Chapter V: Part 5

The spacious Hall is of oak, panelled, and has a gallery at the western end, of comparatively recent date; the centre drop depending from the ceiling, ornamented only at the angles, possesses great beauty. At the bottom of the grand staircase is the dining-room; and adjoining to this the Chapel, the ancient doors of both being beautifully carved in oak. The staircase leading to the principal apartments, which are on the upper floor, is of massive chesnut, its arabesque balusters being surmounted by capitals of the Tuscan, Ionic, and Corinthian orders. On the upper floor are the saloon, long gallery, and suite of drawing-rooms, all with highly-wrought chimney-pieces, in stone or marble, and ornamented ceilings. The ceiling of the saloon is composed of exquisitely-worked arabesque ornaments intermixed with fruit and flowers, and decorated with pendants. The chimney-piece is of alabaster and black marble, in which the Greek and arabesque are united, supported by two finely-sculptured figures of Vulcan and Venus. The gallery, 76 feet in length, is of panelled oak, with an elaborately-wrought arabesque ceiling. Between the gallery and the saloon is the chimney-piece here represented. It is carved with the story of Medusa, underneath which

are two allegorical basso-relievos. In the drawing-room, on the other side of the saloon, is a chimney-piece, “so highly polished,” that--if we may credit the testimony of Dr. Plot--“the Lord of Downe did see in it a robbery committed on Shooter’s Hill; whereupon sending out his servants the thieves were taken.”

The House contains a good collection of family portraits, and a Museum of curious and interesting objects in Natural History, gathered chiefly by the late Lady Wilson, and augmented by the present Baronet during travels in the North and South of Europe.

The Park--although small, containing about 100 acres--is exceedingly beautiful; full of finely-grown trees, among which are several yews of venerable antiquity, a perfect avenue of which still leads to the garden north of the House. The gardens are laid out with considerable taste, and abound in shrubs brought from various parts of the world. The annexed print represents a graceful and picturesque “drinking-house,” in the grounds fronting the Mansion; overlooking it is the solitary tree of cypress, the only one which endures of the “Row” of which Evelyn speaks.[44]

Charlton Village, until late in the last century, was famous for a “disorderly fair” called “Horn Fair,” according to Philipott, “by reason of the great plentie of all sorts of winding hornes and cups and other vessels of horne there brought to be sold.” That which had been instituted for a useful purpose degenerated in time, and became a nuisance to the neighbourhood, until its excesses were suppressed by the grandfather of

the present Baronet.[45] It is now held in a field at the end of the village, and is one of the most orderly fairs in the neighbourhood of the Metropolis.

The present Church of Charlton is of a date a little more recent than the Mansion.--It is built, however, on the site, and partly with the materials, of an ancient structure. It is dedicated to St. Luke, and seems to have been surrendered to the crown with the Manor of Charlton, and the rest of the possessions of St. Saviour’s, at its dissolution, June 1st, anno 29 King Henry the Eighth, 1537, and to have remained part of the Royal demesnes till James the First granted it with the Manor to Sir Adam Newton, who dying before he was enabled to repair or rebuild it, “left,” according to Philipott, “the care with his cost, to enlarge and beautify God’s house,” to his executors, who “most amply discharged that trust, and in a manner new builded a great part thereof, and erected the steeple new from the ground, and furnished it with a good ring of bells, decorating the same Church without and within so worthily that it surpasseth most in the shire.” The Patron of the Church is Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson; the Rector is the Rev. Arthur Drummond, who married a sister of the present baronet. The structure is of red brick, consisting of a Chancel, a Nave, and North Aisle. At the West end is a square brick Tower embattled. In the Windows of the Chancel are several Coats of Arms in stained glass--principally those of Lee Warner, Bishop of Rochester; Newton (uncle of Sir Adam, one of his executors) Blunt, of Wricklemarsh; Peto, quartering Langley and Loges; Puckering; Sir William Langhorne, impaling Manners,--Sir William’s first wife being a daughter of the Earl of Rutland; Puckering impaling Chowne, Wilson quartering Smythe, Haddon, and Weller, &c.

The Church contains Monuments to Sir Adam Newton, the founder of the Mansion, and his Lady, with a Latin inscription written by himself; of Sir William Langhorne and his wife Grace, daughter of John, Earl of Rutland, and relict of Viscount Armagh; Brigadier Michael Richards, Surveyor-general of Ordnance to George the First; James Craggs, Esq., Postmaster-general, 1721;[46] John Turnpenny, Esq., “who by industry acquired, by economy improved, and with equity dispensed, a considerable fortune among his surviving friends”; Sir John Lambert Middleton, Bart.; Edward Falkingham, Esq., Comptroller of the Navy, 1757; and of the father and grandfather and other members of the family of the present baronet. A bust by Chantrey, with an inscription, is also placed here over the remains of the amiable and excellent Right Hon. Spencer Perceval, who fell by the hand of an assassin, when Prime Minister of the country, in 1812. He married Jane, second daughter of Sir T. Spencer Wilson. The lamented Edward Drummond, also the victim of assassination, having been mistaken by the murderer for Sir R. Peel, to whom he was private secretary, is buried in a vault in the churchyard. He was brother of the present rector.

Few mansions of its date--although that date is no more remote than the beginning of the seventeenth century--have retained, with less injury, the peculiar characteristics of the age of James the First. The present estimable possessor is fortunately anxious to preserve it in its purity; the necessary repairs have been conducted with judgment and taste; and, as an example of the architecture of the period, it may be regarded with exceeding pleasure--a pleasure enhanced by its vicinity to the Metropolis.

J. D. Harding, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.

COBHAM HALL, KENT.]

