Chapter VI: FOURTH DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, from 1854 to 1865: complete (4)

PENSHURST, or, as it is called, Penshurst House, or Castle, or Place, “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 Tunbridge, 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 of the churchyard—a small cluster of quiet cottages (recently, however, rebuilt upon the old model), behind which repose the rude forefathers of the hamlet, with brave knights of imperishable renown, and near 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, called “Sidney’s 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 of which a nut we 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 thirty or forty years Penshurst House was in a sadly dilapidated state. Its utter ruin, indeed, appeared a settled thing, until Lord de L’Isle set himself to the task of its restoration, and under his admirable direction it rapidly assumed its ancient character—a combination of several styles of architecture, in which the Tudor predominated. One of our views is of the mansion, from the principal approach through the park. In another view the west front is shown, the north front being seen in short 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, in which 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 Ireland, gave this house of Pencestre with the manors, landes and appurtenaynces thereunto belonginge to, unto his trustye and well-beloved servant, Syr William Sidney, Knight Banneret.”

We cannot do better than ask our readers to accompany Mr. Parker in his tour through the house. Ascending the staircase on one side of the hall, the company passed through the solar or lord’s chamber, at one end of which Mr. Parker thought the chapel had been originally screened off, and that it was changed into a ball-room in the reign of Queen Anne. The Buckingham Building, which was next visited, was found to have been admirably restored, although it had fallen into a sad state of ruin. Fragments of one of the old windows, however, were discovered, and these enabled the architect to restore it completely. Mr. Parker considered it to be one of the most beautiful instances of restoration he had seen. It gave a most vivid idea of its original state. The company then descended into the lower chamber or parlour of the house of the time of Edward III., which was perfectly preserved, and an excellent example of a mediæval vaulted substructure. Passing to the Elizabethan house, the company entered a suite of rooms elegantly furnished, and containing many exceedingly interesting objects. The chairs were of the time of Charles II., of English manufacture, and the best specimens of that date that could be found. There were also a couch of the same period, and an Augsburg clock of the seventeenth century, some very old and valuable paintings, and choice cabinets of carved ebony. Among other curiosities was an illustration of the funeral procession of Sir Philip Sidney. Mr. Parker then drew attention to the exterior architectural style of the Buckingham Building, added in the time of Richard II., and admirably restored by the architect. The recent restoration of the Elizabethan Building had also been ably done. The windows were especially noticeable, by the skilful manner in which the work had been executed after the style of fragments of the old work. The Elizabethan front was also an object of much interest. The exterior architecture in the servants’ court was a noble composition, full of interest.

Thus the “restorations” have been made in good taste and with sound judgment; and the seat of the Sidneys has regained its rank as one of the finest and most extensive edifices in the county of Kent.

In the interior the “Hall” is remarkably fine and interesting, with good architectural features. The pointed timber roof, upon which the slates are laid, is supported by a series of grotesque life-size corbels; and the screen of the gallery is richly carved and panelled. The gallery—“The Minstrels’ Gallery”—fills the side opposite the dais, and the Gothic windows are narrow and lofty. Every object, indeed, calls to mind and illustrates the age of feudalism. The oak tables, on which retainers feasted, still occupy the hall, and in its centre are the huge dogs in an octagonal enclosure, beneath the louvre, or lanthorn, in the roof, which formerly permitted egress to the smoke.

“On each side of the hall,” writes Mr. Parker, “were two tables and benches, which, if not actually contemporaneous with it, were certainly among the earliest pieces of furniture remaining in England. There was no doubt a similar—or probably a more ornamental—one on the daïs at the upper end of the hall where the Elizabethan table now stood, which was used by the lord and his more honoured guests, the side tables in the lower part of the hall being for the domestics and retainers, and guests of that class. One end of the daïs had been altered, so that the original arrangement could not be seen; but there would necessarily be at one end the sideboard, or buffet, filled with plate, arranged on shelves to be well displayed, whilst it also formed a sort of cupboard, with doors which could be closed and locked. This piece of furniture was usually placed in the recess formed by a bay window in halls of the fifteenth century, but it was doubtful whether the bay window was in use as early as the fourteenth. At the opposite end of the daïs was the door to the staircase of the solar or upper chamber, used as the withdrawing-room for the ladies after dinner; and by its side there was another door leading to the cellar. This was originally the lower chamber under the solar, but afterwards there was often a short passage to the cellar, which was sometimes underground, and the original cellar, or lower chamber, became the parlour. But there were always two chambers, one over the other, behind the daïs, the two together often not reaching so high as the roof of the hall. The upper room was the lord’s chamber, from which there was usually a look-out into the hall, as a check to the more riotous proceedings after the lord and his family or his guests had retired; or for the lords to see that the guests were assembled before descending with his family into the hall. In the centre of the hall was the original hearth or reredos, almost the only one, he believed, remaining. By the side of it were the andirons, or fire-dogs, for arranging logs of wood upon the hearth, and over it was an opening in the roof, with a small ornamented turret to cover it, called a smoke-louvre, which unfortunately had been removed, after having been previously Italianised and spoilt. The custom of having a large fire of logs of wood in the hall continued long after fire-places and chimneys were used in the other chambers; and it was a mistake to suppose that they were unknown in this country until the fifteenth century. There were many fire-places and chimneys of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the chambers, but it was not customary to use them in the hall before the fifteenth. In spite of all the modern contrivances for warming rooms, it might be doubted whether for warming a large and lofty hall it was possible to obtain more heat from the same quantity of fuel than was obtained from the open fire, and where the space was so large and the roof so high that no practical inconvenience could be felt from the smoke, which naturally ascended and escaped by the louvre.”

