thomas Sack- 
 ville, Lord Buck- 
 hurst, is celebrated 
 as the author of 
 Gorboduc, the first 
 dramatic piece of 
 any note in English 
 verse, which was 
 performed before 
 Queen Elizabeth at 
 Whitehall many 
 years before any of Shakespeare's plays had been written. 
 He made Knole his principal residence, and did much to the 
 house ; the old leaden water-spouts in the Stone Court, still 
 in use, bear his initials and the date 1603 ; his chest as High 
 Treasurer is to be seen in the Cartoon Gallery. He was made 
 Earl of Dorset by James !., and Knole has remained in the Sack- 
 ville family since his time. The present owner is the son of 
 Lady Elizabeth Sackville, who, by the death of her brother, the 
 fourth Duke of Dorset, became sole heiress of Knole; she 
 
37 
 
39 
 
40 Iknole ant) its fIDemoriea 
 
 married the fifth Earl De La Warr, and at her death left Knole by 
 special remainder to her younger sons. Queen Victoria revived 
 the title of Sackville in favour of Lady De La Warr's second sur- 
 viving son in 1876. 
 
 The house of Knole, skirted on one side by the town of 
 Sevenoaks, stands in a beautifully wooded park of a thousand 
 acres, which, with its remarkably fine beech-trees and undulating 
 ground, forming beautiful glades and valleys, may well be classed 
 amongst the best of our English parks. 
 
 Round the house are the gardens and shrubberies, the whole 
 being enclosed by an old stone wall, in which there are some 
 very fine wrought-iron gates of Queen Anne's period ; while the 
 gardens are laid out in the old-fashioned way, with quaint 
 borders and grass walks. 
 
 An idea of the great size of the house may be gained by the 
 fact that it covers nearly four acres of ground, and contains 365 
 rooms, 52 staircases, and 540 windows. It is built of the grey 
 stone known as "Kentish Rag," and is roofed with picturesque 
 dark red tiles ; the whole pile, with its numberless chimneys and 
 gables, giving more the impression, at a distance, of part of an 
 old medieval town than of a private dwelling-house. The prin- 
 cipal entrance is by two massive oak doors under a square tower, 
 and the visitor finds himself in the largest of the seven courts 
 round which the house is built. Directly opposite is Bourchier's 
 graceful oriel window. Through another arched porch and oak 
 doors there is the Stone Court (rather smaller than the first, or 
 Green Court, but quite as picturesque in its old-world appear- 
 ance), from which there is the door leading into the Great Hall. 
 This Hall, measuring 75 feet in length, 30 in width, and 20 in 
 height, with a raised dais at one end and an oak screen boldly 
 carved with the Sackville arms at the other end, was the old 
 Banqueting Hall. The small panels in the upper part of this 
 
^^ £aww»,. 
 
 THE GREAT HALL, KNOLE 
 
 THE ANCIENT BANQUETING HALL 
 
 41 
 
A CORNER OF THE BALLROOM, KNOLE 
 
 43 
 
44 Iknole ant) its flDcmorlee 
 
 screen open and form windows looking down into the Hall. 
 Here are several pictures, the most interesting of which is a por- 
 trait of the three brothers Coligny, by Porbus. Along the walls 
 are hung the various patents granted to the family from the time 
 of Elizabeth ; some of them beautifully illuminated, with portraits 
 of Elizabeth, James I., Charles II., etc. 
 
 Leaving the Hall, visitors ascend the principal staircase, and 
 enter the Ballroom, which contains a complete collection of the 
 portraits of the owners of Knole since the time of Queen Eliza- 
 beth ; amongst others a very striking picture of Edward Sackville, 
 fourth Earl of Dorset, by Van Dyck. The room is panelled with 
 oak painted white, and has a broad carved oak frieze running 
 round the top ; there is also a very fine Renaissance fireplace and 
 a Sevres service presented by Napoleon I. 
 
 A short passage leads into the Reynolds Room, in which- 
 there are seventeen pictures by Sir Joshua, two by Gainsborough, 
 and two very fine Hoppners — one a portrait of the last Duchess 
 of Dorset, whose husband was the collector of the best pictures 
 of that period now in the house. The fireplace, also of the Re- 
 naissance period, contains two silver fire-dogs. 
 
 Immediately opening out of this room is the Cartoon Gallery, 
 so called from the copies of the famous Raphael cartoons, with 
 which the walls are covered ; these copies were presented to the 
 fourth Earl of Dorset by Charles I., by whose order they had been 
 executed by Mytens, in order to give the King an idea of the 
 originals when they were for sale. The windows in this Gallery, 
 which is ninety feet long, contain twenty-one coats of arms in 
 stained glass, showing the alliances of the Sackville family ; while 
 the furniture, covered with old Genoa velvet, is especially beauti- 
 ful, being all early seventeenth century, and well preserved : our 
 ancestors were evidently not unmindful of the comfort of an arm- 
 chair. At the far end, an oak door, enriched with gilt locks given 
 

 THE KING'S ROOM ; ALSO CALLED THE SILVER ROOM 
 
 45 
 
46 Iknole ant) its fiDemoriee 
 
 by William 111., leads into the King's Bedroom, so called from the 
 bed and furniture having been bought for James l.'s reception. 
 This room is also called the Silver Room, on account of the great 
 profusion of silver displayed in it — viz., a large silver table, three 
 looking-glasses, two high tripods, twenty-eight sconces, eighteen 
 jars, and a complete toilet-set, which is said to be the most per- 
 fect of the period. The bed itself is a large four-poster hung with 
 rich gold and silver brocade, and is furnished with satin mat- 
 tresses. The tapestry, representing the history of Nebuchadnez- 
 zar, is very remarkable (similar hangings, but without borders, are 
 in the billiard-roorti at Glamis Castle ) ; and the whole room, as 
 it stands to-day, is.just as it was three centuries ago. 
 
 On the other side of the Ballroom is the older portion of the 
 house, which has not been touched since early Tudor times— a 
 fact which is plainly visible in the rough-and-ready fashion in 
 which the oak panelling has been put in. The first room in. this 
 part is the Chapel-room, which contains some old furniture, two 
 quaint Dutch "dummy-board figures" used formerly as fire- 
 screens, and a screen worked by Queen Elizabeth, the walls being 
 hung with tapestry, and many of the window-panes filled with 
 talc, from which is obtained a glimpse of some quaint smaller 
 courts. The Organ-room, which is next, derives its name from 
 the curious old instrument which stands in it and bears the date 
 1623. There are also in this room several "black-jacks" and cu- 
 rious old wine-bottles found in the cellars. Passing on to the 
 Brown Gallery, a curious collection of chairs and stools is to be 
 seen, while on the walls is a long row of portraits representing all 
 the famous men of the sixteenth century. These portraits are 
 painted on panels, and have been thought to have been given 
 with Knole by Elizabeth. Opening out of this gallery are two 
 charming little rooms used in the last century by Lady Betty Ger- 
 maine, who has filled them with samples of her needlework ; 
 
THE SPANGLE ROOM, KNOLE 
 
 47 
 
48 
 
 Iknole anb its fiDemories 
 
 from the windows there is a lovely view of the gardens. Oppo- 
 site, there is another state bedroom, the furniture in which was 
 all given by James I. ; while beyond is the dressing-room belong- 
 ing to it, and, still farther on, the old Billiard-room, containing a bil- 
 liard-table of the 
 time of Charles 
 I., very much 
 resembling our 
 modern tables. 
 This room is real- 
 ly part of another 
 long gallery, 
 called the Leices- 
 ter Gallery, full of 
 more seven- 
 teenth-century 
 furniture, and of 
 some excellent 
 examples of Van 
 Dyck's art ; con- 
 taining, also, a 
 large picture of 
 James I. (by My- 
 tens), immediate- 
 ly below which is the actual chair in which the King is represented 
 as sitting. Close by is a curiously illuminated pedigree of the 
 Sackville family (with small portraits of the more important mem- 
 bers) from the Conquest to Elizabeth; Herbrand de Sackeville 
 having come over with William. At the end is a bedroom pre- 
 pared for the reception of James II. : it is furnished with a table, 
 two tripods, and two looking-glasses of ebony and silver ; the 
 furniture is done up in green Genoa velvet. It is curious that in 
 
 KINQ JAMES THE FIRST'S CHAIR 
 
THE BROWN QALLERr, KNOLE, CONTAINING PORTRAITS OF FAMOUS MEN 
 OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 49 
 
so Iknole an& its fIDemories 
 
 this room there is an " Adams " window and fireplace ; these be- 
 ing the only examples of that period of decoration in the house. 
 
 The chief objects of interest in the Chapel are some beautiful 
 pieces of tapestry, and carved groups of saints in wood, repre- 
 senting the procession to Calvary, over the altar, which were the 
 property of Mary Queen of Scots, and were given by her to 
 Thomas Sackville, first Earl of Dorset, as a farewell present and 
 token of her appreciation of the tact he displayed in announcing 
 to her the sad Tact that his royal mistress, Queen Elizabeth, had 
 passed sentence of death on her. 
 
 Here the list of rooms shown to the public comes to an end.*. 
 The private sitting-rooms now in use are all on the ground-floor, 
 and are of a more modern appearance with regard to their de- 
 coration and furniture ; though in the Colonnade-room there is 
 another fine example of a Renaissance ceiling similar to that in 
 the Cartoon Gallery and Ballroom. The Dining-room contains 
 a well-carved open fireplace ; also an interesting collection of 
 portraits of literary men and poets of the seventeenth and eight- 
 eenth centuries, such as Dryden, Prior, Pope, Wycherley, Con- 
 greve, Hobbes, Locke, and Addison ; and there is, besides, a 
 picture of Charles, the sixth Earl, who loved to surround himself 
 with the men of letters of his time, and was the author of some 
 poems, and of the song. To all you ladies now on land, which 
 was penned by him, in 1665, when a volunteer under the Duke 
 of York, on the evening before the successful engagement against 
 the Dutch fleet under Admiral Opham. It is of this Earl that-thf 
 following story is told : At a certain party, at Knole, it was pro- 
 posed that each guest should write an impromptu, and that Dry- 
 den should decide which was the best. Those present, including 
 the Earl of Dorset, having handed their contributions to the 
 umpire, Dryden rose, and said that, having perused them all, he 
 must give the palm to their host's, which ran as follows : "I 
 
THE CARTOON QALLERV, KNOUE, CONTAtNINQ COPIES OF THE 
 FAMOUS RAPHAEL CARTOONS 
 
 51 
 
Iknole ant) its fIDcmories 53 
 
 promise to pay Mr. John Dryden, or order, five hundred pounds 
 on demand, Dorset." 
 
 It was in this room that the Parliamentary Commissioners 
 assembled, to order Knole's sequestration in consequence of the 
 strong support rendered to the royal cause by the fourth Earl of 
 Dorset, whose duel with Lord Bruce of Kinross is considered to 
 have been the turning-point in the fashion of personal combat. 
 
 In the other private rooms are a number of pictures and 
 miniatures, and some bric-d-brao ; the bedrooms have Sheraton 
 and Chippendale furniture. 
 
 I have attempted in the foregoing remarks to give an accur- 
 ate, if somewhat sketchy, account of the chief objects of interest 
 in the house, but I feel that my pen is incompetent to describe 
 Knole as it should be described ; and yet it is not difficult to 
 allow the mind to wander, and to attempt to repeople the 
 past with the many celebrated men who have been there. 
 Cranmer's and Bourchier's private chapels could surely tell us 
 something more than we already know of their lives and 
 prayers ; while the old Banqueting Hall must have witnessed 
 many a scene of feasting and revelry on the occasion of a royal 
 visit. It was here Sir Thomas More spent part of his boyhood 
 as page in the household of Archbishop Moreton. Here must 
 have come Leicester and Burleigh, and many a noble at the 
 Court of Queen Elizabeth. Here also Dryden, D'Urfey, and Ed- 
 mund Waller were guests ; while only a little more than a cent- 
 ury ago Sir Joshua Reynolds painted at Knole several of the 
 pictures still in the house for his friend, the Duke of Dorset. 
 
(Totebele 
 
 55 
 
(^^^\1 
 
 /^ fluDAL /^ANlop /JoUjE 
 
 BY A. H. MALAN 
 
 AMONG the stately homes of Cornwall — whether remark- 
 able for age or architecture, or (as more often) for beau- 
 tiful grounds and semi-tropical gardens redeeming bare, 
 barrack-like buildings — there is certainly nothing quite like Cote- 
 hele. Situated just west of the Tamar, it is unique of its kind, 
 and has a charm all its own. Inside and out it so speaks of 
 antiquity and so carries back the mind to the past that, were 
 some armoured knight suddenly to present himself in all his 
 bravery, it would not seem a very strange thing ; though the 
 correct method of saluting him would doubtless be rather a start- 
 ling problem. 
 
 The connection of the Edgcumbe family with this "mansion 
 place " opens with romance. It was in the middle of the four- 
 teenth century. Miliaria de Cotehele had become an heiress 
 under age, through her father's death ; and John of Eltham 
 claimed her wardship, in consequence of the family always hold- 
 ing their lands from the Earls of Cornwall by knight service. 
 This wardship he gave to his steward, who sold it to Maude de 
 
 57 
 
58 Cotebele 
 
 Brendon ; and upon the latter's death it was uncertain who 
 ought to administer it. Different claimants began wrangling, 
 before the Black Prince's Council, as to who should be guardian, 
 and whom the heiress ought to marry ; but Miliaria, being a 
 high-spirited young personage, over fourteen years of age, as- 
 serted her woman's rights, proved her case, and married William 
 of Eggecombe against all objections. A genuine love-match, 
 this, on her part ; for the younger son of a small Devon squire 
 could not have had much in possession to offer, either of real or 
 personal property. Little more is recorded of the lady : there 
 was one son, Peter ; she enjoyed twenty-six years of wedded 
 bliss ; and when her husband departed, she appears to have 
 found small difficulty in transferring her affections to another. 
 
 Traces of the buildings of this date are seen in the west side 
 of the quadrangle and elsewhere ; the small round-headed win- 
 dows showing the earliest existing work. But the greater part 
 of the . house, as it now stands, does not seem to have been 
 begun until the time of that great-grandson of William and 
 Hillaria who was destined to be such a notable character, albeit 
 his career was far from unchequered. 
 
 This was Richard Eggecombe, who, in 1468, had so far 
 raised himself above the status of his great-grandsire, that he 
 was escheator for his country, and very much in the King's 
 good graces ; but neither his high position, nor the royal smiles, 
 could preserve him from being sadly molested by the owner of 
 fortified Bere Ferrers, namely, Robert Willoughby, afterwards 
 Lord Willoughby de Broke. There exists a curious document 
 describing the injuries and wrongs done by this bold, bad man 
 to his neighbour of Cotehele ; how "with 34 men, armed with 
 jackes, salettes, and scythes, he lay in a wayte to have mordered 
 and slayne him, and upon him made a saute " ; and again, how 
 Robert "chasyd" Richard, so that he was forced "to lie dayly 
 
THE EASTERN WINQ, COTEHELE 
 (summer) 
 
 59 
 
6o (Totebele 
 
 and nyghtly in his wodys for safe garde of hys lyffe to the grete 
 hurte and grefe of hys body" ; and yet again, how at "Tawy- 
 stock" Robert and his men with "Jakkes, Saletts, trygenders, 
 bowys, arws, Swerdys and byllys, made a great affray and a 
 saute" upon Richard, who "was in hys bed nakyd safe hys 
 shurt " : — and a good deal more to the same effect. 
 
 But it Is highly unfortunate that Willoughby's version of the 
 affair is not preserved. For instance, it would be interesting to 
 know whether there was any third person involved, and if so, 
 who she was ; or whether these forays were simply a pastime, 
 to exercise the varlets of Bere Ferrers and keep them up to the 
 mark. Also the question arises why in the world, instead of 
 taking it all so tamely, Richard did not marshal his retainers, and 
 attack Willoughby. Anyhow, the dexterity and agility which 
 Eggecombe acquired in hiding and running away were soon to 
 prove of eminent service to him in more stirring scenes. In 
 1483, he raised some Cornish troops, and went to join Bucking- 
 ham's plot against Richard III. ; but that plot having failed before 
 the western contingent joined the Duke's force, Richard and his 
 merry men had to -save themselves as best they could. And then 
 it was that Eggecombe, being nearly run down in his own woods 
 by some of the King's adherents under Sir Henry Trenowth, 
 managed, under shelter of an overhanging rock, to throw his cap 
 into the river ; so deceiving his pursuers, who supposed him 
 drowned. Dropping down the Tamar, he escaped to Brittany ; 
 and having, like other exiles, joined Henry of Richmond, landed 
 with him at Milford, and was made Knight Banneret at Bos- 
 worth. From this time his fortunes quickly improved. He was 
 granted various manors for his prowess in the field, was made 
 Comptroller of the King's Household, and Privy Councillor ; and, 
 having learnt by this time how much nicer it is to pursue than to 
 be pursued, he hunted down Trenowth, and after making him 
 
6i 
 
62 Cotebele 
 
 jump for life at a cleft in the cliff near the Dodman, received for 
 his exploit the confiscated estates of Bodrugan. In these ways he 
 grew passing rich ; but the four remaining years of his life were 
 so occupied in the King's service — in Scotland, Ireland, and 
 Brittany — that he had little leisure to enjoy his good fortune in 
 his own home. But it is supposed that it was he who copied 
 the earlier example of Bere Ferrers, and began castellating and 
 enlarging Cotehele ; providing some at least of that external 
 granite work, which is so obviously of later construction than 
 the smaller rubble masonry. This work, however, was more 
 largely gone into by his son. Piers. For, after joining in the 
 Holy Wars against Louis XII. of France, and being knighted at 
 the Battle of the Spurs, Sir Piers seems to have spent most of 
 his life at Cotehele, in spite of the fact that, by his first marriage 
 with the heiress of James Durnford, he acquired the manor of 
 Stonehouse, the future and more imposing residence of his 
 descendants. 
 
 It is unnecessary to follow the family history any further ; for 
 that has rather to do with Mount Edgcumbe than with Cote- 
 hele. The Virgin Queen sought one of her Maids of Honour in 
 Margaret Edgcumbe, afterwards Lady Denny ; and she may have 
 been thinking of that lady's brothers, when she said that the 
 Cornish were all born courtiers ; though it is to be hoped her 
 thoughts were not running in the same direction when she 
 avowed, in one of her tantrums, as is reported, that the farther 
 west she went, the more certain she felt that the Wise Men came 
 from the East. 
 
 Since, then, the patronage of Royalty has always been 
 granted to the Mount Edgcumbes ; and that, apart from his 
 Court duties, the present Earl has long enjoyed the friendship of 
 our Royal Family, the autograph book at Cotehele could very 
 easily show, were no other evidence available. 
 
f 
 
 ^^■irt'-^'^^v. 
 
 THE SOUTH, OR GUARD, TOWER 
 
 63 
 
64 
 
 Cotebcle 
 
 Approaching from Hingston Down southwards, the private 
 road first brings in sight a gaunt, solitary tower, which looks 
 as if it ought to have kept watch and ward over the country 
 round, but is considered to be only a "folly" ; then presents a 
 
 glimpse of the bat- 
 tlemented towers 
 and Chapel bellcote, 
 vignetted amid a 
 tangle of elm- 
 branches; and then, 
 sweeping round in a 
 sharp curve, passes 
 in front of the east- 
 ern fa9ade. Perched 
 at the head of an 
 abrupt ravine nar- 
 rowing down to the 
 winding river, this 
 wing, all buried in 
 creepers, with the 
 old-fashioned, ter- 
 raced garden in 
 front, makes a pretty 
 enough picture on 
 a summer's day. It is naturally sheltered from all sides but the 
 east, and till recently was so wooded towards the Tamar that 
 nothing but the undulating heights opposite could be seen be- 
 tween the tree-tops. But that fatal blizzard of '91 spared neither 
 historic oaks nor almost prehistoric chestnuts. In merciless fury 
 it swept the declivity so bare, that at the present time the vista 
 from the terrace is practically a bird's-eye view of Calstock, slop- 
 ing down and round the river-turn ; and were it the lot of the 
 
 PORCH OF THE GUARD TOWER 
 
65 
 
66 dotebele 
 
 illustrious owner of Cotehele to have to fly from some neigh- 
 bouring squire, he would find it extremely difficult in his own 
 woods to secure cover enough to screen him. Gravel paths 
 wind downwards on either side of the ravine, past old ponds and 
 a circular dovecot, until a palisade stretching across, whose gates 
 must needs be locked, seems to bar farther progress in that 
 direction. 
 
 For the fortress above would otherwise be by no means im- 
 pregnable against the attacks of hordes of trippers from Ply- 
 mouth. You have only to proceed round the bend to the right, 
 on to the precipitous knoll where Sir Richard's votive Chapel so 
 picturesquely stands, directly above the water, to see abundant 
 evidence of their incursions on the panels of the oak door all 
 scored and stencilled with their initials. This kind of excursion- 
 ists' gratitude, for admission to private grounds, by the way, is 
 cleverly avoided at Swanage where a deal board near. the geograph- 
 ical globe on the headland bears a printed request to visitors to be 
 so good as to inscribe their valuable names upon it rather than 
 on the orb of Purbeck stone ; a similar plan might well be 
 adopted here. And the refinement of consideration for the 
 trippers' propensities would be reached if a chained knife were 
 attached to the board, thus furnishing them with every facility 
 wherewith to do the deed, and gratify their predilections with a 
 minimum of labour. 
 
 Entering the quadrangle by the arched porch of the Guard 
 Tower, there is the choice of three ways — to the Retainers' Court, 
 the Hall, or the eastern wing. It matters little which is taken, as 
 nearly all the rooms connect with each other ; but one naturally 
 makes for the chief feature in all early houses — the Hall. One is 
 struck rather by its height than its size. The bare lime floor, the 
 dark oak roof, and the somewhat feeble, stained-glass light, 
 entering only from the quadrangle side, give it a weird, bygone 
 
WEST SIDE OF THE QUADRANGLE 
 
 67 
 
68 
 
 Cotebele 
 
 appearance at all times, except when long tables and the para- 
 phernalia of a feast are introduced for some special lunch or 
 political function. Round the walls are all sorts of relics.: copies 
 of the pennons of Sir Richard and Sir Piers ; cuirasses and head- 
 pieces worn by cavaliers ; a two-handed state sword with the 
 guard turned the wrong way ; a hide target with rapier-snapping 
 boss ; cross-bows, small and large ; some halberds ; and firearms 
 of divers kinds. Also, two ancient cast bronze Irish horns, 
 brought home, perhaps, by the great Sir Richard himself. One 
 of these is a speaking-trumpet with oval-hole into which to pro- 
 ject the voice; the other is an instrument composed of two 
 
 pieces now soldered 
 • together, but prob- 
 
 ably not belonging 
 to each other : for it 
 is only necessary to 
 turn to the artistic 
 curves of Irish man- 
 uscripts, brooches, 
 etc., to feel pretty 
 sure that no Celtic 
 ; artisan would be 
 guilty of making 
 such an awkward 
 combination, when he could as easily have cast the whole trumpet 
 in one piece. Besides, though similar horns and similar straight 
 pipes have been found together (but not united), no mouthpiece 
 has been discovered fitting into the extended end. But what is 
 worthy of even more notice than these is the iron hand. The 
 fingers are severally made to move and be fixed at various angles; 
 indeed, the whole thing is a very clever piece of workmanship. 
 Some unfortunate warrior, small-handed, like the old Britons, 
 
 THE IRON HAND 
 
69 
 
70 Cotebele 
 
 used it on the left arm to hold his shield and disguise the loss of 
 his own member. No one knows who he was, when he lived, 
 or in what skirmish he came to grief; but here his gauntlet still 
 hangs, a mute but eloquent memento of some brave man 
 struggling with adversity. 
 
 Before ascending the oak staircase, which at some period 
 superseded the earlier stone steps, you turn to the left and enter 
 the old Dining-room. This appears to have but one entrance ; 
 but doors, concealed by the tapestry, lead thence to the Chapel 
 and Punch-room. The huge brass fire-dogs, the leather black- 
 jack, painted Italian mirror, and high-backed sofas, all date back 
 a great many years ; and the costrels, sackpots, canettes, ewers, 
 and other pieces of valuable ware, to say nothing of the antique 
 brass rushlight, snuffers, candlesticks, etc., make one greatly 
 desire to linger among all these curiosities ; but so much remains 
 to be seen that we suppress the wish, and pass on into the 
 Chapel. 
 
 The " Crucifixion " in the east window, with angels receiving 
 in chalices the sacred drops from hands and feet and side, is a very 
 beautiful representation ; before its recent restoration, the portions 
 composing it had been mixed up anyhow, and, as they appeared 
 then, were quite unintelligible. A pre-Reformation crucifix, 
 backed by a sixteenth-century triptych, still lingers on the altar ; 
 latten candlesticks and dishes stand on the re-table ; and the 
 altar-cloths display the most exquisite needlework, though two 
 of the figures of one of them happen to be missing. Here, too, 
 the brazier still continues in use, heating the little oratory in 
 winter, and at the same time emitting soporific fumes, sadly 
 detrimental, no doubt, to the preacher's best points. The retain- 
 ers have their separate door ; the priest his ; and a long horizontal 
 slit, passing through the south wall of the chancel, goes by the 
 name of the Lepers' window. 
 
7? 
 
73 
 
Cotebele 
 
 75 
 
 The Chapel had never been successfully photographed ; and it 
 was desired to bring out the detail in the east window (much of 
 this is lost in the reproduction) and the work on the altar-cloth. 
 The difficulty in the way of obtaining a good photograph was 
 this : — Except for the east window, the Chapel is lighted only by a 
 tiny west window, and the opened south door ; and it was over- 
 come thus. A huge tarpaulin, suspended by a yard, was hung 
 outside the east window, completely darkening both it and the 
 whole chancel. Then all the paraffin lamps in the house were 
 brought in, lighted, and set behind the screen, on the floor, on 
 seats, etc., where they would not show, cross-reflections being 
 avoided as far as possible. Thus the lectern, screen, and brazier 
 were illuminated by day-light, (from doorway, and west win- 
 dow,) and the whole chancel 
 by lamp-light. After an hour's 
 exposure, the yard was let go, 
 and down came the tarpaulin ; 
 and a few seconds' exposure 
 then secured the detail of the east 
 window. Never before, nor 
 since, has the Chapel been so 
 brightened and heated up ; the 
 result was surprisingly harmo- 
 nious ; but one was glad when 
 the last lamp was safely ex- 
 tinguished. 
 
 Thence we return, and as- 
 cend to the state rooms in the 
 upper part of this block. One of these, called after King Charles, 
 contains a most valuable bedstead, with fine carved work at the 
 head. But what catches the attention more than anything else, 
 is an extremely old steel mirror, in a by no means modern case. 
 
 GEORGE, THIRD LORD EDQCUMBE, DIED 1795 
 
 AFTER REYNOLDS 
 
76 
 
 Cotebele 
 
 In the barbarous age of the last century, and even more recently, 
 when Cotehele was unoccupied save by caretakers, it was cus- 
 tomary occasionally to paint the arms brown, and wash down the 
 pictures with gin and water ; and it was customary also to clean 
 this mirror with sandpaper ; but now its original brilliance has been 
 so wondrously restored that no photograph can convey any idea 
 of its depth of lustre and refulgence. The printed card request- 
 ing visitors not to touch the surface of this marvel of reflection 
 seems superfluous ; and yet did not a very great lady not long 
 ago handle the burnished metal all too fondly in spite of it ? If 
 only her hand had been uncovered, the royal imprint might have 
 been one day interesting, as a proof of identity ; but the blurs 
 from the kid glove were not so worthy of preservation, and cost the 
 worthy major-domo hours of patient toil before they could be 
 wholly effaced. The sombre hue of the tapestry, and the rich dark 
 carving of the bedstead, scarcely do themselves justice in ordinary 
 lights ; but they become very effective at that particular hour when 
 
 the sun streams in with a warm 
 glow through the latticed window. 
 ■ And that window, by the 
 way, recalls a ludicrous incident 
 which befell an occupant of the 
 bed on one occasion. It hap- 
 pened on this wise. After calling 
 his master and quitting the cham- 
 ||\ ber, the valet accidentally shot 
 the outside bolt, and went his 
 way, leaving the inmate an un- 
 suspecting prisoner, destitute of all 
 communication with the outside world. When the discovery was 
 made by the victim, hammering at the door, shouting, knocking 
 on the floor, would have been a useless waste of energy ; 
 
 LADY EDQCUMBE 
 
 AFTER REYNOLDS 
 
VIEW OF THE CHAPEL, COTEHELE, SHOWING EAST WINDOW 
 
 77 
 
79 
 
8o 
 
 Cotebcle 
 
 not a living creature was in the wing save himself: there 
 he must remain, and possess his soul in patience until re- 
 lease might chance to arrive. And there he did remain, until the 
 happy thought suggested itself to shy the billets of wood from 
 the hearth one by one out of the window, and await events. The 
 device proved successful. Servants emerged into the quad., not a 
 little startled at seeing Palladia coming down from Jove ; but sur- 
 prise became dire consternation when they found that someone 
 
 *' 
 
 had been incarcerating the embodiment of all authority, the first 
 gentleman in Cornwall, the very Lord Lieutenant himself. Bar- 
 ring any similar experience, if King Charles ever slept in this cosy 
 room, he found himself in comfortable quarters ; but one is not 
 quite so sure about Queen Anne, for hers is a very tiny apartment, 
 nearly all bed ; and it is not quite clear how she got into the 
 room, or closed the door after she was in, unless her women 
 removed at least the outworks of her attire before she entered. 
 
 Lower down you come to the old Withdrawing-room ; a 
 bright, delightful room, with abundant light to show off the alle- 
 gorical scenes of the tapestry, the carved ebony Tudor suite, the 
 intricate Italian cabinets, the Persian carpet "with needlework on 
 both sides" ; also the cut velvet chairs, on which George 111. and 
 his Queen took their "disjune " at Cotehele on August 25, 1789. 
 And, it may be added, the old oak door, with its diagonal 
 
8i 
 
82 (Eotebele 
 
 panelling and Tudor roses, in a setting of granite archway, so took 
 the fancy of the Empress Frederick, that when she saw it, she at 
 once asked for an accurate drawing, with a view to reproducing 
 it in her German residence. 
 
 Down again to the next landing, and into the Red room. 
 Here we find another elaborate bed, more cabinets, Chippendale 
 chairs, and a pretty peep through the turned-back tapestry into 
 the south room beyond. This latter, just above the old Dining- 
 room, being "my lady's chamber," is honoured by having re- 
 cesses, with squints into both Hall and Chapel. The hangings 
 are suggested to have been worked by Hillaria, and, with the 
 chair covers, to have taken her fourteen years to execute ; but 
 this is pure conjecture. What is certain is that the mirror is 
 dated three hundred years later (1668), and that that looks ald~ 
 enough for anything. These mirrors are very characteristic 
 items. You see how, when large panes of silvered glass were 
 not procurable, small panes were eked out with wide borderings 
 of raised figures of persons, animals, and foliage worked in over a 
 spirited sketch of the idea, in Indian ink. Like the bed-hangings, 
 these mirrors were embellished by the ladies of the house ; and,; 
 feminine amusements not being too numerous, excessive pains 
 were lavished upon their adornment. And then, after a time, 
 the old work began to decay ; and a generation arose which 
 had neither the skill nor the inclination to restore it. You 
 see this, too. For one of these mirrors was once all covered 
 with animals done in flat bead-work ; but the lower half of 
 the pattern came to pieces ; and then some gentle but mis- 
 guided dame, casting about for employment, covered the 
 dilapidated part with velvet ; and instead of herself working 
 some objects to relieve it, laid sacrilegious hands upon the 
 altar-cloth (a royal antiquary suggests bier-c\o\h) and calmly 
 transferred two figures of saints from it to the mirror— forming. 
 
THE OLD WITHDRAWINQ-ROOM, COTEHELE 
 
 83 
 
84 Cotebcle 
 
 .along with the Durnford arms, the most incongruous mixture it is 
 possible to conceive. 
 