COBHAM HALL,

KENT.

HE COUNTY OF KENT holds foremost rank among the Shires of England; not alone because of its picturesque beauty, its great fertility, the full and important page it occupies in British history, the abundance and richness of its antiquities, the peculiarities of its laws, the primitive character of its customs, or its ecclesiastical pre-eminence; but, chiefly, because it is regarded as our great Island bulwark--our “Vanguard of liberty,”--

“A soil that doth advance
A haughty brow against the coast of France.”

Very few of our counties contain so many perfect examples of structures such as it is our purpose to depict. THE BARONIAL HALLS of Kent, and the ANCIENT CHURCHES of Kent, are among the most remarkable, picturesque, and unimpaired EDIFICES of the kingdom. Upon Kent, therefore, we shall draw rather extensively for the present Work; and although necessarily discursive, we may derive from the vast store of wealth with which it supplies us, ample to excite and interest the lover of picturesque beauty and antiquity. Its proximity to the Metropolis--from which, if we measure distances by time, it is separated by little more than two hours--supplies a sufficient motive for the selection of COBHAM HALL, and the several striking objects in its immediate vicinity. It is situated about four miles south-east of Gravesend, nearly midway between that town and Rochester; but a mile or so out of the direct road. The narrow coach-paths which lead to it are shaded by pleasant hedge-rows, and run between lines of hop-gardens--our English vineyards, infinitely more graceful and beautiful accessories to the landscape than the stunted grape-shrubberies of France.

The mansion stands in the midst of scenery of surpassing loveliness; alternating hill and valley, rich in “patrician trees” and “plebeian underwood;” dotted with pretty cottages, and interspersed with primitive villages; while, here and there, are scattered “old houses” of red brick, with their carved wooden gables and tall twisted chimneys; and glimpses are caught, occasionally, of the all-glorious Thames.

A visit to Cobham Hall, therefore, furnishes a most refreshing and invigorating luxury to dwellers in the Metropolis; and the liberality of its noble owner adds to the rich banquet of Nature as rare a treat as can be supplied by Art; the Hall,--independent of the interest it derives from its quaint architecture--its fine, although not unmixed, remains of the Tudor style--contains a gallery of pictures by the best masters of the most famous schools, large in number and of rare value.[47]

Before we commence our description of the Hall, the Demesne, the Church, the College, and the village of Cobham,[48] it is necessary that we supply some information concerning the several families, under whose guardianship they have flourished.

Cobham Hall has not descended from sire to son through many generations. Its present lord is in no way, or at least very remotely, connected with the ancient family who for centuries governed the “men of Kent;” and who, at one period, possessed power second only to that of the sovereign. That race of bold barons has been long extinct, the last of them dying in miserable poverty; and if their proud blood is still to be found within their once princely barony, it runs, probably, through the veins of some tiller of the soil.

The Cobhams had been famous from the earliest recorded times. In Philipott’s “Survey of Kent,” 1659--it is said that “Cobham afforded a seat and a surname to that noble and splendid family; and certainly,” adds the quaint old writer, “this place was the cradle or seminary of persons who, in elder ages, were invested in places of as signall and principall a trust or eminence, as they could move in, in the narrow orbe of a particular county.” Henry de Cobham was one of the Recognitores magnæ assisæ--who were “in some proportion equivalent to the judges itinerant”--in the first year of King John. No less than four Kentish gentlemen of the name embarked with the first Edward in his “victorious and triumphant expedition into Scotland,” and were knighted for services rendered to that Prince in his “successful and auspicious siege of Carlaverock.” With John de Cobham, distinguished in the reign of Edward the Third, the male line determined; Joan, his daughter, is said to have had five husbands, by only one of whom,[49] Sir Reginald Braybrooke, she left issue, Joan, who being married to Sir Thomas Broke, of the county of Somerset, Esq., “knitt Cobham, and a large income beside, to her husband’s patrimony.”[50] Their eldest son, Sir Edward Broke, was summoned to Parliament, as Baron Cobham, in the 23 Henry VI. In 1559, Sir William Broke entertained Queen Elizabeth at Cobham Hall, in the first year of her reign, “with a noble welcome as she took her progress through the county of Kent.” His son and successor, Henry Lord Cobham, was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports; but “being too deeply concerned in the design of Sir Walter Raleigh,” he was deprived of his estates, “though not his life.”[51] His younger brother, George, was executed; but Lord Cobham “lived many years after in great misery and poverty,” dying in January, 1619; and sharing the humble grave of some lowly peasant, apart from the magnificent tombs which cover the remains of his great and gallant ancestors. He is said, by Weldon, to have been reduced to such extreme necessity, that “he had starved, but for a trencher-scraper, sometime his servant at Court, who relieved him with scraps.” His estates, at the time of their confiscation, are estimated to have been worth 7,000_l._ per annum; and he possessed 30,000_l._ in goods and chattels. His nephew was “restored in blood; “but not to the title or property. These were transferred--“the manor and seat of Cobham Hall, and the rest of Lord Cobham’s lands”--by James the First to one of his kinsmen, Ludovick Stuart, Duke of Lennox; whose male line became extinct in 1672. The Lady Katherine, sister of the last Duke of Richmond and Lennox, married into the princely family of the O’Briens of Thomond; but the Duke “dying greatly in debt,” the estates were sold. Cobham Hall was purchased by the second husband of the Lady Katherine, Sir Joseph Williamson, who resided there for some time.[52] In 1701 he died, bequeathing two-thirds of his property to his widow. This proportion descended, on her demise, to Edward Lord Clifton and Cornbury, afterwards Lord Clarendon, who had married the sole child of the Lady Katherine, by her first husband, Henry Lord O’Brien;[53] and on his death, without issue, in 1713, his sister, Lady Theodosia Hyde, inherited. She married John Bligh, of the kingdom of Ireland, Esq.;[54] created, in 1721, an Irish Peer by the title of Lord Clifton of Rathmore, and, in 1725, Earl of Darnley in that kingdom. For some years the estate was in Chancery. After a tedious suit, it was purchased by Lord Darnley for the sum of 51,000_l._, to the third part of which a Mrs. Hornsby became entitled, as relict of the gentleman to whom Sir Joseph Williamson had devised one third part.[55] The present Peer, the sixth Earl of Darnley, was born on the 16th April, 1827, and succeeded his father, the fifth Earl, in 1835. He is hereditary High Steward of Gravesend and Milton. His father, the fifth Peer, married--in 1825--Emma Jane, third daughter of Sir Henry Parnell, Bart., created Lord Congleton in 1841. This estimable lady resides at Cobham Hall. The late Peer died in consequence of an injury received from a woodman’s axe, while he was trimming trees in a plantation adjoining his mansion. His death was the subject of universal sorrow; in his own immediate neighbourhood, it was mourned as a private and personal loss.

