Chapter XXIII: Introduction (6)

The State Dining-room, and the Great Drawing-room, or fourth George Room, are gorgeous in the extreme, and filled to repletion with choice works of Art and antiquity; while the fifth of these George apartments, named the Heaven, from the subjects of Verrio’s paintings, which cover alike the ceiling and walls, contains cabinets, paintings, and busts of great value. The whole of this suite of rooms is hung with choice pictures, of which, of course, space prevents our giving an account. The Grand Staircase, leading to the Great Hall, completes this suite; its ceiling is by Verrio, and the staircase and landings are adorned with sculpture and paintings.

We regret that we cannot find space to describe the numerous other admirably constructed and beautifully furnished apartments of this noble mansion, one of the most interesting of the many glorious baronial halls of the kingdom.

The burial-place of the family of Cecil is St. Martin’s Church, Stamford, where many monuments exist; and the visitor will find much to interest him in this and the other churches of that town.

HEVER CASTLE.

HEVER CASTLE was originally the stronghold of the family of De Hevre, said to have been of Norman extraction, one of whom, William De Hevre, is stated to have had license from King Edward III. to embattle this his manor-house. His daughters and co-heiresses inherited the estates, and through them, by marriage, they were conveyed to the families of Cobham and Brocas, the former of whom, having obtained the whole by purchase, sold it to Sir Geoffrey Bullen, or Boleyn, in which family it remained until it was seized by the Crown.

The family of Boleyn, or Bullen, traces from Sir Thomas Bullen, Knt., of Blickling and Saul, in Norfolk, and Joan, his wife, daughter and heiress of Sir John Bracton, Knt. The grandson of Sir Thomas was Sir Geoffrey Bullen, the purchaser of Hever Castle and other estates of the De Hevre family. Sir Geoffrey “was a wealthy mercer in London, as also Lord Mayor of that city in 37 Henry VI., and, having married Anne, eldest daughter and co-heiress to John, Baron Hoo and Hastings, by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Nicholas Wichingham, he had issue, Sir William Bullen, Knight of the Bath at the coronation of King Richard III.” Sir William married Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond (third brother to James, Earl of Wiltshire), and by her had, with other issue, a son, Thomas Bullen, afterwards created Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond.

This Thomas Bullen, or Boleyn, whose career, and that of his unfortunate daughter, Queen Anne Boleyn, are so intimately woven into the history of our country, was, in 1496, in arms with his father for suppressing the Cornish rebellion; and, under Henry VIII., “being one of the knights of the king’s body, was, jointly with Sir Henry Wyat, Knt., constituted governor of the Castle of Norwich. In the following year he was one of the ambassadors to the Emperor Maximilian, touching a war with France, and soon after was sole governor of Norwich Castle.”

In the eleventh year of this sovereign’s reign “he arranged the famous interview of King Henry VIII. and Francis I. between Guisnes and Ardres, and in the thirteenth year was accredited ambassador to the latter. The next year, being treasurer of the King’s household, he was sent ambassador to Spain, to advise with King Charles upon some proceedings in order to the war with France.” In 1525, with a view to further the suit of the monarch to his daughter Anne, Sir Thomas Bullen was created Baron and Viscount Rochfort, and afterwards successively Earl of Wiltshire and Earl of Ormond, a Knight of the Garter, and Lord Privy Seal. “He subscribed the articles against Cardinal Wolsey in 21 Henry VIII., and soon after was sent again ambassador to the Emperor Charles V.”