 Retracing our steps, we proceed round a landing off the 
 stairs, into the White room : a name not due to any " Lady in 
 White," but to the prevailing hue of the hangings. However, it 
 so chances that this is the only room with any suspicion of a 
 ghost. It is not at all surprising that there should be a ghost here- 
 in fact, it rather points to the blameless lives of the Coteheles and 
 their successors that there is not a series of spectres distributed 
 about this rambling, ghostly old place ; but it is a little strange to 
 hear of one being located in a china closet. But then, though 
 that is now but an appendage, shut off by tapestry, it is really 
 the end room of the original wing, which was subsequently 
 absorbed into the great tower. And when one sees that, in the 
 thickness of the wall,, there are spiral stone steps leading down 
 into a cellar adjoining the Punch-room, and that the Punch-room 
 communicates directly with the back premises, infinite possibilities 
 to account for the presence of an apparition are opened up to a 
 perfervid imagination. Fortunately, the nebulous visitor is a 
 considerate exception to the general run of ghosts, and does not 
 make much noise, or even rattle the china ; and consequently no 
 damage has thus far been done to the contents of the shelves, 
 which comprise, amongst other things, a porcelain copy of the 
 silver, Roman lanx dredged up in the Tyne, and now at Alnwick. 
 
 Returning once more to the Hall, one door leads away to the 
 kitchen and offices ; and in the kitchen is a great circular oven, 
 seven feet in diameter, two feet nine inches high, formed of a 
 double panel of upright granite slabs, with granite doming above. 
 These ovens are rather interesting features in old Cornish houses ; 
 for being built in the substance of the wall— naturally the oyen- 
 work would not support itself— the wall could not be less than 
 eight or nine feet thick ; and so there was at hand a certain 
 
ANCIENT STEEL MIRROR AT COTEHELE 
 
 85 
 
86 Cotebele 
 
 amount of space, not necessarily accounted for. This waste 
 space, in some cases, was utilised for a hiding-place, refuge from 
 the press gang, or storage of money and contraband goods. The 
 writer recently opened out a secret chamber, in a sixteenth- 
 century manor-house, by the side of just another such oven, of 
 which a drawing may be seen in Mr. Baring Gould's Strange 
 Survivals. The little: hiding-place was very ingeniously entered. 
 There was a hole ten feet up the wide chimney, and invisible 
 from below, reached by a short ladder being brought and pushed 
 up the chimney ; and from the manhole a passage ran down 
 behind the chimney-back into a domed chamber below. This 
 was seven feet by five feet six inches, and five feet high, abso- 
 lutely dark, except for a small keystone drawing inwards ; and it 
 had so well proved itself to be a secret chamber that successive 
 modern tenants had no notion of its existence, until the con- 
 taining wall became ruinous, and an accident chanced to reveal 
 it. Besides the entrance up in the chimney, the back of the open 
 hearth was made to be removable and again replaceable, in case 
 a few kegs needed to be stored away hastily. And the only 
 objection one saw to the place, as a refuge, was the fact that it 
 must have been most uncomfortably warm when the adjacent 
 oven was in full heat. 
 
 The secret place at Cotehele was not at the side of, but 
 rather above, the great oven. It was discovered and opened 
 some years ago, and nothing but a bridle was found in it ; but 
 then someone else had been there before, and that someone is 
 believed to have been a mason, working about the house, who 
 upon his death left his daughter an unusually large sum of 
 money, of which no account was forthcoming. Tradition always 
 affirmed that treasure was hidden somewhere here, though tradi- 
 tion is usually worth nothing in such cases ; but a letter was 
 actually inserted in the false bottom of a chest in 1618, and found 
 
87 
 
88 Cotebele 
 
 and recorded in 1640, referring definitely to "strong chests and' 
 hidden secrets " and "enemies " ; and it is very probable that some 
 part of those hidden secrets was deposited in the usual place — 
 that is to say, the receptacle close to the kitchen oven — and also 
 found its way out from thence, through the hands of the aforemen- 
 tioned mason or some previous rogue. For there are extant several 
 bills for silver plate, purchased about the time of Charles I. and 
 II. ; and, though both the Sir Richard of that period and his son 
 Piers suffered for their allegiance, and gave much of their plate 
 in their King's service, or else parted with it to raise their fines, it 
 is hardly likely that all of it was sacrificed except the very small 
 quantity still in existence. However, by the strangest good luck, 
 that which has escaped all perils includes a piece of plate much 
 earlier than the Charles's days. This is the ancient saltcellar 
 (1516) : the chief ornament of the dinner-table in olden days ; the 
 piece sometimes named first in lists of old plate ; the dividing 
 mark between the high and low table. And if one may judge of 
 the worth of salt by the depth of the receptacle in the top, it was 
 at that time remarkably precious, and a very little must have been 
 made to go a long way. 
 
 The third door from the Hall leads to what was the buttery 
 in the east wing. This room was of old given up to guard- 
 rooms, cellars, and a dungeon, with sleeping-rooms for soldiers, 
 or loafers overhead. No windows in the lower rooms looked 
 outwards, and the fa9ade then was stern, unbroken, and devoid 
 of any beauty. In more recent times it was used for farm pur- 
 poses. Then the present Earl took it in hand, built a porch, 
 inserted lower windows, and sufficiently modernised and fur- 
 nished it to make it a dower-house for his mother, the late 
 countess dowager. And all praise is due to the way in which 
 the work has been done. Several delightful rooms, including 
 Drawing-room and Morning-room, have been fitted up ; musty, 
 
89 
 
90 (totebele 
 
 bat-haunted lumber-rooms or apple-stores have been turned into 
 bedrooms, even up to the top of the guard tower ; and yet all 
 this has been effected with hardly any interference with the 
 original plan. The staircase has been formed by stealing corners 
 from two rooms, above and below, and then hiding the theft by 
 oak wainscoting. What was but lately a cellar or cider-press- 
 room, or something of that sort, is now a fascinating library, at 
 the end of the wing. 
 
 And yet not at the very end, for, on lifting a curtain, behold ! 
 a low granite doorway reveals and leads into the dungeon. A 
 bolt is placed inside the door ; so it may have been a refuge as 
 well. Whether the one or the other, the only source of light is 
 a tiny window far up in the wall, with a long narrow shaft 
 leading therefrom and passing through the vaulted roof of the 
 cell. But now, times are so changed that, instead of inspiring 
 prisoners or fugitives with gloomy, desperate thoughts, its pur- 
 pose has grown wholly beneficent ; for, in offering its friendly 
 shelter to the knight of the camera in search of a dark room, it 
 encourages the fine arts ; and to practise these, is said, on 
 authority, to "soften the manners, and prevent their being 
 ferocious." Which being so, if only the tyrant of Bere Ferrers 
 could have taken up photography, he might never have wanted 
 to hunt Richard of Eggecombe ; and it is safe to assume that 
 that poor ill-used man would have preferred even posing as a 
 model to being " contrewayted and chasyd " and ruthlessly 
 assailed with trygenders. 
 
(5lami8 
 
THE MAIN FRONT OF QLAMIS CASTLE 
 
 FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY VALENTINE SONS, DUNDEE 
 
 GLAMIS 
 
 BY LADY GLAMIS 
 
 GLAMIS CASTLE is widely known as one of the most in- 
 teresting buildings, both historically and architecturally, 
 in Scotland. 
 To the lover of Shakespeare, the name of Glammiss (as it 
 was sometimes spelt) will recall the act of treachery and murder 
 which tradition gives as having taken place there, when King 
 Duncan was done to death by the hand or at the instigation of 
 the ambitious and unscrupulous Lady Macbeth ; although there is 
 no possibility of proving or testing the truth as to the details or 
 locality of the tragedy. 
 
 To the antiquarian the Castle must be of immense interest, 
 on account of the great age of the central portion or Keep, which 
 is known to have been standing in 1016, but "whose birth tradi- 
 tion notes not " ; while to the romantic and superstitious it is 
 
 93 
 
94 
 
 (3Iamid 
 
 a place where ghosts and spirits moving silently down wind- 
 ing stairs and dark passages are wont to make night fearsome. 
 This feeling of eeriness is not confined to the naturally 
 
 nervous, for Sir Walter 
 Scott, who spent a 
 night at Glamis in 1794, 
 writes: 
 
 "After a very hos- 
 pitable reception . . . 
 I was conducted to my 
 apartment in a distant 
 part of the building. I 
 must own that when I 
 heard door after door 
 shut, after my conductor 
 had retired, 1 began to 
 consider myself too far 
 from the living and" 
 somewhat too near the 
 dead." 
 
 Additional interest 
 attaches to this Castle 
 from the fact that its 
 venerable walls en- 
 shroud a mysterious something, which has for centuries baffled 
 the curiosity and investigations of all unauthorised persons ; this 
 secret is known only to three people— the Earl of the time being, 
 his eldest son, and one other individual whom they think worthy 
 of their confidence. 
 
 Most people have theories upon this subject, and many ridic- 
 ulous stories are told; but so carefully has the mystery been 
 guarded, that no suspicion of the truth has ever come to light. 
 
 MALCOLM'S STONE," IN THE GARDEN OF QLAMIS MANSE 
 
THE CRYPT, QLAMIS CASTLE 
 
 FORMERLY THE RETAINERS' HALL 
 
96 
 
 (Blamia 
 
 ROOM IN WHICH KING MALCOLM II. DIED, A.D. 1034 
 
 One version of the story is as follows : Several centuries ago the 
 Lord Glamis of the time was entertain- 
 ing the head of another noble family 
 then resident in Angus ; and in the 
 course of the evening they commenced 
 to play cards. It was Saturday night, 
 and so intent were thej^/ ' 
 on wagering lands and 
 money on the issue of 
 the game, that they did 
 not recognise the fact 
 that Sunday morning 
 was approaching until an old retainer ventured to remind them 
 
 of the hour. Whereupon one of the gamblers 
 swore a great oath, with the tacit approval of 
 the other, that they did not care what day it 
 might be, but they would finish their game 
 at any cost, even if they went on playing till 
 Doomsday ! It had struck midnight ere he, 
 had finished his sentence, when there sud- 
 denly appeared a 
 stranger dressed in' 
 black, who politely in- 
 formed their lordships 
 that he would take theiii 
 at their word and then 
 vanished. 
 
 The story goes on 
 to aver that annually on 
 that night these noble- 
 
 THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE, SEEN FROM THE CRYPT ITIPn ClY thplf SnirltS 
 
 meet and play cards in the secret room of the Castle, and that 
 
97 
 
THE DININQ-ROOM, QLAMIS CASTLE 
 FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY VALENTINE SONS, DUNDEE 
 
 99 
 
loo (Blamis 
 
 this will go on till Doomsday. In corroboration of this story, it is 
 said that on a certain night in the autumn of every year loud 
 noises are heard and some of the casements of the Castle are 
 blown Dpen. 
 
 Glamis Castle stands in the centre of the vale of Strath- 
 more, in a picturesque and well-wooded part of Forfarshire-; the 
 heather-clad sides of the Sidlaws, which divide Strathmore from 
 the sea, rising to the south, while away to the north tower the 
 Grampians, which form a magnificent background to the ancient 
 pile of buildings whose turrets rise some hundred and fifteen feet 
 above the level of the ground. 
 
 The poet Gray, in a letter, describes the exterior of .the 
 Castle in the following words : 
 
 "The house, from the height of it, the greatness of its mass, 
 the many towers atop, and the spread of its wings, has really a 
 very singular and striking appearance, like nothing I ever saw." 
 
 The oldest portions of the Castle are formed of huge irregular 
 blocks of old red sandstone, which time and weather have mel- 
 lowed into a beautiful grey-pink colour. The original Keep was 
 evidently about three or four storeys high, but Earl Patrick in 
 1670 heightened it considerably; the extra storeys were, how- 
 ever, so well " clappit on " (to use the Earl's own words) that it 
 is impossible to see where the additions commence. The walls 
 of the Castle in many places are sixteen feet thick, which in the 
 olden days had the essential recommendation of great security, 
 and also of allowing space for secret rooms and passages as means 
 of escape in times of peril ; and, as a matter of fact, two secret 
 staircases have been discovered within the last five-and-twenty 
 years, and possibly there are others, which still remain forgotten 
 and unused. _ 
 
 The narrow windows appear at irregular heights and dis- 
 tances in the central building or Keep and left wing (the right 
 
- ^ 
 
 m 
 
 r 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ¥ ■ • 
 
 W^T^^^W^^ 
 
 
 -^^^^^^^^i^^^^it^^^^^^i^^^^i^B^^^BIBI^Ff^ 
 
 f| . : ali: i:iii!iff '"''^'fli-Bff t ;ii ^s^r^3tl^BtKBS^ 
 
 Xi '■'"■! '""iB 
 
 THE DRAWINQ-ROOM, QLAMIS CASTLE 
 
 FORMERLY TH= BANQUETING HALL 
 
I02 
 
 6laitii0 
 
 wing having been burnt down and rebuilt early in 1800 is not so 
 interesting), but the great staircase added by Patrick, Lord 
 Glamis, in 1605 is very fine, occupying a circular tower, the space 
 for which has been partly dug out of the old walls of the Keep, 
 
 and rises to the third storey. This 
 staircase (the designing of which has 
 been attributed to Inigo Jones) is spiral 
 with a hollow newel in the centre, 
 and is composed of stone to the sum- 
 mit. It consists of 143 steps, 6 ft. 
 10 in. in width, each of one stone. 
 
 The staircases which were in use 
 before 1600 are very narrow, dark, 
 and some of them winding, the steps 
 steep and irregular in height, worn 
 into hollows by the many feet that for 
 centuries climbed them. Up two 
 flights of these dimly lit, uneven 
 stairs, the wounded king, Malcolm 
 11., after having been treacherously 
 attacked and mortally wounded by 
 Kenneth V. and his adherents on the Hunter's Hill, about a mile 
 from the Castle, was carried by his followers to die in the chamber 
 that still bears the name of King Malcolm's Room. This murder 
 of King Malcolm is the first authentic event mentioned by the 
 chroniclers in connection with Glamis. 
 
 In the parish of Glamis stand three huge stones of rude de- 
 sign, covered with symbolic sculptures, which according to tra- 
 dition were erected to commemorate the death of Malcolm 11. 
 One on the Hunter's Hill is supposed to mark the spot where he 
 fell, and stands about seven feet high, facing the east; a cross, 
 figures of men, and various symbols are sculptured on it, but are 
 
 THE " LION OF QLAMIS" CUP 
 
(Blamis 103 
 
 TTiuch defaced. The stone close to the kirkyard is much larger, 
 and is called King Malcolm's gravestone, although that king was 
 not buried there. An ornamental cross and 
 many curious symbols are carved on the 
 side facing the east ; on the other side a 
 fish, a serpent, and a circle are seen,— 
 symbols of Christianity, — which carvings 
 are of a later date than the cross, etc., and 
 are attributed to the Knights Templars, who 
 lived in that part of Scotland for a long time. 
 In the time of King Malcolm, Glamis 
 was a royal residence, and remained so till 
 1372, when Sir John Lyon, "a young man 
 of very good parts and qualities, and of a 
 very graceful and^ comely person, and a 
 great favourite with the king " (Robert 11.), 
 was made Lord High Chamberlain of Scot- 
 land. At that time the King's daughter, 
 the Princess Jean, fell in love with this 
 young knight, and was given him in mar- 
 riage, together with the lands of the thane- 
 dom of Glamis, "pro laudabili et fideli 
 seroitio et continuis laboribus,'" as the 
 charter bears witness, March 18, 1372. Ten 
 years later Sir John fell in a duel with Sir 
 James Lindsay of Crawford, and was buried 
 at Scone among the kings of Scotland. He 
 left one son/from whom the present family 
 of Lyon have descended without a break 
 from father to son to the present day. (It may be mentioned in- 
 cidentally that the ancestor of the Lyon family came over with 
 William I., and that either he or one of his immediate descendants 
 
 SWORD OF "kINQ JAMES VIII." 
 
I04 (5Iamis 
 
 settled in Perthshire in the district still called Glenlyon.) Fifty 
 years later, Sir Patrick Lyon (Sir John's grandson), who was one of 
 the hostages to the English for the ransom of James 1. from 1424 to 
 1427, was created Baron Glamis, and appointed Master of the 
 Household to the King of Scotland. For the next hundred years 
 nothing of interest occurred, till John, sixth Lord Glamis, married 
 the beautiful Janet Douglas, granddaughter of the great Earl of An- 
 gus (" Bell-the-Cat "), and died in 1528. Lady Glamis married, 
 secondly, Archibald Campbell, of Kepneith, whose relative, another 
 Campbell, fell in love with her. Finding, however, that his ad- 
 dresses were but ill received by this lady, who was as good as she 
 was lovely, his love turned to hate, and he revenged himself by in- 
 forming the authorities that Lady Glamis, her son Lord Glamis, 
 and John Lyon, his relative, were conspiring against the life of 
 the king, James V., by poison or witchcraft. They were tried for 
 high treason, and wrongfully convicted ! Lady Glamis and her 
 young son were both sentenced to be burned, and the estate of 
 Glamis was forfeited and annexed to the Crown by Act of Parlia- 
 ment, December 3, 1540. However, these brutal judges, on 
 account of the extreme youth of Lord Glamis, feared to bring 
 him to execution, so the boy was kept in prison, with the death 
 sentence hanging over him, while the beautiful Lady Glamis was 
 dragged forth and burned at the stake on the Castle Hill of 
 Edinburgh, July 17, 1537. Those were days when acts of vio- 
 lence and cruelty were regarded with an indifference that we 
 cannot now realise, although when she stood up in her beauty 
 to undergo this fearful sentence, it is recorded that all heads 
 were bowed in sorrowful sympathy. When this infamous exe- 
 cution was accomplished, remorse seems to have come over 
 Campbell, who was visited by visions of his victim looking at 
 him with sad, reproachful eyes. When, some years later, his 
 death was drawing nigh, he confessed that his evidence at the 
 
105 
 
xo6 (Blaniis 
 
 • 
 
 trial was altogether false. Lord Glamis was therefore released 
 from prison, and his estates and honours restored. 
 
 To return to the Castle. The exterior is much ornamented 
 with ancient armorial bearings in carved stone of the principal 
 Earls since 1606, quartered with those of their separate wives, 
 among them the Murray, Panmure, Ogilvey, and Middleton 
 quarterings. Above one window the initials of Patrick, first Earl 
 of Kinghorne, and of Dame Anna Murray, his wife, daughter of 
 the first Earl of Tullibardine, are placed, while a round niche over 
 the front door contains a bust of Earl Patrick, of whom mention 
 will be made presently. The principal entrance is a striking 
 feature. The doorway is small and low, and a stout, iron- 
 clinched oaken door, thickly studded with nails, is guarded on 
 the inside by a heavily grated iron gate, which opens right on to 
 the great staircase. A flight of steps to the right of the entrance 
 leads down to the dungeons, vaults, and the old well (now filled 
 up) which supplied the inmates with water in times of siege ; 
 while another stair to the left leads up to the Retainers' Hall (or 
 Crypt as it is now called), low, and fifty feet in length, with 
 walls and arched roof entirely composed of stone. Of the seven 
 windows, which are small, four or five are cut out of the thick- 
 ness of thie walls, and make recesses just large enough to form 
 small rooms, which might have been used as sleeping-chambers 
 in old days. Lay figures, clad in complete armour, stand ih the 
 recesses, which, especially in the dusk, give an eerie effect to this 
 part of the Castle. It is said that a ghostly man in armour walks 
 this floor at night— possibly the original of one of those armoured 
 figures standing silently in the Crypt year after year, who may, 
 perchance, have ended his life in the dungeon that lies exactly 
 underneath. A square stone, now practically immovable, formed 
 the covering of the hole by which prisoners were lowered into 
 the dungeon beneath. But there is no doubt that there was also 
 
THE CHAPEL, QLAMIS CASTLE 
 
 107 
 
io8 
 
 (5Ianii0 
 
 PATRICK, LORD QLAMIS, A.D. 1600 
 
 a stair connecting the hall with the dungeon, which, along with 
 
 the other old staircases 
 (some of them have re- 
 cently been opened out), 
 was walled up at the time 
 the great new central stair- 
 case was built. 
 
 From the south-east 
 corner of the Crypt a short, 
 dark passage, cut through 
 the stone walls, leads to 
 the small, quaint, and ir- 
 regular Duncan's Hall, the 
 traditional scene of Mac- 
 beth's crime, where a year 
 
 or so ago an old hearth was discovered built up in the masonry, 
 
 and has been opened out. 
 
 The Dining-room, which 
 is entered from the west 
 end of theCrypt, is another 
 fine room, though quite 
 modern, having been re- 
 built early in 1800. The 
 walls are panelled in oak, 
 and adorned with some 
 good family pictures ; but 
 the most interesting object 
 that occasionally appears 
 in it is the old silver-gilt 
 drinking-cup in the form 
 
 ELIZABETH, COUNTESS OF STRATHMORE, A.D. 1700 
 
 of a lion, a very ancient 
 
 piece of plate, holding about a pint of wine, which in old days 
 
(Blamis 
 
 109 
 
 each guest was expected to 
 Walter Scott was one of 
 those who swallowed the 
 contents of the lion, and in 
 a note to Waverley he says 
 "the feat served to sug- 
 gest the story of the Bear 
 of Bradwardine. " 
 
 Leaving this floor, 
 with its dark winding 
 passages, its grated, 
 prison-like windows, and 
 ascending a side staircase. 
 King Malcolm's room is 
 passed, and the Banquet- 
 ing Hall (now used as the 
 Drawing-room) is entered. 
 This room is a fine specimen 
 
 drain before quitting the Castle. Sir 
 
 CHARLES LORD LYON, A.D. 1715 
 
 HELEN, COUNTESS OF STRATHMORE, A.D. 1672 
 
 of the old baronial days, being sixty 
 feet long by twenty-two 
 wide, with a coved ceiling 
 of beautifully designed 
 plaster-work, which was 
 added to the room by Earl 
 John in 1621, whose in- 
 itials, with those of his 
 wife, together with the 
 date, are placed at intervals 
 among the patterns of the 
 mouldings. The chimney- 
 piece of carved stone is 
 very fine, reaching to the 
 top of the room, while 
 
I lO 
 
 (Blamid 
 
 pictures of the Lyon family, as well as of some of the Stuart kings 
 and other notables, adorn the walls. Here hangs the portrait by 
 Sir Peter Lely of the celebrated John Graham of Claverhouse, 
 Viscount Dundee ; this well-known and distinguished chief, who, 
 
 had he lived longer, would pro- 
 bably have restored Scotland to 
 King James II., was a great 
 friend of the Lord Strathmore 
 of the time, and consequently 
 spent many days at Glamis, 
 Claverhouse being situated 
 about twelve miles to the 
 south. The picture represents 
 Dundee as a very handsome 
 young man, with features soft 
 and refined even to feminine 
 regularity; but under this 
 gentle exterior can be detected 
 the undaunted and enterprising 
 valour coupled with the pru- 
 dence and determination that 
 were the acknowledged attributes of his character. His coat, a sad 
 buff-coloured felt, laced with silver, and evidently similar to the one 
 he was wearing when he met his death at Killiecrankie, is kept 
 as a valuable relic in the Castle. 
 
 What different scenes must this old Hall have witnessed in 
 its time ! Not many years prior to the visits of the gallant 
 Clavers, the soldiers of the Commonwealth held their rude orgies 
 under its roof, having been quartered at Glamis by Cromwell's 
 orders as a piece of petty revenge, because John, second Earl of 
 Kinghorne, had voted against the delivery of King Charles 1. to 
 the Parliament. Then in 17 15 deep mourning surely reigned 
 
 CLAVERHOUSE'S COAT 
 
THE SUNK GARDEN, QLAMIS 
 
I 12 
 
 (Blamis 
 
 . &i li 'i 
 
 
 there, when the news arrived that the brave and promising 
 
 young Earl of Strathmore had been killed at the battle of Sheriff- 
 
 muir, after fighting hard and gallantly in the cause of the Stuarts. 
 
 The following year the mourning was turned to joy when 
 
 ^ , Prince James 
 
 spent two nights 
 at Glamis on his 
 way to Scone. 
 What feasting 
 and loyal toasts 
 must have been 
 given in the Hall 
 in the course of 
 those two snowy 
 nights and days, 
 when the Cheva- 
 lier received 
 many of his fol- 
 lowers, and 
 gained all hearts 
 by his princely 
 qualities ! 1 1 i s 
 said that during 
 this visit eighty- 
 eight beds were 
 made up in the 
 Castle for the gentlemen in his train. The Chevalier's bed is still 
 to be seen, though much spoiled by tourists, who, on certain 
 days, are allowed to go over the Castle ; and the room he occu- 
 pied, with a secret stair concealed in the walls, still bears his 
 name. His watch and sWord are among the treasured curiosities 
 in the Castle, the former having been found under his pillow after 
 
 THE GREAT SUN-DIAL 
 
(Blamid 
 
 113 
 
 ;1 
 
 
 t^Ai ^ ^. \:m 
 
 he left for Dundee. The sword bears the following inscription : 
 " God save King fames 8th : prosperitie to Scotland and no union. " 
 But to return to the Hall itself. The principal picture hangs 
 at the end of the room, and represents Patrick, first Earl of Strath- 
 more and third of 
 Kinghorne, who 
 
 beautified G lam is . S$^ ,< 
 
 considerably both ..■•^^i'Kf:"'&^ 
 within and without, -—^^IkAoL 
 as his diary testifies, ^^^"--.., v>'?9 
 which is in perfect ^^^ / 
 
 preservation, and ^: 
 well illustrates the — ^^^^s^i^'j:; 
 social life of Scotland [ 
 
 more than two hun- castle of qlamiss in lese. (from a painting in the castle) 
 
 dred years ago. In this portrait he is depicted sitting with three 
 of his sons, pointing with pride to the Castle in the distance, 
 on which he had spent so much care. At that time the Castle 
 was surrounded by walled courts, gardens, and a moat ; and 
 the main approach to the south, about a mile in length, was 
 guarded by seven gates, and was the work of Earl Patrick. These 
 surroundings were all pulled down early in 1800 by a disciple of 
 "Capability Brown," the two flanking towers alone being left! 
 Sir Walter Scott, who revisited Glamis after this barbarous ; act 
 of modernising had been accomplished, describes the changes in 
 such beautiful language that it should be quoted : 
 
 " Down went many a trophy of old magnificence, courtyard, 
 ornamented enclosure, fosse, avenue, barbican, and every exter- 
 nal muniment of battled wall and flanking tower, out of the 
 midst of which the ancient dome, rising high above all its charac- 
 teristic accompaniments, and seemingly girt round by its appro- 
 priate defences, which again circled each other in their different 
 
114 
 
 (3lamis 
 
 gradations, looked, as it should, the queen and mistress of the 
 surrounding country, it was thus that the huge old Tower of 
 Glamis once showed its lordly head above seven circles of defens- 
 ive boundaries, through which the friendly guest was admitted, 
 and at each of which a suspicious person was unquestionably 
 put to his answer." There were two or three moats surrounding 
 the Castle, but they were filled in by Patrick, third Earl of King- 
 horne and first Earl of Strathmore. 
 
 That Earl proceeds to say of these moats, in his diary, 
 "which stankt up the water so that the place appeared marish 
 and weat," and was generally condemned as "an unholsom 
 seat of a house." 
 
 Very close to the walls of the Castle there are the remains of 
 what some consider to have been a moat, whilst others con- 
 sider jt to have been an underground passage. It appears hardly 
 wide enough for a moat, and the fact of the sides being lined 
 and the top beautifully arched with stone almost favours the 
 supposition that it may be part of that, underground passage of 
 which there has long been a tradition. 
 
 The Chapel, which opens out of the Drawing-room, is one 
 of the most interesting parts of the Castle. Thirty feet by 
 twenty ; walls and ceiling are divided into thirty-four panels, 
 each one containing a picture relating to the life of our Lord 
 and the Twelve Apostles. These paintings were executed by a 
 Dutch artist named De Witt, whom Earl Patrick engaged by con- 
 tract, in 1688, to paint all the Chapel (as well as a good many 
 ceilings and portraits) for the sum of /90. The contract for this 
 work is still among the family papers, and is very curious, as De 
 Witt was evidently a slippery fellow who required a good deal 
 of binding. When the present Lord Strathmore succeeded to the 
 title, in 1866, he found the paintings in perfect preservation, but 
 the Chapel in a sadly neglected state ; he therefore had it 
 
QLAMIS CASTLE IN 1730 
 
 (from an old print) 
 
 115 
 
ii6 (Blamis 
 
 beautifully restored and rededicated, and daily service has been held 
 there ever since ; the painted walls and ceiling, stained glass, 
 beautiful embroidered altar-cloths (worked by the present Lady 
 Strathmore), and flowers, render this little chapel peculiarly at- 
 tractive as a place of worship. 
 
 The Billiard-room, with its fine and valuable tapestry, repre- 
 senting incidents in the life of Nebuchadnezzar, and of which 
 only three examples were known to exist, ^ is on this same floor, 
 and is the last of the large rooms, being fifty feet long, but it is 
 not part of the ancient building. Here stands a great chest filled 
 with beautiful costumes in flowered silks, velvets, and satins, as 
 well as old uniforms, all belonging to Lyon ancestors of several 
 centuries ago; besides these a fool's dress remains, cap, bells, and 
 all complete — a rare possession nowadays. Sometimes these an- 
 cient garments see the light, when the Castle is full of young and 
 merry guests, who don these slashed and broidered coats and 
 skirts, and when gathered together in the old Crypt almost seem 
 to have forced back the hands of the clock of time two or three 
 hundred years. 
 
 There remains yet much to tell, but space fails. The old 
 kitchen, an underground vault, dark and low, with one loophole 
 to light it, is a contrast to the present kitchen, which is fifty feet 
 long and broad in proportion. The great sun-dial on the lawn is 
 quite unique, bearing as it does eighty-four dials, supported by 
 four nearly life-size lions in stone ; and although the exact age 
 of this remarkable piece of work is not known, old pictures of 
 Glamis prove that it was standing in front of the Castle in 1600. 
 A balustrade of fine seventeenth-century iron work runs round 
 the top of the Castle, from whence, on clear days, magnificent 
 views may be obtained of the surrounding country ; while the 
 beautiful gardens, walks, and drives, which have been created by 
 
 ' A replica of this tapestry is to be found in the " King's Room " at Knole, Kent.— Ed. 
 
THE FRONT D'>OR, QLAMIS CASTLE 
 
 117 
 
ii8 (Biamie 
 
 the present Lord Strathmore (who has bestowed as much care 
 on the old place as his ancestor, Earl Patrick, of whom mention 
 has been made), deserve more than passing notice. The old 
 Castle, as it now is, enlivened by the cheerful surroundings of 
 a large family party, and ringing with the glad sounds of grand- 
 children's voices, is a truly pleasant place to live in ; whilst the 
 great iron gate stands hospitably open to welcome the many 
 guests who pass that way, who, in spite of the Castle's reputa- 
 tion for ghosts, seem to pass their time merrily enough. 
 
%cvcm Iball 
 
 119 
 
LEVENS HALL, FRONT VIEW 
 
 LEVENS HALL 
 
 BY DOSIA BAGOT 
 
 M 
 
 Y fancy takes me to a spot where it is my delight to 
 linger on cool autumn days. It is a certain venerable 
 bridge, overhung with ivy, and known to many dwell- 
 ers in the North Country. A river flows beneath it : at one 
 moment a rushing, noisy river bounding and leaping over rock 
 and stone, the next winding along so hushed and still that one 
 might gaze for ever in its depths, lazily dreaming away the hours 
 over the fairy-like possibilities hidden away down there in that 
 mysterious labyrinth of moss and weed. But above, men and 
 women of every kind, absorbed and distracted by conflicting 
 interests, are constantly hurrying. 
 
 Levens Bridge has stood for centuries, through those days 
 when packhorses only could cross, until the time when the ex- 
 igencies of progress demanded, by the widening of the bridge, 
 
122 
 
 Xevens Iball 
 
 Ht,..^ ii>sa.;jteii*; 
 
 LEVENS BRIDGE 
 
 sufficient space to allow waggons and carriages to pass ; and 
 there it has remained. 
 
 But now I can spy you in the distance, flying down the 
 steep hill yonder on the latest improvement in Humber wheels. 
 