Leaving the hall, the Ball-room is entered; it is long and narrow, the walls being covered with family portraits—some original, some copies. Queen Elizabeth’s room succeeds: it contains much of the furniture, tapestry-covered, that was placed there when the virgin queen visited the mansion. In one corner is an ancient mandoline; some portraits of the chiefs of the heroic race are here; and here is a singular picture, representing Queen Elizabeth dancing with the Earl of Leicester. The family portraits are gathered in the “Picture Gallery;” it contains no others; none but a member of it has been admitted with one exception—that of Edward VI., who gave the estate to the Sidneys. 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 in the epitaph we have just given, 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, and in tint nearly resembles that of his illustrious great-uncle.

There are many other relics of interest and value scattered throughout the mansion, but towards the close of the last century a grand collection of ancient armour, worn by generations of the Sidneys, richly emblazoned and inlaid, was sold as old iron that cumbered one of the rooms of the house; while MSS. of inestimable worth, including correspondence with the leading worthies of many centuries, mysteriously disappeared, and were probably consumed as waste paper, useful only for lighting fires.

The church at Penshurst is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. It immediately adjoins the park, and is connected, by a private walk, with the gardens of the mansion. It is an ancient and very venerable structure, containing many monuments to the Sidneys, and to members of the families of Dragnowt, Cambridge, Egerton, Head, Darkenol, Pawle, and Yden. The most interesting and beautifully wrought of the tombs is to the memory of Sir William Sidney, Knight Banneret, Chamberlain and Steward to Edward VI., and Lord of the Manor of Penshurst, who died in 1553. It stands in a small chapel at the west end of the chancel, and at the foot of the tomb is a very antique figure, carved in marble, supposed to be a memorial to Sir Stephen de Pencestre. Below is the vault which contains the dust of generations of the Sidneys. Sir William Sidney’s monument is a fine example of art, elaborately and delicately sculptured; it contains a long inscription, engraved on a brass tablet, the lettering in which is as clear and as sharp as if it were the work of yesterday. The roof of this chapel is peculiarly light and elegant. In both exterior and interior it is highly picturesque. The oak gallery is one of the earliest erections of the kind that followed the Reformation. Mr. Parker, in his address to the Archæological Society, thus spoke of the church:—“It exhibited specimens of the architecture of various periods, and is interesting as the burial-place of the ancient families that inhabited the mansion. The north side was of the time of Henry III., and was probably built by Sir Stephen Penchester; the south side in the time of Edward III. The chancel chapel at the end of the south aisle was the burial-place of the Pulteney family. There were also two chantry chapels on the north side, one of the time of Edward I., and the other of the time of Henry VI. Amongst the other interesting monuments and tablets there is one commemorative of the late illustrious Lord Hardinge.”

In all respects, therefore, a visit to PENSHURST—now by railroad within an hour’s distance of the metropolis—may be described as a rare intellectual treat, opening a full and brilliant page of history, abundant in sources of profitable enjoyment to the antiquary, affording a large recompense to the lover or the professor of Art, and exhibiting nature under a vast variety of aspects.[32]

WARWICK CASTLE.

WARWICK CASTLE holds foremost rank among the Stately Homes of England, both from its historical associations, and the important positions which, in every age, its lords have occupied in the annals of our country. Situated in one of the most romantic and beautiful districts of a fertile and productive shire, overlooking the “sweet-flowing Avon,” and retaining all its characteristics of former strength and grandeur, Warwick Castle is renowned among the most interesting remains of which the kingdom can boast. Of its original foundation, like that of other of our older strongholds, nothing is really known, although much is surmised. It is said to have been a Celtic settlement, converted into a fortress by the Roman invaders. However this may be—and there were several ancient British and Roman roads and stations in the county—it is not our purpose to inquire. It will suffice to say that at the time of the Roman conquest of Warwickshire, which is said to have occurred about the year 50, the county was occupied by two tribes of ancient Britons, the Cornavii and Dobuni, the boundary between these territories being, it would seem, the river Avon. Near the Avon, relics of frontier fortresses on either side have—as at Brownsover, Brailes, Burton Dassett, Brinklow, &c.,—been found; the principal British and Roman roads being the Icknield Street, the Fosse Way, and Watling Street. Warwick is believed, and not without reason, to have been one of these frontier fortresses; its situation would seem to lend strength to the supposition. In Anglo-Saxon times, Warwick formed a part of the kingdom of Mercia, the capital of which was at Repton, in the neighbouring county of Derby. At that period it “fell under the dominion of Warremund, who rebuilt it, and called it Warrewyke, after his own name.” Having been taken and destroyed by the Danes, it “so rested,” says Dugdale, “until the renowned Lady Ethelfled, daughter to King Alfred—who had the whole earldom of Mercia given her by her father to the noble Etheldred in marriage—repaired its ruins, and in the year of Christ DCCCCXV made a strong fortification here, called the dungeon, for resistance of the enemy, upon a hill of earth, artificially raised near the river side;” and this formed the nucleus of the present building. In 1016 it is stated to have again suffered from an attack by the Danes, who nearly demolished the fortifications of the castle and did great damage to the town. At the time of making the Domesday survey, Warwick was a royal burgh, and “contained 261 houses, and with its castle was regarded as a place of much consequence; for orders were issued by the Conqueror to Turchel to repair and fortify the town and castle of Warwick. This was carried into effect, by surrounding the town with a strong wall and ditch, and by enlarging the castle and strengthening its fortifications.”

