arW9591 Chatsworth. Cornell University Library 3 1924 031 418 076 I olin,anx Date Due iMM ^^4^0^.l KtSJ^" -rn '> ^' 1.T1 ^ "f 1 '■ ^ru J ps&^-^^ PRINTED IN V. ». «. (tty NO. 23233 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031418076 CHATSWOkTH BY \i\) LLEWELLYNNfjEWITT, F.S.A. ILLUSTRATED BY UPWARDS OF FIFTY ENGRAVINGS BUXTON J. C. BATES, ADVERTISER OFFICE 1872 \All rights reserved.] / ^^1- TO' HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, K.G. LORD LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNTY OF DERBY, ETC., ETC. My Lord Duke, It is with trae pleasure that, with yb«r Grace's express permission, I dedicate to you this work, in which I have attempted to trace the history, and describe some of the features, of your princely home of Chatsworth. Prepared under the peculiarly favourable circumstances, not only of having your Grace'a fullest sanction, but also with the advantage of facilities granted by you for the purpose, I could not issue it without, on the very first page, expressing to you my warmest acknowledgments and thanks for this, and for many other acts of kindness I have at various times received at your hands. To describe and illustrate Chatsworth worthily would take a far larger and more extended volume than the one I have prepared ; but it is a great satis- faction to me to know that it is the first and only work which has been specially devoted to it, and that it has the proud distinction of receiving your Grace's approval. In expressing to you my own thanks I but very faintly echo those of thousands, not only of our own countrymen, but of our brethren on the Continent and across the broad Atlantic, for the kindly and truly generous manner in which you pei-mit others to enjoy the beauties of your " Palace of the Peak." Long may your Grace be spared to enjoy the blessings which, with so liberal a hand, you dispense to others ; and long may thousands of grateful hearts convey to you their unbounded thanks for all you have so nobly done for them. With every feeling of personal esteem and gratitude, I have the honour to be Your Grace's faithful servant, Llewellynn Jewitt. Winster Hall, Derbyshire, August, 1872. CONTENTS. PAGF, I Situation 7 Former Owners 8 Family of Cavendish 10 Mary Queen of Scots 10 The Civil Wars 15 The " Philosopher Hobbes " 15 Charles Cotton's {"oem 19 Rebuilding of Chats worth 23 The Park 26 Great Hall ' .... 27 Sketch-Gallery ■" 29 State Apartments 29 Wood Carvings 31 Grinling Gibbons 31 Drawing-rooms, &c 36 Library 38 North Staiicase 42 Dining-room 42 Sculpture Gallery 43 Orangery 44 Ball-room and Pavilion 44 Corridors and Grotto Room 45 Oak-room 45 Grand Staircase 46 Chapel 46 Wood Carvings 4" The Carvers 48 Samuel Watson 48 West Library and Leather-room . . .51 Thomas Hood 52 Roman and Greek Sculpture 53 The Gardens and Grounds 54 PAGE Verses by Lord Carlisle 54 French Garden 55 Water-works 55 Great Cascade 56 Alcove 57 The Willow Tree 58 Great Conservatory 60 Emperor Fountain 61 Trees planted by Royalty 62 Sir Joseph Paxton 63 Kitchen Gardens ... 66 Hunting Tower 67 Queen Mary's Bower 67 The Family of Cavendish 67 " Bess of Hardwick " 69 First Earl of Devonshire 71 Second Earl 72 First Duke of Devonshire ...... 73 Second to Fifth Dukes 75 The " Beautiful Duchess " 76 The sixth Duke of Devonshire .... 76 The present Duke of Devonshire ... 77 Marquess of Hartington, &c 78 Village of Edensor 79 Edensor Church 79 Sepulchral Brass to John Beton .... 80 Cavendish Monument 82 Tomb of the late Duke 84 Epitaphs in the Churchyard 85 Chatsworth Hotel 86 Baslow 86 Beeley 87 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Entrance to Stables Arms of Peverel . „ „ Leche „ „ Agard . ,, „ Cavendish The Old Hall as it formerly existed Mary Queen of Scots' Bower . . Bridge in the Park Entrance Gates West Front from the Gardens Grand Entrance Lodge at Baslow Entrance Gates Edensor Mill Lodge and Beeley Bridge Vista of the State Apartments . . . Grinling Gibbons' Masterpiece . . . Old State Bedroom State Drawing-room State Dining-room . . Grand Drawing-room The Hebe of Canova The Library .... Fireplace by Westmacott room Sculpture Gallery . . . Mater Napoleonis, by Canova . , . Wood-carvings in the Chapel . . 47 Private or West Library .... PAGE • 7 9 9 10 ti 13 14 IS 24 25 26 27 30 31 32 34 35 37 39 40 41 42 43 49 52 PAGE Bust of the late Duke of Devonshire 54 Pavilion and Orangery from the East . . 55 French Garden ... . . • 5^ Great Cascade • . . • 57 The Alcove S8 Water-works — the Willow-tree .... 59 Great Conservatory 60 Part of the Rockwork 61 The Emperor Fountain 62 Gardens on the West Front ..... 63 The late Sir Joseph Paxton's House . . 64 The Victoria Regia 65 The Hunting Tower 66 Arms of the Duke of Devonshire ... 67 „ „ Hardwick 69 Autograph of " Bess of Hardwick " . . 7° East Front and Sculpture Gallery ... 74 Autograph of William Spencer Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire '6 Chatsworth, with the River Derwent . .77 Arms of Cavendish 79 Edensor Church and Village 80 Monumental Brass of John Beton . . .81 Tomb of William Spencer Cavendish, sixth Duke of Devonshire 84 Cavendish Monument, Edensor Church . 