Such is a brief history of the several noble families through whom the mansion, demesne, and estates, of Cobham have passed.

THE HALL is backed by a noble Park, amply stocked with deer, and containing trees, of great variety and immense size, some of them measuring above thirty feet in circumference. It comprises 1,800 acres, and encloses an area of about seven miles. The old approach, long disused, was through an Avenue of lime-trees, consisting of four rows, and extending more than half a mile in length from the dependent village. The present entrance is through a red-brick, turreted, Gateway, adjacent to which is “the Lodge.” On nearing the House, the eye encounters a Cedar of magnificent growth, and to the left are the Gardens, into which there are two Terrace-walks; one from the great gate, and another, at a considerable elevation, from the suite of apartments which constitute the first floor. The View taken by Mr. Harding pictures the more ancient portion of the venerable edifice--the north wing; with which the south wing mainly corresponds. They are, however, connected by a centre, built by Inigo Jones; and

this centre, which consists of a façade with Corinthian pilasters, is sadly out of keeping with the quaint gables, octagonal turrets, ornamental door-ways, carved cornices, projecting mullioned windows, and elaborated chimneys, which distinguish the earlier dwelling of the Cobhams. In front, this incongruity is sadly apparent; but examined from either of the sides it is not perceived. The additions made by Inigo Jones are injurious, because they impair the harmony of the building; although, considered apart, they are worthy of his high fame. The nature of the architecture and the singular contradiction it exhibits, cannot be better shown than by reference to this engraving of one of the projecting entrances, of stone, extending to the roof, by which the wings are backed--including one of the ancient latticed windows on either side. The structure thus assumes the form of a half H, the wings being terminated by octagonal towers; a sunken wall in front encloses a quadrangular Lawn, ornamented with vases and statues. The wings exhibit the dates--1582 and 1594--and retain all the characteristics of the later Tudor style; although, as we have intimated, it has been materially corrupted by the several alterations to which it has been, from time to time, subjected. The ordinary entrance to the house is through a vaulted Passage, “built in the form of a Gothic cloister by James Wyatt,” which contains the arms of the Cobhams, with the date 1587. This passage leads to the grand Staircase, and the several apartments on the ground-floor. The first to which strangers are conducted is the Dining-hall; which contains an elaborately carved black and white marble Chimney-piece, having quaint and curious figures and buildings; and a series of Portraits of rare excellence. The Music Room, one of the suite added to the ancient building, affords a brilliant contrast to the sombre and solid character of the dining-room. It contains but one picture--full-length Portraits of the Lords John and Bernard Stuart, sons of the Duke of Lennox--a chef-d’œuvre of Vandyke. The Chimney-piece is formed of the purest white marble, sculptured in bas-relief after Guide’s Aurora, by the elder Westmacott, with fauns, life-size, as supporters. The Ceiling was designed by Inigo Jones; it is divided into several square and circular compartments, with a deep oval in the centre, “superbly gilt and enriched by appropriate ornaments, among which are twelve pendent coronets.” The apartment is in length 50 feet, in breadth 36 feet, and in height 32 feet; and although superbly ornamented and richly gilt--the Pillars, of the composite order, being of white marble, and the lining of scagliola--the whole is in fine harmony with the grace and chasteness of the design. There are two Galleries, one of which contains an Organ. The Vestibule is a small chamber, decorated with valuable Vases of verde antique. The Library contains a series of Portraits of eminent literary men--Bolingbroke, Sidney, Shakspere, Swift, and others; none of them, however, advance strong claims to originality. On the walls of the great staircase are hung several large pictures, which may bear examination before the gallery is entered. The most remarkable is attributed to Domenichino.

The grand Staircase conducts, first to the Portrait Gallery, and next to the Picture Gallery. The walls of the former are hung with portraits, among which are many of exceeding interest, including those of heroes, statesmen, kings and queens, church-reformers, and poets, mingled without regard to date or order.[56] The Picture Gallery is the great “show-room” of the house. It is a noble apartment, the walls of which are

covered with works of art, of rare value and unsurpassed excellence, the productions of nearly all the great masters of Italy; including admirable examples of Guido, Titian, Salvator, Rubens, Raphael, Spagnoletto, P. Veronese, Giorgione, N. Poussin, and Guercino. Every part of the venerable edifice contains, indeed, some object of interest. The rooms, and halls, and galleries are thronged with rare and beautiful works of

J. D. Harding, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.

COBHAM CHURCH.]

art; a series of perfect Vases from Herculaneum lie on the tables of the Picture Gallery; several antique Busts and Statues line the Hall; a magnificent Bath, of red Egyptian granite, is placed in the entrance-passage; and the furniture and interior decorations are all of corresponding excellence and beauty. Not the least interesting among relics of the olden time, is a Carriage, of which we append a copy. Its date is probably not more remote than the reign of Charles the Second. It is in a good state of preservation, and stands in one of the Out-offices, of which there is an extensive and remarkably commodious range.