In 1172 (19th Henry II.), Warwick Castle was provisioned and garrisoned at an expense of £10 (which would be equivalent to about £200 of our present money), on behalf of the king; and during those troublous times it remained about three years in his hands. In 1173 a sum equal to about £500 of our money was paid to the soldiers in the castle; and in the following year, the building requiring considerable repair, about £50 was laid out upon it, and a considerable sum was paid to the soldiers who defended it for the king. In 1191 it was again repaired, and also in the reign of King John. In the 48th of Henry III. (1263), William Mauduit, Earl of Warwick, was surprised by the adherents of Simon de Montfort, then holding Kenilworth, and the walls of the castle were completely destroyed; indeed, so complete was the devastation, that in 1315 “it was returned in an inquisition as worth nothing excepting the herbage in the ditches, valued at 6_s._ 8_d._” In 1337 (12th Edward III.) a new building was commenced, and in that year a royal licence was granted for the founding of a chantry chapel in the castle. The building was commenced by Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, whose monument is preserved in the Beauchamp Chapel. In 1394 (17th Richard II.) Guy’s Tower is said to have been completed by Thomas Beauchamp, second son of the last named Thomas, at a cost of £395 5_s._ 2_d._, and by him to have been named “Guy’s Tower.” In the reign of James I. a sum of about £20,000 was expended by the then owner of the castle, Fulke Greville, Lord Broke, “in making it habitable and restoring it to its former importance.” From this time downwards, the castle has undergone many alterations, and so-called “beautifyings,” at the hands of its different owners; but, despite all, it retained its ancient grandeur and its most interesting features, and was, as Sir Walter Scott has said, “the fairest monument of ancient and chivalrous splendour which remains uninjured by time.”

And now as to its long line of illustrious and valiant owners.

Passing over the whimsical list of earls, &c., in Rous’s Roll, beginning with “King Guthelyne, about the sixth of Kinge Alexander the greate conqueror,” and “Kinge Gwydered, who began to reigne the 4th yere from the birth of our Lord,” reminding one very forcibly of the “Promptuaire des Medalles,” which commences the series with those of “Adam” and of “Heva vx Adam,”—the first we need even hint at, so obscure is the matter, is Rohan de Arden, who is stated to have married a daughter and heiress of “Æneas, Earl of Warwick, in the time of the Saxons,” and to have succeeded to that title and estates. Rohan de Arden is said to have lived in the reigns of Alfred and Edward the Elder, and to have been succeeded by the “renowned Guy,” Earl of Warwick (the legend connected with him will be noticed on subsequent pages), who had married his only daughter and heiress, Felicia. This Sir Guy “is said to have been son of Syward, Lord of Wallingford, which possession Guy also enjoyed.” “He was often in conflicts with the Danes in defence of his country; did many brave exploits; and, lastly, as the story goes, after his return from the Holy Land, retired from the world, and turn’d hermit, and lived in an adjacent cave, now called ‘Guy’s Cliff,’ wherein he died, and was buried in a chapel there, anno 929, aged about seventy years, leaving issue, by Felicia his wife, Reynborne,” who succeeded him, and “married Leonora, or Leoneta, daughter to King Athelstan.” From him the descent is said to have been continued in regular succession through father and son (Wegeat or Weyth, Wygod, Alcuin or Aylwin, &c.) to Turchel, who was earl at the time of the Norman Conquest, and who was allowed by that monarch to retain possession of the estates, but was ultimately deprived of both them and of the earldom.

The castle having been strengthened and enlarged, its custody was given to Henry de Newburgh, a Norman, who had accompanied the Conqueror, and to him was afterwards granted all the possessions of Turchel de Warwick, and he was made Earl of Warwick. By some he is said to have married the daughter of Turchel, but he is also stated to have married three other ladies. He was succeeded by his son, Roger Newburgh, as second Earl of Warwick, who married Gundred, daughter of the second Earl Warren, by whom he had a son, William, who succeeded him as third earl, and dying without issue, was succeeded by his brother Walleran as fourth earl, who married twice—first, Margaret de Bohun, and second, Alice de Harcourt. By his first wife he had two sons, Henry, who succeeded him, and Walleran. Henry de Newburgh, fifth Earl of Warwick, was a minor at his father’s death in 1205, and was placed under Thomas Bassett, of Headington, near Oxford. In the thirteenth year of King John, he was certified as holding 107 knights’ fees of the king _in capite_. Having led an active military life, and married two wives—Margaret D’Oyley and Philippa Bassett—he died 1229, and was succeeded as sixth earl by his son, Thomas de Newburgh.