8$ The Chatsworth Hotel, Edensor . . . .87 CHATSWORTH. __ g HATSWORTH, the palatial seat of His Grace the ^~~ Duke of Devonshire, which two centuries ago was classed as one — and that the first — of the seven " Wonders of the Peak," and whose praises were then sung in Carmm both by Hobbes and Cotton, as they have since been both in prose and verse by almost every writer of note, is a house which, in every sense of the word, deserves the grand title it has earned, and so long enjoyed, of " Palace of the Peak." Situated in the most beautiful part of Derby- shire, possessing within the circuit of its domain all the natural advantages of hill and valley, wood and water, rugged rock and verdant plain, and rendered attractive by every means that the most poetic imagination could conceive, and unbounded wealth accomplish, it is one of the most charming seats in the kingdom, and one whose beauties are permitted to be fully enjoyed by all. Belonging to His Grace the Duke of Devonshire^one of the most enlightened and liberal-minded of our English aristocracy — Chatsworth, with its park and grounds, is thrown open to " the people," umlei buch restrictions only as are essentially necessary to its \\ ell being and proper conservation. Assuredly no mansion and ^lounds are more freely and liberally made available to tht public, while none are more worthy of being visited. It y\\\\ be my pleasing task, therefore, in the following pages to endeavour to describe some of its beauties and attractions; to unfold and spread out before my readers some of the rich treasures of Nature and of Art it contains ; to give a glance at its history ; and to speak of the noble family to which it belongs. 8 Chatsworth. And, first, a few words on its geographical position and history. Chatsworth Hes in the parish of Edensor, in the hundred of High Peak, in the county of Derby. It is three miles from the Midland Railway Station at Rowsley (which is the most convenient station for visitors from the south), three and a half miles from Bakewell (where there is a station convenient for visitors from the north), two from Baslow, twenty-six from Derby, ten from Matlock Bath, nine from Chesterfield, twelve from Sheffield, fourteen from Buxton, thirty- seven from Manchester, and about one hundred and fifty-four from London. The railway stations from which Chatsworth is best reached are, as just stated, Rowsley and Bakewell ; the line from London and the south to. the former passing through Derby, Duffield, Belper, Ambergate (where the lines from Sheffield, Leeds, York, and the north join in), Whatstandwell, Cromford, Matlock Bath, Matlock Bridge, and Darley Dale; and to the latter from Manchester and Buxton, passing Miller's Dale, Monsal Dale, Longstone, and Hassop. At the time of the Domesday Survey of William the Conqueror, Chatsworth belonged to the Crown, and was held by William Peverel, the entry being as follows : — " In Langlie and Chetesuorde, Leuenot and Chetel had ten ox-gangs of land for geld [land for ten oxen]. This belonged to Ednesoure. William Pevrel keeps them for the king. Five villanes and two bordars have two ploughs and one acre of meadow there. Wood, pasturable, one mile in length and one in breadth, and a htde underwood. In the time of King Edward it was worth twenty shillings ; now, sixteen shillings." The name of Chetesuorde, now altered into Chatsworth, was doubtless originally Chetelsuorde, from the name of one of its Saxon owners, Chetel. William Peverel, by whom, at the period of taking the Domesday Survey, it was held, was the illegitimate son of William the Conqueror, by his concubine Maud (?), daughter of Ingelric (said to have been a noble Saxon, and a relative of Edward the Confessor), the founder of the church of St. Martin's-le-Grand, London. Ranulf Peverel, or Piperel, accompanied the qQ^® Conqueror to England, and to him he gave this his concu- "^ bine in marriage, with whom _ she agreed, it is said, that the child she had borne to the king should take her husband, Peverel's, name. He received many grants of land. WiUiam Peverel at the time of the survey held 162 manors in England. In Derbyshire he held 12, and in Nottingham alone 48 merchants' and traders' houses, 13 knights' houses, and 8 iDondsmen's cottages, besides 10 acres of land granted to him by the king to make him an orchard, and the three churches of SS. Peter, Mary, and Nicholas. He had also the custody of Nottingham Castle. He built Castleton Castle, in Derbyshire, and either he or his son is supposed to have built that of Bolsover, in the same county. He died 13 Henry I. (5th February, 11T3), having married Adelma, by whom he had issue a son William, who died young ; another son William who succeeded him ; and two daughters, Adeliza (married to Richard de Rivieres) and Matilda. Ultimately the heiress of Peverel married Robert de Ferrars, Earl Ferrars, and Earl of Derby, Nottingham, &c. The name of this Arms of Peverel. Families of Peverel, Leche, and Agard. Arms of Leche. family has been rendered familiar in popular literature by Sir Walter Scott's well- known novel of " Peverel of the Peak." After the Peverels the manor of Chatsworth was held by the family of Leche, who had long been settled there before they became possessed of the manor, and who held it for several generations. In the