Although necessarily limited in our description of Cobham Hall, we have sufficiently shown the rare treat a visit to it will afford to those who, “in populous city pent,” desire to convert occasional holidays into contributions to intellectual enjoyment. The Hall and its contents will amply repay examination; and the noble Park is full of natural treasures--thronged with deer, singularly abundant in singing-birds, and containing trees, unsurpassed in magnificent size and graceful proportions. One of the walks conducts to a hillock, from the summit of which there is a splendid prospect of the adjacent country, commanding views of the Thames and Medway, and taking in the venerable castle, cathedral, and town, of Rochester; the dockyards at Sheerness; and the whole course of the great English river to its mouth at the Nore. The pedestrian, pursuing this route, will pass the Mausoleum, an elegant structure, built conformably with the Will of the third Earl of Darnley; and designed for the sepulture of his family. It was never consecrated: in consequence, it is said, of a dispute respecting “terms,” and is now rapidly falling to decay. The basement story contains a vault and sarcophagus, surrounded by recesses for coffins. The Chapel is above. The exterior consists of four wings, with columns, sustaining sarcophagi, and surmounted by a pyramid.

But Cobham has other objects of interest--the venerable Church, and no less

venerable “College.” The church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, stands upon elevated ground, at the entrance to the village. It consists of a nave, aisles, and chancel, with an embattled tower, entered by an antique porch. The Tower is obviously of a more recent date than the Chancel; the former is very ancient. As in many of the Kentish churches, the Walls were formerly painted in fresco, of which evidence may be easily obtained by those who will examine them narrowly; the steps of the altar are paved with encaustic tiles, of about the period of Edward III.--of various patterns, but most of them containing the fleur-de-lis; the Stalls, of old oak, appear to have been worm-eaten for centuries. The whole aspect of the place indeed supplies indubitable proof of very remote antiquity[57].

The modern “fittings up”--the painted pews--contrast strangely with the age of the

structure. The Roof of huge oak rafters, the Gothic arches, the Brasses--broken or entire--which cover the floor, the quaint Monuments let into the walls, the delicately-sculptured Piscina, the Sedelia of carved stone, the singular Font, the rude Vestry-room with its massive oak Chest, the Scripture passages painted on the walls--all bespeak the antiquity of the building. But the most primitive portion of it is the Chancel, on either side of which are five latticed Windows, the south side being entirely, and the north side being partially, blocked up with rough stones. Nearly in

the centre is the still beautiful Tomb of Sir Thomas Broke, the Lady Joan, and their ten sons and four daughters. It is of white marble; over which, upon a black slab, lie the effigies of the knight and dame. On either side, are those of five of their sons, kneeling, and wearing tabards, with their swords girded on. The figures of the four daughters are carved on the east and west ends of the superb monument. It bears the date 1561, under the arms of the Brokes quartered with those of the Cobhams. On the floor of the chancel are the famous “Cobham Brasses,” the most perfect and the most numerous assemblage now existing in the kingdom. The series consists of thirteen, recording the memory of the Cobhams and Brokes, “Lords and Barons of this town of Cobham, with many of their kindred, who for many descents did flourish in honourable reputation.” Of the thirteen, eight are in honour of the knights, and five are memorials of the dames. Of one of them we procured an engraving, in order to convey a somewhat accurate idea of the style and character of the series. It is to the memory of Sir Nicholas Hawberk, the third husband of Joan Lady Cobham; the carving, in this example, is very elaborate and refined. The knight is represented with folded hands under a canopy, “habited in plate armour, standing on a lion, with a sword and dagger dependent from a rich girdle, and has on a skull-cap, with a hauberk of mail.” The summit of the canopy is divided into three compartments, highly enriched with finials and pinnacles, and exhibiting the Trinity in the centre, and at the sides the Virgin and Child, and St. George killing the Dragon. At the feet of the knight is a youth standing on a pedestal. An inscription round the verge of the slab records the marriage of Sir Nicholas with Joan de Cobham[58].

“The College of Cobham” is now only a collection of alms-houses, to which presentations are made--of old people, without restriction to either sex--as vacancies occur, by the parish and ten other parishes adjacent. It lies immediately south of the church, and is entered by a small Gothic gateway. Its occupants are twenty aged men and women, who

have each a little mansion, with a neat garden and an allowance monthly, sufficient to secure the necessaries of life. It is a quadrangular building, of stone, measuring about 60 feet by 50; and contains a large Hall, with painted windows, a roof of blackened rafters, an old oak screen, and a fireplace of cut stone. The history of the college is curious and interesting. A college or chauntry was originally founded here, about the year 1362, by John de Cobham, thence called “the Founder,” in the reign of Edward III. Towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth it was rebuilt, as appears by a record--“finished in September, 1598”--inscribed over the south portal, under the arms and alliances of the Brokes Lords Cobham. The endowments of the old foundation were ample; and were, with the college itself, bestowed by Henry VIII. at the Dissolution, upon George Lord Cobham, who had the “King’s roiall assent and licence by hys Grace’s word, without any manner of letters patent, or other writings, to purchase and receyve to his heires for ever, of the late Master and Bretheren, of the colledge or chauntry of Cobham, in the countie of Kent, now being utterly dissolved, the scite of the same colledge or chauntry, and al and

singular their heridaments and possessions, as well temporall as ecclesiasticall, wheresoever they lay, or were, within the realm of England.” The walls of the ancient college may be clearly traced, and a small portion still endures, comparatively uninjured. It is a Gateway, surmounted by the arms of the Cobhams, luxuriantly overgrown with ivy, forming a fine example of picturesque antiquity. The present structure was erected pursuant to the will of Sir William Broke, Lord Cobham, who devised “all those edifices, ruined buildings, soil and ground, with the appurtenances which sometime belonged to the late suppressed college,” for the use of the “new” college. By an act of the 39th of Elizabeth the wardens of Rochester Bridge, for the time being, were made a body corporate, and declared to be perpetual presidents of the new college, the government of which they retain to this day.