This nobleman married a daughter of the Earl of Salisbury, but died without issue. His sister and heiress, Margery, who was married to John de Mareschal, brother to the Earl of Pembroke, succeeded to the estates, and her husband became seventh earl. This honour he did not enjoy long, but died without issue “within about half a year of his brother-in-law the late earl.” The widow then, by special arrangement of Henry III., married John de Placetis, or Plessitis, a Norman by birth, and a great favourite of the king. By the Countess of Warwick he had no issue, and therefore at her death the estates passed to her cousin, William Mauduit, Baron of Hanslape, who died without issue. The title and estates then at his death passed to his sister, Isabel Mauduit, wife of William de Beauchamp, heir of Walter de Beauchamp, Baron of Elmley, who thus through her became heir to the title, which however,—she having entered a nunnery,—was not claimed, but passed, in the person of their son William, into the powerful family of Beauchamp. By Isabel Mauduit William de Beauchamp the elder had four sons—William, who succeeded him; John, whose grandson was created Baron Beauchamp; Walter, ancestor of Fulke Greville, Lord Broke; and Thomas, who died unmarried. William de Beauchamp, who bore the title of Earl of Warwick during his father’s lifetime, married Maud, one of the co-heiresses of Richard Fitzjohn, by whom he had issue with others, Guy de Beauchamp, who succeeded him as Earl of Warwick. This Guy, so called, no doubt, after the “renowned Guy,” attended the king into Scotland, and for his valour at the battle of Falkirk, had granted to him all the lands of Geoffrey de Mowbray in that kingdom, with the exception of Okeford, and all the lands of John de Strivelin, with the castle of Amesfield, and the lands of Drungery. He was one of the noblemen who seized Piers Gaveston,—against whom he held a mortal hatred for having called him “the black hound of Arden,”—whom he conveyed to Warwick Castle, from whence he was removed to Blacklow Hill, near Warwick, and beheaded. This Guy married Alice, sister and heiress to Robert de Toni, Baron of Flamstead, and widow of Thomas de Leybourne, and by her had issue two sons and five daughters. He died (it was suspected by poison) in 1315, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas de Beauchamp, who married Catherine Mortimer, daughter of the Earl of March, by whom he had issue seven sons and ten daughters. The sons were—Sir Guy, “a stout soldier,” who died in his father’s lifetime, leaving three daughters, all nuns, at Shouldham; Thomas, his successor; Reynbourne, so called in memory of the son of the “renowned Guy;” William, who became Lord Abergavenny; Roger, John, and Jerome.

Thomas Beauchamp, the eldest son, who succeeded to the honours, was knighted in the lifetime of his father. He, like his predecessor, made many additions to the castle, the principal of which was the building of Guy’s Tower. Having passed a troublous life, being at one time confined and condemned in the Tower of London, he died in 1401, leaving by his wife Margaret, daughter of Lord Ferrars of Groby, two daughters, nuns, and one son, Richard Beauchamp, who succeeded him. This Richard, Earl of Warwick, is said to “have surpassed even the great valour and reputation of his ancestors;” and, indeed, his career seems altogether to have been one of the most brilliant and successful on record; and besides having a special herald of his own, “Warwick Herald,” he was styled the “Father of Courtesye.” “He founded the Chantry of Guy’s Cliff, where before this foundation were Guy’s Chappel and Cottage.” In this he placed the statue of Guy (still seen, though much defaced), made several pious donations, and died at Roan in the 17th of Henry VI. There is extant a very remarkable and curious MS. Life of this renowned warrior; it is preserved in the British Museum (Julius, E. IV.). In it the illuminations are very spirited, and are highly valuable as examples of armour, &c., of the time, no less than as genuine representations of various valiant deeds in which he was engaged.

Three of these we give. Our first shows the figures of the Earl of Warwick and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, from a picture of the fight with Philip, Duke of Burgundy, before Calais. The next represents “how a mighty duke challenged Erle Richard (Beauchamp) for his lady sake, and in justyng slewe the Duke, and then the Empresse toke the Erle’s staff and bear from a knight’s shouldre, and for great love and favour she sett it on her shouldre. Then Erle Richard made one of perle and precious stones, and offered her that, and she gladly and lovynglee reseaved it.” The engraving shows the Earl vanquishing the Duke—his lance has run through his body—and the heralds proclaiming his victory. Behind are the Emperor Sigismund and his Empress, the latter of whom is taking, as recounted, the Earl’s badge of the bear and ragged staff from the shoulders of the knight to place upon her own. On the Earl’s helmet will be seen his crest of the bear and ragged staff.

In the third engraving we see the Earl of Warwick setting out in his own ship, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He is dressed in pilgrim guise, and, staff in hand, is just stepping into the boat to be conveyed to the ship, his attendants and luggage following him. The ship is sumptuously fitted with castle and state apartments, and has the sail emblazoned with the Beauchamp arms, and the pennon, besides the St. George’s cross of England, bears the bear and ragged staff many times repeated. This badge will be best understood by the accompanying engraving. The Earl had two wives; first, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Thomas, Lord Berkley; and second, Isabel, daughter of Thomas le Despencer, Earl of Gloucester. He was succeeded by his son Henry, who was then barely fourteen years old.

This Henry de Beauchamp—who had during his father’s lifetime been called De Spencer, through his mother’s possessions—when only nineteen years of age tendered his services to Henry VI. for the defence of Acquitane, for which the king created him Premier Earl of England, with leave to distinguish himself and his heirs male by wearing in his presence a gold coronet.