This Sir Thomas Bullen, afterwards, as we have shown, created Baron Rochfort, Viscount Rochfort, Earl of Ormond, and Earl of Wiltshire, married Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and by her had issue one son—George, commonly called Viscount Rochfort, but summoned as Baron Rochfort during the lifetime of his father—and two daughters, Anne and Mary. Lord Rochfort married Jane, daughter of Henry Parker, Earl of Morley. He was beheaded during the lifetime of his father, and left no issue. Of the daughters, the Lady Anne Bullen, who was created Marchioness of Pembroke, became second queen to King Henry VIII.; and the Lady Mary Bullen, married, first, William Cary, Esquire of the Body to King Henry VIII., and brother of Sir John Cary of Plashley, one of the gentlemen of the bed-chamber to the same monarch; and, secondly, Sir William Stafford, Knt. The husband of this lady, William Cary, was the son of Thomas Cary, of Chilton Foliat, in Wiltshire (son of Sir William Cary, of Cockington, Devon, Knt.—who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury—by his second wife, Alice, daughter of Sir Baldwin Fulford), by his wife, Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Robert Spencer, of Spencer Combe, by the Lady Eleanor Beaufort, daughter of Edmund, and sister and co-heiress of Henry, Duke of Somerset. Lady Mary Bullen had, by her first husband, William Cary, a daughter, Catherine, married to Sir Francis Knollys, K.G.; and a son, Sir Henry Cary, Knt., who was created Baron Hunsdon at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, and from whom descended the Barons Hunsdon and Earls of Dover and Monmouth; while from his brother, Sir John Cary, of Plashley, Knt., by his wife, Joyce, sister of Sir Anthony Denny, king’s remembrancer, are descended the Viscounts Falkland.

Anne Boleyn, or Bullen, was born at Hever in or about the year 1507; and in 1514, when only seven years of age, was appointed one of the maids of honour to the King’s sister—who had then just been married to Louis XII. of France—and was allowed to remain with her when her other English attendants were unceremoniously sent out of the country. On the Queen’s second marriage with Brandon, Anne Boleyn was left under the powerful protection of the new queen, Claude, wife of Francis I. She was thus brought up at the French Court. When war was declared against France in 1522, at which time her father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, was ambassador to that country, it is thought she was brought back to England by him, and, shortly afterwards, was appointed one of the maids of honour to Queen Catherine, wife of Henry VIII., and was thus brought under the notice of that detestable and profligate monarch. She had not been long at Court when, it is said by Cavendish, a strong and mutual attachment sprang up between her and the young Lord Percy, son and heir of the Earl of Northumberland, who made her an offer of marriage, and was accepted. At this time she was only sixteen years of age. The match, however, was not destined to be made, for the King “had already turned his admiring eyes in the same direction, and, jealous of the rivalry of a subject, he caused the lovers to be parted through the agency of Cardinal Wolsey, in whose household Percy had been educated; and that young nobleman, probably under compulsion, married, in 1523, a daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury.” Anne, on being thus compulsorily separated from her young and fond lover, was removed to Hever. Here, within a few weeks, she heard of the marriage of her accepted lover, and, with feelings which can well be imagined, kept herself secluded.

To Hever the King repaired on a visit, but probably suspecting the cause of his arrival, Anne, under the pretext of sickness, kept closely to her chamber, which she did not leave until after his departure. “But this reserve was more likely to animate than daunt a royal lover; and Henry, for the purpose of restoring the reluctant lady to court, and bringing her within the sphere of his solicitations,” created her father Baron and Viscount Rochfort, and gave him the important post of Treasurer of the Royal Household. He also surrounded himself with her relatives and friends. Among those who were his chief companions were her father, Thomas, Viscount Rochfort; her brother George; her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk; her cousin, Sir Francis Bryan; her near relative and admirer, Sir Henry Norris; her intimate friend, Sir William Compton; and the King’s old favourite, the Duke of Suffolk—a lively but dissolute society, not one of whom showed any high regard for marriage vows, or treated their infringement as anything but a jest. “Suffolk,” says Mr. Brewer, “had been betrothed to one lady; then married another; then abandoned her, on the plea of his previous contract, for the lady whom he had in the first instance rejected. Norfolk lived with his duchess on the most scandalous terms. Sir William Compton had been cited in the Ecclesiastical Court for living in open adultery with a married woman. The fate of Norris and George Boleyn is too well known to require comment. Sir Francis Bryan, the chief companion in the King’s amusements, and the minister of his pleasures, was pointed out by common fame as more dissolute than all the rest.” Sir Thomas Wyatt, though married, wore her miniature round his neck, and sang of her love. Still, however, Henry’s suit, which was dishonourable even to one so depraved and lost to honour as he was, was unprosperous when made; and she is said by an old writer, and one not favourable to her, to have replied firmly to the King, “Your wife I cannot be, both in respect of my own unworthiness, and also because you have a queen already; and your mistress I will not be.” Foiled in his attempt to gain her by any other means, the unscrupulous monarch now began seriously to set himself to the task of obtaining a divorce from Queen Catherine, who had been his wife for seventeen years, in order that he might replace her by Anne Boleyn. The history of these proceedings is a part of the history of the kingdom, and need not be here detailed. It is, however, a tradition of Hever that when the King came “a wooing” he sounded his bugle in the distance, that his lady-love might know of his approach. The divorce being obtained, Anne Boleyn, having previously been married to the King, became “indeed a queen;” and having given birth to two children—Queen Elizabeth and a still-born son—was arrested on a false and disgraceful charge, and was beheaded, to make room for a new queen in the person of one of her own maids of honour, Jane Seymour.