The dependent village of Cobham is one of the neatest and most pleasant of the many fair villages of Kent.

Although in the course of our work we shall picture many nobler and more perfect examples of the domestic architecture of “Old” England than is supplied by Cobham Hall, we shall be enabled to call attention to few that afford so rich a recompense at so small a cost:--taking into account its genuine remains of antiquity, the magnificent works of art that decorate its walls, its easy access from the Metropolis, and the primitive character and surpassing beauty of the locality in which it is situated.

G. F. Sargent, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. L. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.

HEVER CASTLE, KENT.]

HEVER CASTLE,

KENT.

EVER CASTLE is situated in that district of the County of Kent called “the Weald.” It was erected in the time of Edward III., by William de Hevre, who had obtained the King’s license to embattle his Manor-house; dying soon afterwards, the estate was inherited by his two daughters; one of whom married a younger son of the Lord Cobham, who purchased the remainder, and by whose grandson the whole was disposed of to Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, a wealthy mercer of London, who was Lord Mayor of the City in the 37th Henry VI. He was the founder of a family, whose short-lived power forms a brilliant but melancholy page in British History. His grandson, Thomas, the father of “the unfortunate Anne,” was created, by Henry VIII., Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond; but dying without issue male (his son having been executed during his lifetime), his remorseless son-in-law seized on the estates “in right of his late wife,” which in the 32nd year of

his reign, he granted, for her life, to Anne of Cleves, the wife he had then repudiated. Sir Thomas Boleyn is buried in the Church of Hever; his tomb is in the chancel; a fine relic of ancient splendour, which time and neglect have essentially impaired. After the decease of Anne of Cleves, Hever passed successively through the hands of the Waldegraves, the Humfreys, the Waldos, and the Medleys, in whose possession it is at present.

The Castle is still in good condition, and is kept in sufficient repair. A moat surrounds it, formed by the river Eden; over which a drawbridge leads to the principal entrance--a centre flanked by round towers, embattled and machicolated, and defended also by a portcullis. The inner buildings form a quadrangle, inclosing a court. Our view is taken from the entrance to the orchard, on the east side of the moat; thus presenting the east and north sides of the building.

A “great staircase” conducts to the several apartments and “the long gallery;” from

this gallery there opens a small recess, said to have been the council chamber of the eighth Henry during his frequent visits to the Castle. Our print exhibits also the trap-door, from which there is a narrow and gloomy passage to the dungeons and the moat. To this awful-looking place, so suggestive of sad thought, tradition has given the name of “the hunger hole.” A chamber, with which are associated feelings scarcely less painful, is the antechamber that leads to the bed-room of Queen Anna Boleyn. This suite is said to have constituted her prison after her “disgrace”--if the term may be applied

to the change of circumstances to which she was doomed by the inhuman despot to whose merciless keeping a stern fate had consigned her destiny. The Castle and its neighbourhood contain many traditions connected with the sad story of the ill-fated Anne. Hever was the residence of her earlier and happier years; in this Castle she was wooed by her King; from hence she was conducted in triumph to a throne. And from the lone chamber she here occupied, she was led to a still more fatal prison and the scaffold. In the immediate neighbourhood, a hill is pointed out, upon the summit of which it was the custom of King Henry to wind his bugle-horn in token of his approach, when, with his retinue, he drew near the dwelling of his “Lady-love.”

S. Rayner, Delᵗ. on stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.

KNOLE, RETAINER’S GALLERY.]

KNOLE HOUSE,

KENT.

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

“Huge Hall, long Galleries, spacious Chambers,”

for which Knole--one of the stateliest of the Baronial Mansions of England--has long been famous. No precise date can be assigned to the structure; it is certain that so far back as the Conquest there was “a residence” here; we have, however, no authentic records of its occupants until early in the reign of John, when “the Manor and Estate” were held by Baldwin de Bethune, from whom they passed by marriage to the Mareschals, Earls of Pembroke, one of whom--a “rebellious Baron”--forfeiting, the lands were bestowed upon Fulk de Brent, a low soldier of fortune--“a desperate fellow,” as Camden terms him, whose arms had been useful to the King and his son, Henry the Third. Upon the subsequent disgrace of this mercenary, the lands reverted to the Earl of Pembroke; from whom they passed to the Bigods, the Grandisons, the Says, and--in the reign of Henry the Sixth--to James Fienes, summoned to Parliament in the twenty-fourth of that Monarch’s reign as Lord Say and Sele; and murdered in Cheapside by order of “Jack Cade.” His son and heir conveyed the estates to Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, who having “rebuilt the Manor-house, and enclosed a Park round the same,” bequeathed it, in 1486, to the See. Knole thus became the dwelling-house of the several Archbishops until the twenty-ninth of Henry the Eighth, when Cranmer, “willing to surrender a part of the possessions of the Church to preserve the remainder,” granted Knole and its appurtenances to the King. By Edward the Sixth they were given to the Dudleys: on the failure of the attempt to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne, they reverted to the Crown. By Queen Mary they were presented to Cardinal Pole. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, after having been held for a brief time by the Earl of Leicester, they were bestowed upon Thomas Sackville, created Baron Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset. In this family they have ever since remained; the present owner of the noble Mansion and Estates being the Countess Amherst, relict of the sixth Earl of Plymouth, and daughter of the third Duke of Dorset, co-heiress, with her sister the Countess De la Warr, of her brother, the fourth Duke, who died “of full age, but unmarried and without issue,” in 1815.[59]