Three days later, he was created DUKE of Warwick, with precedence next to the Duke of Norfolk. After this, he had granted to him, in reversion, the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Sark, Erme, and Alderney, which he was to hold for the yearly tribute of a rose. He was also by his sovereign crowned King of the Isle of Wight, his Majesty himself placing the crown upon his head. This young nobleman, however, with all his honours thick upon him, lived but a short life of greatness, and died at Warwick at the early age of twenty-two, in 1445. He married Cicely, daughter of Richard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury, by whom he had an only child, Anne, Countess of Warwick, who died when only six years of age, leaving her aunt Anne, wife of Richard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury, heir to the titles and estates, and thus they passed to the family of Nevil.

This Richard Nevil, then Earl of Warwick, is the one so well known in English history as “the stout Earl of Warwick, the king-maker,”—“peremptory Warwick,” the “wind-changing Warwick,” of Shakspere—who, “finding himself strong enough to hold the balance between the families of York and Lancaster, rendered England during the reign of his power a scene of bloodshed and confusion; and made or unmade kings of this or that house as best suited his passions, pleasures, or interests. His life was passed in wars and broils, destructive to his country and his family.” He was killed at the battle of Barnet in 1471. He left issue two daughters, Isabel, married to George, Duke of Clarence and brother to Edward IV.; and Anne, married first to Edward, Prince of Wales, and secondly, to his murderer, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, subsequently King Richard III. To the eldest of these daughters, Isabel, came the Warwick estates; and her husband, George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, was, by his brother Edward IV., created Earl of Warwick and Salisbury. That ill-fated and indiscreet nobleman, however, did not live to carry out improvements he had commenced at Warwick. His wife was poisoned; and he himself, later on, was attainted of high treason, and was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine in the Tower, by order of his brother, the Duke of Gloucester.

During all this time, Anne, Countess of Warwick, widow of Richard Nevil, had undergone great privations—her possessions being taken from her for her daughters’ husbands—and had been living in obscurity; by Act 3rd Henry VII. she was recalled from such obscurity to be restored to the possessions of her family; “but that was a refinement of cruelty, for shortly after obtaining possession she was forced” to surrender to the king all these immense possessions. After her death, Edward Plantagenet, eldest son of George, Duke of Clarence, assumed the title of Earl of Warwick, but was beheaded on Tower Hill. On his death the title was held in abeyance, and was, after a time, granted to John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, who was descended in the female line from the old Earls of Warwick. This John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, and Viscount Lisle, was made Lord High Chamberlain, a Knight of the Garter, Lord Warden of the North, and Earl Marshal: and was created Duke of Northumberland, but was attainted for the part he took relating to Lady Jane Grey, and beheaded on Tower Hill in 1553. He married Jane, daughter of Sir Edward Guildford, by whom he had a large family, of whom the eldest, Henry, was killed at the siege of Boulogne; the second, John, was called Earl of Warwick during his father’s lifetime; Ambrose, who was created Earl of Warwick; Guildford, who was beheaded with his father; Robert, who was created Earl of Leicester, and others. In 1557 Ambrose Dudley, the third son, having obtained a reversion of the attainder, had the estates restored to him, and was re-created Earl of Warwick. He married three wives, but had no issue by either, and dying in 1589, the title became extinct.

In 1618 the title of Earl of Warwick was conferred by James I. on Robert, Lord Rich, but, not being descended from the former earls, the estates did not fall into his hands. Dying in a few months after his creation, he was succeeded by his son, Robert Rich, Lord High Admiral for the Long Parliament, whose son (afterwards Earl of Warwick) married Frances, the youngest daughter of Oliver Cromwell. After passing through five other members of this family, the title again became extinct, on the death of the last earl of that name, Edward Rich, in 1759.

In November of that year (1759) the title was conferred upon Francis Greville, Lord Brooke, of the long and illustrious line of the Grevilles, and a descendant of Fulke Greville, the “servaunt to Quene Elizabeth, Concellor to King James, and Frend to Sir Philip Sidney,” to whom we have alluded in our account of Penshurst. Francis, Lord Brooke, succeeded his father in the barony, when only eight years of age. In 1746 he was raised to the dignity of Earl Brooke, of Warwick Castle; and in 1759 was created Earl of Warwick, with patent to bear the ancient crest of the earls—the bear and ragged staff. He married a daughter of Lord Archibald Hamilton, by whom, besides others, he had a son, George Greville, who succeeded him as second earl of that line. His lordship married, first, Georgiana, only daughter of Lord Selsey, who died soon after the birth of her only child, a year after marriage; the child, a son, living to the age of fourteen. He married, secondly, Henrietta, daughter of R. Vernon, Esq., and his wife, the Countess of Ossory, and sister of the Marquis of Stafford. By that lady he had three sons and six daughters. Dying in 1816, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry Richard Greville, as Earl Brooke, Earl of Warwick, &c., who, in 1816, married Lady Sarah Elizabeth Saville, daughter of the Earl of Mexborough, and widow of Lord Monson: she died in 1851. By this lady his lordship (who died in 1853) had an only son, the present peer.

George Guy Greville, Earl Brooke, Earl of Warwick, and Baron Brooke of Beauchamp’s Court, all in the peerage of the United Kingdom, was born in March, 1818, and was educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he took his degrees. In 1853 he succeeded his father as fourth Earl of Warwick, of that line, and in the previous year (1852) married the Lady Ann Charteris, eldest daughter of the Earl of Wemyss, by whom he has issue living, four sons and one daughter, viz.:—the Hon. Francis Richard Charles Guy Greville (Lord Brooke), born in 1853, his heir-presumptive; the Hon. Alwyn Henry Fulke Greville, born in 1854; the Hon. Louis George Greville, born in 1856; the Hon. Sidney Robert Greville, born in 1866; and the Hon. Eva Sarah Louisa Greville, born in 1860. His lordship, who sat in Parliament for South Warwickshire from 1846 to the time of succeeding to the title in 1853, is Lieutenant-Colonel of the Warwickshire Yeomanry, a Trustee of Rugby School, and is patron of five livings.