Of the personal appearance of Queen Anne Boleyn Mr. Brewer thus pleasantly discourses:—“The blood of the Ormonds ran in her veins. From her Irish descent she inherited—

‘The black-blue Irish hair and Irish eyes.’

And, like the Irish Isolt of the great poet, Anne Boleyn was remarkable for the exquisite turn of her neck and her glossy throat. She was a little, lively, sparkling brunette, with fascinating eyes and long black hair, which, contrary to the sombre fashion of those days, she wore coquettishly floating loosely down her back, interlaced with jewels. The beauty of her eyes and hair struck all beholders alike—grave ecclesiastics and spruce young sprigs of nobility. ‘Sitting _in_ her hair on a litter’ is the feature at her coronation which seems to have made the deepest impression upon Archbishop Cranmer. ‘On Sunday morning (1st September, 1532), solemnly and in public, Madame Anne being then at Windsor, _con li capilli sparsi_, completely covered with the most costly jewels, was created by the king Countess of Pembroke.’ George Wyatt, grandson of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet, one of her admirers, describes her, in the fantastic language of the sixteenth century, as having ‘a beauty not so whitely as clear and fresh above all that we may esteem, which appeared much more excellent by her favour passing sweet and cheerful. There was found, indeed, upon the side of her nail upon one of her fingers some little show of a nail, which yet was so small, by the report of some that have seen her, as the work-master seemed to leave it an occasion of greater grace to her hand, which, with the tip of one of her fingers, might be and was usually by her hidden, without any least blemish to it.’”

The Earl of Wiltshire (Sir Thomas Boleyn), father of the ill-fated queen, died in 1538—two years after witnessing the beheading of his only son, Viscount Rochfort, and of his daughter, Queen Anne Boleyn; and on his death the family of Boleyn, in the main line, became extinct.

After the death of the Earl, Henry, with the rapacity that kept pace with his profligacy, claimed and seized the castle of Hever in right of his murdered wife, and subsequently settled it upon one of his later wives. He also purchased adjoining lands from others of the Boleyn family, and thus enlarged the estate. The castle and manor of Hever, and other adjoining lands, were settled upon Anne of Cleves, after her divorce, for life, or so long as she should remain in the kingdom, at the yearly rent of £93 13_s._ 3½_d._ She made Hever her general place of residence, and died there according to some writers, but at Chelsea according to others, in 1557. In “the same year the Hever estates were sold by commissioners, authorised by the Crown, to Sir Edward Waldegrave, lord chamberlain to the household of Queen Mary, who, on the accession of Elizabeth, was divested of all his employments, and committed to the Tower, where he died in 1561.” The estates afterwards passed through the family of Humphreys to that of Medley.

In 1745 Hever Castle was purchased by Timothy Waldo, of London, and of Clapham, in Surrey. The family of Waldo is said to derive itself, according to Hasted, from Thomas Waldo, of Lyons, in the kingdom of France, and was among the first who publicly renounced the doctrines of the Church of Rome, “one of the descendants of whom, in the reign of Elizabeth, in order to escape the persecutions of the Duke d’Alva, came over, it is said, and settled in England.” In 1575 Peter Waldo resided at Mitcham. His eldest son, Lawrence—according to Mr. Morris Jones, who has made much laudable research into the history of the family—had issue, by his wife Elizabeth, no fewer than fifteen children. Of these the twelfth child, Daniel Waldo, is the one pertaining to our present inquiry. He was a citizen and clothworker of London, and was fined as alderman and sheriff in 1661. He married Anne Claxton, by whom he had issue nine children. Of these the eldest son, Daniel Waldo, some of whose property was burnt down in the great fire of London in 1666, married twice, and from him are descended the Waldos of Harrow. Edward, the second son, became the purchaser, after the fire, of the sites of the “Black Bull,” the “Cardinal’s Hat,” and the “Black Boy,” in Cheapside, on which he erected a “great messuage,” where he dwelt; and in which, when it was taken down in 1861, was some fine oak carving, now at Gungrog.