 When you get to the 
 bridge you alight, with 
 the odd little shuffle 
 peculiar to bicyclists, 
 and remain looking 
 over curiously into 
 the stream. Seeming 
 disposed to linger, 1 
 ask if you would care 
 to be shown a little 
 more, and you accept 
 my invitation. Con- 
 necting with the bridge is a long, straight wall inclosing a garden. 
 Into this we pass through a heaivy tall door, and after walking a 
 pace or two we are suddenly confronted by a strange old-fash- 
 ioned building, quite out of the common run. 
 
 A quaint structure indeed, enough to puzzle an adept in 
 architecture, for it is the outcome of many periods. A square 
 embattled tower, known by the term " Pele Tower," is the main 
 feature ; and surrounding it, blending with its sombre tints of 
 neutral grey, is an Elizabethan manor-house, with mullioned 
 windows and latticed panes. 
 
 , Walking up the steps and opening an oak door fully six 
 inches thick, we find ourselves in a large Hall in which all that 
 meets the eye is suggestive of life in some bygone day. The 
 walls are panelled with oak till they reach a frieze of intricate 
 plaster-work which merges into a ceiling also of elaborate design : 
 the Tudor badge of the rose and crown, the red and white roses 
 
123 
 
Xevena Iball 125 
 
 of York and Lancaster, the fleur-de-lys, the bugle and the deer, 
 badges of the Bellinghams, and other emblems are freely inter- 
 spersed amongst the tracery. In the centre of the Hall is the wide, 
 open fireplace with its wrought-iron backing, its dogs of copper 
 on either side, and the old hearthstone fire of wood and peat 
 sending forth a sparkling flame. Above are the arms of Queen 
 Elizabeth in gilded and coloured plaster-work, and on either side 
 hang pieces of armour, blunderbusses, swords, pikes, weapons 
 innumerable of every date. At the west end of the Hall the 
 panelling is of a more massive description, peculiar to the time of 
 Henry VII. : it is clearly the old screen which was indispensable 
 to every great hall in early times. 
 
 We now pass into the Dining-room. This, with the excep- 
 tion of one oak-panelled wall, is entirely decorated with most 
 brilliant Spanish leather, the background being of burnished gold ; 
 hence allusions in old papers to this room as the "Gilded Par- 
 lour." Over the fireplace is more handsome carved and inlaid 
 work, bearing the date 1586, the initials J. B., and a coat-of-arms. 
 
 Through the Hall again we arrive at the Drawing-rooms. 
 They are entirely walled in oak, each panel having a diamond 
 pattern ; the doorways are richly carved, so are the chimney- 
 pieces ; that in the large Drawing-room bears the date 1595. and 
 is exceptionally beautiful in its proportions and carving. 
 
 On entering the inner room, one's attention is instantly 
 attracted to the chimneypiece, on which the following lines are 
 quaintly cut : 
 
 "Thus the five sences stand portraited here, 
 The elements four and seasons of the yeare. 
 Samson supports the one side as in rage, 
 The other Hercules in lii<e equipage." 
 
 And these words can best explain the subject of an elaborate and 
 somewhat grotesque piece of carving which extends from 
 
126 Sevens Iball 
 
 fireplace to ceiling. In this room, as in others we have so far 
 seen, different coats-of-arms with mottoes beneath are emblaz- 
 oned in stained glass in the windows : around one is painted 
 in Latin doggerel — 
 
 "Amicus Amico Alanus, 
 Belliger Belligero Bellinghamus." 
 
 It was that same Alan Bellingham who made himself the pos- 
 sessor of Levens in 1487. 
 
 And in order thoroughly to understand the history of this 
 house, we should, before going another step, glance for a minute 
 or two far back into the annals of Levens : let us rest awhile be-, 
 fore the Hall fire, whilst I give you in as few words as possible> 
 a rough idea of the people who lived here; from the earliest 
 times. 
 
 Did you remark a certain old piece of parchment with a seal 
 attached, which lay in a glass case in the Drawing-room ? The 
 writing is legible, and the ink is clear, but it bears the date 1190, 
 as well as the seal of Richard I., and is the first record we have, 
 of Levens. It is a charter exempting the owner from the pay- 
 ment of a tax called "Nutgeld," Levens being at that time the 
 property of Henry de Redman. He had bought it in the thirty- 
 fourth year of Henry II. from one Ketel, a descendant of Roger 
 de Poictou, who owned the manor at the time of. the Doomsday 
 Survey. Henry de Redman was Seneschal of Kendal, and mem- 
 bers of his family represented Westmorland in Parliament from 
 1295 to 1477 ; their names occur frequently in the old House of 
 Commons' rolls, and one Matthew Redman's coat-of-arms is 
 emblazoned on a window at Westminster. Otherwise, there is 
 little of interest to relate of their personal history. 
 
 Theirs were the days of Border troubles, when the North 
 Country was still a land of unrest. Levens was therefore kept in 
 a state of fortification, with fighting-men always ready to arm on 
 
THE HALL, WITH ARMS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH OVER THE FIREPLACE 
 
 127 
 
128 Xepens Iball 
 
 the shortest notice. We know the old Pele Tower existed at 
 that time, as well as the outer walls of the Hall ; above this 
 Hall ceiling are the roughly hewn but ornamental rafters which 
 formed at one time its open roof, whilst below here are the 
 ancient basement rooms, fireplace and all, which are now only 
 used as cellars. They are massively built, about eight feet high, 
 and the doorways are of that construction known as "square 
 trefoil-headed," which originated in the thirteenth century; ex- 
 perts have therefore come to the conclusion that the original 
 building of this house could have been no later than the middle 
 of the fourteenth century, and doubtless some form of manor- 
 house existed a hundred and fifty years before. 
 
 And so we come to the occupation of Levens by Alan Bei- 
 lingham. His family had lived at Burneside Hall (about eight 
 miles distant, and now a farmhouse) since the reign of Edward 
 I. Although he was a younger son of Sir John Bellingham, 
 Alan appears to have been rich ; furthermore, being Treasurer 
 of Berwick, Deputy- Warden of the Marshes, and having, in the; 
 reign of Henry VII., received a grant. from the King for the fourth I 
 part of the barony of Kendal, he must have been a man of some' 
 importance. But it is to his great-grandson, Sir James Belling- 
 ham, that we owe a lasting debt of gratitude, for to his consum- 
 mate taste and lavish expenditure the restoration of this house is 
 entirely due. With the exception of one wing which was added 
 later, all that you have seen, besides every other room and corner 
 of it, are part of his scheme ; so can you wonder that the two 
 dates we noticed of 1586 and 1595 approximately mark the be- 
 ginning and completion of his labours ? 
 
 The Bellinghams lived here for two hundred years. Their 
 occupation marks an era of peace and civilisation for Levens, 
 when a state of chronic hostility was gladly abandoned for the 
 more congenial excitements attending recreation and sport. Let 
 
THE DINrNQ-ROOM, LEVENS HALL 
 
 FORMERLy CALLED THE "GILDED PARLOUR" 
 
 129 
 
i?,o 
 
 Xevene Iball 
 
 us imagine them in pursuit of the deer through Levens Park, and 
 chasing the otter on the river banks ; and in this, no doubt, the 
 results were less futile than at the present day, for Alan Belling- 
 ham alludes in his diary to "excellent sport both by land and 
 water at Levens." The existence also of a set of bowls stamped 
 with the Bellingham crest, gives sufficient evidence that the old 
 bowling-green here must date back quite three hundred years. I 
 should also tell you of an ancient custom still existing at Levens, 
 which probably, originated with the Bellinghams. From a high- 
 class goblet called a "constable," unsuspecting strangers are 
 sometimes cajoled into drinking a unique and bitter compound of 
 the genus of ale ; but ere one drop may touch their lips they 
 must stand on one leg and loudly pledge the toast, " Luck to 
 Levens whilst the Kent flows." 
 
 Alas ! what the wisdom and industry of generations have 
 evolved may be scattered in a day by one man's folly ; so it 
 happened that on another of the name of Alan Bellingham, a 
 descendant of the first, the luck of Levens descended neither on 
 character nor fortune, and in 1685 it became imperative for him 
 to sell the whole of his Levens estates. Tradition has generally 
 a tinge of accuracy, yet I fancy that a local historian of the day, 
 in describing Alan as "an ingenious but unhappy young man, 
 who consumed a vast estate," must be responsible for the popular 
 belief that he gambled away his property bit by bit, whilst play- 
 ing repeated games of chance with a certain friend of his, one 
 Colonel Grahme. Anyhow, it was this most wily courtier of 
 both Charles 11. and James II. who found himself eventually 
 possessor of this place, and with his advent, Levens history 
 takes quite a new departure, the interest consequently increasing 
 not a little. The days of Jacobite intrigue were now at their 
 height, when no man's life was safe for many days together : the 
 air was rent by religious strife, every man's hand was against his 
 
THE DRAWING-ROOM, SHOWING OLD OAK PANELLING 
 
 131 
 
132 Xevens Iball 
 
 neighbour for worshipping God in a different manner from him- 
 self; and prisons were overflowing with the victims of a King 
 who fell short of very few for intolerance and fanatical tyranny. 
 
 Colonel Grahme was a firm adherent of the Stuarts, and in 
 the thick of every Jacobite rising of the day ; he had led a some- 
 what stormy life in his youth, and had served in the French, army. 
 Horace Walpole describes him as " a fashionable man in his day, 
 and noted for his dry humour " ; judging by other contemporary 
 records, I believe modern slang would style him as "a bit of a 
 dog." His wife, Dorothy Howard, was maid of honour to the 
 Queen, Catherine of Braganza, and said by Evelyn to be " not 
 only a great beauty, but a most virtuous and excellent creature." 
 Portraits of them both by Sir Peter Lely hang in the Drawing- 
 room. Grahme stood for Westmorland from 1685 to 1722 ; was 
 Privy Purse to James 11., and until the King's abdication was 
 Master of the Buckhounds and Lieutenant of Windsor Forest. 
 
 Always a confidential adviser to his master, Grahme proved 
 trusty and devoted to the end, and accompanied him in his final 
 flight to Rochester. It was natural that at William lll.'s acces- 
 sion some kind of retribution awaited him ; but he had merely to 
 submit to a short imprisonment, and was then released without 
 further trial. Less fortunate in this respect were Grahme's two 
 brothers : one of them — Fergus — was banished from England, 
 and the other sentenced to death for his Jacobite proclivities. 
 The exile, indeed, was pursued by repeated ill-luck ; and as late 
 as 1699 he wrote from Brussels that the Prince de Berge was 
 "commanded by the Duke of Bavaria to order me to leave 
 Bruxelles the next day." 
 
 And now, with characteristic caution, Colonel Grahme wisely 
 evaded public notoriety for awhile ; and, but for attending to his 
 Parliamentary duties, spent much of his time at Levens. Need- 
 less to say, so active a mind was not permitted to lie fallow : he 
 
MRS. BAQOT'S ROOM, LEVENS HALL 
 
 133 
 
134 QLevens Iball 
 
 kept up his old friendships ; consequently, all who favoured the 
 Stuart cause were made welcome under his roof, and I fancy in 
 many cases were harboured somewhat by stealth. If stones 
 could speak, what secrets these walls might disclose, what plots 
 of portentous importance they might reveal, could we but hear 
 the talk of Grahme and his guests in the Gilded Parlour, as the 
 wine flowed and the toast was renewed " To the King over the 
 water ! " 
 
 The pleasures also of letter-writing must have lightened many 
 an hour for Grahme. When 1 tell you that his numerous corre- 
 spondents included such notorieties as the Duke of Hamilton, 
 Bolingbroke, Godolphin, Carlisle, Bishops Ken and Atterbury, 
 Sir George Rooke, and William Wycherley, you may judge 
 whether their nature was treasonable. In fact, they are nearly 
 all pervaded by a spirit of suppressed hostility ; hardly a line or 
 sentence that is not bristling with sedition, intrigue, and exaspera- 
 tion. These interesting papers are all locked up in a room in the 
 Pele Tower ; and thither, if it please you, we will now turn our 
 steps. 
 
 Passing through another pointed doorway, we go straight 
 into the Tower, and climb up its narrow spiral staircase, cau- 
 tiously evading the projecting stone steps which threaten to 
 knock our heads. We find only a few picturesquely panelled 
 rooms, whose rough, uneven boards, levelled only by the adze, 
 bear witness to their extreme age. The deed-room contains a 
 number of boxes closely packed with manuscripts. Here are 
 Grahme's various commissions, civil and military ; one is signed 
 by Charles II., another by Prince Rupert, and another by Louis 
 XIV. This is a letter written to Dorothy Grahme by Sir Stephen 
 Fox, when her husband and the King fled to Rochester. 
 
 " Whitehall, December \8th. 1688. 
 
 " Your husband went with the King to Rochester this morning, 
 
Xevens Iball 
 
 135 
 
 I . '^T'^ 
 
 .A 
 
 and he told me that he had not time to write. About one 
 o'clock this morning, the Marquess of Halifax, the Earl of Shrews- 
 bury, and Lord Delamore came to the King from the Prince of 
 Orange, and told him 
 that the Prince desired f'''^><^, ^ 
 him to remove to Ham. 
 The King chose Ro- 
 chester rather, where- 
 upon their Lordships 
 returned about nine 
 o'clock with leave that 
 it might be Rochester. 
 About eleven o'clock 
 the King went in his 
 barges for Gravesend, 
 whither his coaches 
 were sent before. He 
 was attended by three 
 Lords of the Bedcham- 
 ber, and a physician, 
 and several others, be- 
 sides your husband, 
 and a convenient num- 
 ber of household servants, and, at his own desire, a hundred of 
 the Prince's footguards and sixty horse. He is not under any re- 
 straint. The Prince arrived at St. James's about three o'clock, 
 resorted to by all who can get in. 1 was by command left here, 
 extremely troubled for the circumstances of my master. 1 hope 
 for a happy Parliament. I wish you and Lady Silvius here, as the 
 safest place, for the rabble is quiet in this city. It is said that 
 they are terrible in many countries." 
 
 We have one very precious document: it is in James II. 's 
 
 CHIMNEYPIECE IN DRAWINQ-ROOM 
 
136 Xevens Iball 
 
 own handwriting, giving in full his various reasons for leaving 
 the country. Grahme has endorsed it himself, " King's reasons 
 from Rochester," and it is printed in Echard's History of Eng- 
 land. Three letters from James II., on the same date, but not 
 in his handwriting, are worth looking at. One is addressed to 
 Chaffinch, and directs him to give Grahme his plate and "an- 
 tiches " watch, three strong boxes, and the other plate belonging 
 to the little chapel below stairs at St. James's. The others are 
 written with an eye to business. He says to Sir Benjamin 
 Bathurst : 
 
 " I have ordered James Grahme to consult with yoii about . 
 securing my shares in the East India and Guinea Companies." 
 
 Look also at this letter to Grahme from James II., in a dis- 
 guised hand. It is docketed, "Mr. Banks' first letter after his 
 going to Oxford"; Mr. Banks being the King, and Oxford 
 meaning France. 
 
 ' ' Boulogne, January 4tk, 1 689. 
 
 "I arrived safe here this day, and have but little to say to 
 you at present, but that I am going on to Paris, from whence you. 
 shall hearefrom me when I arrive there. In the meanetyme go to 
 my corrispondent that payd you some mony upon my account, 
 and put him in mind of putting the rest of the mony I bad him 
 put into your hands, that you may returne that, and what you 
 had of myne in your hands, to me as soon as you can, I having 
 present occasion for it, and pray remember me to your friend 
 with whom I was to have been if I had stayed. Lett me know 
 a little newse." 
 
 A considerable number of the letters are written in cipher, 
 but many are easy to interpret, as we possess the original key. 
 Tattered and worn to the last degree, it is partly in Lord Middle- 
 ton's handwriting and partly in Colonel Grahme's, who labels it 
 
137 
 
138 Xepens Iball 
 
 thus : " My Oxford Cipher." I need only show you one example 
 of these letters. 
 
 " June ye }rd. 
 " Mr. Chapman's [i.e., Colonel Grahme's] note was shewed 
 to Mr. Banks [King James], who assures you of his friendshipe. 
 When you goe out o' town he would be glad if you could leave 
 some directions about transmitting the accounts mentioned. 
 There will be no need of sending EWQZHQQHAI [Sir John 
 "Narborough, Commissioner of the Navy] except they relate to 
 y^FCPNG AWQQI [Dutch Warrs]. None can love you 
 more than lo [Middleton]." 
 
 Other aliases applied to King James throughout this corre- 
 spondence are, "Your Lawyer," "19," and "The Knight." 
 Colonel Grahme is alluded to as "Sir Humphrey Pallsworth," 
 "Sir Paull," "Mr. Partridge," and "Chapman"; Turner, the 
 deprived Bishop of Ely, as "Sir Jasper"; David MacAdam, a 
 notorious intriguer, as "Jo Brown" ; King Louis XIV., as " i}"; 
 King William as "17," and so on. Alas ! the " Grand Master of 
 the Jerkers," "the coffee woman," "the Thracian " (possibly 
 Kettleby), "Lord what-d'ee-call-him," and several others, must 
 ever remain creatures of mystery, for the cipher key does not 
 disclose their identity. When the key is present, cipher language 
 is all very well, but it must be remembered that two hundred 
 years ago slang was even more indulged in than at the present 
 day. What, then, can be made of such letters as this from Lord 
 Gower to Grahme ? 
 
 "The Cracovian peer pretends to great information, and 
 assures us that Augustin's measures will not hinder Stanislaus 
 from having all his friends about him. Lord Shatterino has left 
 my Lady to treat all the tradesmen, and being a man of method 
 has committed to writing every day's bill of fare, and the 
 
H9 
 
I40 Xevens Iball 
 
 company for it. The Butcher, the Baker and the Fruit woman dined 
 to-day, and the Chandler, Shoo-maker and another to-morrow." 
 
 One also, from Lord Bolingbroke, might easily be misunder- 
 stood in parts; but when he remarks "The Queen is well, 
 though the Whigs give out that she is a percher," we know that 
 no disrespect was intended, "percher" being at that time the 
 slang for "being in a dying condition." 
 
 Metcalfe Grahme, nephew to Colonel Grahme, served at one 
 time as aide-de-camp to the Duke of Marlborough, and fought at 
 Blenheim, Ramillies, and Malplaquet. Picture Colonel Grahme's 
 pride and satisfaction, and what exciting memories such descrip- 
 tions as these must have revived of his own past exploits. 
 Metcalfe writes from Blenheim : 
 
 "After a hot despute we have obtained an entire victory. 
 We have taken twenty-seven battalions of foot, and twelve 
 squadrons of dragoons besides other prisoners. The French are 
 weaker by this battle by 30,000 men." 
 
 Here is his account of Ramillies : 
 
 " Our successes are beyond imagination. A large country 
 has fallen to us in consequence of one battle. Never was victory 
 more easily got, or better followed. They stayed not long 
 enough to make the slaughter great, but the closeness of the 
 pursuit has made amends. . . . The marshal retired with so 
 much precipitation that he left all his sick and wounded, 120 
 cannon, 40 mortars, 4000 barrels of powder, 15,000 sacks of corn 
 and other provisions for four months. ... My Lord is very 
 civil, but it is hard to make one's fortune by so cowardly an 
 enemy, for we have no vacancies made by the battle in the Eng- 
 lish horse." 
 
 After Malplaquet, Metcalfe had little time for letter-writing. 
 He was obliged to put spurs to his horse and make for England 
 
THE GARDENS, LEVENS HALL 
 
 141 
 
142 Xevens Iball 
 
 with utmost speed, for to his care were entrusted the despatches 
 announcing the victory. Amongst them was a letter to Godol- 
 phin, then High Treasurer, from Marlborough, who wrote : 
 
 " 1 have not strength to do anything but that of letting you 
 know we have had this day a very murdering battle. . . . 
 Mr. Grahme, the bearer, is a very brave young man, and one of 
 my aides-de-camp. He will give you an account of the action." 
 
 1 only wish there was time to show you the number of 
 other interesting letters locked up here, but we must hasten on 
 through the rest of the house, or we shall see nothing of the 
 garden. 
 
 From room to room we wander, commenting on the 
 stamped leather, the tapestry, or panelling that adorn each one. 
 1 will point you out where Bishop Ken slept whilst Grahme's 
 guest; also the. Servants' Hall, panelled in oak, and the old 
 kitchen with its dresser still glittering with the pewter dishes 
 and plates that were used at Grahme's table. 
 
 And so we turn into the garden. This seems indeed- a 
 ease of Nature collaborating with man in the creation of a work 
 of great perfection; when one, after infinite labour, pauses- to 
 gaze on his inspiration of form and colour, the other by adding 
 warmth and rain and sunshine crowns his efforts and surpasses 
 human expectation with amazing results. So rare a combination 
 of peculiar beauty, intermingled with a certain grotesque charm, 
 rarely leaves the stranger quite unmoved, for the garden seems 
 fairly bewitched. Great fantastic forms cut in yew and scattered 
 about at intervals rise before us as far as the eye can see ; here a 
 peacock, there an archway, now a huge umbrella, a lion and 
 crown, a colossal helmet ; these and sundry creatures of mar- 
 vellous proportions, separated in some cases by little trailing 
 branches of roses, stand out in their deep-green foliage erect and 
 
143 
 
144 Xevens Iball 
 
 clear against the blue September sky. And what a glorious car- 
 pet lies beneath thera, luxuriant, fragrant, and gorgeous as Na- 
 ture only can paint it ! Pansy, fuchsia, marguerite, lily, salvia, 
 bergamot, pink, they grow side by side in apparently artless pro- 
 fusion, whilst the soft autumn breeze gently sways them to- 
 gether, a living mass of brilliancy. Large pots filled with flowers 
 are dotted about, shrubs of barbary are glowing in the distance, 
 whilst purple clematis, jasmine, and creeping nasturtiums clam- 
 ber up the old house, and pertly attempt an entrance at the 
 windows. Walking amongst the gay flowers in and out of the 
 beds, we pass on thence through the rest of the garden, where 
 high beech or yew or holly hedges encompass us on either side. 
 Past the yew arbour, shaped like a judge's wig, with a curious 
 portrait of Grahme hanging amongst the branches ; past the old 
 sun-dial ; treading all the while on soft green turf walks, with 
 avenues of old apple-trees and little low hedgerows of York and 
 Lancaster roses growing freely beneath. And so we reach the 
 great square bowling-green, where men and women still take 
 their pleasure on the ground where former generations have 
 delighted to play ; then we are pacing the long terraced walk, 
 with its varied border and tall background, in which hollyhocks, 
 sunflowers, sweet-pea clumps, scarlet dahlias, marigolds, and 
 masses of creepers form important features, and fairly hide the 
 grey stone walls that skirt the garden. At last 1 see you pause 
 in bewilderment over some weird, contorted figures of box, 
 which form a complete circle round a small rose garden. Are 
 they fish, flesh, or fowl ? Neither. It is Queen Elizabeth and 
 her maids of honour these quaint little bushes are striving to 
 imitate ; this one, see, has a ruff and crown ; uncover and bend 
 to the Virgin Queen ! 
 
 Colonel Grahme is the maker of Levens Garden. Desiririg 
 in his turn to leave some mark, he obtained the assistance of the 
 
Xcpens Iball 145 
 
 gardener at Hampton Court, Beaumont by name, and under his 
 superintendence all that you see was planned and laid out. No 
 doubt, like other Elizabethan mansions of the period, Levens had 
 already its pleasance and formal garden and bowling-green ; but 
 "topiary" work was hitherto an unknown art to English gar- 
 deners. Describing the reaction in taste which took place in 
 gardening during the early years of George lll.'s reign, Lord 
 Stanhope writes in his History of England : 
 
 "So complete has it proved, that at present throughout the 
 whole of England there remains perhaps scarcely more than one 
 private garden presenting in all its parts an entire and true sample 
 of the old designs : this is at the fine old seat of Levens, near 
 Kendal. There, along a wide extent of terraced walks and walls, 
 eagles of holly and peacocks of yew still find with each return- 
 ing summer their wings clipped and their talons pared. There a 
 stately monument of the old promenoirs — such as the Frenchmen 
 taught our fathers, rather, 1 should say, to build than plant — 
 along which, in days of old, stalked the gentlemen with periwigs 
 and swords, the ladies in hoops and furbelows, may still to this 
 day be seen." 
 
 Ah ! my friend, 1 might chatter on for hours about this gar- 
 den, and I might relate stories of Colonel Grahme and his 
 descendants, I might unearth mysteries and dig up forgotten 
 scandals connected with his troubled times, and 1 might make 
 him out in truth little better than his contemporaries. And why 
 need I make him any worse ? Rather let the garden he made 
 and loved be the only lasting witness of the man's life and tastes; 
 let his memory remain unsullied amid the sweetness of such 
 surroundings. They form a stainless monument which many 
 may envy and none can destroy ; and these flowers, with their 
 dear faces upturned, shall be left, humble supplicants that 
 Heaven's mercy may fall on him, as well as on us. 
 
146 Xevens Iball 
 
 Here we have arrived at the same big gateway we first 
 entered : on the opposite side of the road the Park is stretched 
 out in the distance. Its beauties bid fair to equal house and gar- 
 den : oak avenues run along it from end to end, deer lie scattered 
 about the bracken ; the Kent, with banks o'erhung by trees of 
 changing foliage, winds in and out of the valley. Ramble about 
 if you will at your leisure, or else proceed on your journey, for 1, 
 alas! must leave you ! And so we turn our backs the one on the 
 other, both going forth to explore a different world, a rough and 
 uneven path in store for each ; but if in the unknown future we 
 meet not at Levens, our shadows may yet cross and recross 
 again. 
 
 Who can tell ? 
 
^ount Ebgcumbe 
 
 f47 
 
tM 
 
 THE EAST FRONT OF MOUNT EDQCUMBE HOUSE 
 
 6-^^- 
 
 V 
 
 MOUNT EDGCUMBE 
 
 BY LADY ERNESTINE EDGCUMBE 
 
 PERHAPS there are few among the "stately homes" of 
 England more widely known than that of the Earl of 
 Mount Edgcumbe. This arises, not only from its own 
 beauty, but from the fact that it is situated close to one of the 
 chief naval ports of the kingdom. The wooded peninsula called 
 Mount Edgcumbe forms the western side of far-famed Plymouth 
 Sound, and the largest man-of-war when entering Hamoaze (the 
 inner harbour where are the Royal Dockyards) must pass within 
 a stone's throw of the gardens. 
 
 The first sight that greets the sailor returning from a three 
 years' commission spent, perhaps, on the "West Coast," or of 
 the soldier returning from India, is this peninsula, woods crown- 
 ing its steep red cliffs, the trees growing down so close to the 
 water's edge that they almost dip their boughs into the blue 
 
 waves (for they are blue), and the deer-park with its hills and 
 
 149 
 
I50 flDount Ebgcumbe 
 
 valleys diversified by clumps of pinasters and Scotch firs, and old 
 thorn trees in blossom, or, if the season be autumn, the bracken, 
 glowing red and gold in the sunshine. 
 
 Of late years, too, when many great ocean steamers call at 
 Plymouth, Mount Edgcumbe must have dwelt in the recollec- 
 tions of many as their last vision of the Old England they have 
 left "it may be for years and it may be for ever " — or gladdened 
 the returning emigrant or Cornish miner whom fortune has 
 favoured or who has come to the conclusion that a struggle at 
 home is preferable to speculative wealth in exile. 
 
 From a ship's deck the fallow deer can be seen, dotted over 
 the short turf, and, with a good glass, even the multitudinous 
 rabbits can be discerned — a sight which must have aroused the 
 sporting, instincts of generations of middies. And, talking of 
 middies, it is to be hoped that they have forgiven the notice 
 which a former Lord Mount Edgcumbe is said to have had placed 
 at the lodge in retaliation for some youthful escapade : "No ad- 
 mission for dogs or midshipmen " ! 
 
 The deer-park existed long before the house, and dates from 
 the reign of Henry VIII., when Sir Piers Edgcumbe obtained a 
 royal licence to empark it. There is an old map of that date, re- 
 produced by Lysons, showing an empty space inclosed by a 
 gigantic fence, but containing no building. Lord Mount Edg- 
 cumbe traces his descent and derives his second title from the 
 Valletorts of Trematon Castle, who were lords of the manor at 
 the time of the Domesday Survey, and from whom the district 
 round Mount Edgcumbe still retains the general name of the 
 Tithing of Valtershome. From them it passed, by marriage or 
 inheritance, successively to families named Stonehouse, Bigbury, 
 and Durnford. West Stonehouse was the name of an adjoining 
 village which was destroyed by the French in the fourteenth 
 century, while East Stonehouse still flourishes on the opposite 
 
IN THE ITAUAN GARDEN, MOUNT EDQCUMBE 
 
 151 
 
fIDount jej)Qcumbe 153 
 
 side of the estuary as one of the "Three Towns," being situ- 
 ated between Plymouth and Devonport. 
 
 Sir Piers Edgcumbe, made Knight of the Bath by Henry Vll. 
 in 1489, and Knight Banneret at the battle of the Spurs in 15 13, 
 by his marriage with Joan, daughter and heir of James Durnford 
 of East Stonehouse, acquired the estates of his wife's family on 
 both sides of the Tamar ; and his son, Sir Richard, knighted in 
 1537, began to build Mount Edgcumbe House in the first year of 
 Queen Mary (1553), exactly two hundred years after the older 
 residence, Cotehele, came into the family on the marriage of Wil- 
 liam Edgcumbe with Hilaria, the heiress. 
 
 Travellers visiting the place must cross the water by ferry 
 from Stonehouse to Cremyll Beach, close to the lodge, from 
 which a broad grassy slope leads straight up to the house. Not 
 many years ago a fine double avenue of elms flanked the ap- 
 proach, but successive storms have nearly demolished it, and not 
 many veterans survive. Their youthful successors, however, 
 chiefly Spanish chestnuts, have grown with surprising quickness, 
 and are beginning to replace them. 
 
 The Lower Gardens, on the left of the entrance lodge, appear 
 to have existed from very early times. A collection of water- 
 colour drawings, by Badeslade (1737), shows the "wilderness" 
 planted with clipped hedges of laurel and ilex, displaying vistas 
 and inclosing smooth lawns on which gaily dressed lords and 
 ladies disport themselves with music, dancing, flirting, and fen- 
 cing, or enjoy open-air refections attended by negro servants. In 
 one is represented the still existing centre part of a Garden 
 House, to which the second Earl added wings with sitting- 
 rooms, where he and his daughter Emma, afterwards Countess 
 Brownlow, spent much of their time, entertained visitors, and 
 transacted business. 
 
 This is in the "English" garden— scarcely well named, as 
 
154 riDoimt le&acumbe 
 
 almost all the vegetation is foreign or even tropical. Here are 
 palms (Chamceropes) thirty feet high, great trees of Magnolia 
 grandiflora, which flower abundantly, cork trees, bamboos, and 
 a splendid cedar of Lebanon ; while camellias, Mediterranean 
 heath, and other flowering shrubs ornament the wide spaces of 
 turf. 
 
 Close to this is the " French " garden, more primly laid out 
 with flower-beds, gravel paths, arbours, and trellis-work sur- 
 rounding a fountain ; the old hedges inclosing it having now 
 grown into huge ilex trees, one of which is of remarkable circum- 
 ference and height. 
 
 The "Italian" garden is celebrated for its numerous and 
 splendid orange trees, said to be— and probably with truth— the 
 finest in England, and even superior to those in the gardens of 
 the Tuileries. Be this as it may, they are certainly magnificent 
 specimens, and some of the trees must be more than a hundred 
 and fifty years old, having been brought from Constantinople by 
 Richard, second Lord Edgcumbe, when, as a very young man, he 
 was sent on his travels to keep him out of mischief. They are 
 remarkably healthy, and, in due season, are white with blos- 
 som or golden with fruit. In the winter they find refuge, in 
 the orangery, a fine building erected in the last century from the 
 designs of Lord Camelford of Bocconnoc. Spacious as was the 
 orangery, it had to be considerably enlarged some years ago, and 
 the trees continue to outgrow it. The handsome marble fountain 
 in the middle of this garden was a present from Lord Bess- 
 borough to Richard, second Earl, to whom, as well as to his 
 daughter Emma, he had stood godfather. 
 