reign of Edward III. one member of this family, John Leche, of Chatsworth, whose father was said to have been of Garden (a line continued by a younger son), was one of the surgeons to the king. In the reign of Henry IV. Sir Roger Leche, knight, held, among other property, lands at Glossop. They also held, with other property, the manors of Totley, Shipley, Willersley, Cromford, and the prebendal manor of Sawley. John Leche, surgeon to Edward III., was, it appears, grantee of Castle Warin and othpr lands,- and had a son, Daniel Ceche, whose son, John Leche, married Lucy de Cawarden, and thus became possessor of the manor of Garden. The family of Leche of Chatsworth became extinct in the reign of Edward VI., by the death of Francis Leche, who had, however, previously sold his manor to the Agards. One of the co-heiresses of Ralph Leche, of Chatsworth, uncle to Francis, married Thomas Kniveton of Mercaston, father of Sir William and grandfather of Sir Gilbert Kniveton ; another married a Wingfield, and the third espoused Slater, of Sutton, in the county of Lincoln. Francis Leche, to whom I have referred, married Alice, daughter of John Hardwick, of Hardwick, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Leake, of Hasland, a branch of the Leakes, Earls of Scarsdale. This Alice, on the death of her only brother, John Hardwick, without issue, became one of his co- heiresses, with her three sisters — Mary, who married, first, Wingfield, and second. Pollard, of Devonshire ; Jane, married to Godfrey Bosville, of Gunthwaite ; and Elizabeth, better known as " Bess of Hardwick," who married, first, Robert Barley, of Barley— second. Sir William Cavendish— third. Sir William St. Loe— and fourth, Gilbert, fourth Earl of Shrewsbury. This Francis Leche, as has just been stated, sold the manor and estates of Chatsworth to Agard, who shortly afterwards re-sold it to Sir William Cavendish, the husband of "Bess of Hardwick," and, consequently, the brother-in-law of Alice Leche. The family of Agard is of very ancient origin in the county of Derby, being settled at Foston as early as 13 lo. In the reign of Charles II. the Foston estate was sold by John Agard, and about the same time one of the co-heiresses of Charles Agard, the last heir-male of the main line, married John Stanhope, of Elvaston, the ancestor of the Earls of Harrington. Another branch of the Agards settled at Sudbury, in the same county, and one of them married the heiress of Ferrars, of Tam- worth. The Agards, as feodaries or bailiffs of the honour of Tutbury, were possessed of a horn (described in the " Archaeologia "), which passed, with the Arms of Agard. lO Chatsworth. office, to Charles Stanhope, Esq., of Elvaston, on his marriage with the heiress. Arthur Agard, born at Foston, in /540, was an able and eminent .antiquary, and was one of the members of the first Society of Antiquaries. His essays read to the Society occur in Hearne's " Discourses," and a treatise by him on the obscure words in Domesday Book are, with other papers, in the Cottonian Collection in the British Museum. He held office as Deputy Chamberlain of the Exchequer, and died in 1615. A John Agard founded a chantry at Lupton. Shortly after acquiring Chatsworth by purchase from the Agards, Sir William Cavendish pulled down the old Hall of the Leches, and began the erection of the mansion, which, m a few years after its construction, was destined to become a place of histprical interest. Sir William Cavendish, it appears, died before his plans for building had been carried Out to any great extent, and its completion, on a much larger scale than he had intended, was left to his widow (who ultimately became Countess of Shrewsbury), by whom Hardwick Hall and other places were erected, and of whom it was said that, having a firm belief she should never die so long as she continued building, kept on year after year, until at last, a terrible frost coming on, the masons were thrown out of work, when she languished and died. The mansion, cortimenced by Sir William Caven- dish, and completed by his widow, was a quadrangular Arms of Cavendish, ^.^ij^jij^g^ ^^e west front of which had a square tower at each end, and the entrance, in the centre, was between four angular towers. Of this front of the building a representation is happily preserved at Chatsworth, of which, through the kindness and courtesy of its noble owner, the present Duke of Devonshire, I am enabled to give an engraving. It wasin this mansion that that truly unhappy sovereign, Mary, Queen of Scots, was kept so long a prisoner under the care of the Earl of Shrewsbury — the suite of rooms occupied by her being on the upper, or state-room story, of the east side of the quadrangle, and immediately opposite to the then principal entrance. The unfortunate queen was first brought captive to Chatsworth in May or June, 1570, from Tutbury Castle, probably spending a short-time on her way at another of the earl's residences, Wingfield Manor : here she remained for some months, and here, it is pleasant to know, the severity of her confinement was in some degree relaxed ; yet the surveillance kept over her by the Earl of Shrewsbury was enough to disappoint a scheme laid for her release by two sons of the Earl