This Edward Waldo was knighted—“at his own house in Cheapside,” the very house he had built—by the King, who was his guest, in 1677. On this occasion “he had the honour of entertaining his sovereign, together with the Princesses Mary and Anne and the Duchess of York, who, from a canopy of state in front of his house, viewed the civic procession pass along Cheapside on its way to Guildhall.” Sir Edward married three times. He died at his residence at Pinner in 1705, aged seventy-five, and was buried at Harrow. Nathaniel and Isaac, third and fourth sons of Daniel Waldo, died unmarried. Timothy, the fifth son, we shall speak of presently. Samuel, the sixth son, citizen and mercer of London, and freeman of the Clothworkers’ Company, married, first, a daughter of Sir Thomas Allen, of Finchley; and, secondly, Susan Churchman; and had, among other issue, Daniel Waldo, one of whose daughters, Sarah (married to Israel Woolliston), died at the age of ninety-eight, leaving her cousin, Col. Sibthorpe, M.P., her executor; Isaac Waldo, one of whose daughters, Sarah, married Humphrey Sibthorpe, M.D., Sheridan Professor of Botany, whose son, Humphrey Sibthorpe, M.P. (father of Col. Sibthorpe, M.P.), assumed for himself and his heirs, by royal sign-manual, the additional name and the arms of Waldo on inheriting the property left him by his relative, Peter Waldo, Esq., of Mitcham and of Warton.

Sir Timothy Waldo, to whom allusion has been made, the purchaser of Hever Castle, was admitted attorney of the King’s Bench and solicitor in Chancery in 1730; in 1739 he was under-sheriff of the city of London, and he was a liveryman and the clerk of the Salters’ Company. In 1736 he married Catherine Wakefield, and had by her an only child, Jane, who married, in 1762, George Medley, Esq., M.P., of Buxted. Sir Timothy, who was knighted in 1769, died at Clapham in 1786, his wife surviving him, and dying in 1806, aged ninety-five.

Their sole daughter and heiress, Jane, wife of George Medley, inherited all the property, including Hever Castle. She had no issue, and died in 1829, in her ninety-second year, leaving her large possessions, the personalty of which was sworn under £180,000, to her cousin, Jane Waldo, only daughter and heiress of Edward Waldo, of London, who administered to the estate as cousin and only next of kin. This lady, who thus became the possessor of Hever Castle, died at Tunbridge Wells in 1840, when the family became extinct. The name of Waldo had, however, been taken by royal sign-manual, in 1830, by Edmund Wakefield Meade, Esq., of Newbridge House, Dawlish, son of Francis Meade, of Lambeth. Edmund Meade-Waldo, Esq., became resident at Stonewall Park, near Hever Castle, which memorable edifice is still in possession of this family. He married Harriet, second daughter of Colonel Rochfort, M.P., by whom he left issue two sons and one daughter; the eldest son and heir being Edmund Waldo Meade-Waldo, Esq. The daughter, Harriet Dorothea, was married, in 1850, to the Rev. W. W. Battye, Rector of Hever, to which living he was presented by his father-in-law.

There are few ancient houses in the kingdom more deeply interesting to the curious occasional visitor than Hever; it does not, however, convey ideas of grandeur or magnificence. It never could have been large. Certainly at no period did it supply ample room to accommodate the suite of a luxurious monarch; and there is little doubt that the visits of the eighth Henry were made, if not secretly, without state, when he went to woo the unhappy lady he afterwards—and not long afterwards—murdered.

In the small chamber of the ground-floor, which still retains its minstrel’s gallery and its panelling of oak, was the bad king entertained by his victims; and in a very tiny chamber slept in pure innocence the object of his lust—a most reluctant bride and most miserable wife.