 At a point facing the entrance of the harbour is a battery and 
 a small blockhouse, which, with a similar one on the opposite 
 side of the Narrows, was built in anticipation of the Spanish 
 Armada. Doubtless they would have given Medina Sidonia a 
 
THE ITALIAN GARDEN, SHOWING SOME OF THE FAMOUS 
 ORANGE TREES 
 
 155 
 
156 flDount je&gcumDe 
 
 warm reception had he tried to carry out his proposal to annex 
 ■Mount Edgcumbe. Should there be any truth in this oft-repeated 
 story, it is probable that the Spanish commander (whose view of. 
 the place must have been both distant and hasty during his 
 hurried passage up Channel) was Sir Richard's guest when, after 
 the arrival of Philip II. in 1554, the good knight entertained the 
 admirals of France, Spain, and Flanders, and that then and there 
 Sidonia resolved that his host's fair domain should be his per- 
 quisite when England was conquered. Richard Carew, writing 
 in 1602, describes the blockhouse as "planted with ordnance," 
 which '- with their base voices " greeted " such guests as visited 
 the house " ; but if it ever fired a round-shot it must have been 
 directed at its twin over the way, when Plymouth fought for the 
 Parliament and Mount Edgcumbe for King Charles. 
 
 The present battery was renovated by the first Earl when 
 Port Admiral, and remounted with twenty-one guns, taken out 
 of a French frigate. On these guns may still be seen an anchor, 
 surmounted by the cap of liberty, and " R. F. An Iln^^Ruelle." 
 Their " base voices " have constantly been called into requisition, 
 as appears from a curious manuscript book containing a register 
 of salutes fired. Every guest received salutes on " landing " and 
 "going off," and the number -of guns was regulated by their 
 rank. A prince received twenty-one guns, a duke or archbishop 
 nineteen, a bishop or earl fifteen, while a foreign nobleman is 
 credited with fifteen, and an esquire with eleven. Fifteen guns 
 regularly commemorated the anniversary of the "Popish Con- 
 spiracy," and forty-two that of the King's accession. The entries 
 for one year (1767) record the discharge of no less than 345 
 rounds ! 
 
 This noisy hospitality has ceased, but the old guns still 
 testify to their owner's loyalty on her Majesty's birthday or the 
 landing of any royal personage. 
 
BARN POOL, FROM THE ENTRANCE TO THE LOWER GARDENS 
 
 157 
 
158 flDount j6C>9Cumbe 
 
 Some thirty years ago a casemated fort was built here, and 
 the private battery was mounted on its terraced roof, the old 
 blockhouse thereby losing sight of the sea for ever. No more 
 charming spot on which to spend an hour on a summer's evening 
 could be found. On the right some. yacht or warship sleeps at her 
 moorings on the deep waters of the small bay called Barn Pool, 
 which reflect the rocks of Raven's Nest and the hanging woods,- 
 crowned by the " Ruin," which, though constructed at a time 
 when ruins were fashionable, from the remains of a fallen obelisk 
 and some old granite-work, is now of respectable antiquity, and 
 forms a conspicuous and picturesque object in the landscape. On 
 the left is the busy harbour, the massive walls and green copper 
 roofe of the Victualling Yard, Mourrt Wise,- and Devonport ; while 
 in front is the whole expanse of Plymouth Sound, the Break- 
 water, with a squadron of Queen's ships at anchor inside it, and 
 countless merchantmen and steamers at rest or in motion ; Stad- 
 don Heights, crested by a great fortification, and dotted with the 
 white tents of some camp of instruction ; and Drake's Island, 
 between which and the mainland lies a fleet of yachts, while 
 beyond it the grey mass of the old Citadel and the Hoe recall 
 ancient glories. The whole scene is enlivened by constant move- 
 ment : if you are fortunate, a great battleship — perhaps the 
 Magnificent — may pass majestically in or out, within easy hailing 
 distance, or a torpedo boat flash past at lightning speed ; excur- 
 sion steamers, gay with bunting and crowded with "trippers," 
 hurry by, the sound of their noisy bands mellowed by. the 
 intervening water; the boys' training brigs, with all sail set, 
 creep across the Sound, endeavouring to reach their anchorage 
 for the night before the breeze has completely died away, and 
 envying the racing yachts, down to the little half-raters, whose 
 great sails seem to waft them along over the tide without a 
 breath of air. 
 
THE OLD HALL OR SALOON, MOUNT EOQCUMBE HOUSE 
 
 159 
 
flDount ]e&ocumbe i6i 
 
 Then there are red-sailed Plymouth trawlers or Mount's Bay 
 luggers drifting on as best they can, and boats— boats without 
 end ! Racing cutters from the training ships, practising for the 
 Regatta, their eager coxswains bending themselves double to 
 each stroke of the oars ; officers of the garrison in canoes or four- 
 oared gigs ; men and boys, women and girls, sailing, rowing, 
 splashing, laughing, and talking as only West-country folk can 
 talk,— the whole population seems to have taken to the water ! 
 
 And young Tommy Atkins; freshly recruited from some Mid- 
 land village, even he must be aquatic ; and certainly a special 
 Providence watches over him. In his red jacket, which contrasts 
 brilliantly with his green boat (for he generally hires a green 
 boat), he stands up, jumps about, playfully rocks from side to 
 side, hoists a sail, makes the sheet fast and sits on the lee 
 gunwale — in short, does everything in the world to drown him- 
 self; but, happily, accidents are rare, and he adds greatly to the 
 gaiety of the scene. 
 
 But we have lingered too long in the gardens, and must now 
 walk up the hill to the house. The oldest part consists of the 
 central Hall and four flanking towers. To this successive gener- 
 ations have made additions, always increasing it in length rather 
 than in width, as it stands on a somewhat narrow platform, at the 
 back of which the hill rises abruptly ; and this length makes the 
 house appear larger than it is. Mone of the rooms are of great 
 size ; but the old Hall, or Saloon, is very lofty, and an admirable 
 music-room. The Drawing-room, or "Gallery." occupies the 
 whole ground floor of the east front, has a lovely view over part 
 of the Sound, and is a very bright and charming room. The 
 Library, separated from the Saloon by the Billiard-room, is large 
 and well proportioned : it was built by George, first Earl ; and his 
 son added the Dining-room, ingeniously fitting it into a limited 
 space, which obliged. him to make it oval. The effect is unusuaj 
 
1 62 ilDount jebQcumbe 
 
 and good. On the walls hang family portraits by Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds, Sir Peter Lely, and Mascall, going back in unbroken 
 succession to Colonel Piers Edgcumbe of the Civil Wars. 
 
 The house has no pretensions to magnificence, nor has it any 
 great beauty or regularity of design ; yet it is a dignified and very 
 "livable" home, not unw^orthy of its situation and surround- 
 ings. The old arched granite entrance doorway, however, 
 deserves special mention, being a fine specimen of sixteenth- 
 century architecture. 
 
 Among the portraits mentioned, three generations are by 
 Reynolds, who was often a guest at the house.- As a boy. of 
 twelve he and the artistic young " Dick," afterwards second Lord 
 Ecigcumbe, painted a clever portrait of Parson Smart, Vicar of 
 Maker, in Cremyll Boathouse on a piece of sailcloth. In 1749, 
 Lord Edgcumbe introduced him to Commodore Keppel, who 
 gave him a passage to Italy in the Centurion, thus enabling him 
 to study in Rome, where he purchased the fine marble busts of 
 Roman Emperors now in the Saloon. Sir Joshua's receipt for the 
 payment of the expenses he incurred is preserved. 
 
 The family being staunch adherents of the Stuarts suffered 
 much for their loyalty. The Parliamentarians, during the siege 
 of Plymouth, unsuccessfully assaulted the house. May i, 1644, 
 and two summonses for its surrender are extant, one signed by 
 Lord Warwick ; but it held out until May, 1645, after which 
 comes a long record of sequestrations and imprisonments inflicted 
 on Colonel Edgcumbe by Cromwell. 
 
 The " Upper Garden " above the house contains many beau- 
 tiful flowering trees and shrubs, and is charming, though shorn 
 by the blizzard of its chief glory, — a grand group of cedars, — while 
 the parterres on the east front (formerly the Bowling-green), 
 embellished with statues and two picturesque stone pines, make 
 a bright foreground to the view over the Sound. 
 
1 63 
 
1 64 fiDount iec>Qcumbe 
 
 From the house a terraced drive, two miles long, is carried 
 round the side of the hill. Passing through a wood, called the 
 "Amphitheatre" from its shape, it emerges into the park above 
 the "Ruin," and enters what was the "Beech Wood" until 
 the blizzard destroyed it. The "Blizzard in the West," that 
 celebrated storm of March, 1891, an easterly hurricane combined 
 with a snowfall of unexampled severity, is a kind of era in Devon 
 and Cornwall, and events are dated from it as having occurred 
 previously or subsequently. The spectacle afforded by this par- 
 ticular wood was extraordinary : hundreds of great beeches lay 
 prostrate up the hill, their enormous roots upreared, with earth 
 and stones adhering to them ; and weeks elapsed before the roads 
 could be made passable. 
 
 Leaving the Deer-park by another gate, the drive now takes 
 the name of "South Terrace," and, in wintry w^eather, transports 
 one into Italy. No cold blasts touch this favoured spot, which 
 for nearly a mile is planted with evergreen trees and shrubs from 
 the crown of the hill to the verge of the cliff. 
 
 Here the road winds past walls of laurel, laurestinus, 
 and arbutus, the sea sparkles through the pine branches, and 
 the sunlight gleams on polished camellia leaves and bright- 
 ens the duller-hued foliage of the cork, ilex, or Benthamia. 
 Then, by a sudden transition, it passes into a grove of giant 
 pinasters, and, re-entering the Deer-park, ascends the hill to 
 Maker Church. 
 
 Space forbids a description of the delightful "zigzag" paths 
 above and beneath the Terrace, but Picklecombe Fort, on the 
 cliff below it, must be mentioned : strengthened and modernised 
 since its erection in 1848, it defends the entrance to Plymouth 
 Sound with its forty large guns in casemates. Indeed, both park 
 and outlying woods bristle with fortifications, and the ode written 
 last century by the parish clerk,— 
 
VIEW OF PLYMOUTH AND DRAKE'S ISLAND 
 
 165 
 
1 66 HDount jeDocumDe 
 
 "Mount Edgcumbe is a pleasant place, 
 It looketh on Hamoaze, 
 And on it are some batteries 
 To guard us from our foes," — 
 
 is truer than ever. 
 
 The church of Maker (the name of the parish) is chiefly temp. 
 Henry Vli., and is distinguished for its fine tower, which can be 
 seen for miles round, formerly a signalling station, and still a 
 noted sailing mark. It is outside the upper lodge gate, beyond 
 which are drives through the fishing villages of Kingsand and 
 Cawsand, round Penlee Point, Rame Head, and the grand sweep 
 of Whitsand Bay. 
 
 Among the traditions connected with the church is that of the 
 Lady Mount Edgcumbe who was interred when in a trance, and 
 being roused by the sexton trying to steal her ring, rose up, 
 walked home, and survived many years. 
 
 The time when wrestling matches used to attract country 
 people from far and near to Maker Church Green is long past ; but 
 those now living can remember an episode of the old smuggling 
 days, when the vicar, having taken the rural dean to the top of 
 the tower, espied twenty-three kegs safely lodged in the gutter 
 between the church roofs ! Of course they looked the other 
 way, and it is said that next morning there was a keg at the 
 vicarage door ! From the church there is a grass drive round the 
 top of the park,— a tempting place for a gallop, and equally pleas- 
 ant for the rabbit shooter, or the admirer of English park scenery 
 backed by the wide ocean. 
 
 At the south-eastern point, overlooking the "Terrace," is the 
 "Kiosk," a summer-house commanding a splendid view, and 
 always resorted to when any movements of the fleet are antici- 
 pated, or friends arrive and depart by "Orient" or "P. & O." 
 Many a greeting and farewell have been waved from its 
 
i67 
 
1 68 fIDount J6&GCumbe 
 
 windows. Visitors are generally shown this first, as the unex- 
 pected sight of such a view and the position of the Kiosk on the 
 verge of the evergreen-clothed hill descending precipitously to 
 the sea is striking. 
 
 The panorama from the top of the park embraces, on the 
 south and east, Cawsand Bay, where the fleet lay before the 
 Breakwater was built, sheltered by Penlee Point ; the Eddystone, 
 like a needle's point on the horizon ; the " Mewstone " rock-islet, 
 and the receding headlands of Devon ; the Breakwater and 
 Sound, with the forts and cliffs of Staddon. On the north and 
 west, Plymouth and Devonport are fair to see, with their numer- 
 ous monuments and towers (though perhaps, as in other cases, 
 " distance lends enchantment to the view "), backed by the blue 
 Dartmoor tors, the dockyard and the harbour, extending to the 
 double arch of the Royal Albert railway bridge where it spans the 
 broad Tamar ; and then more blue hills show where the Cornish 
 moors join with Dartmoor and continue the wild range of high- 
 land westward, forming the backbone of Cornwall. 
 
 As we look at the crowded Hamoaze it is with a feeling of 
 pride, not unmixed with sentimental regret, that we now see it 
 filled with mighty ironclads, twenty-knot cruisers, and lines of 
 torpedo-destroyers, replacing the brave old wooden walls, most 
 of which have now passed away, together with their prizes — 
 such as the San Josef, Foudroyant, and others well remembered 
 by those who have only attained to middle age. The training- 
 ship and the gunnery-ship are about the only old line-of-battle 
 ships left, and the Implacable and Conquistador the sole remain- 
 ing trophies of the glorious old wars. 
 
 Many thrilling yarns could doubtless be spun of these old 
 warriors ; and, in describing the view over the Sound, attention 
 should have been called to a small black speck under the opposite 
 heights, now a mastless hospital hulk, but once a smart frigate, 
 
THE HAMOAZE, FROM THE PARK 
 
 169 
 
1-jo flDount j£t)GCumbe 
 
 the Pique, navigated home from North America by the late 
 Admiral Rous without a rudder, and with a rock jammed into the 
 hole it had made in her hull, which fell out into the dry dock 
 when it lost the support of the surrounding water. 
 
 If the sights we have attempted to describe are exceptional in 
 a country retreat, the sounds are not less so ; but they serve to 
 enliven, not to disturb its inmates, who scarcely notice the boom 
 of the morning gun, the bugles sounding the reveille, or even 
 that the foreign man-of-war, arrived overnight, has exchanged 
 salutes at 8 a, m. with the Citadel and Port Admiral. Nor is th€ 
 sound other than pleasing of the bands on board ship and in bar- 
 racks playing a quickstep at morning parade. Later in the day a 
 distant roar may proclaim that the guns at Picklecombe, or on 
 board a gunboat out at sea, are firing at a target ; a ship coming 
 through the Narrows gives unearthly shrieks with her syren, or a 
 mail boat sounds her whistle to summon the tender which is to 
 take off her passengers. 
 
 And close by, in the harbour, the throb, rattle, and thumping 
 of the steam dredgers remind one of how actively the accom- 
 modation for ships is being increased ; and in a neighbouring field 
 the voices of the quartermasters are heard, a mile off, drilling 
 the sailor boys. 
 
 But now, this long digression ended, the house must be 
 returned to by a road above the Amphitheatre, and this account 
 of a place often mentioned and praised by abler pens must be 
 brought to a close. But first it may be interesting to allude to 
 the number of persons of historic interest who have, in different 
 generations, been guests at Mount Edgcumbe. 
 
 One of the earliest records of a royal visit is that of Cosimo 
 de' Medici, Prince of Modena, whom Sir Richard entertained on 
 his way to the Court of Charles II. The Saluting Book (which 
 only refers to two or three years) mentions— among many others 
 
171 
 
172 flDount jEbgcumbc 
 
 — the Dukes of Gloucester and Cumberland, Princess Amelia, 
 the "Marquess Caraccioli," General Paoli, and Mr. and Mrs, 
 Garrick. 
 
 In 1 78 1, George III. and Queen Charlotte (attended by Miss 
 Burney) came from Saltram, which had been lent them by Lord 
 Boringdon, and dined in the Saloon, the largest room then exist- 
 ing, the decorations of which date from the first Lord Edgcumbe, 
 who also planted the " Terrace," and has justly earned the grati- 
 tude of his descendants. 
 
 William IV. and Queen Adelaide stayed at Mount Edgcumbe 
 before their accession ; and our gracious Queen has more than 
 once honoured it by her presence, as have the Prince and Prin- 
 cess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg during the 
 three years when his Royal Highness was Commander-in-chief 
 in the West, and other members of the Royal Family. 
 
 Amelie, Queen of the French, when residing at Kitley used 
 to visit the place with the Duchesse d'Orleans and the young 
 Comte de Paris and Due de Chartres ; and the lamented Emperor 
 Frederick, when Crown Prince, the Crown Princess, and their 
 sons have more than once done so. The last occasion on which 
 they came together was after the close of the Franco-German 
 War ; and, by a singular coincidence, the deposed Emperor Na- 
 poleon 111., with the Prince Imperial, had come from Torquay 
 to luncheon two days before. 
 
 The Empress of Austria, the King of Sweden, many other 
 royal personages, and a host of distinguished visitors might be 
 named— such as the Walpoles, Pitt, Nelson, and others — but 
 they would take too long to enumerate. Had a "guest book" 
 been kept it would be a history in itself ; but, until latterly, this 
 has unfortunately not been done. When, further, we think of 
 the many naval and military officers who have passed through 
 the doors of the house since the days of Sir Francis Drake, and 
 
flDount lebGCumbe 173 
 
 of the fact that the grounds have always been thrown open to 
 the public on one day in the week, we may certainly say that 
 Mount Edgcumbe must be among the best-known country places 
 in England. 
 
 Cremyll Passage, to which we must now return, can be very 
 rough indeed, and many of the illustrious visitors of former days 
 must have thought their enjoyment dearly bought by their suffer- 
 ings in an open boat in wet and stormy weather. Perhaps now 
 the departing guest may consider that the comfortable steam 
 launch which conveys him across compensates him for the obso- 
 lete honour of a salute from the Mount Edgcumbe Garden 
 Battery "on going off." 
 
Milton Ibouse 
 
 175 
 
WILTON HOUSE, THE ENTRANCE GATES 
 
 WILTON HOUSE 
 
 BY THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE 
 
 WILTON HOUSE stands upon the site of the old Abbey, 
 which, with the surrounding estates, was granted by 
 Henry VIII., soon after the dissolution of the monas- 
 teries in 1539, to William, first Earl of Pembroke. The Abbey 
 having been pulled down, the house was rebuilt and completed 
 during the reign of Edward VI. from the designs of Hans Holbein. 
 Of this building only the centre of the east front remains, the 
 greater portion having been destroyed, presumably, by the fire 
 which took place during the life of Philip, fourth Earl. This 
 nobleman rebuilt the house from designs by Inigo Jones, who, 
 being ill at the time, deputed Solomon (or Isaac) de Caux to 
 execute the work. The south front, and all the east front, 
 except the centre portion of Holbein's design, now stand as a 
 
 monument of Inigo Jones's work. 
 
 177 
 
178 Milton Ibouse 
 
 At the end of the last century the north and west fronts were 
 " mangled " and .rebuilt by James Wyatt. 
 
 The house contains portraits of nearly every one of the suc- 
 cessive Earls of Pembroke. 
 
 That of William, first Earl, by Hans Holbein, a full-length 
 portrait, hangs in the Library. He was born in 1506, and was 
 described by Aubrey as "a mad fighting young fellow" in his 
 youth. He distinguished himself greatly as a soldier during the 
 reigns of Henry VII., Henry Vlll., and Edward VI. by quelling 
 disturbances in V/ales and the West Country ; and having been 
 created Earl of Pembroke by the last-named King in 155 1, he 
 further added to his military reputation by his defeat of the 
 French at the battle of St. Quentin, in 1557, and his own armour 
 and that of his illustrious prisoners adorn the' entrance hall at the 
 present time. He was one of the most powerful noblemen 
 throughout the reign of Mary, and during that of Elizabeth, and 
 died in 1570. He had married Anne Parr, sister of Katherine 
 Parr, sixth wife of Henry Vlll., and was succeeded by his son, 
 
 Henry, second Earl, of whom there is unfortunately no por- 
 trait at Wilton, who married Mary Sidney, sister of Sir Philip 
 Sidney, who was a constant guest at Wilton, where the avenue 
 under the trees of which he composed his Arcadia still re- 
 mains. He died in 1601, and was succeeded by his eldest son, 
 
 William, third Earl, the patron of William Shakespeare, to 
 whom the latter is supposed to have dedicated his sonnets. A 
 full-length portrait of this Earl, by Van Dyck, hangs in the Double 
 Cube Room ; and a small painting of the same Earl on a panel, 
 purchased by the present owner of Wilton, has, pasted on the 
 back of it, an old parchment, on which is written the lines of 
 Shakespeare which were believed to have been addressed to him,— 
 
 " Your monument shall be my gentle verse, 
 Which eyes not yet created shall o'er-read ; 
 
o 
 
 X 
 
 z 
 o 
 
 I- 
 
 179 
 
THE "DOUBLE CUBE" ROOM, WILTON HOUSE 
 
 I8l 
 
1 82 TKHilton Ibouse 
 
 And tongues to be your being shall rehearse, 
 
 When all the breathers of this world are dead; 
 You still shall live (such virtue hath my pen) 
 Where breath most breathes, even in the mouths of men," 
 
 and below, the following words : "William, Earl Pembroke, died 
 suddenly April lo, 1630. When his body was opened in order 
 
 THE HOLBEIN " FRONT OF WILTON HOUSE 
 
 to be embalmed, he was observed (on the incision being 
 made) to lift up his hand. This circumstance may be de- 
 pended upon as fact, having been related by a member of the 
 family, and was considered by the faculty to afford strong pre- 
 sumptive evidence that the distemper of which he died was 
 apoplexy." He was Lord Chamberlain and Lord Steward to 
 Charles I., and married a daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury; 
 but, dying in 1630 without issue living, he was succeeded by his 
 brother, 
 
 Philip, fourth Earl, who had been already created Earl of 
 
THE CORNER ROOM, WILTON HOUSE 
 
 183 
 
1 84 Milton Ibousc 
 
 Montgomery. He was Lord Chamberlain to Charles I., and 
 forms the central figure of Van Dyck's celebrated picture of the 
 Herbert family, which fills the whole of one end of the Double 
 Cube Room, and which is the largest picture that that artist ever 
 painted. This was the Earl in whose time a great portion of the 
 house was destroyed by fire (which event he refers to in his 
 speech in the House of Lords, when attainted for high treason) 
 
 THE QREAT VAN DYCK IN THE "DOUBLE CUBE" ROOM 
 
 and who employed Inigo Jones to rebuild it. He died in 1649 ; 
 and, his eldest son having died of smallpox a short time after 
 his marriage with the daughter of the Duke of Buckingham, he 
 was succeeded by his next son, 
 
 Philip, fifth Earl, whose portrait, in addition to appearing in 
 the big picture above mentioned, was painted by Van Dyck, and 
 is hung in the ante-room to the Double Cube. He married (ist) 
 Penelope, widow of Viscount Banning, by whom he had one 
 son, William, who succeeded him ; and (2d) Catherine Villiers, 
 by whom he had two sons, Philip and Thomas. He died in 
 1669, and was succeeded by his eldest son, 
 
i85 
 
1 86 Wilton Ibouse 
 
 William, sixth Earl, who died unmarried in 1674, who again 
 was succeeded by his half-brother, 
 
 Philip, seventh Earl, who married Henrietta de Queroualle, 
 but also died in 1683 without male issue, and was succeeded by 
 his only brother, 
 
 Thomas, eighth Earl, whose portrait by Wissing hangs in 
 the Single Cube Room. This Earl occupied many high positions 
 in the state, including that of Lord High Admiral ; and it is re- 
 markable that he carried the " sword of state " in three succes- 
 sive coronations — viz., those of Anne, George I., and GeorgeJI. 
 Amid his multifarious public duties he found time to amass the 
 great collection of antique statues, busts, and sculptures which 
 now stand in the cloisters, and also the greater part of the 
 collection of pictures which adorn the walls of the various state 
 rooms. He died in 1733, and was succeeded by his eldest son 
 (by his first marriage with Margaret Sawyer of Highclere), 
 
 Henry, ninth Earl, whose portrait by Kneller hangs in the 
 Single Cube Room. He married Mary, daughter of Richard, 
 Viscount Fitzwilliam of Mount Merrion, County Dublin, and, 
 dying in 1751, was succeeded by his son, 
 
 Henry, tenth Earl, who was a celebrated cavalry officer, 
 and was the author of the book entitled Military Equitation. 
 He established riding-schools at both his London and Wiltshire 
 residences, and was a great patron and supporter of the "" Haute 
 Ecole." Portraits of himself, and of his wife, Elizabeth, daughter 
 of Charles, Duke of Marlborough, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, hang 
 in the Library and in the ante-room. He died in 1794, and was 
 succeeded by his only son, 
 
 George Augustus, eleventh Earl, who served with the army 
 in the Low Countries when Lord Herbert, and was subsequently, 
 after his succession, appointed Ambassador at Vienna. He 
 married (ist) Elizabeth, daughter of Topham Beauclerk ; and 
 
ANOTHER VIEW OF THE "SINGLE CUBE" ROOM 
 
 187 
 
1 88 
 
 Milton 1bou0e 
 
 (2d) Catherine, daughter of Count Worenzow, and, dying in 
 1827, was succeeded by his eldest son by his first marriage, 
 
 Robert, twelfth Earl, who lived entirely abroad, and handed 
 over the management of his Wiltshire estates to his half-brother, 
 Sidney Herbert, afterwards created Lord Herbert of Lea. 
 
 THE PALLADIAN BRIDGE, OVER THE RIVER NADDER 
 
 The beautiful grounds, which contain more than seventy 
 acres of mown lawn, were laid out by the eleventh Earl's second 
 wife, nee Worenzow, at the beginning of the present century, 
 and are universally admitted to be a triumph in landscape-garden- 
 ing. The river Nadder runs past the south front of the house, 
 dividing the grounds from the Park, and is crossed by the 
 famous Palladian Bridge. 
 
 Scattered about the gardens are several pavilions, three of 
 which are deserving of notice. Holbein's Porch, which once 
 formed part of the old portion of the house, and was designed by 
 that artist, formerly stood within the quadrangle, and formed the 
 
iSg 
 
igo Milton Ibouse 
 
 main entrance, but was removed by James Wyatt when he 
 altered the north side of the house, and transformed the main 
 entrance from the east to the north side. 
 
 What is now used as the Park School, but was fotmerly 
 called "The Grotto," shows a beautifully designed fa9ade by 
 Inigo Jones, containing very finely carved stone-work, in a 
 perfect state of preservation. 
 
 The " Gasino," which is placed on an eminence flanked by 
 trees, in the park, facing the house, was designed by Ghambers, 
 and is one of the best instances of his architecture. A little west 
 of the Gasino is a barrow, which is supposed to cover the 
 remains of those who fell in the battle which took. place there 
 in 871 between King Alfred and the Danes, in which the former 
 was defeated. 
 
 A very remarkable column stands in the eastern portion of 
 the lawn, formed of one piece of white Egyptian granite. It 
 came from the Arundel collection, having been bought by Mr. 
 Evelyn for Lord Arundel, at Rome, where Julius Gaesar had set 
 it up before the Temple of Venus Genetrix. This column was 
 never erected since it fell in the ruins of old Rome until set up= 
 here. On the fillet at the base is an inscription, cut in Egyptian' 
 characters, signifying " ASTARTE." 
 
 Through the northern portion of the grounds runs the river 
 Wylye, dividing the lawn from the Kitchen garden. This river 
 joins the Nadder some four hundred yards east of the park walls, 
 and running through the meadows on its way to Salisbury, skirts 
 George Herbert's Rectory at Bemerton ; and it is believed that on 
 its banks, in this neighbourhood, Izaak Walton composed much 
 of his work. The Compleat Angler. Both the Nadder and the 
 Wylye contain trout and grayling, and no doubt the occupants 
 of the old Abbey fully appreciated the supplies of fish which 
 these rivers afforded them. 
 
igr 
 
ig2 
 
iq3 
 
194 Milton Ibouse 
 
 In addition to those of Sir Philip Sidney, there are historical 
 associations connected with Cardinal Wolsey, Edward VI., 
 Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare, and Charles I., "who did love 
 Wilton above all places, and came thither every summer." 
 Leaving the gardens, with their splendid cedars and other trees, 
 a few words must.be devoted to the interior of the house. The 
 state rooms form the first floor of the south front, and are 
 remarkable for the beauty of their decoration. The largest room 
 is called the " Double Cube," which contains the large family 
 picture by Van Dyck, and nine other pictures by the same artist. 
 This room is beautifully proportioned and decorated, and the 
 ceiling' is by Signor Thomaso. Opening from this room we come 
 to the Single Cube Room, which is exactly half the size of the 
 Double Cube, and is decorated In much the same style. The 
 ceiling here is by Signor. Arpino. The pictures comprise fam- 
 ily portraits by Van Dyck, Sir Peter Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, 
 VVissing, and W. Richrnond. In the next room, which used to 
 be called the Hunting Room, but which is now used as a study, 
 are some quaint pictures, painted on the panels, by Tempesta, 
 Junior, representing all sorts of sporting. This room occupies 
 the south-west corner of the house, and with it ends Inigo Jones's 
 architecture. The Library, which was built by James Wyatt, 
 occupies nearly the whole west side, and contains a very old 
 collection of books, many of them of great interest to the 
 "bibliophile." Two very large canvases, one of Henry, tenth 
 Earl, with his boy, afterwards eleventh Earl, and a huge boar 
 hound, and the other of the same Earl's wife, by Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds, occupy prominent positions on each side of the fire- 
 place, flanking the before-mentioned portrait of William, first 
 Earl, by Holbein. There are other portraits by Sir Joshua and 
 Sir Peter Lely ; and in the ante-Library are two paintings, by 
 Scott, of Lincoln's Inn Fields and Covent Garden.- 
 
195 
 
igS 
 
 Milton Ibouse 
 
 The windows of the Library look out upon the Italian gar- 
 den, at the end of which a broad walk, flanked by tall trimmed 
 yews, leads the eye to Holbein's Porch. 
 
 The Dining-room looks to the north, and is another specimen 
 of James Wyatt's modern Gothic architecture. It contains large 
 decorative pictures by Snyder, Vansomer, Bassano, Procaccini, 
 
 PEOPLE AT CARDS 
 
 BY LUCAS VAN LEYDEN 
 
 and Primaticcio. Two enormous fossil elk-heads are fixed on 
 the high walls at each end of the room, and were brought from 
 Ireland, where they were dug up from a bog. 
 
 Returning to the south side, notice must be taken of some of 
 the pictures in the rooms east of the Double Cube. In the first 
 of these is a very good specimen of Lucas Van Leyden, in "Peo- 
 ple Playing at Cards." An excellent portrait of Van Dyck, by 
 
197 
 
198 Milton Ibouse 
 
 himself, another of Philip, fifth Earl, and another of the Countess 
 of Castlehaven, both by the same artist ; three portraits by Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, a sea piece by Vandervelt, and one or two other 
 pictures, complete the collection in this room. 
 
 The next, the Colonnade Room, contains the famous " Four 
 Children," by Rubens; a portrait of Edward VI., by Holbein ; a 
 portrait of Titian, by himself; "An Old Woman Reading," by 
 Rembrandt ; two sea pieces by Vandervelt, and a small picture by 
 Giulio Romano. 
 
 Opening out of this is the Corner Room, which contains so 
 many interesting pictures that I am unable to mention all. But 
 Holbein's portrait of Judge Moore, a beautiful landscape by 
 Rubens, a "Madonna and Christ," by Andrea del Sarto (of 
 which there is a replica in the Wallace collection), "Judith and 
 Holofernes," by Andrea Mantegna, and a beautifully painted 
 portrait of Prince Rupert when a young man, ascribed to Hon- 
 thorst, but probably by Van Dyck, are perhaps the most note- 
 worthy. From the east window of this room is a lovely view of 
 Salisbury Cathedral, obtained by a "vista" cut through the trees 
 and shrubs in the grounds and Intervening meadows. 
 
 In the next room are hung several good pictures, the most 
 notable being "The Children of Henry VII.," by Mabuse; two 
 battle scenes by Borgognone ; "The Crucifixion," by Jarenus; 
 " Francis II. and Charles IX.," by Zucchero ; and the diptych of 
 " Richard II. and his Patron Saints." 
 