Knole House is full of highly honourable and deeply interesting associations with the past. Seen from a distance, the Mansion appears irregular; but, although the erection of several periods, and enlarged, from time to time, to meet the wants or wishes of its immediate occupiers, it exhibits few parts out of harmony with the whole; and presents a striking and very imposing example of the earlier Baronial Mansions, such as it was before settled peace in Britain warranted the withdrawal of all means of defence in cases of attack from open or covert enemies.--The neighbourhood, as well as “the House,” is suggestive of many sad, or pleasant, memories: from the summits of knolls in the noble and well-stocked Park, extensive views are obtained of the adjacent country; scattered about the wealds of Kent are the tall spires of scores of village churches; Hever--recalling the fate of the murdered Anna Boleyn and the destiny of the deserted Anne of Cleves; Penshurst--the cradle and the tomb of the Sidneys; Eridge--once great Warwick’s hunting-seat; the still frowning battlements of Tunbridge Castle;--these and other objects, within ken, demand thought and induce reflection; both of which obtain augmented power while treading the graceful corridors and stately chambers of the time-honoured

Mansion. The walls are hung with authentic portraits of the great men of various epochs, who, when living, flourished here; not alone the noble and wealthy owners of the old Hall, but the worthies who sojourned there as guests--to have sheltered, aided, and befriended whom is now the proudest, as it will be the most enduring, of all the boasts of lordly Knole.[60]

Visitors are generously admitted into the more interesting and attractive of the apartments; and they are full of treasures of art,--not of paintings alone, although of these every chamber is a store-house, but of curious and rare productions, from the most elaborate and costly examples of the artists of the middle ages, to the characteristic works of the English artisan during the reigns of Elizabeth and James, when a vast amount of labour was bestowed upon the commonest articles of everyday use. The collection of Fire-dogs at Knole is singularly rich; those which adorn “the Cartoon Gallery” supply us with our initial letter; but every room throughout the Mansion contains a pair equally curious and fine--the greater number being of chased silver. The chairs and seats of various kinds, to be found in all parts of the House, are so many models for the artist. The best are placed in “the Brown Gallery”[61]--a long and narrow apartment, panneled, roofed, and floored with oak; here the antique fastenings to the doors and windows are preserved in their early purity; the stained windows are fresh as if painted yesterday; while the walls are covered with historic Portraits, giving vitality to the striking and interesting scene--and seeming to remove two centuries from between the present and the past. Similar wealth (wealth in the best and truest meaning of the word) is

to be found in every chamber. The Great Hall has its “dais,” its “Minstrels’ Gallery,” and even its oak tables where retainers feasted, long ago. The bed-rooms are distinguished as, “the Spangled,” “the Venetian,” “the King’s,” &c. &c. Of the last named we give an engraving. The furniture here is entirely of silver; the state bed is said to have cost £8000. The room was prepared and furnished for the reception of James the First. The Portraits scattered through the various apartments are, many of them, of rare value. They include the principal nobility and statesmen of the reigns of Henry the Eighth and his children. Among the other pictures are choice examples of Titian, Corregio, Vandyck, Rembrandt, and Reynolds. In a window of the Billiard-room is a painting on glass of a knight in armour, representing the famous ancestor of the Sackvilles; and in the Cartoon Gallery are, also on glass, the armorial bearings of twenty-one of his descendants, ending with Richard, the third Earl of Dorset. Of the several “galleries,” and the drawing-rooms, it is sufficient to state that they are magnificent in reference to their contents, and beautiful as regards the style of decoration accorded to each. There is, indeed, no part of the noble building which may not afford exquisite and useful models to the painter; a fact of which we understand the noble owners are fully aware, for to artists they have afforded repeated facilities for study. It will not be difficult to recognise, in some of the best productions of modern art, copies of the gems which give value and adornment to the noble House of Knole.

J. D. Harding, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.

PENSHURST FROM THE PARK.]

PENSHURST,

KENT.

ENSHURST! How many, and how glorious, are the associations connected with this ancient house--“the seat of the Sidneys!” Every great name, memorable in the Augustan age of England, is linked with it for ever; while its venerable aspect, the solemnity of surrounding shades, the primitive character of the vicinity, together with its isolated position--far away from the haunts of busy men--are in perfect harmony with the memories it awakens. Here lived the earliest and bravest of the Anglo-Norman Knights. Here dwelt the ill-fated Bohuns--the three unhappy Dukes of Buckingham, who perished in succession--one in the field, and two on the scaffold. And here flourished the Sidneys! Here, during his few brief years of absence from turmoil in the turbulent countries of Ireland and Wales, resided the elder Sidney, Sir Henry, who, although his fame has been eclipsed by the more dazzling reputation of his gallant son, was in all respects good as well as great--a good soldier, a good subject, a good master, and a good counsellor and actor, under circumstances peculiarly perilous. This is the birth-place of “the darling of his time,” the “chiefest jewel of a crown,” the “diamond of the Court of Queen Elizabeth.” Here, too, was born, and here was interred the mutilated body of, the “later Sidney;” he who had “set up Marcus Brutus for his pattern,” and perished on the scaffold--a martyr for what he called “the good old cause,” one of the many victims of the meanest and worst of his race. With the memories of these three marvellous men--the Sidneys, Henry, Philip, and Algernon--are closely blended those of the Worthies of the two most remarkable Eras in English History. Who can speak of Penshurst without thinking of Spenser!