Yet Hever Castle was a stronghold, and a place well calculated for safety in the troublous times in which it was built and embattled. It is surrounded by a moat, across which a bridge leads to the entrance gateway. The entrance is defended by a strong portcullis, composed of several large pieces of wood laid across each other like a harrow, and riveted throughout with iron, designed to be let down in case of surprise, and when there was not time to shut the gate. To this succeeds an iron portcullis. It is followed by an inner solid oaken door, riveted with iron, firmly bound with iron pieces going the whole length across, and studded with iron knobs. A wooden portcullis then follows. Immediately adjoining these are two guardrooms, in which a dozen men-at-arms might long dispute the passage of an enemy.

Over the external gate, directly under the battlements, a series of machicolations project boldly forward: from these molten lead and other deadly appliances and missiles could be poured and discharged on the heads of assailants with terrible effect. Passing through these gates and beneath the portcullises, the visitor enters a spacious court-yard, surrounded on all its sides by the building. From this court-yard or quadrangle he enters the old Dining-hall, where the racks for hunting-spears are still visible, and where grotesque decorations will not fail to be noticed. In the stained-glass windows are the arms of the Boleyns and the Howards. Near this is the Chapel, and continuing along the passages are two rooms bearing the names of Anne Boleyn’s Bed-room and Anne of Cleves’ Room. Anne Boleyn’s Room “is really an interesting apartment, beautifully panelled, and contains the original family chairs, tables, muniment box, and what is called Anne’s bed.”[46] To this apartment several ante-rooms succeed, and the suite terminates in a grand Gallery occupying the whole length of the building, in which the judicial meetings and the social gatherings of the ancient family were held. It is about 150 feet in length, by 20 feet in width, with a vaulted roof, and panelled throughout with carved oak. On one side, placed at equal distances apart, are three recesses: the first, having a flight of three steps, is fitted up with elbowed benches, where the lord of the castle in old times held his courts, and where Henry VIII. is said, on the occasions of his visits, to have received the congratulations of the gentry; a second was occupied by the fire; and the third was used as a quiet corner for the old folks, while the younger ones frolicked throughout the mazes of the dance. At one end of the Gallery a trap-door leads to a dark chamber, called the Dungeon, in which the family are believed to have sheltered themselves in time of trouble, although it is manifest that the height of the room, compared with that of the building, must have betrayed its existence to even a careless observer.

The interior of that part properly called “the castle”—_e.g._ the entrance—is approached by a winding staircase in one of the towers. “About midway the staircase opens into the narrow vestibule of the great state-room. The Gothic tracery over the fire-place is extremely beautiful both in design and in execution. It consists of two angels, each bearing two shields, showing the arms and alliances of the Cary and Boleyn families, of Cary and Waldo, Boleyn and Howard, and Henry VIII. and Boleyn.”

WESTWOOD PARK.

WESTWOOD—one of the very finest, most perfect, and most interesting of the Elizabethan mansions that yet remain in England—lies about two miles from Droitwich, in Worcestershire, and six or seven from the “faithful city.” It stands in its own grand old deer park of some hundreds of acres in extent, and studded with such an assemblage of noble forest trees as is seldom seen. The oaks with which the park abounds are almost matchless for their beautiful forms and for their clean growth (for they are clear from moss or other extraneous growth from bole to crest), as well as, in some instances, for their gigantic stature. One of these “brave old oaks” in front of the mansion we had the curiosity to measure, and found it to be no less than eighteen yards in circumference of bole on the ground, and thirty-one feet in circumference at three feet from the earth, with a stem hollowed by time. It is one of the lions of the place, and looks venerable and time-worn enough to have braved the tempests of a thousand years. Another oak, not far from this, is one of the finest in England, having a clear trunk, without bend or branch, “straight as a mast,” to some forty feet or more in height before a single branch appears.

There are two Entrance Lodges to the park from the road leading from Droitwich to Ombersley; the principal of these we engrave. Entering the gates at this Lodge, the drive leads up the park to the mansion, which forms a conspicuous and striking object in front, the house and its surroundings being effectively situated on rising ground. Immediately in front of the mansion is the Gatehouse, one of the most quaintly picturesque in the kingdom. It consists of twin lodges of red brick, with ornamental gables and hip-knobs, with a central open-spired turret covering the entrance gates. The gates, which are of iron, and bear the monogram J P (for John Pakington), are surmounted by an open-work parapet, or frieze, of stone, in which stand clear the three garbs and the three mullets of the Pakington arms. Over this rises the open tower before spoken of. Passing through these gates, the drive sweeps up between the smooth grass lawns to the slightly advanced front portico which gives access to the mansion.