 In the Sitting-room, which is situated in the centre of the 
 east front, in the oldest portion of the building, hang the portrait 
 of "Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke," by Marc Garrard; a 
 drawing of "Cromwell, Earl of Essex," by Holbein ; two very 
 good paintings by Pater, the " Battle of Pavia," by Holbein, and 
 two Dutch landscapes with figures, by Velvet Brugel. 
 
 The Cloisters, which surround the interior of the quadrangle, 
 
THE HOLBEIN PORCH 
 
 FORMEBLY THE MAIN ENTRANCE TO WILTON HOUSE 
 
 199 
 

 . \*.*-<^ 
 
 "s^'^i^^ " 
 
 
 %J^^^- .•» 
 
 -'%i^^f^ 
 
 ■-^^^ff^^M^ 
 
 .-*x;'. i'i^ 
 
 "j^^MKmf^^'^^ ' 
 
 * s-'-^^f^/i 
 
 H^rawf' -'^'--^ jj 
 
 ..^Jp^ 
 
 S^^^L^MK-Lj^j -Sy 1 
 
 jBaf^^ff^ 
 
 RH^^H^B^SflBdL.'" . j:^il A 
 
 .^^^HK^M' '"^i 
 
 201 
 
202 Milton 1bou6e 
 
 contain the antique marbles and busts collected by Thomas, 
 eighth Earl, many of which were purchased by him from the 
 Mazarin and Arundel collections. One of the most remarkable 
 objects is a basso relievo in old Greek mosaic tesselated work 
 representing the Garden of Hesperides. Two statues by Cleo- 
 menes, one of "Faunus with his leopard," and the other of 
 " Cupid breaking his bow after his marriage with Psyche," are of 
 great interest. The tomb of Aurelius Epaphroditus, which was 
 brought from near Athens, and was presented to Cardinal 
 Richelieu, is a wonderful specimen of ancient Greek carving, 
 as is also an inscribed Altar of Bacchus. The statue of Jupiter 
 Ammon is also remarkable. It was set up in a temple in Thrace 
 by Sesostris. There are also over one hundred antique busts, 
 including those of most of the Roman Emperors. 
 
 It would be impossible within the limits of a short article 
 to enumerate all the objects of artistic and historical interest 
 with which Wilton abounds, and I have only attempted to give a 
 brief description of an old English home which has survived the 
 storms of some three hundred and fifty years. 
 
Xonoleat 
 
 203 
 
■-!■ r lff-<-w 
 
 THE EAST AND NORTH FRONTS OF LONQLEAT 
 
 LONGLEAT 
 
 BY A. H. MALAN 
 
 ONE particular charm about Longleat is that, with all its 
 grandeur, it is essentially a home ; and having, since 
 it was first built, known but one family, there is about 
 the place all that individuality, arising out of continuity of occu- 
 pation, which a mansion that has often changed hands cannot 
 pretend to possess. 
 
 August and imposing as may be the rooms and corridors, 
 they are all habitable to a degree of luxurious comfort. Not 
 excepting the Hall, where the general features carry the mind 
 back full three centuries ; but the pilgrim is not on that account 
 obliged to sit on the long form by the long table, facing an array 
 of high-backed chairs, set, equally spaced, against the opposite 
 
2o6 
 
 XoiiQleat 
 
 wall, as there are ordinary chairs grouped around ordinary 
 tables, a sofa for the weary, a piano for the lively, and even a 
 doll's-house is tolerated. 
 
 Sir John Thynne, the builder, "flourished" in the last half 
 of the sixteenth century. Becoming the purchaser of the manor 
 
 as early as 1540, he did 
 not begin to build until 
 1567; meanwhile, like a 
 wise man, sitting down 
 to count the cost, and, 
 as a prudent prelimi- 
 nary, marrying Chris- 
 tian Gresham, daughter 
 of the Lord Mayor of 
 London. Meanwhile, 
 too, so many other 
 things were happening ! 
 Sir John had been stew- 
 ard to the households 
 of the Protector and 
 the Princess Elizabeth ; 
 been put in the Tower, 
 with his friend Sir 
 Thomas Smith (previous and subsequent Secretary of State), 
 and fined ; been commissioned by Queen Mary to be on the 
 qui Vive should Philip of Spain land at Bristol ; he also had 
 to apply his mind to sundry public affairs, such as the Council's' 
 instructions to the justices " to exercise their office, in such 
 unsettled times, without slothfulness, nyceness, and folishe 
 pytie." Between his official duties, howeiver, he could find 
 time to dabble in falconry, asking Thomas Howard to send him 
 a " short- wynked " hawk in return for two casts of lanners 
 
 SIR JOHN THYNNE 
 
207 
 
Xongleat 209 
 
 previously forwarded to the Duke of Norfolk, through Thynne's 
 agency, from the Cheddar cliffs ; his Grace, who was then " oc- 
 casioned to be a contry man and seke waies to recreate himself 
 in passing away his time," having intimated to his " very loving 
 friend" that he "surelie sholde receve moche comfort" from 
 such gifts. 
 
 In 1565 Sir John lost his wife ; but, having the following year 
 married again, he at once set to work to build what would prove 
 to be "then, and perhaps still, the most magnificent country 
 house in England," as Macaulay wrote, after inspecting a good 
 many. Where he procured his designs is not known, but it has 
 been supposed that he used those prepared for the Protector 
 [Duke of Somerset], who had intended building himself a house, 
 but escaped the necessity by being beheaded instead. Wild 
 Darrell, presently, had some nasty remark to make, to the effect 
 that Thynne had annexed other people's plans without paying for 
 them ; but then Darrell may have been rather sore at having, in 
 his habitually straitened circumstances, to find ^50 towards that 
 loan to the Queen, which happened to be managed (1570), as to 
 Wiltshire, by Sir John, as sheriff of the county. The loan in 
 question must have been such a delicate and disagreeable task 
 that this may have been partly the reason why, when, four years 
 later, Elizabeth desired entertainment at Longleat, the ex-sheriff 
 "felt unwell," and shirked the honour as far as might be; yet 
 doing himself full justice as a host, when evasion was no longer 
 possible, by presenting her Majesty with a jewel— " called a 
 Phenix, set with one great emeralde, 50 other dyamonds and 
 rubies, with an appendant peril at the same ; it cost ^140"— 
 which, from the description, was apparently very much the sort 
 of thing that Arabella Stuart is seen wearing in her hair, and on 
 her throat, in one of her portraits here. 
 
 The accounts for building terminate in 1578, ;^8ooo having 
 
2IO Xongleat 
 
 been spent— perhaps equivalent to about ;^8o,ooo of our present 
 money. Two years later, Sir John would have been called upon 
 to master a far more comprehensive charge from the Council, 
 containing all manner of cautions and inquiries, even urging note 
 to be taken "of all such as offend in wearing excess of apparel, or 
 fail to appear in caps on Sundays and holy days." But he was 
 luckily to be spared the formidable and risky task of pronouncing 
 judgment on feminine attire, inasmuch as he passed away in. the 
 early part of 1580; and consequently it devolved on his heir to 
 see to all such matters at his discretion ; as also, later on, to 
 muster so. many " musketts, calyvers, pikemen and bowmen," 
 and to take heed that the beacon on Cley Hill was not fired 
 "upon any lewde devise," when the agitation of those unsettled 
 times culminated in the Armada panic. 
 
 The outside of the house is not described, to save space, and 
 because it is thought the photographs speak for themselves. 
 
 On entering the Hall you face some old armour and weapons, 
 part of which may have been worn in those days and part in Sir 
 James Thynne's service, when-, in 1643, Longleat was forcibly en- 
 tered by the Roundheads underiSir Edward Hungerford. You nec- 
 essarily note also the large hunting-scenes (in which the second 
 Viscount and his friends appear), which were evidently designed 
 to fill a large space, and answer that purpose well ; but there are 
 still jarger subjects by Wootton in the Chapel Corridor. On the 
 front of the screen (which was erected by Sir John the younger) 
 those carved and painted shields all indicate alliances of the 
 family, except the three at the top, which were set up out of 
 compliment to three friends of Sir John senior— namely, the Pro- 
 tector, the third Earl of Sussex, and Lord Burghley. 
 
 Let into the entablature over the fireplace, there is, besides 
 the clock, a convenient dial and needle, communicating with a 
 vane on the roof ; so that, as he sits at breakfast (for breakfast is 
 
212 
 
 Xonaleat 
 
 sometimes served here), the master of the house can, according to 
 the season of the year, pretty well guess whether there will be a 
 ■favourable ripple on the trout-ponds, on which (sheltered) side of 
 a cover the woodcocks will be found, or whether a southerly 
 wind proclaims a hunting morning. 
 
 From the Hall we may proceed to the left, into the South 
 Corridor, where are to be found two highly decorated fourteenth- 
 century Italian dower-chests, and a spinet of Queen Elizabeth, 
 looking very like a Japanese cabinet on legs. Archways, here- 
 from, lead into the private apartments ; among which the chate- 
 laine's sitting-room is, as would be anticipated, eminently meet for 
 a lady's use ; everything seeming light and bright, from the white- 
 and-gold distempered walls to the chintz furniture covers. The 
 room is none too large to take the semi-grand, but finds space 
 for a casket of Marie Antoinette, as one of its conspicuous objects. 
 
 With the exception of full-length pictures of Gustavus 
 Adolphus and Robert Devereux, almost the whole of this long 
 corridor appears given up to family portraits, among which are 
 observed these and others : Maria Audley (Mytens), in a richly 
 embroidered dress ; Joan Hayward, and her husband. Sir John the 
 younger ; Catherine Howard, Lady Thynne ; also Lady Louisa 
 Carteret, the connecting link between the Earls of Bath and the 
 later marquisate. The portrait of the lady in the white dress 
 with coloured scarf, holding a mandolin, represents Isabella Rich 
 (daughter of Lord Holland), who made such a matrimonial mud- 
 dle by marrying Sir James Thynne, when she might better have 
 married Lord Thurles (afterwards Lord Ormonde), or better still 
 have remained single ; preferring, as she did, an unfettered life 
 with the Court at Oxford, where she could attend Balliol Chapel 
 airily dressed as an angel, play practical jokes on the dons, and 
 comport herself generally with more giddiness than grace. Her 
 husband, Sir James, entertained Charles II., in 1663, atlongleat. 
 
THE HALL, LONQLEAT, SHOWINQ SCREEN WITH CARVED SHIELDS 
 
 213 
 
2 14 
 
 Xonaleat 
 
 Why John Granville took the title from Bath is not apparent. 
 Lord Weymouth may have done so partly because of his ances- 
 tor, through his mother, and partly because Longleat is near 
 Bath. The title Earl Granville was revived in a brother of a Duke 
 
 of Sutherland, as a. descendant 
 of Jane Gower, daughter of John 
 Granville, Earl of Bath. The 
 Carteret title became merged 
 in the Granville title, and was 
 revived in Henry Frederick, 
 second son of Louisa, Lady 
 Weymouth. 
 
 At the east end of this cor- 
 ridor is the ante-Library, com- 
 municating, to right, with the 
 Green Library, to left with the 
 Red ; and the homeliness of 
 Longleat is well exemplified in 
 both. In the Green Library, 
 for example, are all four earliest editions of Shakespeare; an 
 early black-letter Chaucer (whose first editor was William 
 Thynne, uncle to the builder) ; a folio edition of Diogenes 
 Laertius, with a sentence on the first page in Ken's writing; 
 Halstead's Genealogies; a Thealma, with Isaak Walton's auto- 
 graph ; a Grafton's Bible (1541)— a royal gift to Sir John ; fine 
 editions of the classics ; and a good deal of other literature 
 besides. And above the shelves hang some of the early his- 
 torical portraits, such as Henry VIII., the Protector, and Thomas 
 Seymour (all by Holbein) ; Wriothesley, Sackville, Lucius Carey 
 (by Van Dyck), etc. Yet there is nothing whatever of the dry 
 order of things about the well-shapen, two-bayed room ; on the 
 contrary, a billiard-table and a stand of cues boldly beguile the 
 
 LADY LOUISA CARTERET 
 
THE CORRIDOR, LONQLEAT 
 
 215 
 
2l6 
 
 longleat 
 
 mind from too much erudition, and tiie lingering scent of bygone 
 weeds wholly neutralises any musty aroma from the books. It is 
 the same with the Red Library. Bookcases, and such pictures 
 as those of Philip of Spain, James I., and a pleasing likeness of 
 
 Arabella Stuart, there may be, 
 savouring of the past ; but an 
 equally pleasing portrait of 
 Lady Catharine Thynne 
 (who, by the way, rather 
 looks, in the photograph, as 
 if she were seated at the \yrit- 
 ing-table, in a kind of high- 
 backed chair), the Florentine 
 inlaid work on doors, shut- 
 ters, and shelves, and the 
 general equipment in the way 
 of furniture, are all up to date, 
 and make this Library a most 
 enjoyable morning- or draw- 
 ing-room. Over the fireplace 
 hangs Lord Chancellor Thurlow (by Sir Joshua Reynolds) in 
 a glazed frame : a probable indication that the picture has been 
 exhibited somewhere. 
 
 Northwards through two small sitting-rooms. In one of 
 them is a full-length portrait of the Duchess of Richmond (Van 
 Dyck), in a black velvet dress, coronet on table, pearls in hair ; 
 who, as Frances Howard (of Bindon), " one of the greatest, both 
 for birth and beauty, in the land," having at first "gone a step 
 backward " by marrying a Henry Prannell, presently went two 
 steps forward by marrying Edward, Earl of Hertford, and, after his 
 decease, Ludowick Stuart. Surviving the latter, the Duchess 
 aimed at Royalty, but failed in that, her highest venture. She 
 
 MARY VILLIERS, LADY THYNNE 
 
THE LIBRARY, LONQLEAT 
 
 217 
 
2i8 lonaleat 
 
 was half-sister to the second wife of that Sir Thomas Thynne 
 whose first wife was Maria Audley. 
 
 In the lower Dining-room, which is panelled in oak, are a 
 good many more family portraits, of which at least the following 
 must be mentioned: Sir John, the builder (painted by Holbein 
 in 1566), " cetatis sufe 55 " (which would make him born in 151 1, 
 hot the usual date 'given), wearing a quilted doublet and a 
 badge, holding a sword, and looking as though it would take 
 a good deal to upset his equanimity. Near him, Louisa Carteret 
 (Van der Bank), in a fancy dress worn at the Spanish Ambassa- 
 dor's ball. "Tom of ten thousand" (grandson- of the half-sister 
 of the Duchess of Richmond), who wedded (1682) the greatest 
 catch of the day, Lady Elizabeth Percy, and was left in the lurch 
 by her on the wedding day. A poor enough bargain, in itself, 
 for Thynne ; but, as all the world knows, he did not see the last 
 of the matter then, being murdered shortly after by Konigsmark's 
 agents in Pall Mall. Opposite his portrait (with a fine ebony 
 sideboard between) is Lady Mary Villiers (Kneller), in a mar- 
 vellously fresh-looking blue robe, who, as the widow of that Sir 
 Thomas Thynne who was the father of the first Lord Wey- 
 mouth, afterwards became Lady Landsdowne. She was the 
 granddaughter of Charles 11. 's creature, Chiffinch. 
 
 The grand staircase is quite recent, having been reconstructed 
 as lately as 1808 by Sir Jeffry Wyatville. It is a double stairs, 
 very spacious and lofty, the domed roof having a central skylight, 
 through which the sun sometimes streams on to the pictures in 
 a not very desirable way. At the, foot of the stairs stand two 
 black bears, suggestive of two transmigrated black canons, come 
 to guard the region where their brethren were laid to rest in 
 days when Longleat was an Augustine Priory ; for it appears that 
 in excavating the ground under the staircase, the discovery was 
 made of a number of coffins containing the remains of some of 
 
THE DRAWINQ-ROOM, LONQLEAT 
 
 219 
 
Xonglcat 221 
 
 the priors or canons. Snyder's ' ' Bear-Hunt, and Stag-Hunt " ; Ru- 
 bens, wife, and child, representing the " Holy Family "; Sir Walter 
 Raleigh (Zucchero) ; Robert Dudley, George Villiers, and the Duke 
 of York (Lely) ; the original of Lodge's portrait of Arabella Stuart ; 
 Bishop Fisher; Catharine of Portugal; and some Thynnes — 
 these all adorn the walls of smooth-faced stone, and ought to 
 receive attention on the way to the upper South Corridor. 
 
 To our right, two state bedrooms, simply known as A and 
 B, also contain their quantum of pictures ; among which are 
 Frederick and Elizabeth, King and Queen of Bohemia (Hon- 
 thorst), and "that gracious prince," Henry, son of James 1., 
 (Zucchero), who "did mightily strive to do somewhat of every- 
 thing," — including swimming the Thames so often, that those 
 natatorial exploits perhaps had more to do with his untimely 
 death than any machinations of Rochester. Outside these rooms 
 is a picture of the house painted in 1650 (Dankertz), which shows 
 the general appearance of the place to have been much as it is 
 now, except for a coach-and-six in the foreground. 
 
 The east end of this corridor leads into the New Drawing- 
 room. This has one of those highly ornamental ceilings with 
 which the late Marquis embellished so many of the rooms ; and 
 the walls are draped with old embossed velvet, and have a frieze 
 running along the top, illustrating the story of Circe (Cavalier 
 Libri), brought from a Venetian palace; and there are "Camp- 
 scenes" (Pinturrichio), the "Holy Family" (Titian), the "Virgin 
 and Child " (Pellegrino), and a head by Raphael ; the folding-doors 
 at the west end give an admirable peep into the Hall, showing the 
 fine Tudor roof and shields on the screen even better than they 
 are seen below. But nevertheless it rather suffers from the 
 greater splendour of its neighbour, the Saloon. 
 
 A touch of modern taste is imparted to the light-coloured 
 Gobelin tapestry by dark plush borders serving as "mounts" to 
 
222 
 
 Xongleat 
 
 the hangings ; and bold lines do these perpendicular strips make, 
 to enhance the length and breadth of the room. The marble 
 chimneypiece (copied from one at the Doge's palace), supported 
 
 by its huge 
 Atlantes, is 
 massive with- 
 out being 
 "heavy," and 
 forms one of 
 the chief fea- 
 tures of this 
 imperial apart- 
 m e n t : it 
 would form an 
 excellent pho- 
 tograp h i c 
 sculpture- 
 study in itself,' 
 if vie wed from * 
 the proper 
 point as to 
 lighting, and 
 not merely in- 
 cl u ded (as 
 
 here) in a general view of the whole. There is a table of Talleyrand ; 
 a wonderful clock ; and a Dresden china temple, which no sane 
 persons would touch if they could help it, still less venture to dust. 
 Adjoining is the State Dining-room, reserved for parties ; 
 wherein the caryatides of two more mantelpieces of white mar- 
 ble confront each other, and the old Spanish stamped leather 
 suffers its planished surface to be intruded upon neither by pic- 
 ture nor by ornament save some silver sconces. 
 
 THE LONG GALLERY, LONQLEAT 
 
THE STATE DININQ-ROOM, LONQLEAT 
 
 223 
 
2 24 
 
 Xongleat 
 
 Return we to the head of the great stairs ; thence through 
 the Hall Gallery, up to the higher storey, to go and see the Old 
 Library— perhaps the most interesting part of the whole house, 
 
 alike from its 
 
 contents and 
 its associa- 
 tions. Situated 
 at a corner, 
 and running 
 both ways, 
 but farther on 
 the east than 
 the west side, 
 this gallery, or 
 corridor (it is 
 really a series 
 of attics all in 
 one), contains 
 Longleat's lib- 
 rary of the time 
 of the first 
 Lord W e y - 
 mouth, with 
 additional 
 
 THE LONG GALLERY, LONGLEAT, SHOWING FIREPLACE 
 
 volumes to the number of one thousand, which the said Lord 
 Weymouth was permitted to pick out, at will, from among Ken's 
 books, as an acknowledgment of his protracted hospitality to the 
 Bishop. For when Ken was an undergraduate at "Univ.," he 
 formed a friendship with Thomas Thynne, who was at "the 
 House " ; and so it came about that in the former's case a Univer- 
 sity degree was destined to be by no means the barren honour it 
 often proves to some of us who wear the hood ; as without his 
 
THE OLD LIBRARY, LONQLEAT 
 
 FOR TWENTY YEARS THE STUDY OF BISHOP KEN 
 
 225 
 
226 longleat 
 
 Oxford life Ken would in all probability never have found such 
 splendid isolation, when Bath and Wells should know him as their 
 diocesan no more. 
 
 This Old Library is very rich in controversial divinity (1660 
 onwards), collected by Lord Weymouth and Ken ; and it also 
 has a great variety of Civil War tracts. One section of it has 
 been more recently stored with a very complete collection of 
 pamphlets on the French Revolution. Of the more important 
 manuscripts, one can but indicate a fraction : WiclifPs transla- 
 tion of the Bible ; the Homilies of Origen on the Old Testament ; 
 a Latin Psalter, fourteenth century ; a thirteenth-century Liber 
 Pmtificalis ; a fifteenth-century translation of Bonaventure's Z,^/^ 
 of Christ, intended "for children that haven nede to be fedde 
 with mylke of light doctrine, and not with sad meat of great 
 clergy, and high contemplation"; Registers of various abbeys; 
 The Temple of Glasse, attributed to Chaucer — the only manu- 
 script known ; a very old Register of Glastonbury Abbey, made 
 in 1 1 89 ; the Liber Rubeus Bathonice ; Leicester's CommonweaUh. 
 Then, too, partly here and partly in the muniment-rooms, are a 
 multitude of original letters, valuable for their contents, buteven 
 more so for their autographs, including letters from Elizabeth to 
 George Talbot (one of which with delicious informality begins, 
 " My good old man ") ; several letters of Arabella Stuart ; one of 
 Richard 111.; some of Strafford, the Protector, and Robert Dudley ; 
 one of Amy Robsart ; one from Wolsey, announcing his degrad- 
 ation to Gardiner, in autograph, and signed T. Cardinalis Ebor 
 Miserrimus; and a host of others. The whole collection is prob- 
 ably unrivalled, except by the Hatfield papers ; and of it the 
 Historical Commissioners state, in their report, that " it gives a 
 wonderfully complete and vivid illustration of our civil, military, 
 naval, and ecclesiastical history, and from the earliest times. Its 
 value for historical purposes can scarcely be overrated." 
 
227 
 
228 Xongleat 
 
 For twenty years that gentle but inflexible prelate, who 
 reverenced his conscience more than his king, used this Library 
 as his living-room and study, and thereby so consecrated it for 
 all time that it would be sheer sacrilege to light the very best 
 weed here, even in one of those secret hiding-places at the back 
 of the bookcases. One can fancy the saintly non-juror sunning 
 himself, of a winter's morning, in the deep shelf-lined recesses 
 by the windows, among his books ; on a wet day taking exercise, 
 amid his meditations, by pacing up and down the longer wing 
 of his study ; on a fine day running up to the roof, between 
 whiles, for a breath of air, and to gaze afresh on that fair scene, 
 of gardens, lake, and wood, which afterwards so impressed 
 George 111. that, on coming down from the leads, he expressed 
 the sentiments of Sheba's Queen when the guest of Solomon. 
 The third Lord Weymouth had come of age in 1754, and then 
 laid out the gardens according to " Capability " Brown's ideas. 
 He was created Marquis of Bath in 1789, in which year George 
 III. and his Queen and a retinue of 128 persons visited Longleat, 
 and were all lodged within the house, while thirty thousand 
 Wiltshire men stood outside in the Park. 
 
 Let us descend from these altitudes, to make better acquaint- 
 ance with the scene below, by way of the east terrace, past the 
 crimson and carmine flower-beds, to the lake'edge. A good deal 
 of wild life is to be seen here, almost touching the house. First 
 there are the ducks, in large quantities — not a bird among them 
 pinioned ; wild enough to startle anybody, as they rise with 
 resounding quacks from beyond the fringing bullrushes, and then 
 fly farther on, or back to one of the higher ponds ; or, tired of 
 exercising their paddles on these home waters, take bolder flight 
 over the hill to Sherewater. Then there are the coots, sulky and 
 shy, and always keeping their distance ; and the moor-hens every- 
 where, frisking their tails and skating over the water-lilies till a 
 
22g 
 
230 Xongleat 
 
 clear place suggests a dive. Lower down, swans manoeuvre in 
 the open water, and herons lazily flap to and fro, with a purpose : 
 extracting the big anodons from the mud, and bearing them off 
 in triumph to the seclusion of a tree, there to snip the shells with 
 their strong wedged beaks and devour the esculent contents. 
 And the number of herons is sufficient to cause a considerable 
 layer of broken shells to be found under any tree near, but across, 
 the lake, that you may happen to inspect. 
 
 Strolling along this walk, round by the boat-house and in 
 through a shrubbery, you suddenly find yourself in the Winter 
 garden, gay with all manner of flowers in geometrical box-edged . 
 beds ; with a terrace of mixed borders with trellised bowers of 
 roses running along the path-side ; and reposeifiil with fountain- 
 splash. No rude wind ever intrudes, but all is •sweet-scented 
 and seductive. A lovely spot to have tea in, out-of-doors ; with 
 a convenient orangery running along one side in case of a 
 vagrant shower. 
 
 Then, crossing the head of the lake, and making for that 
 view which everyone visits, a little detour may be taken, to the 
 left, into a bit of the park called the Grove ; for there grow some 
 of the finest trees of their kind— particularly an oak of surprising 
 girth and altitude, some gigantic limes, and some garden poplars 
 termed "arbells." As we proceed, herds of deer are sure to be 
 seen, seeming tame enough when broken up into small groups, 
 but when in larger numbers, massing themselves into a circular 
 laager with their horns outward at the approach of a stranger. 
 
 Higher up is a grotto made of stones fantastically arranged 
 round and over a trough (once served by a spring), and extend- 
 ing some distance on either side of the basin. What possessed 
 anyone to make it here is a mystery. The idea of a secret pas- 
 sage from it to the house may be safely dismissed ; that is a too 
 common tale, too often told for credence. Possibly it might 
 
Xongleat 
 
 2-; I 
 
 have been visible from the house before the trees grew up ; it is 
 certainly older than a large ash whose main roots penetrate the 
 masonry. 
 
 The view from the Ridge, at the point known as " Heaven's 
 Gate," is beautiful enough to have inspired Ken with all manner 
 
 HEAVEN'S GATE " 
 
 VIEW FROM THE RIDBE 
 
 of exalted thoughts, in one direction the Park loses itself in 
 Lord Cork's park at Marston, and consequently there is an ex- 
 tended stretch of wooded knolls and glades not often met with. 
 But the view is not so extensive as it seems ; Paget's monument, 
 ahead, and Beckford's tower, on Lansdown, Bath, to the right, 
 being about the limits of the field. 
 
 To imbibe this view, and then be driven, by the Green drive 
 and through the Aucombe woods to Crockerton pond, — deep, 
 green, land-locked, and tree-fringed,— is to enjoy two very differ- 
 ent samples of characteristic English scenery within half an hour ; 
 that is to say, if using the private roads. But the public road 
 from Horningsham to Warminster provides a very fair equivalent, 
 
232 Xongleat 
 
 passing as it does for a considerable distance through the same 
 woods. Ponticon rhododendrons, azaleas, and patches of St. 
 John's-wort there are in abundance ; and anywhere the wayfaring 
 man, if tired or hot, can recline sub tegmine, without let from 
 hedge or fence, seeing around him Nordmanhs coning only at the 
 top, and comely silvers, and other conifers, and deciduous trees, 
 but never a Weymouth pine ; for though the Weymouth pine 
 was introduced by the first Lord Weymouth from North America, 
 the tree has the bad grace not to thrive here. 
 
 And thus the road goes on, gradually trending downwards, 
 till at last it emerges from the woods. And then, when stiff 
 thorn-hedges and open fields and bare flinty Wiltshire downs 
 suddenly present themselves, with a sort of rude shock it is 
 quickly realised that you have passed beyond even the outskirts 
 of Longleat the Magnificent. 
 
IRufCorb Hbbeig 
 
 233 
 
RUFFORD ABBEY 
 
 y 
 
 RUFFORD ABBEY 
 
 BY LORD SAVILE 
 
 THE Manor of RufFord was at the commencement of the 
 twelfth century the fee of Gilbert de Gaunt. This Gil- 
 bert was a grandson of Gislebert de Gaunt, a nephew of 
 William the Conqueror, and his name appears on the roll of Bat- 
 tle Abbey. Gilbert married Roesia, Countess of Lincoln, and 
 was himself created Earl of Lincoln. On his deathbed, in the 
 year 1 148, he bequeathed Rufford to a colony of Cistercian 
 monks from Rievaulx. The deed of gift, which is in Latin, is in 
 a perfect state of preservation. It bears the seal of Gilbert, and 
 runs as follows :" 1, Gilbert de Gaunt, Earle of Lincoln, to all 
 men and to all his children of the Holy Church, greeting. Know 
 ye me to have given and granted, in perpetual alms, to the 
 
 monks of Rievaulx, for the souls of my father and mother, and 
 
 235 
 
236 TRuffor& Hbbei? 
 
 for the remission of my sins, my manor of Rufford, and whatso- 
 ever I have there in domains, to make an abbey of the order of 
 Cistercians, to the honour of our beloved Lady, Saint Mary the 
 Virgin." 
 
 A confirmation of this gift was made by King Stephen, and 
 the estate is still called the Liberty of Rufford, and is exempt 
 from the parochial system. 
 
 When Henry Vlll. swept away the abbeys of England, Ruf- 
 ford was given by him to George, fourth Earl of Shrewsbury. 
 His grandson, the sixth Earl, had charge of Mary, Queen of 
 Scots ; he married, firstly, a daughter of the first Earl of Rutland, 
 by whom he had several children, and secondly, the celebrated 
 Bess of Hardwick, widow of Sir W. Cavendish, by "whom she 
 had had three sons and three daughters. Her second daughter, 
 Elizabeth, was married, in the Chapel at Rufford, to Charles 
 Stuart, younger brother of Darnley, the father of James 1., while 
 he was on a visit therewith his mother, the Countess of Lennox ; 
 the ill-fated Arabella Stuart was the result of 'this union. An 
 amusing, letter on the subject written by Lord Shrewsbury to 
 Lord Bur'ghley shows that he was very nervous as to the manner 
 in which this act of his matchmaking and scheming v/ife would 
 be viewed by his sovereign ; his fears were not unfounded, for 
 the mothers of both bride and bridegroom paid a short visit to 
 the Tower. Meanwhile Bess had married her step-daughter, 
 Lady Mary Talbot, to Sir George Savile of Thornhill, Lupset, and 
 Wakefield, and the Rufford estate was made over to him. He 
 was created a baronet June 29, 161 1. 
 
 Their son, likewise Sir George, married Anne, daughter of 
 Sir W. Wentworth, and sister of Thomas Wentworth, the great 
 Earl of Strafford, of whom a splendid portrait by Van Dyck hangs 
 in the Billiard-room. 
 
 Strafford was often the guest of his brother-in-law, Sir 
 
THE BRICK HALL, RUFFORD ABBEY 
 
 THE ANCIENT BANQUETING HALL 
 
 237 
 
238 1RufEort> Hbbe^ 
 
 George. There are many interesting letters from him in the pos- 
 session of the writer, among others one dated from Dublin 
 Castle, December, 1633, addressed to his young nephew, to 
 whom he gives, at considerable length, advice as to the manage- 
 ment of his large estates ; laying down many rules for his guid- 
 ance through life generally, and warning him especially against 
 making too early an appearance at Court, before he should be 
 capable of contending with the dangers that would surely there 
 beset him. In the Strafford papers he relates a curious anecdote 
 of James 1. when hunting with his Court at Rufford. " The loss 
 of the stag, and the hounds hunting foxes instead of deer, put the 
 king into a marvellous chaff, accompanied with those ordinary 
 symptoms better known to you courtiers, 1 conceive, than to us 
 rural swains : in the height whereof comes a clown galloping 
 in and staring him full in the face : ' His blood ! ' quoth he, 
 ' am 1 come forty miles to see a fellow ? ' And presently, in a 
 great rage, turns about his horse, and away he goes faster thaji he 
 came ; the address whereof caused His Majesty and the compafiy 
 • to burst out into a vehement laughter ; and so the fume for that 
 time was happily dispersed." 
 