of Derby, and a Derbyshire gentleman named Hall. At this time the Queen of Scots' establishment consisted of thirty persons, among whom was John Beton, a member of the same family to which Cardinal Beton belonged. This faithful servant, who was her " prsegustator " — an office in royal households of which frequent mention is made in the old writers of the Middle Ages — died while Mary was in captivity at Chatsworth, and was buried in the church of Edensor close by, where a brass plate, which yet remains, was put up by order of his attached mistress. During this same year at Chatsworth it was that the series of personal negotiations which kept hope alive in the breast of the fair Mary Queen of Scots. II captive were commenced, and in which Cecil and Mildmay, who were at Chats- worth in October, took part. At this time the project of removing her to Sheffield was mooted, and on his return to court (from Chatsworth) Cecil wrote n/' /'/ "V^ Chatsworth : Tlie Old Hall as it formerly existed. his memorable letter, allowing her a little horse exercise about the grounds of Chatsworth. " Now for the removing of yt qaene, hir Maty said at the first that she trusted so to make an end in short tyme yt your L. shuld be shortly ac'qted of hir ; nevertheless when I told her Maty that yow cold not long indure your howshold there for lack of fewell and other thyngs, and yt I thought Tutbury not so fitt a place as it was supposed, but yt Sheffield was ye metest, hir Maty sayd she wold thynk of it, and, wtin few dayes gyve me knolledg : Only I see her Maty loth to have yt O. to be often removed, supposying that therby she cometli to new acqueyntance ; but to thlt I sayd Yor L. cold remove hir wtout cal.ying any to you but your owne. Uponn motio made by me, at the B. of Rosse's request, the Q. Maty is pleased yt your L. shall, whan yow see tyraes mete, suffer ye Queue to take ye ayre about your howss on horssback, so yourL. be in copany ; and therein I am sure your L. will have good respect to your owne company, to be suer and trusty ; and not to pass fro yowr howss above one or twoo myle, except it be on ye moores ; for I never fere any one practise of strangers as long as ther be no corruptio ainongst your owne." This letter was followed by another, giving the irate queen's permission for 12 Chatsworth. the removal of Mary to Sheffield, whither she was taken a little before Christmas. The orders for the government of the household of the captive queen after her removal were so stringent and curious that they will, no doubt, be read with interest. The original document is preserved in the Cottonian Library in the British Museum. It is as follows : — "To the Mr of the Scotts Queene's household, Mr Beton. "First, — That all your people wch appertayneth to the Queen shall depart from the Queen's chamber or chambers to their own lodging at IX. of the clock at night, winter and summer, whatsoever he or she ; either to their lodging within the house or without in the Towne, a d there to lemain till the next day at VI. of the clock. " Item, — That none of the Queen's people shall at no time wear his sword neither withm the house, nor when her Grace rydeth or goeth abroade: unless thi Master of the Household himself to weare a sword, and no more without my special license. " Item, — That there shall none of the Queen's people carry any bow or shaftes, at no tyme, neither to the field nor to the butts, unless it be foure or fyve, and no more, being in the Queen's companye. "Item, — That none of the Queen's people shall ryde or go at no tyme abroad out of the House or towne without any special license : and if he or they so doth, they or he shall come no more in at the gates, neither in the towne, whatsoever he or she or they be. " Item, — That youe or some of the Queen's chamber, when her Grace will walke abroad, shall advertyse the officiar of my warde who shall declare the messuage to me one houer before she goeth forth. " Item, — That none of the Queen's people whatsoever he or they be, not once offer at no tyme to come forth of their chamber or lodging when anie alarum is given by night or dale, whether they be in the Queen's chambers or in their chambers within the house, or without in the towne. And yf he or they keepe not their chamber or lodgings whatsoever that be,, he or tliey shall stande at their perill for deathe. f At Shefeild, the 26th dale of April, 1571, per me, " Shrewsbukie.'' These orders satisfied Elizabeth, for Cecil says : — " The Q. Maty lyketh well of all your ordres." The following is a hst of the attendants allowed to the captive at the time: — " My Lady Leinstoun, dame of honour to the quene's Ma'"; M'rez Leinstoun. M'rez Setoun. Maistresse Brusse. M'rez Courcelles. M'rez Kennett. My Lord Leinstoun. M™ Betown, mr howshold. M": Leinstoun, gentilman seiTat. Mre Castel, physition. Mr. RauUett, secretaire. Bastien, page. Balthazar Huylly. James Lander. Gilbert Courll. William Douglas. Jaquece de Sanlie. Archibald Betoun. Thomas Archebald D Chiffland. Guyon I'Oyselon. Andro Matreson. Estien Hauet, escuyer. Martin Huet, 10"=. cooke. Piere Madard, potiger. Jhan de Boyes, pastilar. Mr. Brusse, gentilman to my Lord Leinstoun. NichoU Fichar, servant to my Lady Leinstoun. Jhon Dumfrys, servant to Maistresse Setoim. William Blake, sei-vant to Maistresse Cour- celles, to serve in absence of Florence." Besides these the following supernumerary servants were kindly allowed by the earl, and approved by the queen : — Mary Queen of Scots and Arabella Stuart. 