“For Sidney heard him sing, and knew his voice;”--

of Shakspere--of Ben Jonson, the laureate of the Place--of Raleigh, the “friend and frequent guest”--of Broke, whose proudest boast is recorded on his tomb, that he was “the servant of Queen Elizabeth, the Counsellor of King James, and THE FRIEND of Sir Philip Sidney”--of the many other immortal men, who made the reign of Elizabeth the glory of all Time!

Reverting to a period less remote, who can think of Penshurst without speaking of the high spirits of a troubled age?--

“The later Sidney, Marvel, Harrington,
Young Vane, and others who called Milton--friend!”

Although its glory is of the past, and nearly two centuries have intervened between the latest record of its greatness and its present state,--although it has been silent all that time,--a solemn silence broken only by the false love-note of an unworthy minstrel, for the names of “Waller and Sacharissa” dishonour rather than glorify its gray walls--who does not turn to Penshurst as to a refreshing fountain by the wayside of wearying History?

Penshurst--“the seat of the Sidneys”--adjoins the village to which it gives a name. It is situated in the weald of Kent, nearly six miles south-west of Tonbridge, and about

thirty miles from London. The neighbourhood is remarkably primitive. As an example of the prevailing character of the houses, we have copied a group that stands at the entrance to the Church-yard--a small cluster of quiet cottages, behind which repose the rude forefathers of the Hamlet, with brave Knights of imperishable names; and facing which, is an Elm of prodigious size and age, that has seen generations after generations flourish and decay. The sluggish Medway creeps lazily round the Park, which consists of about 400 acres, finely wooded, and happily diversified with hill and dale. A double row of Beech-trees of some extent, preserves the name of “Sacharissa’s Walk;” and a venerable Oak, the trunk of which is hollowed by Time, is pointed out as the veritable tree that was planted on the day of Sir Philip’s birth; of which Rare Ben Jonson thus writes,--

“That taller tree which of a nut was set,
At his great birth when all the Muses met:”

--to which Waller makes reference as “the sacred mark of noble Sidney’s birth;” concerning which Southey also has some lines; and from which a host of lesser Poets have drawn inspiration.

Until within the last twenty or thirty years, the house was in a sadly dilapidated state. Its utter ruin, indeed, appeared a settled thing, until the present proprietor, Lord De L’Isle, set himself to the task of its restoration. It is now rapidly assuming its ancient character--a combination of several styles of architecture, in which the Tudor predominates. One of Mr. Hoarding’s drawings represents it “under repair,” as it now is; the other gives a view of the Mansion, from the principal approach, through the Park. In the first, the back-entrance to the Hall is seen between two rude buttresses, and the roof of the Hall is shown above the broken wall. Opposite, is the old Court-yard Bell, which bears the date of 1649. It is supported on a wooden frame, richly covered with ivy. A print of it forms the Initial Letter to this History. In Mr. Harding’s second view is exhibited the West Front, the north front being seen in quick perspective; on the left, is “Sir Henry’s Tower,” containing his arms, and an inscription stating that he was Lord Deputie General of the Realm of Ireland in 1579. This Tower terminates the north wing, the only part of the building as yet completely restored. In the north wing is the principal entrance, by an ancient gateway leading through one of the smaller Courts to the great Hall. Over this Gateway is an antique Slab, setting forth that “The most religious and renowned Prince, Edward the Sixt, kinge of England, France and Irelande, gave this house of Pencestre, with the Manors, landes and appurtenaynces therunto belonginge unto his trustye and well beloved servant syr William Sidney, Knight Banneret.”

The Exterior of the Mansion is, however, an assemblage of erections of various times, and furnishes some examples of singular incongruity. But the “restorations” are proceeding

in good taste and with sound judgment; and the Seat of the Sidneys will, in the course of a few years, regain its rank as one of the finest and most extensive edifices of the County of Kent.

The Interior is also in progressive improvement; but the new and the old are at present awkwardly and ungracefully mingled. The “Hall” is still comparatively untouched, and the more interesting of its characteristic features are in no peril of further destruction; the business of the architect being limited to repairing the inroads of time. The pointed timber Roof, upon which the slates are laid, is supported by a series of grotesque figures (corbels), each the size of life. The Screen of the Gallery is richly carved and panelled. The Gallery--“the Minstrels’ Gallery”--fills the side opposite the Dais. The Gothic Windows are narrow and lofty. Every object calls to mind and illustrates a Feudal age. The oak Tables, on which retainers feasted, still occupy the Hall; in its centre are the huge Dogs, (pictured on the preceding page), in an octagonal enclosure, beneath the louvre, or lanthorn, in the Roof, which formerly

permitted egress to the smoke. A stone Staircase (indicated in the appended print) leads from the Hall to the Picture Gallery and the State Apartments. They are filled with family Portraits, all of which possess considerable interest, although few are of much worth. Among them are several of Sir Philip and Algernon Sidney; one of Sir Philip’s sister, the Countess of Pembroke, to whom he addressed the “Arcadia,” and who is immortalised by Ben Jonson in his famous Epitaph to “the subject of all verse;” and one, by Lely, of the “Sacharissa” of the muse of Waller. A small Chamber in the Mansion contains, however, a few treasures of rarer value than all its copies of “fair women and brave men.” Among some curious family relics and records, is a lock of Sir Philip Sidney’s hair; it is of a pale auburn. A lock of the hair of the ill-fated Algernon is also with it; in tint it nearly resembles that of his illustrious great uncle.