 The Stuarts were frequent visitors at Rufford ; Thoroton says : 
 "This place hath often entertained King James and King Charles 
 his son, being very pleasant and commodious for hunting in the 
 forest of Shirewood." During the Commonwealth, it was one of 
 the places appointed for the rendezvous of persons disaffected to 
 the Government. 
 
 The large cedar on the lawn was planted by Charles II. dur- 
 ing one of his visits to Rufford. 
 
 Sir William Savile, the third Baronet, was the leader of the 
 Royalist forces in Yorkshire during the troublous times of the 
 Civil War. When not engaged in fighting, he lived at Rufford ; 
 just before his death he ordered his old Hall at Thornhill, near 
 
THE PICTURE GALLERY, RUFFORD ABBEY 
 
 239 
 
240 IRutEorb U\)bc'^ 
 
 Wakefield, to be burnt down, to prevent it being used as a gar- 
 rison for the forces of the Parliament. He was appointed, in 
 1643, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the town and Castle 
 of Sheffield, but died the following year. His widow, a daughter 
 of Lord Keeper Coventry, remained on in the Castle of Sheffield, 
 which she gallantly defended against the besiegers, although 
 daily expecting her confinement, and being, of course, unable to 
 obtain any medical assistance. It was only when the walls were 
 actually battered in that her own soldiers, to save the heroic 
 lady, gave- up the keys. Lady Savile was allowed to march out 
 with the honours of war, and to have an escort to Rufford, where 
 she was confined the next day. Her eldest son, Sir George 
 Savile, was destined to become one of the most famous, and per- 
 haps the most powerful man of his time. He was created Lord 
 Savile, then Viscount, and afterwards Marquis of Halifax. 
 
 This great statesman adored his Nottinghamshire home, and 
 in spite of the high positions he occupied and the honours that 
 were conferred, upon him, he was never so happy as when he 
 could live quietly down there among his books and pictures. In 
 writing from Windsor Castle at the end of July, 1679, where he 
 was detained by the cares of office, he laments that the summer is 
 passing without his being able to see his poor old Rufford, which 
 he prefers to Windsor in all its glory, and yearns for with the 
 longing of an absent lover. 
 
 To the "Trimmer," however, it is due that but a portion 
 now remains of the original abbey. In a letter dated from Ruf- 
 ford, February 7, 1680, to his brother Henry Savile— then Envoy 
 Extraordinary to Louis XIV.— he begins : 
 
 " 1 am once more got to my old tenement, which I had not 
 seen since I had given orders to renew and repair it.. It looketh 
 now somewhat better than when you was last here ; and besides 
 the charms of your native soil, it hath something more to recom- 
 
241 
 
IRufEort) Hbbe^ 243 
 
 mend itself to your kindness, than when it was so mixt with the 
 old ruins of the abbey that it looked like a medley of superstition 
 and sacriledge, and though 1 have still left some decayed front of 
 old building, yet there are none of the rags of Rome remaining. 
 It is now all heresye, which in my mind looketh pretty well, and 
 I have at least so much reverence for it now as 1 had when it was 
 encumbered with those sanctified ruins." 
 
 Lord Halifax married firstly, Dorothy Spencer, daughter of 
 the Earl of Sunderland and of the famous " Sacharissa," who was 
 constantly at Rufford, and who was an ardent admirer of the 
 character and talents of her son-in-law. Indeed, after the death 
 of her second husband. Sir Robert Smythe, Lady Sunderland 
 appears to have made it her home from 1663 to the autumn of 
 1667. 
 
 After the death of Dorothy, Lady Halifax, in 1670, Lord 
 Halifax endeavoured to find distraction in public life, and for a 
 short time represented Great Britain as Minister at The Hague. 
 
 In 1674, his second marriage took place, to Gertrude Pierre- 
 pont, daughter of William Pierrepont of Thoresby, and grand- 
 daughter of the first Earl of Kingston. Lord Halifax died in 1695 
 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Macaulay says of him : 
 "Among the statesmen of that age Halifax was, in genius, the 
 first. His intellect was fertile, subtle, and capacious. His pol- 
 ished, 'uminous, and animated eloquence, set off by the silver 
 tones of his voice, was the delight of the House of Lords. His 
 conversation overflowed with thought, fancy, and wit. . . . 
 He was the chief of those politicians whom the two gr^at parties 
 contemptuously called Trimmers. Instead of quarrelling with 
 this nickname, he assumed it as a title of honour, and vindicated, 
 with great vivacity, the dignity of the appellation. ' Everything 
 good,' he said, 'trims between extremes. The temperate zone 
 trims between the climate in which men are roasted and the 
 
244 IRuffort) Ubbc^ 
 
 climate in which they are frozen. The English Church trims 
 between the Anabaptist madness and the Papist lethargy. The 
 English constitution trims between Turkish despotism and Polish 
 anarchy. Virtue is nothing but a just temper between propensi- 
 ties any one of which, if indulged to excess, becomes vice. Nay, 
 the perfection of the Supreme Being Himself consists in the 
 exact equilibrium of attributes, none of which could preponderate 
 without disturbing the whole moral and physical order of the 
 world.' Thus Halifax was a Trimmer on principle. He was also 
 a Trimmer by the constitution both of his head, and of his heart. 
 His understanding was keen, sceptical, inexhaustibly fertile in 
 distinctions and objections ; his taste refined ; his sense x)f the 
 ludicrous exquisite ; his temper placid and forgiving, but fastidi- 
 ous, and by no means prone either to malevolence or to enthusi- 
 astic admiration. Such a man could not long be constant to any 
 band of political allies. He must not, however, be confounded 
 with the vulgar crowd of renegades. For though, like them, he 
 passed from side to side, his transition was always in the direc- 
 tion opposite to theirs. ... To his lasting honour it must 
 be mentioned that he attempted to save those victims whose fate 
 has left the deepest stain both on the Whig and on the Tory 
 name." 
 
 Lord Halifax was succeeded by his son, Lord Eland, who 
 married a daughter of the Earl of Nottingham, but leaving no son 
 the marquisate became extinct, and his cousin. Sir John Savile, 
 succeeded to the estates and the baronetcy. 
 
 The eighth and last Baronet was the celebrated Sir George 
 Savile, who in five successive Parliaments represented the county 
 of York. He died unmarried in 1784. His sister, Barbara Savile, 
 married, in the Chapel at Rufford, Richard, fourth Earl of Scar- 
 borough, and to their younger son, John Lumley-Savile, Sir 
 George bequeathed his Rufford and Yorkshire estates. Mr. 
 
THE GRAND STAIRCASE, RUFFORD ABBEY 
 
 245 
 
246 IRutEorD abbei? 
 
 Lumley-Savile ultimately succeeded to the earldom of Scar- 
 borough, and was the great-grandfather of the present owner. 
 
 George IV., when Prince, of Wales, paid a visit to Ruflbrd. 
 During this visit Charles Dibdin, the poet, who had accompanied 
 his Royal Highness as Master of the Ceremonies, wrote his cele- 
 brated song. The Woodman's Stroke, after having witnessed the 
 felling of an oak in the park. 
 
 The principal approach to Rufford Abbey is by the lodge on 
 the Nottingham road. A fine stone gateway, surmounted by the 
 arms of the family, opens on a once grand avenue of limes. They 
 have, alas ! suffered severely in the gales of -recent years, and 
 more than one of these decrepit old giants now depends" on the 
 doubtful support of his neighbour. As you descend this avenue 
 the west front of the house gradually becomes visible, with its 
 quaint gables and mullioned windows. This is the decayed front 
 of the old abbey alluded to above. A bridge connects the car- 
 riage drive with a fine stone portal with twisted columns, the 
 door of which opens on a lobby of carved oak panels with a col- 
 lection of curious old weapons and armour, ^hree steps lead 
 you into the ancient' Banqueting Hall witlf floor of red brick in 
 mosaic devices. A wainscot of dark oak panelling runs round 
 the Hall, and on it hang pictures of the Tudor period, portraits of 
 Arabella Stuart as a girl, of Sir William and Lady Savile the hero- 
 ine of Sheffield Castle, and several of the Sidney family. Above 
 the wainscot the walls are covered with tapestries of the Flemish 
 school. Across the Hall near the entrance is an oaken screen 
 carved with quaint Elizabethan tracery. Beyond the arches at 
 either end of the screen stand men in armour placed in front of 
 Gothic tapestry. Above their helmets rises the minstrels' gallery. 
 Along the whole length of the Hall, under the windows, runs a 
 narrow oak table blackened with age, a relic of the Cistercian 
 monks, together with the benches used by them at their meals. 
 
THE CHAPEL, RUFFORD ABBEY 
 
 247 
 
248 IRufEorb Hbbci? 
 
 In the centre of the Hall is an enormous fireplace of stone, with 
 Elizabethan carving. Crossing the dais at the upper end, you 
 find the door leading to the Library, a fine room with a ceiling 
 of great beauty. Above the bookcases the walls are covered 
 with rich red velvet brocade, forming a good background to the 
 pictures and china. Over the large stone fireplace hangs, a fine 
 portrait of the Prince of Wales in Garter robes, painted by the 
 late Augustus Savile, H.M. Marshal of the Ceremonies, who, be- 
 sides being of great social fame, was, like his brother the late 
 Lord Savile, an artist of considerable talent. 
 
 The Drawing-room walls and ceiling are decorated with 
 carvings of flowers, medallions, and ribbons in white and gold, 
 and the walls are panelled with crimson and white silk of the 
 basket pattern. The furniture is entirely covered with exquisite 
 specimens of Gobelin and Beauvais tapestry of the Louis XV. 
 period. 
 
 The Billiard-room contains many interesting family portraits, 
 among others those of the sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, the husband 
 of Bess of Hardwick ; Sir Henry Savile, Provost of Eton in the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth, and founder of the Savilian fellowship 
 at the University of Oxford, by Marcus Garrett ; a magnificent 
 portrait of Strafford by Van Dyck ; Barbara, Countess of Scar- 
 borough, by Sir Joshua Reynolds; Lord Halifax, by Sir G. Kneller, 
 and both his wives by Sir P. Lely ; Prince Rupert by Lely, and 
 Lady Savile by Romney. 
 
 The Picture Gallery or Ballroom, which forms part of the 
 wing built by Lord Halifax, is one hundred and twenty-four feet 
 in length, with floor of oaken parquet, and a ceiling copied from 
 one at Hardwick. On the walls of one side of this fine room 
 hang pictures by Velasquez, Rembrandt, Teniers, Van Dyck, Mu- 
 rillo, V\^atteau, Greuze, and Gainsborough ; the other side is en- 
 tirely covered with fine specimens of Brussels tapestry. 
 
249 
 
250 IRuffort) Hbbe^ 
 
 The Dining-room is, perhaps, the least imposing one of the 
 house, but it contains some noteworthy pictures and family por- 
 traits, besides a magnificent collection of racing cups, mostly 
 trophies won by the late Mr. Henry Savile, whose celebrated 
 horse, Cremorne, was the winner of the Derby of 1872, 
 
 The grand staircase, of carved oak, was designed and built 
 by the late Lord Savile, H.M. Ambassador at Rome ; the fine 
 bay window which forms the first landing being the only addi- 
 tion to the outside of the house since the alterations made by 
 Lord Halifax. The windows of this landing are coloured with 
 the coats-of-arms of the family from the time that Sir George 
 Savile obtained the property through his marriage with Lady 
 Mary Talbot in 1590. ..A smaller oak staircase leads down to the 
 Chapel, the date of which in its present state is uncertain ; but 
 it clearly existed in the time of Bess of Hardwick, for there, as 
 already, mentioned, was celebrated her daughter's marriage to 
 Charles Stuart- in 1574. Its walls are covered with tapestry, and 
 the pews of very black oak are surmounted by handsomely 
 caryed finials. The large gallery above, which forms the pew 
 of the family, contains no prayer-books of more recent date than 
 that of Charles II. In the floor of the aisle is a tombstone with 
 a cross incised and an inscription in Latin, " Robert de Markham, 
 a monk of this house who died in 1309," — but this slab was no 
 doubt placed in the Chapel at a later period. 
 
 Descending from the family pew by a stone staircase, you 
 come to the basement floor. It was at the foot of this stair- 
 case that, about thirty years ago, on removing some large flags 
 which always seemed damp, a skeleton was found with a bullet 
 hole through the skull. The bones were removed to Wellow 
 churchyard and buried there. Past the lower door of the 
 Chapel and along a stone corridor, you come to the Servant's 
 Hall ; this was the old Crypt of the abbey, an immense hall 
 
VIEW OF THE ABBEY FROM THE LAKE 
 
 251 
 
252 IRufEort) aubei? 
 
 with vaulted roof, huge columns of stone, and a fireplace of colos- 
 sal dimensions. 
 
 The cellars which adjoin the Crypt are extremely interesting, 
 being of the same architecture but entirely unaltered since the 
 days of the monks ; the walls throughout this portion of the 
 house are six feet in thickness. 
 
 But the bedroom floor is what appears more than all to 
 attract the admiration of visitors to Rufford. Many of these 
 rooms are hung with splendid specimens of Brussels tapestry 
 made specially for them. In the Stuart Room, where both the 
 Charleses skpt, these represent the history of Queen Esther. In 
 the State-room scenes from the life of Marcus Aurelius adorn the 
 walls. The furniture in most of the bedrooms is French of the 
 Louis XIV. and XV. periods. 
 
 Rufford has always had the reputation of being haunted ; 
 and though the present owner, after many years' residence, can 
 add' no testimony of his own on the subject, there are several 
 persons of undoubted veracity still living who affirm that, they 
 have seen "the little old lady in black." More recently great 
 alarm was occasioned to one of the guests by a visit from a gi- 
 gantic monk with a death's-head under his cowl. V/hatever the 
 explanation of these mysterious appearances may be, it is certain 
 that the belief in them was both wide-spread and widely cred- 
 ited ; for in an early Register of the parish church at Edwin- 
 stowe was entered the burial of a man who " died from fright 
 after seeing the Rufford ghost." 
 
 The Park is undulating and finely wooded. Round the 
 house tall fences of yew and of holly are cut into fantastic shapes. 
 Three streams run through the garden, and wind their way into 
 a lake dotted with islands with fine old clumps of trees upon 
 them. Below a winter garden filled with immense palms rises a 
 fountain, which flows into the ancient stew or fishpond bordered 
 
253 
 
254 IRutforJ) Hbbe^ 
 
 with daffodils. Here, when in the mood for dreaming, we can 
 picture to ourselves the white-clad forms of the Cistercian Broth- 
 ers, engaged in the absorbing pursuit of procuring their Friday's 
 meal, while not forgetting, let us hope, to breathe a prayer for 
 the soul of their departed benefactor, Gilbert of Gaunt. 
 
Compton M^n^ates 
 
 255 
 
,1 
 
 THE WEST FRONT OF COMPTON WYNYATES 
 
 COMPTON WYNYATES 
 
 BY ALICE DRYDEN 
 
 THOSE fortunate enough to penetrate the rural depths of 
 Warwickshire and reach Compton Wynyates, the ances- 
 tral home of the Comptons, will have imprinted in their 
 minds a vision of colour and architectural beauty set in quiet 
 country surroundings. Indeed, the peace is absolutely unbroken, 
 and as we gaze at one beautiful feature after another, it is hard to 
 believe that we are not transported back by some enchantment to 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 In addition to its beauty the house is extremely interesting. 
 It was built after the fortified castles were out of date, and yet 
 retains the moat, secret hiding-places, and numerous staircases for 
 
 257 
 
258 Compton Mi^n^atcs 
 
 refuge and escape in case of attack. Its chief safety, however, 
 was its situation ; for, built in a hollow with the ground rising on 
 every side, it would often escape discovery. Camden wrote of 
 it as "Compton in the Hole," adding that "though in a hole yet 
 is it not without its pleasures." On the top of the rise towards 
 Banbury, as a guide before a road was made, there still stands a 
 pile of stones called Compton Pike. 
 
 The moat is now filled up except on one side, where it 
 nearly surrounds an old garden, and both form a foreground to 
 the quaint back of the house. As the front of the building bursts 
 upon us it is surrounded by a lawn With curious old-fashioned 
 flagged pathways. ' It is indeed a most picturesque pile of ex- 
 quisite colouring : built of small red bricks widely separated by 
 mortar, with occasional chequers of blue bricks ; the mouldrngs 
 and facings of yellow local stone, the woodwork -of the two 
 gables carved and black with age, the stone slates cover^ed with 
 lichens, and mellowed by the hand of time, the whole building 
 has an indescribable charm. The architecture, too, is all irregu- 
 lar :' towers here and there, gables of different heights, any 
 straight line embattled, few windows placed exactly over others, 
 and the whole fitly surmounted by the elaborate carved and 
 moulded brick chimneys of different designs, some fluted, others 
 zigzagged, others spiral, or combined spiral and fluted. 
 
 Of the Comptons who owned the property before the time 
 of Henry VII. it is unnecessary to say anything, since one is 
 writing of the house rather than of the family. In that reign 
 William Compton, son and heir of Edmund, was, at his father's 
 death, left a minor of eleven years of age. Being a ward of the 
 Crown, he was appointed to attend on Henry, Duke of York, 
 afterwards Henry VIII., and enjoyed the King's favour till his 
 death in 1528. He died possessed of large landed estates, having 
 manors in twenty-one different counties : among the rest that of 
 
THE NORTH FRONT OF COMPTON WYNYATES 
 
 259 
 
26o 
 
 Compton Mi^ni^ates 
 
 Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire. In the beginning of the 
 King's reign Sir William had been appointed keeper of Fulbroke 
 Park, with permission to pull down some buildings there and 
 
 use the materials for 
 his own house at 
 Compton Wyn- 
 yates, round which, 
 in 15 19, he obtained 
 the King's license 
 to enclose a park 
 of t w o thousand 
 acres. 
 
 A curious ques- 
 tion arises as to 
 what parts of the 
 house were brought 
 from Fulbroke, 
 which was distant 
 about fourteen 
 miles. The build- 
 ings were ruinous 
 in 1478, though not 
 of great age, as in 
 the time of Richard 11. Joan, Lady Bergavenny, had built there 
 a gatehouse and lodge, and just previously John, Duke of Bed- 
 ford, brother of Henry V., had erected a castle of brick and 
 stone, from which castle, if the tradition is correct, came those 
 wonderful brick chimneys said to have been transported in pan- 
 niers on donkeys. This, however, is unlikely, as they are of the 
 same date as the house. 
 
 The first building of Compton Wynyates as it stands now 
 was between 1509 and Sir William's death in 1528, and it seems 
 
 SPENCER COMPTON, EARL OF NORTHAMPTON 
 FROM THE ENGRAVING IN LODGE'S "PORTRAITS" 
 
Compton Mi?n^ates 
 
 261 
 
 unlikely that anything more was done for some time, for his son 
 and successor died before he was of age, leaving an infant heir, 
 Henry, who became the first Baron Compton, and commenced 
 building Castle Ashby. He died in 1589, leaving a young son 
 William, who was the hero of the " baker's-basket elopement." 
 The story runs that he fell in love with the only child of Sir John 
 Spencer, one of the most opulent of London's merchant princes, 
 
 SOUTH-WEST ANGLE AND GARDEN 
 
 proverbially known at the time as " rich Spencer." The course 
 of true love, however, did not run smooth, as Sir John by no 
 means approved of the advances of the young courtier, and posi- 
 tively refused his consent to the marriage ; so Lord Compton 
 devised a plan to outwit Sir John and carry off his lady-love. A 
 bribe to the baker enabled him to disguise himself and deliver the 
 loaves one morning ; as soon as the basket was emptied the lady 
 got in, and Lord Compton was boldly carrying his precious load 
 downstairs when he was met by Sir John, who, luckily not 
 recognising him, gave him a sixpence as a reward for being so 
 early, observing that that was the way to thrive. On discovering 
 the truth Sir John was so angry that he disinherited his daughter ; 
 
262 Compton TRIlijn^atcs 
 
 and the quarrel was made up only through the intervention of 
 Queen Elizabeth, who invited him to stand sponsor with her tor 
 a child whom he promised to adopt — to find it was his own 
 grandson. It is said that on his death in 1610 he left, according 
 to the lowest accounts, / 300,000— a prodigious sum in those 
 days. 
 
 By this marriage with the Spencer heiress the now valuable 
 property of Islington came into the Compton family, including 
 Sir John's manor-house at Canonbury. On inheriting this great 
 fortune it was Lady Compton's wish that Castle Ashby should be 
 built up ; so my Lady's grand notions fortunately found a safe 
 outlet without destroying the old manor-house of Henry Vlll.'s 
 time. Lord Compton was created Earl of Northampton by James 
 1., whom he entertained at Compton in 1617, and, dying in 1630, 
 was succeeded by his son Spencer, a brilliant scholar and an 
 accomplished gentleman, described by Clarendon as "a person 
 of great courage, honour, and fidelity." When the Civil War 
 broke out he was one of the most energetic supporters of the 
 Royal cause, and Compton Wynyates became a battle-ground of 
 opposing factions. The Compton family threw all their energy 
 and wealth on the King's side ; and when Lord Northampton led 
 his well-disciplined regiment of green-coats into the field at 
 Edgehill it contained three of his sons ; a fourth shed tears 
 because he was not yet old enough to handle a pistol. Lord 
 Northampton was killed at the battle of Hopton Heath, and there 
 is a touching letter written at the time by his eldest son James to 
 his mother. 
 
 This James succeeded his father as Governor of Banbury 
 Castle, and was himself succeeded by his brother Sir William, 
 who held it till the close of the War, and with his brother. Sir 
 Charles, made a daring but unsuccessful attempt to recover their 
 home from the Parliamentarians. It had been taken in 1644 by a 
 
THE SOUTH AND WEST FRONTS OF COMPTON WYNYATES 
 
 263 
 
264 Compton M^n^ates 
 
 party of four hundred foot and three hundred horse, that lay 
 before Compton Wynyates for two days, drove the park, killed 
 all the deer, defaced the monuments in the church, and carried 
 off to Banbury, besides officers and soldiers, ;^50oo in money, 
 sixty or eighty horses, four hundred sheep, one hundred and 
 sixty head of cattle, eighteen loads of plunder, and five or six 
 earthen pots of money found in the fish-pond. 
 
 There is a tradition that a considerable number of the Cava- 
 liers who had been wounded in the attack remained in the house 
 when it was taken ; they were said to have been concealed by 
 Lady Northampton in the roofs, which are entered by a trap- 
 door, and were tended by her, presumably escaping without the 
 Puritan garrison knowing anything about it. The Puritans held 
 the house till the surrender of Banbury, in 1646. 
 
 From this account it would appear that there was a second 
 court in front of the present house, with a drawbridge, and that 
 there were outworks behind the stables and a stone bridge cross- 
 ing the moat, defended by a sconce or temporary wooden screen. 
 The house stood behind all these, and so escaped damage. The 
 moat was probably filled up in the last century, when the family 
 thought Compton damp, but warmer than Castle Ashby as a 
 winter residence. The barn, probably rebuilt in the year 1642, 
 was pulled down only in the present century. The stables and 
 outbuildings were finally cleared away by Charles, third Marquis 
 —when the approach to the house was turned into its present 
 condition of open lawn. 
 
 The Parliamentary party allowed James, Lord Northampton, 
 to enjoy his estates in peace on his paying a heavy composition ; 
 and he probably made alterations and repairs to his house after 
 the damage it must have sustained, putting in windows with 
 plain mouldings and a transom, of a darker stone. The original 
 windows were of yellow stone, and pointed-arched. Some of 
 
THE PORCH, COMPTON WYNYATES, SHOWING ARMS OF HENRY VIII. 
 
 265 
 
266 Compton W^ni^atcs 
 
 these were afterwards replaced by sashes, and have been since 
 reconverted into Gothic windows. The sashes were put in by 
 George, fourth Earl, after the fashion of his times. He also did -a 
 good deal both for Compton and Castle Ashby, where he re- 
 planted the great avenue. He was succeeded in 1727 by his son 
 James, whose initials " 1. M." are on the leaden rainwater pipes 
 at both places. He, to his discredit, prepared the walls for paper- 
 ing, and hid some of the old Gothic chimneypieces under slabs of 
 marble. But it was Spencer, the eighth Earl, who proved a 
 notorious and extravagant owner of Compton Wynyates, and 
 nearly brought about its total destruction. In 1768, he took an 
 active part in a contested election to nominate a member for the 
 borough of Northampton. His opponents were Lord Spencer and 
 Lord Halifax ; the latter was ruined, and the former spent .^i}o,- 
 000, and left a legacy of debt on his estate besides. The eating 
 and drinking that went on in an election in those days was 
 astonishing, and it is said that after draining Lord Halifax's cellars 
 of port, the electors were offered claret, and this not being to 
 their liking they rnigrated in a body to clear out the port at Castle 
 Ashby. It is not surprising that even Lord Northampton was 
 reduced to cutting down his timber, and after selling most of his 
 furniture at Castle Ashby and the whole of that at Compton he 
 spent the rest of his life in Switzerland. Before going abroad he 
 gave orders that Compton should be pulled down, as he could 
 not afford to repair it ; but, by good luck, the faithful steward of 
 of the estate, John Berrill, did his best to keep out the weather 
 and preserve the house for posterity, as he said he was sure the 
 family would come back there some day. Most of the windows 
 were bricked up to save window tax, and the glorious old build- 
 ing that had entertained kings and queens remained bare and 
 desolate for many years, excepting a small portion that was used 
 as a farmhouse 1 
 
A VIEW IN THE COURT, COMPTON WYNYATES 
 
 267 
 
268 
 
 Compton M^n^ates 
 
 Fortunately its day has now come again, and its late owners 
 have repaired it with taste and care. Charles, third Marquis, in 
 1867 employed Sir Digby Wyatt to rebuild the great staircase; 
 
 and the Tudor win- 
 dows that had been 
 altered in Queen 
 Anne's time were re- 
 stored from his own 
 drawings ; also the 
 Hall screen, which 
 had been painted 
 white, was cleaned 
 and repaired among 
 many necessary re- 
 storations. The late 
 Marquis built a new 
 home for the tenant, 
 and so recovered the 
 use of the whole 
 house. It is now the 
 summer residence of 
 the present Lord and 
 Lady Northampton, 
 who have laid out the garden to match the old place ; and 
 soon the yew hedges and parterres of roses and gilly-flowers 
 will appear as though they have had an uninterrupted existence 
 from the days of hoops and periwigs. The lawn, where once 
 the moat flowed, intervenes between the garden and the 
 south side of the house, where the Chapel window is the central 
 feature ; and creepers climb round the Drawing-room windows 
 and up the towers, the bright green of their leaves bringing out 
 the warm tones of the crimson brickwork. The highest gable in 
 
INTERIOR OF THE COURT, COMPTON WYNYATES, SHOWING THE 
 TWISTED CHIMNEYS 
 
 269 
 
Compton M^n^ates 271 
 
 this front is that of the " Roman Catholic Chapel." One of its 
 windows looks out on the parapet, and beneath, facing west, is 
 the four-light one of the "Guard-room." Many of the smaller 
 windows in various parts of the house indicate the position of 
 staircases, of queer little rooms or cupboards. Most old houses 
 contain these recesses, but the number of both them and the 
 staircases at Compton is unusual and remarkable. 
 
 Facing west is the entrance front : the two gables, with their 
 carved black barge-boards, are of different heights, and at differ- 
 ent distances from the entrance porch ; that on the right con- 
 tained the officers' quarters of olden days. The Porch is of the 
 earliest date of the house, and, both inside and out, is a most' 
 attractive feature. Over the arch are the arms of Henry Vlll., 
 supported by a dragon on the dexter and a greyhound on the 
 sinister side, and surmounted by a crown, on which is inscribed 
 2)om. • IRey * Ibenricps * ©ctav. The hollow moulding of the 
 dripstone is carved with figures of roses, lizards, and, in one cor- 
 ner, a rose and pomegranate twisted together. On each side is 
 the Tudor rose under a crown. One spandrel of the arch is filled 
 with an uncommon device of Catharine of Aragon, made up on a 
 shield, of a picturesque form of the triple-towered castle of Cas- 
 tile, the pomegranate of Granada, and the sheaf of arrows, a 
 cognisance of her mother Isabella ; the other spandrel has the 
 portcullis, a badge of Henry Vlll. Inside the arch on each side 
 are stone benches, also doors which gave access to the moat. 
 The old double oak doors, moulded with linen pattern outside 
 and strongly panelled within, bear the marks of a long and faith- 
 ful service. The spy window, or lamp-holder, which is of fine 
 design in iron-work, has been removed for better preservation, 
 and hung in the Hall ; it seems of earlier date than the house, so 
 may possibly have come from Fulbroke. 
 
 On the left on entering is the doorway of the porter's lodge, 
 
272 
 
 dompton "JKHijnisates 
 
 and a blocked-up niche through which he probably carried on 
 communications. Inside the lodge, is another spy-hole blocked 
 up, and a staircase giving access to the turret, for the purpose of 
 reconnoitring any one that approached. Beautiful as is the out- 
 side, the inner courtyard loses nothing by comparison ; every 
 feature there may be exactly the same as it was centuries ago, 
 
 though the four 
 squares of turf and 
 flagged paths are 
 really of a later date. 
 The repose and 
 grandeur of the 
 building brings to 
 one's spirit the feel- 
 ing of what little ac- 
 count we are in the 
 presence of such me- 
 morials of the past. 
 Compton differs from many houses of the period in the 
 position of the Hall, more approximating to the collegiate arrange- 
 ment. Usually, the front door, giving access to it through the 
 "screens," is in the outer wall of the house, and often in a porch ; 
 at Compton the doorway in the outer wall is large enough to 
 admit a vehicle, and the Hall is in the opposite side of the Court, 
 thus gaining protection, and enabling windows to be placed lower 
 down. Its grand bay window is the most prominent feature in 
 the Court. The door opens into the passage formed out of the 
 Hall by the old oak screen, which has been roofed over for 
 the advantage of warmth. The two d(3ors corresponding with 
 the kitchen and buttery doors opposite are new, but most of the 
 panels enriched with linen patterns are old, also the central one, 
 which illustrates the " Deeds of Compton, "a most quaint collection 
 
 THE MINSTRELS' GALLERY 
 
Compton Mi?n^ate9 273 
 
 of carved knights in armour, some on horseback, slaying and 
 being slain in extraordinary attitudes. In the centre of this panel 
 are the arms of Sir William, bearing the " honourable augmenta- 
 tion " granted by Henry VIII. " out of the said King's own royall 
 Ensigns and Devises " : the lion of England passant guardant or, 
 to be carried with the three helmets which the Comptons had 
 borne for centuries, quartered with the new arms given with the 
 red dragon crest : argent, a chevron vert within a boYdure azure, 
 bezante. Green and white were Henry Vlll.'s colours. 
 
 The Hall extends to the full height of the house, and has a 
 finely moulded open timber roof springing from a richly carved 
 cornice; it is said to have been brought from Fulbroke, and 
 evidently was originally made for a larger place. 
 
 Behind the screen rises the picturesque "half-timbered" 
 walls of the minstrel gallery. It had all been plastered up and 
 painted white, like the screen, till its beauty was discovered a 
 few years ago. Gallery is indeed a misnomer in this instance, 
 for it is a good-sized room with a separate window, the openings 
 to the Hall resembling windows without glass. It was very con- 
 venient, doubtless, for the repressed ladies of former days to 
 enjoy some of the revelry below. The dais from the bay window 
 end has disappeared, but an old table still remains— an enormous 
 slab twenty-three feet long and thirty inches wide, resting on 
 modern trestles. It is thought by some to have been used for 
 "shovel-board," a popular game in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries, no hall being complete without its board. This fine 
 slab survived the sale of furniture after the spendthrift election, 
 and remains in the Hall with two other survivors— an old leathern 
 jack and an iron chest with a curious intricate lock that was dis- 
 covered imbedded in a corridor wall during this century. How 
 one wishes there were left some of the old suits of armour which 
 had clothed the retainers, or, better still, the suits of the gallant 
 
2 74 Compton Mi?n^ates 
 
 Earl Spencer, or those of his noble sons ! Gone for ever are the 
 armorial relics that ought to be in the beautiful Hall, testifying to 
 the doughty deeds of the gallant Cavaliers who fought in vain. 
 