13 '■ Christilie Hog, Bastiene's wyff. Ellen Bog, the Mr cooke's wyff, Cristiane Giame, my Lady Leinstoun's gentil- woman. Janet Lindesay, M'rez Setoun's gentilwoman. Janette Spetelle. Robert Hamiltoun, to here fyre and water to the quene's cuysine. Robert Ladel, the quene's lacquay. Gilbert Bonnar, horskeippar. Franciiys, to serve M'^ Castel, the phesitien." The earl, to insure her safe keeping, took to himself forty extra servants, chosen from his tenantry, to keep watch day and night : so this must, indeed, have been a busy and bustling, as well as an anxious time, at Chatsworth and at Sheffield. In the autumn of 1573 Mary was again for a time at Chatsworth, but in November was back again, as close a prisoner as ever, at Sheffield. Again in 1577 she was, for % short time, at Chatsworth, at which period the Countess of Mary Queen of Scots' Bower. Shrewsbury was still building there. It was in this year that the countess wrote to her husband the letter endeavouring to get him to spend the summer there, in which she uses the strange expressions, " Lette me here how you, your charge and love dothe, and commende me I pray you." In 1581 Mary was again brought to Chatsworth, and probably was there at other times than those I have indicated. In any case, the fact of her being there kept a captive, invests the place with a powerful interest of a far different kind from any other it possesses. One solitary remain of this ill-starred queen's captivity at Chatsworth is the moated " bower " here engraved, to which reference will be made later on. It is also essential here to note, that during these troublous times, the ill- fated Arabella Stuart — the child of Charles Stuart, Earl of Lennox, and his wife Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of Sir William Cavendish, by his wife "Bess of 14 Chatsworth. Hardwick," was bom at Chatsworth. The beautjful, much-injured, and ill-fated Lady Arabella, whose sole crime was that she was born a Stuart, is thus in more ways than one, like her relative Mary Queen of Scots, not only mixed up with Chatsworth, but with the family of its noble possessor. The incidents of the life of this young, beautiful, and accomplished lady, which form one of the most touching episodes in our national history — the jealous eye with which Elizabeth looked upon her from her birth — the careful watch set over her by Cecil — the trials of Raleigh and his friends — her troubles with her aunt (Mary, Countess of The Bridge in the Park. Shrewsbury)— her being placed under restraint — her marriage with Seymour — her seizure, imprisonment, sufferings, and death as a hopeless lunatic in the Tower of London, where she had been thrown by her cousin, King James I., are all matters of history, and invest her short, sad life with a melancholy interest. One of the old ballads to which her misfortunes gave rise, thus alludes to her connection with Derbyshire : — " My lands and livings so well known Unto your books of majesty, Amount to twelve-score pounds a week, Besides what I do give," quoth she. The Civil Wars. 15 " In gallant Derbyshire likewise, I nine-score beadsmen maintain there, With hats and gowns and house-rent free. And every man five marks a year." During the civil wars the old hall of Chatsworth was taken possession of, and garrisoned, in 1643, for the Parliament by Sir John Gell, being then placed under the command of Captain Stafford, from whose company at Chatsworth in the latter part of the year, forty musqueteers were ordered to be drafted off, and joined to the army of Fairfax for his jSroposed march to Chesterfield and the north. At the end of the same year the Earl of Newcastle's forces having taken Wingfield Manor, and other places in the county of Derby, made them- selves masters of Chatsworth (which had been evacuated on his approach to Chesterfield), and garrisoned it for the king under Colonel Eyre, who the following The Entrance Gates. spring received reinforcements from Tissington and Bakewell. In September, 164s "the governor of Welbecke having gotten good strength by the kmges coming that way, came to Derbyshire with 300 horse and dragoones, to sett upp a garrison at Chatsworth, and one Colonel Shallcross, for governor there. Colonel Gell having intelligence thereof, sent presently Major Mollanus with 400 foott to repossess the house ; and having layn theue 14 days, and hearmg of the demolishinge of Welbecke, Bolsover, and Tickhill castles, was com- manded by Colonel Gell to return to Derby." ^t ,_, , 1, . A little before these troublous times, in 1636, Thomas Hobbes, known best as " Leviathan Hobbes " or " Hobbes of Malmesbury," who, before he was twenty years of age, became tutor to the sons of Sir William Cavendish (then recently created Baron Cavendish of Hardwick), and who lived and died in the family, thus wrote of the beauty of Chatsworth, and of the nobleness of soul of its owner, his patron and friend : — 1 6 Chatsworth. ' On the English Alps where