Chapter XXI: Introduction (4)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KEDLESTON HALL.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The arms of Lord Scarsdale are—_argent_, on a bend, _sable_, three popinjays, _or_, collared, _gules_. Crest—a popinjay rising, wings displayed and inverted, _or_, collared, _gules_. Supporters—dexter, a female figure representing Prudence, habited, _argent_, mantled, _azure_, holding in her sinister hand a javelin, entwined with a remora, _proper_; sinister, a female figure representing Liberality, habited, _argent_, mantled, _purpure_, holding in both hands a cornucopia, resting against her shoulder, _proper_. Motto—“Recte et suaviter.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WE SHALL
DIAL

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

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

AUDLEY END.

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

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

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