But “Penshurst Place” is interesting chiefly because of its associations; and these are indeed of a high order. Our history of the family is, necessarily, brief. Until the reign of Edward the Sixth, the Manor of Peneshurste[62] had received a rapid succession of lords. In the reign of Edward the First, it was in the possession of Sir Stephen de Peneshurste, or Pencestre--“a very learned man,” according to Harris, and a “famous warden of the Cinque Ports.” In that of Edward the Second, it was the property of Sir John de Pulteney, who “had licence to embattle it,”--and who was four times Lord Mayor of London. In that of Richard the Second, it was sold to the Regent Duke of Bedford. On his death, his brother, “the good Duke Humphrey,” inherited; and on his death--by murder, at Bury, in 1446--the estate reverted to the Crown, and was granted by Henry the Sixth to his kinsman, Humphrey de Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. In his family it remained until the reign of Henry the Eighth, when, by the attainder of Edward Duke of Buckingham, it fell again to the Crown. By Edward the Sixth, it was given to Sir Ralph Fane; but on his execution, as an accomplice of the Protector Somerset, it was by letters patent granted to Sir William Sidney (one of the heroes of Flodden Field) and his heirs--Sir William being lineally descended from Sir William Sidney, Knight, Chamberlain to the Second Henry, “With whom he came out of Anjou.” In 1553, his son, Sir Henry, inherited. Sir Henry was from infancy bred at Court, being “a companion, and many times a bedfellow,” to the young Prince, afterwards Edward the Sixth, by whom he was knighted. He was twice Lord Deputy of Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth--a period of trouble and continual danger; during which he discharged his duty as an energetic soldier, a sound practical reformer, and a merciful man. The Historians of his time describe him as “of a very public spirit, of great abilities, modest, pious, and patient; and in his younger years, for comeliness and beauty, the ornament of the Court.”

Sir Philip Sidney--styled “the Incomparable”--was his eldest son; and at Penshurst he was born, on the 29th of November, 1554. His life was one scene of romance from its commencement to its close. His early years were spent in travel; and on his return, he was married to the daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, a lady of many accomplishments, and of “extraordinary handsomeness;” but his heart was given to another. The Lady Penelope Devereux won it, and kept it until he fell on the field of Zutphen. Family regards had forbad their marriage; but she was united to the immortal part of him, and that contract has not been yet dissolved. She is still the Philoclea of the “Arcadia,” and Stella in the Poems of Astrophel. It is unnecessary to follow, in detail, the course of Sir Philip Sidney’s life. There is no strange inconsistency to reason off, no stain to clear, no blame to talk away. We describe it when we name his accomplishments. We remember it as we would a dream of uninterrupted glory. His learning, his beauty, his chivalry, his grace, shed a lustre on the most glorious reign recorded in the English annals. England herself, “by reason of the wide-spread fame of Sir Philip Sidney,” rose exalted in the eyes of foreign nations. He was the idol, the darling, of his own. For, with every sort of power at his command, it was his creed to think all vain but affection and honour, and to hold the simplest and cheapest pleasures the truest and most precious. The only displeasure he ever incurred at Court, was when he vindicated the rights and independence of English Commoners in his own gallant person, against the arrogance of English Nobles in the person of the Earl of Oxford. For a time, then, he retired from the Court, and sought rest in his loved simplicity. He went to Wilton; and there, for the amusement of his dear sister, Mary, Countess of Pembroke, he wrote the “Arcadia,” between the years 1579 and 1581.[63] Again, however, he returned to Court, and his Queen seized every opportunity to do him honour. He received her smiles with the same high and manly gallantry, the same plain and simple boldness, with which he had taken her frowns. In the end, Elizabeth--who, to preserve this “jewel of her crown,” had forcibly laid hands on him when he projected a voyage to America with Sir Francis Drake, and laid her veto on his quitting England, when he was offered the crown of Poland--could not restrain his bravery in battle, when circumstances called him there. At Zutphen, on the 22nd of September, 1586, he received a mortal wound.[64]

We may place implicit faith in the testimony of all the contemporaries of Sir Philip Sidney--and by all of them he is described as very near perfection; their praises must have been as sincere as they were hearty; for his fortune was too poor to furnish him with the means to purchase them with other than gifts of kindly zeal, affectionate sympathy, cordial advice, and generous recommendations to more prosperous men. From Spenser himself we learn, that Sidney

“First did lift my muse out of the floor.”

In his dedication of the “Ruins of Time” to Sidney’s sister, he speaks of her brother as “the Hope of all learned men, and the Patron of my young Muse.”--“He was,” writes Camden, the great glory of his family, the great hope of mankind, the most lively pattern of virtue, and the darling of the learned world.” Sir Philip dying without issue, he was succeeded by his brother, Sir Robert, created Lord Sidney of Penshurst, and afterwards Earl of Leicester, by James I. He died at Penshurst in July 1626, and was succeeded by his son, Robert. “Though never of their faction,” he remained in retirement at Penshurst during the domination of the Parliament and the rule of the Protector, and died there in November 1677, in the 82nd year of his age. His eldest son succeeded to the title and estates, and lived in troubled times the life of an easy gentleman. Not so the second son--the famous scion of the Sidneys, whose name is scarcely less renowned in history than that of his great-uncle, Sir Philip. Algernon Sidney was born at Penshurst in 1621. He had scarcely reached the age of manhood when he was called upon to play his part in the mighty drama then acting before the

J. D. Harding, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.

PENSHURST, KENT.]