 Adjoining the Hall is the present Dining-room, formerly a 
 parlour, of which the chimneypiece, in the Chippendale style, is 
 probably of the time of George the fourth Earl. The , plaster 
 ceiling, ornamented with the arms of Compton, is "of the; period 
 of the first Earl. Next to the Dining-room is the archway leading 
 to the great staircase, which, in 1897, underWrCnt an alteration from 
 Wyatt's design ;.the ceiling was copied in -1867 from Canonbury 
 House. This part of the. east side of the house is of later date 
 than the Hall. Over the Dining-room is-the Drawing-room, a 
 most pleasant apartment, with an old high window overlooking 
 the Court, a bow and other re-inserted windows letting in the 
 southern sun towards the garden. . The Nvalls are enriched, with 
 handsome oak panelling .brought by Charles, third Marquis, from 
 Canonbury House, including the carving over the mantelpiece, 
 the cornice over which is modern, also the doors, though; the 
 doorvyays apparently belong to the Italian-Elizabethan style of Sir 
 John Spencer's time ; the ceiling, which was restored when the 
 oak was put up, having been erected probably by Earl James after 
 the Restoration. A doorway in the wall opened originally on to 
 a gallery in the Chapel, which would have been made when the 
 panels of the adjoining room were plastered up. The most lux- 
 urious way of attending prayers is exemplified in the adjoining 
 "Chapel" Drawing-room, where without leaving their seats by 
 the blazing logs the ladies could hear the minister and join in the 
 responses if they thought fit. The room is panelled in oak ; 
 eight of the lowest panels open in pairs like cupboard doors, 
 giving directly on to the Chapel, facing the large south window 
 where the altar stood : it is a most curious contrivance. The 
 panels are now restored and the walls cleaned of their white 
 
CARVING OVER THE DRAWINQ-ROOM FIREPLACE, BROUGHT 
 FROM CANONBURY HOUSE 
 
 275 
 
2 76 Compton M^npates 
 
 paint. Through this room is the so-called "bedchamber of 
 Henry Vlll." where the window is of four lights, containing in 
 each some very good old painted glass, the arms of Henry Vlll. 
 and Catharine of Aragon ; and in the other two lights their 
 badges, the Tudor rose and the castle of Castile, this last being 
 the only one imperfect. They are surmounted by crowns, and 
 the whole are remarkably well drawn. 
 
 Close by this room is one only seven feet square, communi- 
 cating with a secret hiding-place above, by a little narrow stair- 
 case which has a slot for observation, formerly concealed by 
 panelling. The multiplicity of windows and walls in the house 
 would completely baffle an enemy in discovering these secret 
 hiding-places ; and woe betide any honest person nowadays who 
 would try to find his way about unguided, — for with rooms lead- 
 ing out of one another as is usual in old houses, not to mention 
 many with several doors and two or three staircases, it is like a 
 maze to the uninitiated. It is a common saying about many 
 houses that there are as many windows as days, and as many 
 staircases as months in the year. Here, however, the glazed 
 windows are computed at 275, having been reduced to thirty in 
 the window-tax days ; the flights of stairs at seventeen, but 
 there are, besides, odd steps everywhere ; the rooms are put 
 down at eighty, not including the cupboards and recesses, many 
 of which would be hiding-places for the family valuables in 
 troublous times, and were covered in with wainscoting or 
 tapestry. 
 
 Up a circular stair in the great tower is the " Guard-room " 
 or "Council Chamber." The walls are covered with wainscot 
 boards of split oak, showing the graining in a better way than 
 sawn wood ; the band of carving running round the doors is 
 modern, probably occupying the place of old work. The beauti- 
 ful ceiling, now restored, is of the date of Spencer, second Earl, 
 
277 
 
278 
 
 Compton Mi^nijatcs 
 
 but contains no historical allusions like the " Henry VIll. Room " 
 ceiling, which was his erection also. Over the fireplace are 
 marks of fire, showing doubtless the carelessness of the Parlia- 
 
 ^ mentary garrison ; 
 but the tough oak 
 fortunately stood a 
 certain amount of 
 burning with impun- 
 ity. The room was 
 well chosen for a 
 meeting - place, as 
 those concerned 
 could approach or 
 leave hastily by dif- 
 ferent ways : there 
 are six doors in the 
 room, three giving 
 access to newel stair- 
 cases, one of which 
 leads to the Chapel 
 above, passing by 
 the "Priesfs hiding- 
 hole," containing a 
 window; another 
 door leads into a tiny 
 room having a trap- 
 door and well-hole ; and another now opens into a space at the 
 back of the fireplace (if this was a hiding-hole the doorway must 
 be of late date). 
 
 The " Roman Catholic Chapel " or " Priest's Room " is an 
 extraordinary place, which tradition says was used as a Romish 
 chapel in the days of persecution. There were many recusants 
 
 
 CARVED DOOR 
 
Compton Mi^n^atee 279 
 
 in the neighbourhood, and this top room being doubtless a safe 
 spot to worship in, the gallant protection of the Comptons might 
 have been extended to them ; or more probably it was a private 
 chapel for some member of the family. The room is in the roof, 
 the sloping timbers forming the walls with plaster between, and 
 a cupboard behind the chimney appears to have been another 
 hiding-place ; three other doors are at the head of as many stair- 
 cases. Fixed beneath the south-west window is a slab of elm 
 four feet long by seventeen inches wide, said to have been used 
 as an altar. It certainly has marks which might be called rudi- 
 mentary consecration crosses, but they are seven instead of five, 
 and it has no recess for the necessary stone containing a relic. 
 The beauty of the room is the oak doorway, exquisitely carved 
 with trophies, birds and leaves in the finest Renaissance style. 
 Whether it has always belonged to this room is doubtful : prob- 
 ably not, as it is unlike anything else in the house. It is a pity 
 that the insides of the jamb capitals have been cut out, and the 
 original spandrels with the old fastening have gone. 
 
 What are termed "the Barracks," from having been the 
 quarters of Colonel Purefoy's soldiers, are over the Drawing- 
 room ; formerly a great open space, but now divided off into 
 servants' rooms, the passage running along being lighted by 
 quaint dormer windows like those seen on the south side of the 
 Court. The huge oak tie-beams and rafters that have formed the 
 trusty framework of the roof through various vicissitudes inter- 
 cept the passage at intervals, though they can be better seen in 
 their original uncleaned aspect in another part, where the 
 wounded Royalists are said to have been hidden. At the 
 eastern end of the Barracks is a room with a charming view up 
 the hill, probably used by the captain of the guard : it has a 
 newel staircase descending, now blocked up. At the western 
 end is the little oriel window in one of the half-timbered gables ; 
 
28o 
 
 Compton M^n^ates 
 
 the carved sill is upwards of nineteen inches thick and seventeen 
 
 deep. 
 
 In a four-light window on the south side of the Court, over 
 a door leading to the Chapel, are very good coloured glass 
 
 medallions of the red 
 dragon crest; the 
 one on the dexter 
 side is surrounded 
 by a blue border of 
 ten Tudor roses. The 
 Chapel, whose large 
 window is a notable 
 feature outside, is at 
 present dismantled. 
 The only feature left 
 is the screen of 
 whitewashed wood 
 dividing it into two 
 parts with a gate in 
 the centre ; this is 
 worth noting be- 
 cause of its carved 
 panels at the head, 
 which probably 
 came from Fulbroke, being of the mediaeval religious grotesque 
 epoch. The great window is said to have been removed during 
 the Civil War to Balliol College, Oxford, where the two shields of 
 arms are still to be found in one of the north windows of the 
 Chapel. 
 
 In the south-west angle of the quadrangle lies the traditional 
 "jail," a dark, stone-floored room, with a low barred window; 
 more likely used as a cellar, or kitchen for the garrison, as the 
 
 A CORNER IN THE COUNCIL-ROOM 
 
Compton Mi?ni?atC0 281 
 
 staircase outside leads up to the Barracks. Another curiosity is 
 the lion's head carved in stone inserted in the courtyard wall by the 
 buttery window, which is said to have run with wine on festive 
 occasions ; a stone basin is fixed underneath. Close to the house, 
 but surrounded now by trees, is an old brick dovecote ; a pitched 
 stone path formerly led beside it from the house to the mill-pool, 
 the descent of the water to which from the moat came through 
 two stgw-ponds, all of which remain, and a pleasant, dreamy little 
 path it still is. it is interesting to note that the pool was ob- 
 tained in all probability by excavating clay to make bricks for the 
 house. Some of the old red ridge-tiles on the roof still retain 
 their oak-leaf cresting, making a nice finish. Just beyond the 
 dovecote is the Church, interesting as of a style and date very 
 uncommon in church-building. The original one, in which the 
 ancestors of the first Sir William Compton were buried, was 
 completely demolished when the Parliamentarians besieged the 
 house. It was rebuilt by Earl James between 1656 and 1665, 
 which latter date, with his initials "1. N.," appears on leaden 
 spouts. The Church consists of nave and aisle of equal width 
 and length, there being only two or three similar examples in 
 England ; and contains a few broken family monuments rescued 
 after the Restoration from the moat, into which they had been 
 thrown. Such indignities did the effigies of the great Sir Wil- 
 liam and Henry first Lord Compton suffer ; but we hope the 
 clashing sword and din of strife will never again disturb the rest- 
 ing-place of the second Sir William, designated by Cromwell 
 "that sober young man and godly Cavalier," who was buried in 
 the new church in 1663, almost under the shadow of his beauti- 
 ful old home, for which and his king and country he had fought 
 so well. 
 
 With its glorious colour so responsive to the awakening 
 touch of the summer sunlight, it is hard to bid the grand old 
 
282 Compton M^n^ates 
 
 house farewell ; and harder still to close this sketch, leaving un- 
 written so much that could be written concerning one of Eng- 
 land's matchless 
 
 " Ancient homes of lord and lady, 
 Built for pleasure and for state." 
 
IFlawottb Castle 
 
 S83 
 
GATEWAY AND DACRE TOWER FROM THE GARDEN 
 
 NAWORTH CASTLE ^Z 
 
 BY A. H. MALAN 
 
 THE cross-country traveller, from Newcastle or Carlisle, who 
 elects to get out at Naworth and can spend a day or two, 
 will find, within the circuit of a few miles, a Castle, 
 Priory, Spa ; breezy uplands with crags, lochs, and camps ; a 
 trout-stream of no mean repute ; and sloping woodlands, where 
 brown owls are common objects of the gloaming, and dapper 
 little dippers disport themselves by babbling becks, deep down 
 in leafy dells. 
 
 So tree-girt, indeed, is Naworth that the station is in the 
 middle of a wood, with rabbits poking their noses through the 
 palings ; and when, beyond its gates, you pass "just down over 
 
 the bank"— that convenient Cumbrian phrase for beguiling the 
 
 285 
 
286 mawortb Castle 
 
 pedestrian and courteously compressing distance — so woodlocked 
 is the Castle yonder that its turrets alone appear. 
 
 In absence of definite knowledge, Naworth, or Naward, is 
 believed to have begun life as a simple Pele : one of those handy 
 refuges, where, at the approach of the Northern marauder, the 
 herdsmen of the smaller lords could find temporary shelter- for 
 themselves and their cattle. And whoever built this Pele cer- 
 tainly had his wits about him. For though Jrom the south the 
 Castle appears to be too low for safety, from the north and west 
 it is discovered to be standing on a point where two defiles meet, 
 like a cliff-castle ; hence on three sides being well out of range 
 of all primitive artillery, though at the expense of having to con- 
 tract its area from east to west, to adjust itself to the narrowing 
 platform. 
 
 Then, in 1336, when the Scots were rampagious, Ranulph 
 Dacre, having acquired the property through his wife, Margaret, 
 heiress of the last De Multon of Gilsland, obtained license to 
 crenellate, running a strong wall across the tongue of land, and 
 extending the Pele upwards into what afterward became known 
 as the Dacre Tower. 
 
 But before reaching that tower you will see before you 
 some work of a more considerable builder. Sir Thomas Dacre, 
 who, towards the end of the fifteenth century, so extensively 
 added to Ranulph's crenellation as to make the Castle much what 
 it is to-day. This is the Gateway, with the Dacre shield above 
 it ; the wall standing out at right angles having, of course, strictly 
 speaking, no business to be there, though its presence is justified 
 through its helping to enclose a charming old-fashioned garden, 
 where fruit, flowers, and vegetables grow together in seductive 
 proximity ; blackbirds being constant attendants, and squirrels 
 paying occasional visits, to see what they can find. This gate- 
 way, a removed Guard-room, and the contiguous Botehouse, 
 
IRawortb (Lastle 
 
 287 
 
 with curtain walls, formed an outer court, duly protected by a 
 moat still visible, running parallel with them ; the Botehouse 
 having now made a clean sweep of its fuel and forage, and 
 acquired the dig- 
 nity of a studio, 
 wherein some of 
 those oil paint- 
 ings from Lord 
 Carlisle's brush, 
 in the domestic 
 rooms, may have 
 been from time to 
 time produced. 
 
 A few steps 
 within this Gate- 
 way, in the outer 
 wall of the Castle, 
 is an entrance dis- 
 playing Lord Wil- 
 liam Howard's 
 shield and lead- 
 ing into the quad- 
 rangle; the casual 
 tripper not being 
 supposed to turn to the left, into the Smoking-room in the base- 
 ment, but to cross the Court and present himself at the doorway 
 with a similar shield. While awaiting admission, the curious may 
 detect around the quadrangle three periods of construction — Sir 
 Thomas Dacre's work, Lord William's work, and the post-iS44- 
 fire repairs. With one's back to the door, to the left is the Dacre 
 Tower, with the older Pele masonry at its base ; between which 
 and the twelfth-century Byzantine well-head from Venice were 
 
 THE GATEWAY WfTH DACRE SHIELD 
 
288 IRawortb Castle 
 
 some lodging-rooms of the Lord William era ; these, however, 
 having succumbed to the fire, the massive Dacre curtain now 
 stands exposed, pierced by the main gateway, through which a 
 mounted knight could pass without lowering his lance. The Hall 
 is fine indeed. Before the fire its roof was flat and panelled, and 
 contained hypothetical portraits of King Brute and his successors, 
 brought in 1604 from Kirkoswald Castle. At its upper end was a 
 partition, where now stands the tall tapestried screen shutting off 
 the dais portion into a dining-room ; at the lower end was a 
 stone screen, by Sir John Vanbrugh, apparently somewhat similar 
 to the one at Audley End, where, parenthetically, is an excellent 
 portrait of Lord William's mother, the Duchess of Norfolk, though 
 it is but the half of a picture of which the other half is said to be 
 in Lord Westmorland's possession. This out-of-place stone affair 
 had taken the place of an earlier oak screen, on the top of which, 
 or ranged at its base, stood four great beasts, cognisances of De 
 Vaux, Greystock, and Dacre, that still carry their pennons as of 
 yore. The large, light-coloured hangings, a wedding present 
 from Henry IV. to Marie de Medicis, are some of the earliest ex- 
 amples of the kind done in France. 
 
 Among the pictures is a Van Dyck of Charles I., and several 
 family portraits, including full-lengths of Lord William and his 
 wife (copies from the originals, by Janssen, at Castle Howard) ; 
 also one that looks like a Queen Elizabeth, but from the crucifix 
 and taper in the hands has been thought to be that " grave and 
 virtuous matron," Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter and co- 
 heiress of William Lord Dacre, from whom the Carlisle branch of 
 the Howard family is descended. Beneath the picture in question, 
 but with a full-length of Queen Henrietta Maria intervening, the 
 armour worn by Lord William proves the knight to have been six 
 feet high, and withal sufficiently stalwart to bear the onerous 
 duties that fate assigned him. 
 
INTERIOR OF COURT, NAWORTH CASTLE 
 
 289 
 
290 mawortb Castle 
 
 Westward from the Hall are some rooms, with lots of things 
 to look at, and lovely peeps down the glen from their latticed 
 windows ; but our way must be in the usual track of the common 
 excursionist, northward into the Drawing-room, a room more 
 than usually blest with sunshine ; a deep bay looking east, and 
 a large mullioned window looking \yest, through which rnay be 
 observed that "wild and winsome jessamine tree," which so 
 stirred the poetic fancy of the seventh Earl. - At tte/ireplace end 
 are portraits of Colonel Philip Howard- (slain at Rowtbn Heath), 
 Thomas, Duke of Norfolk (after Holbein), Viscoun.t. Falkland, Sir 
 George Lisle, and some.early Howard miniatures,; at the opposite 
 end is an oval of Sir George Charles Howard (great-granidsoH of 
 Lord William), Colonel of Cromwell's Lifeguard; - one of his 
 Commissioners for the North, and created,- after, the Restoration, 
 Earl of Carlisle. 
 
 Biit the picture of the house is next door, in the Mu^rc-room 
 ^Mabuse's Adoration: a marvellous example of detaij, finish, 
 land brilliance. . . . - . 
 
 A passage, forming a museum, with some origir^al sketches 
 by Van der Velde, has now to be crossed, to reach the J^ibrary, 
 cased and coved with light oak, with tapestry above ; a gallery 
 at either end, approached by little staircases within the panel- 
 ling, serving the upper shelves. Here will be noticed over the 
 chimneypiece a decorative treatment of Flodden in gesso duro, 
 modelled by Sir E. Boehm, designed and painted by Sir E. Burne- 
 Jones, in the manner of the bas-reliefs on the sarcophagus of 
 Maximilian at Innsbruck. In the centre of the panel is Thomas 
 Howard, Earl of Surrey, commander of the English troops ; on 
 the right James IV. falling; on the left Lord Dacre's Horse; 
 in the background Sir- Edward Stanley's archers ; and in the 
 distance the Scottish camp burning. This Library was the 
 Chapel, and it was this Chapel which furnished Sir Walter Scott 
 
291 
 
292 
 
 IRawortb Castle 
 
 with his description of the chapel at hwerary Castle, in the 
 Legend of Montrose. A water-colour gives such an interesting 
 depiction of it, that the ravages of the fire, in this direction at any 
 
 rate, are much to 
 be regretted. 
 
 Then upstairs, 
 leaving the door 
 of the Gallery on 
 the left, to get up 
 on to the leads ot 
 Dacre Tower and 
 inspect the quaint 
 warder's turret, 
 rising above the 
 elevated look- 
 outs at the other 
 corners ; the last 
 time watch and 
 ward was kept 
 being probably in 
 1640, when after 
 TSI e wburn the 
 Scots threatened 
 Carlisle, and Lord 
 William, in his last illness, was removed to Greystock for safety, 
 where he died. 
 
 The Gallery, to which we may now return, was evolved by 
 reducing the outer wall from seven to two feet in thickness. 
 Here are several pictures of the Dutch school, a bust (Dalow) 
 and portrait (Sephton) of Lord Carlisle, and three curious oak 
 figures, evidently old, which came from the minstrels' gallery in 
 the Hall. It is not at all likely they were ever set up on the 
 
 LORD WILLIAM HOWARD'S ARMOUR 
 
IRawortb Casttc 
 
 293 
 
 battlements (as visitors sometimes imagine) to peep over between 
 the embrasures, and draw the arrow-fire of prowling miscreants ; 
 but if that were so, it would at least have been but a harmless 
 bit of fraud compared with that brand-new wooden dummy 
 pistol (suspended here) 
 without a scrap of metal 
 about it, taken at Al- 
 ma, by the late Sir 
 Henry Layard, from the 
 holster of a dead Cos- 
 sack, who would have 
 considerably blest the 
 rascally Russian con- 
 tractor, had there been 
 occasion to use it. 
 
 From the opposite 
 end of the corridor is 
 reached the most inter- 
 esting feature of the 
 Castle, Lord William's 
 Tower. A narrow pas- 
 sage, in which two men 
 could not pass, leads to an iron-bound door, where the flames 
 were so effectually stopped that all beyond it was saved. This 
 tower rises upon groins thrown across the acute angle of the cur- 
 tain walls, the extra space for a rectangular block being obtained 
 by corbel and machicolation, as may be seen outside. The first 
 room in it is the Bedroom, panelled in dark oak, and having some 
 old furniture ; the central shield in the mantelpiece denoting that 
 this stage was the work of Sir Thomas Dacre. A narrow newel 
 stairs 'v/jth; well-worn treads takes one up to the Library over- 
 head, also panelled, \yith Lord William's books on the shelves; 
 
 HOWARD MINIATURES 
 
294 
 
 IRawortb Castle 
 
 the windows are small and two, facing south, have steps up from 
 the floor. The roof here is extremely handsome, and has good 
 fourteenth-century mouldings and bosses ; but it seems far too 
 heavy for such a small, low chamber ; it originally belonged to 
 
 Kirkoswald Chapel. 
 A tiny doorway, 
 close by the en- 
 trance, admits to the 
 still smaller oratory 
 adjoining. From the 
 larger of the two 
 windows, here, the 
 view is delightfully 
 sylvan, the soothing 
 plash and glinting 
 stream of the beck 
 being heard and 
 seen, far below, be- 
 tween the tree-tops. 
 A trapdoor in a corner 
 of the floor, and 
 another in the adjacent panelling between them, served for ingress 
 and egress of a priest, while permitting Lord WiHiam to be in 
 touch with the prisons at the base ; and it may be that Scott 
 drew his description of the dungeon at Falkland Castle, in the 
 Fair Maid of Perth, from what he saw here. The shield of 
 Howard impaling Dacre settles the point as to the builder of this 
 upper stage. At the altar-end are nine figures in alabaster, of the 
 end of the fourteenth century, but recently painted and gilded ; 
 probably they formed a part of what must have been a very fine 
 reredos at Kirkoswald. Against the opposite wall is a large, 
 wide altarpiece of the Flemish School, dated 15 14, the shields on 
 
 MABUSE'S ADORATION ' 
 
IRawortb Castle 
 
 295 
 
 the -pillars between the subjects showing it to have been painted 
 to the order of Sir Thomas Dacre ; the subjects being the Scourging, 
 Crucifixion, and Resur- 
 rection. Such are the 
 rooms. 
 
 And what of the 
 man ? Known in his 
 day as Bauld Willie, and 
 later, — partly perhaps 
 from the Lay of the^ Last 
 Minstrel, as Belted Will, 
 Lord William (son of the 
 fourth Duke of Norfolk, 
 and brother of Lord 
 Thomas Howard, after- 
 wards Earl of Suffolk, 
 the builder of Audley 
 End House) may well 
 rank as the hero of Naworth, though tradition, indulgently credit- 
 ing him with the doings of his predecessors, has totally ignored 
 his real title to merit. It was the Dacres who kept garrisons at 
 
 Naworth and Irthington, 
 ruling the western 
 marches by the sword 
 from the middle of the 
 thirteenth to the middle 
 of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, and enjoying 
 many a field day against 
 the Scots. 
 
 Lord William was 
 rather an emissary of civilisation ; for which there was evidently 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 THE CHAPEL AS IT WAS BEFORE THE FIRE 
 
 FROM A WATER-COLOUR DRAWING 
 
296 
 
 IFlawortb Castle 
 
 abundant need, since just before he came into actual occupation,; 
 the English Commissioners reported that a thousand murders, 
 and thefts to the value of / 100,000 had occurred in "the 
 middle sheeres " in the past nine years. True, his arrival here 
 
 was coeval with the 
 Union, which was. sup- 
 posed to end all trou- 
 bles ; but, far from this 
 being so, the state of 
 the Border became 
 worse, as those who had 
 hitherto gained a living 
 by host i 1 e incursions 
 into the other kingdom, 
 finding their occupation 
 gone, quickly betook 
 themselves to robbing 
 their neighbours. Or- 
 ganised, to some extent, 
 in their thousands, the 
 Mosstroopers of Tyn- 
 dale, Redesdale, Bew- 
 castle, and Gilsland compelled honest people to pay blackmail for 
 security ; and having relatives, dependants, and employers, all more 
 or less involved in their proceedings, the ramifications of knavery 
 were so extensive and intricate that the magistrates were practi- 
 cally unable to interfere. So much was this the case, indeed, that 
 when, in 1615, the Council asked "why, after these many years 
 of peace, there is more breaking of prison, and less execution of 
 justice than of yore," the answer returned was that "the Provost 
 Marshall hath been of kin to many that have been heinous 
 offenders," and that "it hath been observed that most gentilmen 
 
 WARDER'S TURRET ON DACRE TOWER 
 
THE CORRIDOR, NAWORTH CASTLE 
 
 297 
 
298 
 
 IHawortb Castle 
 
 BUST AND PORTRAIT OF THE EARL OF CARLISLE 
 
 in this Co. have had one maine theefe or other under their pro- 
 tection for private ends." Even the transplantation to Ireland 
 had been so abused that "barbarous offenders have been 
 wincked at, and innocente soules, out of private spleen, or for 
 
 greedy gaine, sente 
 away." Therefore 
 Nav/orth's hero had 
 the irksome, thank- 
 less task of creating 
 respect for the law 
 in a land v/here there 
 w^as none, and where 
 those who should 
 have backed him up 
 not only opposed 
 him, but laid most of 
 the blame at his door, in consequence of his suspected recusancy ; 
 Sir John Anderson, for example, in 16 17, affirming that thefts and 
 murders had increased, "because, under leadership of " the enemies 
 of true religion "—meaning Lord William — the people had largely 
 become "papists and theeves, living without fear of God, or re- 
 gard of any wholesome laws." 
 
 Up to this time Bauld Willie's sphere of influence was local ; 
 but the following year he was made head of the Border Com- 
 missioners ; and then he pretty quickly retaliated on those de- 
 tractors who talked about wholesome laws, and, much to their 
 dismay, made his enemies "sit up." He drew up a long report 
 of "disordered persons," whose enlargement was a public 
 scandal. From this report, it appears, a not uncommon practice 
 was for felons and outlaws to drive off sheep or cattle by night, 
 maiming or murdering any pursuer ; and then, after passing on 
 the spoil to receivers, to bolt to Ireland for awhile, and presently 
 
2(J9 
 
;oo 
 
 IRawortb Castle 
 
 ON THE IRTHINQ 
 
 return to resume operations ; or, if caught by garrison-troopers 
 doing police-duty, either to be bailed and not appear at the as- 
 size, or promptly break gaol with impunity ; for either of which 
 eventualities money would be readily forthcoming, since, when 
 
 one of their friends was 
 ■j in trouble, the whole 
 company- would advance 
 large sums from the com- 
 rnon stock. 
 
 On these goings-on 
 the Chief Commissioner 
 forcibly remarks : — 
 "When such con- 
 nivencie and favor is 
 shewed to such a cursed 
 generation, no marvaile though theft increaseth— sanguis y^beti 
 clamat de terra!" And therefore what redounds so much 
 to Lord William's credit is that, between" i6i8~ and 1636, he 
 managed to get brought to account sixty-eight- malefactors 
 (nearly all of whom were executed) in a region where,, before, it 
 had been hard to get one conviction ; more particularly so, as by 
 nature he was a man of culture and scholarship, who much 
 preferred studying theology, deciphering Roman legends " crag- 
 carven o'er the streaming Gelt," and making sketches for Cam- 
 den's Britannia, to hearing informations against some wretched 
 Jock of the Rigg, Pele of the Hill, or Robin of the Pike, who 
 must needs find lodgment in his dungeons on their way to 
 Carlisle. 
 
 Happily no rank-riders need be feared on our way to Laner- 
 cost ; so we may safely proceed down the glen, noting the 
 picturesque sandstone rocks, and the profusion of shuttlecock 
 ferns. A good deal might be said of those ferns, if one were 
 
301 
 
302 
 
 IRawortb Castle 
 
 ANOTHER VIEW OF LANERCOST PRIORY 
 
 writing of a Devonshire combe or a Cornish "bottom" ; but it 
 would never do to go into ecstasies, here in the canny North, 
 within easy reach of Tyneside. From the stone bridge below, 
 the slope to the left should be mounted for the only good view 
 
 _____ of the Castle ; after 
 W ■ which the "loaning" 
 
 by the stream will 
 take you down to the 
 broad lawn of the 
 Irthing, vvhere, un- 
 less ihe river be. in 
 flood, s,te-p ping- 
 stones provide a short 
 cut to the Priory. 
 
 This stately semi- 
 ruin will bear visiting 
 more than once : to ramble through the vaulted cellars, the. Prior's 
 mansion, and dormer ; to study the advance in Early English de- 
 tail from easVto west, in pier, lancet, andtriforium ; or to.raeditate 
 among the tombs. Founded in 1169 by Robert de Vaux, it was 
 gradually added to or reconstructed as funds came in : Maude de 
 Vaux, whose granddaughter was abducted from Warwick Castle 
 by Ranulph Dacre, proving in her widowhood, about 1280, a spe- 
 cial benefactor. At that date, also, Edward 1. and Eleanor visited 
 the place, the Royal party hunting the wolf and red-deer ; perhaps 
 finding cause to bless the holy god Silvanus, like the hunters of 
 Banna who recorded their thanks on an altar here ; or perhaps 
 coming across a descendant of that boar of prodigious size, 
 which moved the prasfect of the Sebosian Cavalry to exult at 
 scoring off those "many of his predecessors who had not been 
 able to take it." Doubtless the Priory would benefit financially 
 by the King's visit, and may have looked forward to a good time 
 
RECENTLY EXCAVATED ROMAN CAMP, NEAR NAWORTH CASTLE 
 
 303 
 
304 IRawortb Castle 
 
 ahead. But, in 1296, down came the Scots, ravaging the country 
 under the Earl of Buchan ; "blooding their arms upon old 
 women, transfixing children with their spears," and performing 
 even more atrocities than that ; also assembling the scholars of 
 Hexham and then firing the school ; and next, after damaging 
 Hexham Abbey so far as time allowed, passing on to raid 
 Lanercost. 
 
 These outrages brought Edward back in 1 306. He sent his 
 judges to Berwick, where they tried any number of peace- 
 breakers, and suspended Lady Buchan over the wall in a cage 
 eight feet square ; a solitary, silent incarceration, most trying to 
 one of the less-silent sex, but at least more airy than a cellJ 
 While the King wintered at Lanercost, Thomas Bruce was brought 
 there a prisoner, and sent thence to Carlisle, to be dragged round 
 the walls like Hector — an indignity which his brother Robert was 
 not slow to avenge on Lanercost ; after which presently David 
 appeared on the scene, stole the treasures, smashed the doors, 
 and "reduced to nothingness" everything he attacked. Subse- 
 quently the black canons patched up their buildings as best they 
 could with Dacre and other help, and so remained in possession 
 till the dissolution. The nave of the Priory is now the parish 
 church. The turf-floored, roofless transept and choir aisles con- 
 tain some elaborate tombs, the most noteworthy being the one 
 either of the Sir Roland de Vaux of Scott's Bridal of Triermain, 
 or else a later De Vaux of the same name, and those of Sir 
 Humphrey Dacre, whose wife was Mabel Parr, great-aunt to 
 Queen Catharine and Sir Thomas Dacre, who married the De 
 Greystock heiress, and died in 1525. After climbing the winding 
 steps in the transept, if your nerves allow of your passing along 
 the open passage in the clerestory, conclusive evidence will be 
 found, in the altar dedicated by the first cohort of Dacians to 
 Jupiter, best and greatest, that, not content with robbing the wall 
 
IRawortb (tastle 305 
 
 near at hand, the masons went at least as far as Amboglanna for 
 material. 
 
 This station, now called Burdoswald, the quarters for a time 
 of the Sixth Legion, is not far from the Spa at Gilsland ; the 
 guard-chambers, gateways, private museum, and splendid view 
 in front of the camp, with the tawny Irthing sweeping round 
 below, all being worth going to see. 
 