The arms of the present peer are—_sable_, on a cross within a bordure, all engrailed, _or_, five pellets. Crests—first, out of a ducal coronet, _gules_, a demi-swan with wings expanded and elevated, _argent_, for Brooke; second, a bear sejant, supporting a ragged staff, _argent_, muzzled, _gules_, for Beauchamp, &c. Supporters—two swans, wings inverted, _argent_, ducally gorged, _gules_. Motto, “Vix ea nostra voco.”

Having thus glanced at the history of the place, and spoken of the long line of noble and illustrious owners, both of the estates and the title, let us turn to the castle itself, as it stood and was furnished, at the time of our visit. Alas! that we should have to write this in a past sense, and say “stood” in place of “stands.” Alas! that within a few short weeks of our visit, and of our writing these notes, a great part of the building was “gutted” by fire, and many of its most important and interesting features destroyed. It is, however, being rapidly and wisely restored, and doubtless will, ere long, rise “phœnix-like” from the ashes, with renewed beauty. We give our notes as we wrote them before this calamity occurred.

THE Castle occupies the summit of a steep hill, which must greatly have aided its artificial defences in the “olden time.” The present approach to it is by a narrow passage cut through the solid rock, and extending from the main entrance to the porter’s lodge fronting the road to Leamington. Passing through this lodge, the visitor, after proceeding some distance along the rocky passages, enters the outer court-yard, “where the stupendous line of fortifications breaks suddenly upon the sight in all its bold magnificence.” Of the two famous towers that of Guy is on the right, while that of Cæsar is on the left; they are connected by a strong embattled wall, in the centre of which is the ponderous arched gateway, flanked by towers, and succeeded by a second arched gateway, with towers and battlements, “formerly defended by two portholes, one of which still remains; before the whole is a disused moat, with an arch thrown over it at the gateway, where was once a drawbridge.” Passing the double gateway the court-yard is entered. Thus seen, the castellated mansion of the most famous of the feudal barons has a tranquil and peaceful aspect; fronting it is a green sward and the “frowning keep,” which conceals all its gloomier features behind a screen of ivy and evergreen shrubs. Uninjured by time, and unaltered in appearance by modern improvements, except in being surrounded and made picturesque by trees and shrubs, it still stands, as of old, on the top of its mound. The “Bear Tower,” with a flight of steps descending to a subterranean passage, leading no one knows whither, will be noticed, as also will “Guy’s Tower.”

From the inner court a flight of stone steps leads to the entrance to the GREAT HALL, which is of large size; its walls are decorated with arms and armour of various periods and descriptions, and with antlers and other appropriate objects. On one side of this hall are the state rooms, and on the other the domestic apartments, forming a line of 333 feet in length. The Hall, and indeed the whole of the interior, have been “subjected to the deleterious influence of the upholsterer,” and are made gorgeous and beautiful in accordance with modern taste, while they have lost their original features and interesting characteristics. This work was, however, done some time ago, and it must remain as it is: comfort and convenience have been studied certainly; but all associations with the glory of ancient Warwick were rejected by the modern architect in his restoration of the apartments of the venerable castle. In the hall, however, there are many objects of rare interest; among others the helmet studded with brass worn by the Protector Cromwell; the suit of armour worn by Montrose; the doublet, “blood-spotted,” in which Lord Broke was slain at Lichfield, in 1643; and the warder’s horn, the history of which is told in this inscription:—

PHIL · THOMASSINUS · FEC · ET · EXCUD · CUM · PRIVIL · SUMMI · PONTIFICES · ET · SUPERIOR : LICENTIA · ROMÆ · FLORUIT · 1598.

There is also a breech-loading revolving musket, some hundreds of years old probably, which, but for the evidence of Time, might seem a direct plagiarism on the revolver of Colonel Colt. The roof of the hall was designed by the architect Poynter.

The RED DRAWING-ROOM contains many fine paintings and several articles of _vertu_.

The CEDAR DRAWING-ROOM is a remarkably elegant apartment, sumptuously furnished, and having a magnificent and, said to be, unique chimney piece. In this room are many remarkably fine paintings, including “Charles I.,” by Vandyck; “Circe,” by Guido; the “Family of Charles I.,” &c.; and some highly interesting bronzes, Etruscan vases, &c. The main feature of—

The GILT DRAWING-ROOM is its superb geometric ceiling, which is richly painted and gilt—the walls being decorated in a corresponding manner. Among the paintings in this room may be noted the “Earl of Strafford,” by Vandyck; “Algernon Percy,” by Dodson; “Charles I.,” “Henrietta Maria,” and “Prince Rupert,” by Vandyck; “Ignatius Loyola,” by Rubens; “Robert Bertie, Earl of Lindsay,” by Cornelius Jansen; “Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick,” after Vandyck; a “Young Girl,” by Murillo; “Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester,” and many others.