Darbie's Peak doth rise High up in hills that Emulate the skies, And, largely Waters all the Vales below With Rivers' that still plentifully Flow, Doth Chatsworth by swift Derwin's Channel stand, Fam'd for its pile, and Lord, for both are grand. Slowly the River by its Gates doth pass Here silent, as in Wonder of the place. But does from Rocky precipices move In rapid streams below it, and above A lofty Mountain guards the house behind From the assauUs of the rough Eastern wind ; Wliich does from far its rugged CUfFs display. And Sleep prolongs by shutting out the day. Behind, a pleasant garden does appear ; Where the rich earth breathes odours everywhere. Where in the midst of Woods the fruitful Tree Bears Avithout prune-hook, seeming now as free. Where by the thick-leav'd roof the Walls are made Spite of the Sun where all his beams display'd More cool than the fam'd Virgil's Beechen shade. Where Art (itself dissembling), rough-hewn stone And craggy flints worn out by dropping on (Together joyning by the workman's tool) Makes horrid rocks and watry caverns cool. The water that from native Cliffs had source Once free and unconfined, throughout its course By its own country metal is led on Captive to rocks of ai tificial stone. There buried deep, its stream it doubly throws Into two circling channels as it goes. Through thousand crannies, by which art it doe', Then girds the Rock with many a hollow vein. Frighting all under with surprising rain. Then turning it, a marble font does store, Until its lofty brims can hold no more. And entering the house, obsequious is To Cook and Butler, in their services. And gushing up within the midst does spout His crystal waters everywhere about. Fit for the hands from the tall cisterns out. And though to this but four vents we assign, Calliroe's not so fair that spouts from nine. The river turning off a little space. Part of the gardens seen that fronts the place, Two rows of crystal ponds here shine and dance. Which trembling wave the sunbeams as they glance, In which vast shoals of iishes wanton float. Not conscious of the prison where they're shut. * « » » What can more grateful or surprising be Than gardens pend'lous on high mounts to see ? Within the midst of all the waters stand Cassarian piles built by a woman's hand. Piles fit for kings to build and monarchs rear In Cavendisian Lordships doe appear ; The petty products of a female care. The ' ' Philosopher ' ' Hobbes, 1 7 But of fam'd great Shrewsbury's Countess tliis The least of thousand commendations is. To whom vast structures their foundations own ; Who got great wealth with great and good renown ; Who by her candour made all friends in power, And with her bounty shined upon the lower ; • Who left an offspring numerous and great, With which the joyful nation's still repleat. * * * « From hence, on rising ground, appears a neat And fair ascent, up to the palace gate. Royal, august, sublime without 'tis seen ; Large, neat, commodious, splendid, rich within. What thou may'st findin marble figur'd out Of poet's fables, or old hero's stout, IJwell not upon't ; nor cement hard as stone, Nor count the faithful servants, one by one. But the great Master celebrate my Muse. To whom, descended from an antient House, Devon gives princely titles, Derby, cares ; Who in a constant breast discretion bears Magnificent, not lavish, still he spends His riches freely, and amongst his Friends ; He of your quire is the only grace. He for the muses finds a resting-place And pleasant shades, and grateful leisure gives. And he from them large eloquence receives With a discerning mind 'twixt good and ill." * * * * : Thomas Hobbes was born at Malmesbury on Good Friday, 1588, in the year of "the Spanish Armada," and it is said that his birth was hastened by his mother's terror of the enemy's fleet, and that a timidity with which through life he was afflicted was thus induced. He and fear, he was wont to say, " were born together." His being born on Good Friday has also been turned to account in the way of accounting for his wonderful precocity as a child, and his subsequent intellectual progress. At the age of fifteen he was sent to Oxford, and there made such progress that before he was twenty years old he was taken into the service of Sir William Cavendish, who had a few years before been created Baron Cavendish of Hardwick, as tutor to his sons, Gilbert, who died before attaining his majority, and William, who became second Earl of Devonshire. With the latter young nobleman, who married Christian, daughter of Lord Bruce of Kinloss, Hobbes travelled through France and Italy. At his death he left, besides other issue, William, Lord Cavendish, who succeeded him as Earl of Devonshire, and who, at that time, was only in the tenth year of his age. This Lord Hardwick was, as his father had been before him, placed under the tuition of Hobbes, " who instructed him in the family for three years, and then, about 1634, travelled with him as his governor into France and Italy, with the longest stay in Paris for all the politer parts of breeding. He returned in 1637, and when he soon after came of age, his mother (Christian, Countess of Devonshire) delivered up to him his great houses in Derbyshire already