 But a much more interesting camp is that of Borcovicus 
 (Housesteads), farther afield, up in the waste north of Haltwhistle, 
 beloved of rievers, and famous for plenty of fresh air, rain, and 
 thunder-storms, — thunder-storms, as 1 can well testify, having 
 spent an afternoon at Housesteads while the Northumbrian 
 archaeologists were engaged in their recent excavations, and 
 having witnessed their men calmly working on, and turning out 
 a little peat-blackened altar at the foot of the camp, under an 
 almost horrifying darkness, with thunder and lightning just over- 
 head ; — but, when the weather is favourable, there are bonnie 
 views of Greenlee and Croomlee loughs. And an impressive 
 sight it is to scan the great bulwark, here, ruthlessly holding its 
 undeviating course across hill and gap. The extra-massive ma- 
 sonry of the gateway fronting the north ; the bases of pillars in the 
 prastorium ; the lower courses of well-built streets once thronged 
 by Tungrians, — of whose sojourn, in these regions, an interesting 
 bit of evidence remains, in Erinus Hispanicus, still found growing 
 by the wall, and believed to have been introduced as seed, among 
 the forage brought with them, —sufficiently demonstrate and 
 symbolise the invincible might of Rome. And when you con- 
 sider how, in the construction of a wall twelve feet high and 
 seventy miles long, every facing-stone has been carefully squared, 
 faced, and tapered, and the entire rampart so regularly spaced 
 into permanent camps, mile-castles, and turrets, that, while no- 
 where defenceless, it was capable of concentrating its fifteen 
 
3o6 IRawortb Caetle 
 
 thousand defenders anywhere at short notice ; and when you 
 observe from the Itinerary that the bulk of the troops who built 
 and manned it were cohorts of foreign mercenaries, you hardly 
 wonder that while the soldiery were raising altars to Cocidius, 
 Belatucador, the gods of Rome, and the Standards, somebody 
 should have been prompted by this monument of military genius 
 to inscribe one "to the discipline of Augustus," whether Hadrian 
 or Severus were meant. That particular stone, by the way, with 
 many from this station, and a spirited sporting sketch graved by 
 some wee Roman laddie, are to be seen— under restrictions— at 
 the Chesters camp near Chollerford ; but it is a tedious place to 
 get to and away from, and the museum might happen to be 
 closed. 
 
 Fortunately you can always fall back upon the Tullie House 
 Museum at Carlisle, serving all purposes and imposing no restric- 
 tions. There, any weekday, may be inspected, besides other 
 evidences of Roman civilisation, a variety of those statues and 
 altars with inscriptions in boldest capitals, which the centurions 
 and decurions could get cut with such skill and taste, at a time 
 when the wild men of Pictland and Caledon could not scratch 
 their own names, and satisfied all their aspirations towards art 
 in bedizening their persons with woad. 
 
IFnvetara^ 
 
 307 
 
INVERARAY CASTLE 
 
 INVERARAY 
 
 BY A. H. MALAN 
 
 PERSONALLY REVISED BY HIS GRACE, THE DUKE OF ARGYLE, K.T. 
 
 THE capital of Argyllshire may be said to owe its being to 
 the House of Lochow. Before the land knew the name 
 of Campbell, a few huts there may have been at the 
 Aray's mouth, to leeward of the point where now the Lord of the 
 IsUs touches daily in summer; but all the importance of the 
 place is due to those chiefs, of the race of Diarmaid, who have 
 been successively known as MacCailean (not MacCallum) Mhor 
 since the great Colin was knighted by Alexander 111., 1280. 
 The knight died fighting against Macdougal of Lome, 1294 ; and 
 his son Nigel, for prowess at Bannockburn, was given Lady 
 Mary, sister of Robert Bruce, to wife. 
 
 But there were great men before Agamemnon ; and the clan 
 
 309 
 
3IO 
 
 llnverara^ 
 
 is said to go back to Archibald Cambel, who acquired the lord- 
 ship of.Lochawe by marriage (1067) with Eva, daughter and co- 
 heiress of Paul O'duin, purse-bearer to Malcolm III. Thus the 
 cradle of the family was on Lochawe-side ; where tlie MacArthur 
 strain held the chiefship till the MacCailean branch began to take 
 
 A STREET IN INVERARAY TOWN 
 
 the lead, and moved over to Inveraray early in the fifteenth cent- 
 ury. Duncan Campbell of Lochow, who first built at Inveraray, 
 married the daughter of the Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland, 
 who had been supposed not to be keen to get James I. back from 
 his eighteen years' captivity at Windsor. She was the grand- 
 daughter of Robert II., and at Kilmun — a church, endowed by 
 Duncan, of which the Burial chapel still exists off the old chancel 
 — there is a contemporary recumbent figure of this lady. Her 
 husband is also there, in hard sandstone, represented in plate 
 armour. 
 
 After this, by serving the Crown, against rebels, in the various 
 parts of Argyll, Lome, Kintyre, and the Western Islands, the 
 Campbells of Inveraray became possessed of lands in these 
 
< 
 
 u 
 
 311 
 
Unverarai? 313 
 
 regions, through the combined agencies of clan warfare, purchase, 
 Royal grant, and marriage. 
 
 In the acquisition of all this territory, the Macdonalds, 
 Stewarts, Macdougals, Macgregors, etc., no doubt confidently 
 affirmed that unfair means were used. And in a primitive state 
 of things, when to fight and plunder is held more honourable 
 than to work, and when the power of the sword— /.^. the num- 
 ber of followers a chief could call out— alone decided whether, in 
 the struggle for existence, there should be expansive independ- 
 ence, or tributary subordination, if not absorption, for a clan, it 
 would be idle to expect nicest political morality. But it is certain 
 the Campbells got large grants from the Crown, for services 
 rendered to successive English sovereigns ; while the disloyal 
 clans suffered heavily for their disloyalty, and then, laying the 
 blame, not on their having failed, through want of prevision, to 
 embrace the winning cause, but on Campbell arrogance and bad 
 faith, solaced themselves as best they could with the sense of 
 being aggrieved. 
 
 This aggressiveness and predominancy, however, there 
 seemed a chance from time to time of the clans in question 
 being able to shake off. When, as champion of popular liberty 
 and the " Reign of Law," and as staunch supporter of the Pro- 
 testant creed, the House of Argyll ranged itself on the side of 
 Cromwell and of William of Orange, the aggrieved clans were 
 only too ready to combine against it under cover of a professed 
 loyalty to the Stuart cause ; and delighted they were when, in 
 I '645, fifteen hundred of Clan Campbell perished at Inverlochy ; 
 in 1661, when the Marquis of Argyll was beheaded and his 
 enormous possessions forfeited; in 1681, when, under orders of 
 James, the ever-hungry Athol horde swooped down on Inveraray, 
 strung up seventeen Campbells who were thought to have been 
 out with the Earl, and proceeded so to ravage Loch-Fyne-side, 
 
314 llnverara^ 
 
 that " not a four-footed beast was left in the haill country " ; and 
 again when, four years later, the Marquis's son succumbed, in his 
 turn, to the Scottish Madin. 
 
 So odious, indeed, was the name at that time, that it was 
 even threatened with proscription ; and what proscription meant 
 is seen in the case of the Macgregors, after they had smashed a 
 sept of Colquhouns, at Glenfruin, for being guilty of the basest 
 treachery. When sixty Colquhoun widows appeared in single file 
 before the gates of Stirling, each bearing an upraised pike flying 
 the shirt her husband was supposed to have worn, duly drenched 
 with blood, it was scarcely playing the game ; but they made a 
 moving scene, and they got their revenge : the Macgregors must- 
 be broken ! No minister might thenceforth name a child Gregor, 
 under pain of deprivation ; and every "lawless limmer " of Clan; 
 Alpin who failed to report hiniself annually to the Privy Council, 
 might, after proclamation, be hunted and slain with impunity by 
 any subject qf the King. 
 
 But it never came to that in this case. On the contrary, the 
 Campbells began, a fresh innings at the Revolution ; though the 
 Macdonalds, Camerons, and others tried hard to cut it short at 
 Killiecrankie, and more or less kept up their spleen till their 
 aspirations were once for all checked in that rising for the Cheval- 
 ier which culminated and collapsed in Culloden. For the year 
 following, 1747, came the Disarming Act, connected with which, 
 it may be remembered, was this cheerful oath : 
 
 "1 . . . do swear I have not nor shall have in my pos- 
 session any gun, sword, pistol, or arm whatsoever, and never use 
 tartan, plaid, or any part of the highland garb ; and if I do, may I 
 be cursed in my undertakings, may I never see my wife and child- 
 ren or relatives ; may I be killed in battle as a coward, and lie 
 without Christian burial in a strange land, far from the graves of 
 my kindred." 
 
3^5 
 
3i6 llnverara^ 
 
 This inexorable and execrable Act was quickly repealed ; but 
 the spirit of the Highlanders was curbed, and the time soon came 
 when a strolling piper might strike up The Hieland Laddie, or 
 skirl away at The Campbells are Coming, without any of his list- 
 eners wanting to draw dirk on one another, or even himself run- 
 ning risk of a broken head. 
 
 Inveraray is an uncut gem in an elaborate, setting. One of the 
 finest beech avenues in Scotland opens from its front through 
 three arches, giving the fagade of the town a very picturesque 
 and unusual appearance ;- but the town itself has few urban 
 amenities, and the kirk-bisected street is by no means lovely; 
 though these deficiencies may well be excused, with an environ- 
 ment of such splendid scenery. 
 
 The old Castle was a good specimen of that type of Scots 
 architecture, with stepped, chimney-capped gables, and extruded 
 pepper-pot angle-turrets, which to English ideas suggests a tall, 
 narrow,' semi-fortified house rather than a castle. It might per- 
 haps have been done up and added to ; but was considered poor 
 and mean, and taken down about 1760. And be it said,, in pass- 
 ing, that, in his description of the Chapel, in the Legend of Mon- 
 trose, what- Sir Walter had in his mind was the Chapel at 
 Naworth ; which was as he describes in his day, but having been 
 burnt out by a fire, it has more recently been modernised into a 
 Library. Immediately on the destruction of old Inveraray, the 
 present Castle was planned, a bowshot off; and when completed 
 was the largest and grandest domestic building north of the 
 Tweed. Quadrangular in ground-plan, with a circular turret run- 
 ning up each corner, it is a storey higher than it looks, from the 
 basement being below ground level. The principal rooms are' 
 grouped round a central Hall open to the roof and lighted by a 
 pavilion. 
 
 In the Hall, arranged in pleasing devices about the walls, 
 
317 
 
3i8 
 
 ■flnverarai? 
 
 above and below, are stands of tasselled halberds, used in attend- 
 ance upon that office of Justiciary of Argyll and the Isles which : 
 was hereditary in this family until its abolition in 1746, when the 
 sum of ;^2 1,000 was paid the Earl of Islay as compensation. 
 
 Also, some of the flint- 
 locks as supplied by the 
 English Government for 
 Argyll's men, in the '45. 
 But much more note- 
 worthy are the older 
 arms. One realises 
 what terrible antagon- 
 ists were those "half- 
 heathen mountaineers," 
 as Macaulay is bold to 
 call them, with their 
 claymores, targets, and 
 Lochaber axes. What 
 the claymore could do, 
 and did, was shown at 
 Inverlochy, when Don- 
 ald nan Ord, an Athol man, slew nineteen Campbells with his 
 own hand ; and at Culloden, when William Chisholm, of 
 Strathglas, killed sixteen of the enemy, three of them troopers. 
 Even the small, round, tastefully studded Gaelic target was not 
 content with being merely for defence ; it was often furnished 
 with a sharp stiletto, protruding from the central boss and as long 
 as the shield's diameter— ready to impale any foe rushing on it, 
 before the claymore polished him off, and, maybe, the hands ri- 
 fled his sporran. As for the Lochaber axes, with shafts from 
 seven to ten feet, and deep, cruel blades bearing the workman- 
 like and revengeful mottoes, frangas non flectes, sans peur, and 
 
 THE HALL FROM ABOVE 
 
llnverara^ 
 
 3'9 
 
 NE OBLiviscARis, they were indeed frightful brands ! Wielded by 
 the galloglach—taWest and most stalwart of the clan— they would 
 slash horses' heads, cleave their riders' skulls, or hook them bod- 
 ily off their mounts, while their users were themselves almost 
 out of range. Two men 
 of the Black Watch 
 fought with these pikes 
 before George 11., in 
 1743; but the blades 
 must surely have been 
 well covered. 
 
 For an old Scottish 
 harp one looks in vain ; 
 which is a pity. For 
 the Campbells were 
 famous for their harp- 
 ers, one of whom ac- 
 companied the first 
 Earl, to animate his 
 troops. Indeed, one of 
 the noted harps of Lude 
 came from Argyllshire, 
 through the daughter of the Laird of Lamont, who married into 
 the family of Lude. 
 
 In the Saloon adjoining, the pictures will give some glimpses 
 of family history. Taken chronologically, the following are ob- 
 served : "The Marquis of Argyll " (King Campbell), who used 
 his vast authority wholly in the cause of religious and civil free- 
 dom. . He could muster five thousand claymores taken from his 
 own clan, and was largely engaged in all Scottish affairs, both in 
 the field and at Edinburgh, from 1626 till the Restoration. Suffer- 
 ing heavily at his hands, he lived to be instrumental in effecting 
 
 ARMS IN THE HALL 
 
3i8 
 
 llnverarai? 
 
 above and below, are stands of tasselled halberds, used in attend- 
 ance upon that office of Justiciary of Argyll and the Isles which 
 was hereditary in this family until its abolition in 1746, when the 
 sum of ^21,000 was paid the Earl of Islay as compensation. 
 
 Also, some of the flint- 
 locks as supplied by the 
 English Government for 
 Argyll's men, in the '45. 
 But much more note- 
 worthy are the older 
 arms. One realises 
 what terrible antagon- 
 ists were those "half- 
 heathen mountaineers," 
 as Macaulay is bold to 
 call them, with their 
 claymores, targets, and 
 Lochaber axes. What 
 the claymore could do, 
 and did, was shown at 
 Inverlochy. when Don- 
 ald nan Ord, an Athol man, slew nineteen Campbells with his 
 own hand ; and at Culloden, when William Chisholm, of 
 Strathglas, killed sixteen of the enemy, three of them troopers. 
 Even the small, round, tastefully studded Gaelic target was not 
 content with being merely for defence ; it was often furnished 
 with a sharp stiletto, protruding from the central boss and as long 
 as the shield's diameter— ready to impale any foe rushing on it, 
 before the claymore polished him off, and, maybe, the hands ri- 
 fled his sporran. As for the Lochaber axes, with shafts from 
 seven to ten feet, and deep, cruel blades bearing the workrnan- 
 like and revengeful mottoes, frangas non flectes, sans peur, and 
 
 THE HALL FROM ABOVE 
 
THE SALOON, INVERARAY CASTLE 
 
 321 
 
322 Inveraray 
 
 "John Douglas, seventh Duke," his brother — a Guardsman, 
 who took part in the Walcheren expedition — and their two sis- 
 ters, "Lady Charlotte," celebrated for her good looks, and 
 " Lady Augusta," who may have resembled her in that particular, 
 but was unhappily paralysed. These four pictures are by Opie. 
 
 At one end of the room is a large picture which has ra,ther 
 suffered at some time from being put in too sniall a frame,; it, re- 
 presents "Henry Seymour, Field-Marshal Conway, "r (Gainsbor- 
 ough), whose wife was grand-aunt to the late Duke of Argyll. 
 He was a very distinguished man, and is said by Edmund Burke 
 to have had, when he spoke, "a face as the face of an angel." 
 At the other end is a full-length portrait of the "Eighth Duke of 
 Hamilton " (Pompeo Battoni), son of Elizabeth Gunning by l^er 
 first husband. ^ 
 
 In the photograph frames on the tables are autographed por- 
 traits of most of the Royal Family ; and in a cabinet are. some 
 noticeable things: a colossal Cairngorm brooch given by the 
 county to Sir Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde, and by him left to the 
 Duke ; a wooden drinking-cup of the Marquis of Argyll, very sim- 
 ilar to one at Cotehele ; two Celtic gold cloak-fasteners, and an 
 armlet ; and a strip, with flowers outlined on it in what would now 
 be called crewel-stitch, from the blanket used by the ninth Earl in 
 Glasgow prison, before he was removed to Edinburgh. That un- 
 fortunate Earl fought for the King at Worcester and Dunbar ; 
 then submitted himself to Cromwell ; but was suspected, in con- 
 sequence of his known previous attachment to Charles II., and 
 imprisoned till the Restoration. Later, on the Test Act being 
 subscribed to by him with qualms and qualifications, he was 
 again imprisoned on an old charge ; but managed to effect his 
 escape through the aid of Macarthur of Drimurcht, who entered 
 the prison with his gillie, dressed the gillie in female attire, and 
 rigged out the Earl in the gillie's get-up — himself acting as page 
 
ANOTHER ASPECT OF THE SALOON, INVERARAY CASTLE 
 
 323 
 
324 llnverara^ 
 
 to the supposititious lady. The Earl got safely away to Holland ; 
 to return in 1685 as nominal head ofthe refugee Covenanters. And 
 his invasion of Scotland might have had a different ending if its 
 generalship had been committed to his sole charge, instead of the 
 affair being bungled, as it was, by a Committee of mismanage- 
 ment. He was succeeded by his son, the tenth Earl, who, after 
 tendering the crown to William, was by him created Duke in 
 1701. 
 
 In the Smaller Drawing-room, next door, is some Flemish 
 tapestry, from designs by D. Teniers ; it is believed to have been 
 taken out of the old Castle, as it is all pieced, and evidently made 
 for. smaller rooms. Over the mantelpiece is a portrait ofthe pre- 
 sent Duke's mother, Lady Elizabeth Sutherland-Gower. 
 
 In 'the State Bedroom, where hangs some more Flemish 
 tapestry, the furniture is French, Louis XVI. period. 
 
 Similarly furnished Is the State Drawing-room. It has a ceil- 
 ing of delicate pale blue, cream, and peach-pink tints, with shut- 
 ters to match ; the tapestry shows children, goats, and dogs, 
 with fiower-borderings ; and over the mantelpiece is a more im- 
 posing portrait of Lady Charlotte than the one before noticed. 
 In this room the fifth Duke entertained Dr. Johnson, and Boswell 
 made himself obnoxious to the Duchess of Hamilton and 
 Argyll. 
 
 Upstairs there will be found a lovely view from the Queen's 
 turret-room window. Immediately below flows the river ; on Its 
 farther bank is some level ground, with a mound having rather an 
 artificial, crannoge-llke appearance — the land around it probably 
 once being under water : this is the " knowe," the spot used for 
 ratifying clan-covenants, the burgh's gibbet, and the point of 
 departure for every Fiery Cross despatched up the glen for 
 muster of MacCallean's clansmen. In front is the loch ; and 
 then, rising above the slopes of its opposite shore, those snowy 
 
n 
 
 SMALL DRAWINQ-ROOM, INVERARAY CASTLE 
 
 325 
 
326 
 
 •finverara^ 
 
 caps — Ben Ime, Stob-an-eas, Strone-Fyne — perpetually meet the 
 eye whenever it turns eastward. 
 
 But the individuality of Inveraray is rather in its woods than 
 mountains. Pray pay some attention to the trees ; they deserve 
 
 it. Close to the Castle, 
 [ in the Lady's Linn, is a 
 
 particularly fine Scotch 
 fir — girth, at five feet 
 from the ground (1898), 
 13 feet 10 inches, height 
 125 feet — still in its 
 prime; near it, but across 
 Frews Bridge, is a Doug- 
 las, planted by Prince 
 Leopold, in 1875, and a 
 silver, planted by the 
 Queen about the same 
 date. A remarkable fea- 
 ture about the silvers, 
 besides their massive 
 trunks, is the fact that 
 they never get ragged 
 at the top. Additional 
 leaders, according to wont, of course they will throw up ; but 
 even so, they seem almost to feather up to a point. At a dis- 
 tance it is hard to distinguish these trees from the spruces, which 
 attain almost similar magnitude — the soil being just suited to 
 their habits, its very shallowness encouraging growth by com- 
 pelling surface-rootage ; and how far the roots extend is often 
 enough seen when some veteran, blown down by a gale, displays 
 an up-wrenched root-area whose diameter may be thirty feet. Go 
 where you will, landward, you are confronted by silvers and 
 
 SCOTCH FIR, 125 FEET HIGH 
 
■flnverara^ 
 
 327 
 
 BEECH AVENUE LEADING TO DHU LOCH 
 
 spruces, rearing their heads aloft above the other timber, and 
 attaining an altitude not easily estimated except by actual meas- 
 urement — some, 140 feet. 
 
 Suppose we go over the Aray Bridge, past the secluded cem- 
 etery of Kilma- 
 lieu knowing no 
 different denom- 
 ination divid- 
 ing-lines for its 
 hiveraray dead. 
 If you climb 
 Dun-a-quoich, 
 which is one of 
 the things to do, 
 you may come 
 across some of 
 the Canadian turkeys introduced by the present Duke, and ap- 
 parently quite acclimatised; or, if you skirt the base, you may 
 detect a couple of good Scotch firs of 1 10 feet, and sundry silvers 
 and spruces considerably higher than that. The drive will take 
 you on, through an avenue of English yews planted the year the 
 Duke was born, and lead to a double row of old beeches, some 
 of them 80 feet high. Not that tallness is any recommendation 
 here. Planted far too close together, and never thinned, they 
 have run up in a way calculated to make any forester blush ; 
 though they may have served a purpose in forming a screen 
 across the level ground. 
 
 From Boshang Gate let us proceed round the point, towards 
 Dundarawe Castle and the head of the loch. As. it is spring, no 
 whales will be seen spouting, though some small ones come up 
 in summer and stop awhile ; but perchance a gannet or two may 
 dash down precipitately, as though in search of the treasure 
 
!28 
 
 llnverara^ 
 
 Colin langatach threw into the depths, lest his sons should fight 
 over the spoil. This Colin it was who was nearly burnt alive, 
 through some MacCallums of Lochow, along with his brother 
 Ivar, plotting against him under guise of hospitality. They in- 
 
 ^- .^^..„..-,.-... -.-..„ .^.„,.,_^ vited him to a feast, 
 
 1 ■' ' - ' ""■ ' ■ and he went — armed. 
 
 The feast over, he re- 
 tired to rest— in a barn ; 
 the barn was fired, his 
 coat of mail became 
 scorched and he awoke 
 and rushed out. madly 
 into a pool near Kilmar- 
 tine-, still called, from 
 the episode, Linne-na- 
 liurich. His brother -re- 
 ceived as a reward the 
 lands of Ardkinglas, 
 which seems curious ; 
 and if the Mac Ivar 
 Campbells of Ardtor- 
 nish and Asknish have 
 had a kink in their characters, it may be set down to their descent 
 from Ivar the Cross-grained. 
 
 Dundarawe Castle has some old stones grouped about its 
 door, on one of which is the date 1596. But those stones came 
 from an old Macnaghten Castle which stood on an islet in Glefi 
 Shira, near where the Dhu Loch now flows into Loch Fyne. 
 Opposite Dundarawe, across the Loch, is Ardkinglas. John, the 
 last Macnaghten of Dundarawe, would wed the younger daugh- 
 ter of Campbell of Ardkinglas ; but the elder was substituted 
 when the bridegroom had the mountain dew on him. Then the 
 
 DUNDARAWE CASTLE 
 
.i^i'^f^^^.^ ^^ -•• ■ ^^^t' 
 
 m-tV . 
 
 VIEW OF LOCH AWE AND CRUACHAN, FROM ABOVE CLADICH 
 
 329 
 
330 Unverarai? 
 
 supplanted sister visited the couple, and presently the inevitable 
 happened. John went off with her, and they were never heard 
 of again ; while the deserted wife stopped behind and composed 
 a lament. So Dundarawe came to the Campbells. 
 
 Or, from Boshang Gate, you may go past the Dhu Loch, 
 and up Kilblaan— a deep gorge with almost perpendicular sides 
 clothed with oak saplings, and fringed with larch-clumps beloved 
 of black game. Higher up it opens out into several heads, form- 
 ing precipitous little corries, with a water-fall in one ; nests of 
 buzzard and raven in the sheer rock bespeak a seclusion such 
 as might have served outlawed Rob Roy almost as well as his 
 fastness under the shade of Ben Buie. 
 
 Southward from the town, you are likely to be beguiled into 
 Eas-o-chosain, a glen of such a sort that the ninth Earl only 
 hoped he might find heaven half as beautiful ; and on returning 
 you might work your way along the loch, past Craig Bruach 
 Lodge with its well-grown silver of 114 feet, and make for Dal- 
 chenna Bank, where is to be found the King of the Forest— a 
 silver : girth, at five feet, 18 feet ; height, 148 feet. 
 
 Above this bank is the high ground of Ach-na-goul, which 
 Rob the cateran crossed many a time with his drove ; and from 
 the tor which overlooks a rifled, chambered cairn (130 feet long, 
 40 feet wide), there is a most pleasing prospect of Loch Fyne, and 
 Strachur, and those Cowal hills where fell the last wild boar. 
 And from there, a charming drive — public or private one knows 
 not— down the Douglas water, might enable you to see a silver 
 and spruce side by side for comparison, of which the former is 
 147 feet, but the latter was not measured ; and you would then 
 emerge on the foreshore at Kilbride, where gossip says the Prin- 
 cess Louise wanted to build, but was not allowed, lest a building 
 should spoil the landscape, and hurt the highly artistic eye of the 
 late Duke. Probably, now that, as Duchess of Argyll, H.R.H. is 
 

 
 it^;^^^' 
 
 
 INVERARAY TOWN FROM THE SOUTH 
 
 331 
 
332 
 
 •flnvcrarais 
 
 THE TOWN CROSS 
 
 in the position to gratify her wish, the wish itself may have 
 
 vanished. 
 
 Such a round as this gives a good enough sample of Inveraray 
 
 scenery ; and the artist 
 may choose purely syl- 
 van subjects or sketch- 
 able bits of loch and 
 river scene, below, or 
 go in for breadth and 
 distance, above. 
 
 But for grandeur,, 
 variety, and expanse, 
 one would preferably 
 take the road to- 
 wards Cladich. Starting from the town cross (which has cur- 
 ious battle-axe-like terminations — c. 1500), commemorating 
 some people blessed with the name of Meichgyllichomghan, 
 our way lies through the lodge gates into Winterton Park. 
 The herons, nesting upon the slope of Croitville, seem to 
 be looking dov^n super- 
 ciliously on the laddies 
 playing shinty below. 
 The Scotch fir, to the 
 right, on the flat, is 105 
 feet high, and has a 
 spread of 69 feet. Two 
 Nobilis pines and two 
 Wellingtonias, a little 
 farther on, were planted 
 by the German Em- 
 peror, thirty years ago ; and some very stately silvers of 145 feet 
 tower up behind the stables. 
 
 CARLONAN POOL 
 
rNVERARAY CASTLE FROM DUN-A-QUOICH HILL 
 
 333 
 
334 
 
 ■flnverarai? 
 
 RUINED CHAPEL. PASS OF BRANDER BEYOND 
 
 Following the Aray, you soon reach Carlonan, a pool of con- 
 siderable depth, with its famous Atholl tree — /, e., a Scotch fir 
 planted by the Atholl people, who lived at Inveraray for some time 
 when the Argyll estates were forfeit ; the Marquis of Atholl being 
 then Lord Lieutenant. Here a conundrum awaits the geologist, 
 
 in the granite being 
 over the limestone, just 
 as in a certain Cornish 
 mine it may be seen 
 above the slate. A 
 short distance above 
 this pool there should 
 be sought out some of 
 the finest larches on 
 the estate ; and as one 
 looks at their clean, 
 120-feet stems, it is amusing to recall that when first intro- 
 duced the tree was considered tender, some young ones at 
 Dunkeld being only reluctantly allowed to take their chance 
 out-of-doors, in consequence of having grown too big for the 
 greenhouse. 
 
 Continuing up-stream, we reach the larger pool of Linne- 
 na-glutan. On the occasion when her Majesty picnicked here, 
 ninety-six salmon were taken out, at one haul of the net. This 
 seems a remarkable number ; but the fish require a good head of 
 water to negotiate the falls, and, while awaiting a spate, accum- 
 ulate in such pools as these. 
 
 And now the ground begins to rise and get more open, 
 the last outpost of trees is passed, and for some miles of 
 gentle but continuous ascent there is nothing but moorland ; 
 until, the ridge at last gained, a new world suddenly pre- 
 sents itself. 
 
■flnverara^ 335 
 
 . Away, opposite, bulks Cruachan, one of the tops of Argyll- 
 shire, and the most familiar word to every man in it ; with many 
 another silvered ben reaching away to the right. On either hand, 
 an expanse of broken ground trends down to that extensive 
 stretch of fresh water dividing Argyll from Lome, on which re- 
 poses man.y an island. (And the temptation to explore those 
 islands need not be resisted, as it is not at all a far cry to Lochawe 
 —the usual way being to go.^on, through Gladich, to Dalmally, 
 and take train ; alighting at Lochawe station,-^ where boats and 
 gillies abound.) - ; , 
 
 Just where the water seems to ^end, in our view, stands Kil- 
 churn Castle, on a spur jutting injo the loch. Over the Keep 
 doorway is the date 1693* (the year after the massacre of Glen- 
 coe), some Campbell initials, and the motto,, Folow me ; but the 
 Keep itself is older, dating from about 1445, when flourished 
 Colin Campbell, first Knight of Glenorchy, founder of the Bread- 
 albane family, uncle to the first Earl of Argyll ; and uncle also to 
 the lady who married Maclean of Duart, and was abandoned by 
 him on the Lady Rock, between Mull and Lismore. She was 
 rescued by a boat, and returned to Inveraray, where presently 
 Maclean appeared with a plausible tale of her death. The Earl 
 made no comment, but with deep contempt opened a door in the 
 Hall, and in she stepped ! The would-be murderer was allowed 
 to go free, but was eventually assassinated at Edinburgh, by, it is 
 said. Sir John Campbell of Cawdor, who married Muriel, the 
 heiress and last Calder of that ilk. 
 
 Sir Colin, of Kilchurn, was a Crusader ; and the legend of 
 the attentions paid his wife (Lady Margaret Stewart), after her 
 husband's assumed death, her contemplated marriage with a 
 baron, and the sudden return of the Crusader, is absurdly similar 
 to the one told of a certain crusading Popham. 
 
 Kilchurn we cannot see ; but yonder is prettily wooded 
 
336 llnverara^ 
 
 Fraoch Eilean — the Macdonald slogan— once owned by the Lords 
 of Lome, and granted to Macnaghten by Alexander 111. 
 
 That long, low-lying green island is the sacred Innishail, 
 "the kneeling isle," which has witnessed many a weird, impres- 
 sive scene, when Macarthur chiefs have been borne thither at 
 night from Ardconnel, for burial by torchlight. The buildings of 
 the Cistercian monastery have long disappeared ; but there re- 
 main the crumbling walls of a small chapel — its interior crowded 
 with grass-grown tombs, with a weathered old cross sticking up 
 curiously in the middle. In the burial-ground outside, one at 
 least of the Macarthur slabs may be observed ; its moss-covered 
 sculpture is interesting, if barbaric. The figures, all one size, are 
 arranged in a row from end to end of its horizontal face. In the 
 centre is the Crucifixion ; and on either side are ranged some 
 Campbell men-at-arms with plumed helmets, between two of 
 whom rides the Galley of Lome, which the Campbells got by 
 heiress-marriage from the Stewarts, as the Stewarts had got it, in 
 the same way, from the Macdougals. 
 
 To the left of this island, from our present standpoint, the in- 
 dentation just at the foot of Cruachan shows where the loch runs 
 in to meet the gloomy, sterile Pass of Brander, where Bruce 
 fought the Macdougal. 
 
 As a whole, it is a splendid panorama ; and may well, as is 
 supposed, have inspired Burke for his " Essay on the Sublime and 
 the Beautiful." Given a clear day — or better still, one a wee bit 
 soft, but with rapid alternations of sun and shower, to give an 
 ever-changing play of light on storm-brushed mountain and 
 cloud-flecked foreground — and it will be no effort at all to Speak 
 weel of the Hielands. In winter's rigour, no doubt — when rab- 
 bits peel the young trees, red deer rind the rowans and come 
 almost to hand to be fed, and the gulls alight on Inveraray's 
 
Unvcrara^ 337 
 
 window-sills, clamouring for food — this Argyll country will be 
 stern and desolate enough. But it is not always winter ; and 
 consequently on the propriety of the advice tendered in the rest 
 of the proverb, but live in the laigh, there may be room for some 
 difference of opinion ; as there is, indeed, on almost all things — 
 even on the identity of the Scottish bluebell.