The STATE BED-ROOM. The bed and furniture in this room are said originally to have belonged to Queen Anne, and were presented to the Warwick family by King George III. The walls are hung with Brussels tapestry of the date of 1604. The bed and hangings are of crimson velvet. Over the chimney-piece is a fine full-length portrait of Queen Anne by Sir Godfrey Kneller; the room also contains other interesting paintings and ornaments.

The BOUDOIR is a lovely little room, forming the extreme west end of the suite of rooms. The ceiling is enriched with the family crest and coronets, and there are among the paintings a portrait of Henry VIII. by Holbein;[33] of the Duchess of Cleveland, Barbara Villiers, by Lely; “A Dead Christ,” by Carracci; “A Boar Hunt,” by Rubens; “Martin Luther,” by Holbein; “A Sketch of the Evangelists,” by Rubens; and examples of Gerard Dow, Teniers, Salvator Rosa, Hayter, Vandyck, Holbein (Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn being especially interesting), Andrea del Sarto, &c., &c.

The COMPASS-ROOM contains many fine old paintings and much among its articles of _vertu_ that will interest the visitor. In—

The CHAPEL PASSAGE, too, are highly interesting paintings; and in the CHAPEL are some stained glass and interesting local relics.

The GREAT DINING-ROOM, built by Francis, Earl of Warwick, is a noble room, decorated with some fine antique busts and paintings. Among the latter will be specially noticed portraits of “Sir Philip Sidney,” considered the best in existence, and bearing in the corner the words, “The Original of Sir Philip Sidney;” “Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester;” “Frederick, Prince of Wales;” “The Princess of Wales and George III. when an Infant;” and many family portraits. At the east end is the celebrated “Kenilworth Buffet,” manufactured by Cookes of Warwick, from an oak-tree on the Kenilworth estate, and representing in its panels various incidents connected with Queen Elizabeth’s visit to that venerable pile, and presented to the present earl, on his marriage, by the town and county of Warwick.

The private apartments of the Castle consist of a remarkably elegant suite of rooms, which are, of course, not shown to visitors. Of these, therefore, only a few words need be said. The ARMOURY PASSAGE and the ARMOURY contain a rare assemblage of arms and armour of various ages and descriptions, and many antiquities and “curiosities,” as well as mineralogical, geological, and other collections of great interest. In the BILLIARD-ROOM, the OAK SITTING-ROOM, the EARL’S ROOM, and all the remaining apartments, are many remarkably fine paintings.

Throughout the state apartments, as well as the private rooms, is distributed a marvellous collection of treasures of art—“superb garde-robes, encoigneurs, cabinets, and tables of buhl and marqueterie of the most costly finish; splendid cups, flasks, and vases in ormolu, crystal, china, and lava; Etruscan vases, marble and _pietra dura_ tables; bronzes and busts displaying the utmost efforts of art; costly bijouteries, and rare antiques;” more especially a large collection of Limousin enamels are among the treasures which meet the eye at every turn in the interior of Warwick Castle.

It will be readily understood that the prospect from any of the windows is singularly beautiful; so beautiful, indeed, that if the stately castle lacked all other interest, a look over these grand woods, a fair stream consecrated by the bard of Avon, richly cultivated gardens, and rare trees of prodigious size, would amply compensate the visitor.

In the grounds are many charming objects and delicious spots, concerning some of which the visitor, naturally, will desire information. Of these, CÆSAR’S TOWER is one of the most sadly interesting, from the fact that beneath it is a dark and damp dungeon, in which many a sad heart has died out in solitude. On the walls are some touching inscriptions and rude carvings done by the miserable beings who have been incarcerated there. Among these the following is specially curious:—

Ma_ʃ_TER : IOHN : SMyTH : GVNER : TO : HIS :
MAIESTyE : HIghNES : WAS : A PRISNER IN THIS
PlACE : AND : lAy HERE frOM 1642 TEll th
WillIAM SIDIaTE ROT This SAME
ANd if My PIN HAd Bin BETER fOR
HIs sake I WOVlD HAVE MENdEd
EVERRi leTTER.

That was the last person known to have been confined in the dungeon. Besides this, there are crosses, crucifixes, cross-bows, and other objects and inscriptions traceable on the walls.

GUY’S TOWER (to which we have alluded, and which forms our initial letter on page 206) contains several rooms appropriated to various purposes. Its summit is reached by a flight of 133 steps—a most fatiguing ascent, but amply repaid by the magnificent panoramic view obtained from the battlements. Hence “are seen the spires of the Coventry churches, the Castle of Kenilworth, Guy’s Cliff, and Blacklow Hill; Grove Park, the seat of Lord Dormer; Shuckburgh and the Shropshire Hills; the Saxon Tower on the Broadway Hills; the fashionable spa of Leamington, which appears almost lying underneath the feet, and the wide-extended park; while village churches, lifting up their venerable heads from amidst embowering trees, fill up a picture pleasing, grand, and interesting. In the various rooms will be noticed carvings and inscriptions which possess interest. From the BEAR COURT a portcullised doorway in the north wall opens to the moat, across which is a bridge leading to the pleasure-grounds and CONSERVATORY. In this is placed one of the wonders of the “Stately Home”—the celebrated _Warwick Vase_, rescued from the bottom of a lake at Adrian’s Villa, near Tivoli, by Sir William Hamilton, from whom it was obtained by the late Earl of Warwick.