furnished." With this nobleman (who married Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Salisbury, and Chatsworth. was succeeded by his son, afterwards created Duke of Devonshire) Thomas Hobbes remained for the rest of his life. " The earl for his whole life enter- tained Mr. Hobbes in his family as his old tutor rather than as his friend or confidant ; he let him live under his roof in ease and plenty and his own way, without making use of him in any publick or so much as domestick affairs. He would often express an abhorrence ofsome of his principles in policy and religion ; and both he and his lady would frequently put off the mention of his name and say, ' He was an humourist, and that nobody could account for him.' " Of Hobbes's works, of his " De Give," his " Leviathan^" his " Elemens Philosophiques de Citoyen," his " Behemoth," or his hundred other writings, it is, of course, not here necessary to speak ; but one of his smaller productions, his " De Mirabilibus Pecci," because of its connection with the family of his noble patron, may claim a passing word. This is a Latin poem descriptive of the " Wonders of the Peak, in Derbyshire " — the same subject which Charles Cotton, later on, wrote upon in his " Wonders of the Peak " — wherein Hobbes describes a tour which he, with a friend, took on horseback, starting from Chatsworth, where he was residing, and visiting Pilsley, Hassop, Hope, Castleton, Peak Forest, Eldon Hole, the Ebbing and Flowing Well, Buxton, Poole's Hole, Chelmorton, Sheldon, Ashford, and so back to Chatsworth, quaintly describing all he saw on his journey. From this, the extract just given, is taken. If the earl was attached to Hobbes, he was at least amply repaid by the devotion and fondness his old tutor showed to him and to his family. Indeed, so intimate was the old man with the family of his patron, that whenever the earl removed from one of his houses to another, Hobbes accompanied them, even to the last of his long life. " There is a tradition in the family," says Bishop Kennett, in 1707, " of the manners and customs of Mr. Hobbes some- what observable. His professed rule of health was to dedicate the morning to his health and the afternoon to his studies. And therefore at his first rising he walked out and climbed any hill within his reach ; or, if the weather was not dry, he fatigued himself within doors by some exercise or other to be in a sweat ; recommending that practice upon this opinion, that an old man had more moisture than beat, and therefore by such motion heat was to be acquired and moisture expelled. After this he took a comfortable breakfast, and then went round the lodgings to wait upon the earl, the countess, and the children, and any considerable strangers, paying some short address to all of them." .'. . " Towards the end of his life he had very few books, and those he read but very little, thinking he was now only to digest what formerly he had fed upon. If company came to visit him, he would be free in discourse till he was pressed or contradicted, and then he had the infirmities of being short and peevish, and referring to his writings for better satisfaction. His friends, who had the liberty of introducing strangers tO- him, made these terms with them before their admission — that they should not dispute with the old man, nor contradict him." Thus lived Hobbes, whether at Chatsworth or at Hardwick, and thus were all his foibles kindly looked upon and administered to, and his life made happy by allowing him in everything — even his attendance on worship in the private chapel, and his leaving before the sermon — to .have, literally, " his own way." The '■'■Philosopher'''' Hobbes. 19 In December, 1679, the earl and countess went from Chatsworth to Hardwick Hall, probably with the mtention of keeping up their Christmas festivities there, and even at that time the old man — for he was ninety-one years of age — would accompany them. " He could not endure to be left in an empty house, and whenever the earl removed, he would go along with him, even to his last stage from Chatsworth to Hardwick, when in a very weak condition he dared not be left behind, but made his way upon a feather bed in a coach, though he survived the journey but a few days. He could not bear any discourse of death, and seemed to cast off all thoughts of it. He delighted to , reckon upon long life. The winter before he died he had made a warmer coat, which he said must last him three years, and then he would have such another. In his last sickness his frequent questions were whether his disease was curable ; and when intimations were given that he might have ease, but no remedy, he used this expression : — ' I shall be glad then to find a hole to creep out of the world at ;' which are reported to have been his last sensible words, and his lying some days following in a silent stupefaction did seem owing to his mind rather than to his body. The only thought of death that he appeared to entertain in time of health was to take care o'f some inscription on his grave. He would suffer some friends to dictate an epitaph, among which he was best pleased with this humour, ' TJiis is the true Philosopher's stone; ' which, indeed," adds the bishop, " would have had as much religion in it as that which now remains." Hobbes died at Hardwick Hall, and lies buried under the floor of the chancel of Hault Hucknall Church, where a raised slab bears the following inscription to his memory : — CONDITA HIC SUNT OSSA THOM.