It has been copied a hundred times, and its form and character are known to every reader. It stands on a pedestal formed for its reception, on which is this inscription:—

HOC PRISTINÆ ARTIS
ROMANÆ Q. MAGNIFICENTIÆ MONUMENTUM
RUDERIBUS VILLÆ TIBURTINÆ
HADRIANO AUG. IN DELICIIS HABITÆ EFFOSSUM
RESTITUTI CURAVIT
EQUES GULIELMUS HAMILTON
A GEORGIO III., MAG. BRIT. REX
AD SICIL REGEM FERDINANDUM IV. LEGATUS
ET IN PATRIAM TRANSMISSUM
PATRIO BONARUM ARTIUM GENIO DICAVIT
AN. AC. N. CIC. DCCLXXIV.

From the conservatory, after crossing the lawn, the banks of the river are gained, and after passing the PAVILION, the visitor reaches a spot from which the immense height of the castle on its rocky base is best seen. Returning to the HILL TOWER, the magnificent cedars of Lebanon and chestnuts will strike the eye; but the visitor will pass on to the top of the mount on which, in Saxon times, the stronghold of Ethelfleda was erected, and he will then find much for his mind to dwell upon.

In the PORTER’S LODGE are preserved a number of relics, said to have belonged to the “Renowned Guy”—but, as they represent so many periods, they must have appertained to “Many Guys.” The articles shown are “Guy’s Porridge-pot;” “Guy’s Sword,” for taking care of which William Hoggeson, Yeoman of the Buttery, had a salary of 2_d._ a day, temp. H. VIII.; parts of his armour, of which the “bascinet is of the time of Edward III.; and a breastplate partly of the fifteenth century, and partly of the time of James I.; the sword of the reign of Henry VIII.; the staff, an ancient tilting lance;” the horse armour of the fifteenth century; the “flesh fork;” and other articles, among which are his fair “Felicia’s slippers,” which are a pair of footed stirrup-irons of the fifteenth century. The “rib of the dun cow,” and a joint of the spine of the same, as well as the tusk and blade bone of a wild boar, are also shown, and are still looked upon with wonder, as belonging to veritable animals slain by Guy. There are also other “curiosities” shown in this lodge, and visitors eagerly inspect them, often as greater attractions than matters more worthy. Into the wild old legend connected with Guy, Earl of Warwick, it is not necessary here to enter at length. It was a popular legend in the Middle Ages, and his encounter with the Danish champion, Colbrand, as well as his victory over the dun cow, was a favourite subject of the wandering minstrel. Dugdale has given the narrative of his battle with Colbrand, which he seems inclined to believe to be true in the main features, although “the monks may have sounded out his praises hyperbolically.” According to him, “in year three of King Athelstan, A.D. 826, the Danes having invaded England, cruelly wasted the countrys where they marcht, so that there was scarce a town or castle that they had not burnt or destroyed almost as far as Winchester,” where the king resided, and to whom they sent a message, requiring him to resign his crown to their generals, holding his power at their hands, and paying them yearly tribute for the privilege of ruling; or that the whole dispute for the kingdom be determined in a single combat, by two champions for both sides. The king having chosen the latter alternative, enjoins a fast for three days, and, in great anguish of heart that Guy the famous warrior is absent on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, prays Heaven for assistance. An angel appears to the king as he is on his bed, and directs him to arise early on the morrow, and take two bishops with him to the north gate of the city, and stay there “till the hour of prime,” until the poor people and pilgrims arrive, among whom he must choose a champion, and the choice must fall upon him who goes barefooted, with a wreath of white roses on his head. The king goes and meets the pilgrim, accosts him, and asks his championship, which he hesitates to give, excusing himself on the ground of his weakness with much travel, and exhorts him to seek fitter help. To this the king bitterly answers, “I had but one valiant knight, which was Earl of Warwick, called Guy, and he had a courageous servant, named Sir Heraud de Ardene; would to God I had him here, for then should this duel be soon undertaken, and the war finished; and as he spake these words, the tears fell from his eyes.”

The pilgrim is moved, and ultimately consents, and after three weeks spent in prayer and preparation the battle begins. Colbrand “came so weightily harnessed, that his horse could scarcely carry him, and before him a cart loaded with Danish axes, great clubs, with knobs of iron, squared bars of steel, lances, and iron hooks, to pull his adversary to him.” The giant uses a bar of steel in the combat, which lasts the whole day. Guy in the end proving victorious, and taking a farewell of the king, to whom he declares himself, goes towards Warwick, and thence to a hermit in its neighbourhood, living with him till his death, and succeeding him in his cell until his own decease.[34] The spot is still pointed out, and bears the name of Guy’s Cliff. But this is not the only giant-story connected with the family. Their well-known crest, or cognisance, is said to come from one Morvidus, an Earl of Warwick in the days of King Arthur, “who being a man of valour, slew a mighty gyant in a single duell, which gyant encountered him with a young tree pulled up by the root, the boughs being nog’d from it; in token whereof, he and his successors, Earles of Warwick in the time of the Brittons, bore a ragged staff of silver in a sable shield for their cognisance.” Other stories are the combat and overcoming of the famous dun cow, the slaying of a ferocious lion, and “the greatest boar that man e’er saw,” the killing of “the mighty dragon in Northumberland that destroyed men, women, and children,” and the killing of the fifteen armed knights. Such were the old fables with which our ancient family histories were obscured, or rendered romantic and wonderful to the subordinate classes.