^ HOBBES, MALESBURIKNSIS, QVI PER MULTOS ANNOS SERVIVIT DUOBUS DEVONIjE COMITIBUS PATRI ET FILIO VIR PROBUS, ET FAMA ES.UDITIONIS DOMI FORISQUE BENE COGNITUS OBIIT ANNO DOMINI 1679, MENSIS DECEMBRIS DIE 40 JEI ATIS SVM 91. ■' The entry of his burial in the parish register is as follows : — ,. „ , T ,„ . rr' ( Tames Hardwick, ■' Anno Regni Coroli Sucund 31 Law. Wame, Vicar. | ^.j^^^^^ Whitehead, Anno dom, 1679. Churchwardens. "Hardwick I Thomas Hobbs, Magnus Philosophus, Sepul. fuit, et affidavit in Lana Sepoliendo exhibit. Decern. 6" (or 8). Of the old house at Chatsworth, as it existed in 1680-81, there is, fortunately, a very graphic word-picture, preserved to us in Charles Cotton's " Wonders of the Peak;" and an admirable pictorial representation in one of Knyfif's careful drawings, engraved by Kipp, of the same house, when the south front and other parts had been rebuilt, but the west front with its towers was remaining eiitire. Cotton's— friend and companion of Izaak Walton— description of the olace is so clever and so graphic that it cannot fail to interest my readers. 20 Chatswortk. • This palace, with wild prospects girded round, Stands in the middle of a falling ground, At a black mountain's foot, whose craggy brow Secures from eastern tempests all below. Under whose shelter trees audi flowers grow. With early blossom, maugre native snow ; Which elsewhere round a tyranny maintains, And binds crampt natuie long in crystal chains. Thefabrick's noble front faces the west. Turning her fair broad shoulders to the east ; On the south side the stately gardens lye. Where the scorn'd Peak rivals proud Italy. And on the north sev'ral inferior plots For servile use do scalter'd lye in spots. The outward gate stands near enough, to look Her oval front in the objected brook ; But that she has better reflection From a large mirror, nearer, of her own. For a fair lalce, from wash of floods unmixt, Before it lies, an area spread betwixt. Over this pond, opposite to the gate, A bridge of a queint structure, strengtli and statR, Invites you to pass over it, where dry You trample may on shoals of wanton _/i9'. With which those breeding waters do abound, And better carps are no where to be found. A tower of antick model, the bridge foot From the Peak-rabble does securely shut, Which by stone stairs delivers you below Into the sweetest wallcs the world can show. There wood and water, sun and shade contend Which shall the most delight, the most befriend ; There grass and gravel in one path you meet. For ladies tend'rer, and men's harder feet. Here into open lakes the sun may prj', A privilege the closer groves deny. Or if confed'rate winds do make them yield. He then but chequers what he cannot guild. The ponds, which here in double order shine. Are some of them so large, and all so fine. That Neptune in his progress once did please To frolick in these artificial seas ; Of which a noble monument we finde. His royal chariot left, it seems, behind ; Whose wheels and body moor'd up with a chain, Like Drake's old hulk, at Deptford, still remain. No place on earth was ere discov'red yet, For contemplation or delight so fit. The groves, whose courled brows shade every lake. Do every where such waving landskips make As painter's baffl'd art is far above, Who waves and leaves could never yet make move. Hither the warbling people of the air From their remoter colonies repair, And in these shades, now setting up their rests. Like Ccesar's Swiss, bum their old native nests. The muses too pearch on the bending spraies. And in these thickets chant their charming laies ; Charles CottoiC s Description of Chatsworth. 21 No wonder then if the Heroic song That here took birth and voice, do flourish long. To view from hence the ghtt'ring^jVe above ( Vv hich must at once wonder create, and love) Environ'd round with Nature's shames and ills, Black heaths, wild rocks, bleak craggs and naked hills. And the whole prospect so informe and rude. Who is it, but must presently conclude That this is Paradise, which seated stands In midst of desarts, and of ban-en sands ? So a bright diamond would look, if set In a vile socket of ignoble /i??; And such a fiice the new-born nature took When out of Chaos by the ^a^ shook. Doubtless, if anywhere, there never yet So brave a structure on such ground was set ; Which sure the Foundress built to reconcile This to the other members of the Isle, And would therein first her own grandeur shew. And then what Art could, spite oi Natuie, do. But let me lead you in, 'tis worth the pains T' examine what this princely house contains . Which, if without so glorious to be seen, Honour and virtue make it shine within. The forenam'd outuard gate then leads into A spacious court, whence open to tlie view The noble _/>-0K< of the whole Edifice, In a surp'ising height, is seen to rise, Even with the gate-house, upon either hand, A neat square turret in the comers stand ; On each side plats of ever-springing green. With an ascending ^