Before we enter let us say a few words on the general design and appearance of this unique and remarkable building. The general block-plan of the house may be described as a combination of the square and saltire, the arms of the saltire projecting considerably from the angles of the square, and forming what may almost be called wings, radiating from its centre—the whole of the surface of this general block-plan being cut up with numberless projecting mullioned windows. The four projecting wings, which, like the rest of the building, are three stories in height, are each surmounted with a spire. Around the whole building runs a boldly carved stone parapet, bearing the garbs and mullets of the Pakington arms, alternating the one with the other, and producing a striking and pleasing effect, while the mullets also appear on the ornamental gables, and on the vanes and hip-knobs. The advanced porch, erected at a later period, is of stone, and is in the _Renaissance_ style; over its central arch is Jove on the eagle; and in front of the main building, over the porch, are the Pakington arms boldly carved.

Standing clear from the mansion, and at some distance in front of the north-east and south-east wings, are two so-called “turrets.” These are small residences, if they may so be termed, each three stories in height, and each having two entrance doors. They are surmounted with picturesquely formed spire roofs, covered with scale slating. Originally there were four of these square towers—the two now remaining, and two other corresponding ones at the opposite angles. They were all four in existence in 1775, but two have since been removed. At that time they were connected with the wings by walls, and then again were connected with the Gatehouse and other walls in a peculiar and geometrically formed device. A highly interesting and curious bird’s-eye view of Westwood, drawn by Dorothy Anne Pakington in the year above named, is preserved in the Hall, and shows the arrangement of the ornamental flower-beds, terraces, fruit walls, &c., with great accuracy.

From the Gatehouse, on either side, an excellent fence of pillar and rail encloses in a ring fence the mansion and its surrounding ornamental grounds, and kitchen and other gardens. These pleasure-grounds, several acres in extent, are admirably laid out, and planted with evergreens of remarkably fine growth. The hedges, or rather massive walls, of laurel, box, Portugal laurel, and other shrubs; the grand assemblage of conifers, which here seem to find a genial home, and to grow with unequalled luxuriance; and the cedars of Lebanon, yews, and numberless other evergreens, form these grounds into one of the most lovely winter gardens we have ever visited. Among the main features of these ornamental grounds are the “Ladies’ Garden,” a retired spot enclosed in walls of evergreens seven or eight feet in height, having on one side an elegant summer-house, which commands a beautiful view of the Malvern Hills and of the rich intervening country, and in the centre a sundial surrounded by a rosary and beds of rich flowers; and the Lavender Walk, where, between a long avenue of tall lavender-bushes, planted by the present Lady Hampton, the elegant and accomplished successors of the “stately dames of yore” can stroll about and enjoy the delicious scent. Another great feature is the splendid growth of some of the trees—notably a Wellingtonia, nine feet in girth at the ground, and fully thirty feet in height, and a magnificent specimen of _Picea pinsapo_, measuring ninety feet in circumference of its branches, and said truly to be the finest and most perfectly-grown tree of the kind in the kingdom. The kitchen gardens are of considerable extent, and well arranged, but there is no conservatory. Altogether the ornamental grounds are of great beauty, and harmonize well with the character of the building.

One of the great glories of Westwood is its water. It has three lakes, the largest of which, no less than seventy acres in extent, forms a grand feature in the landscape, and, with its many swans and the numbers of wild fowl that congregate upon and around it, adds much to the beauty of the park scenery. On one side the lake is backed up by a wood through which, on the banks, a delightful grassy walk leads to the Boat-house, from whose upper rooms delightful views of land and water are obtained.

The principal apartments in this noble mansion are the Great Hall, or Front Hall, as it is usually called; the Library, the Dining and Drawing Rooms, the Saloon, the Grand Staircase, and the Chapel; but, besides these, there are a number of other rooms, and all the usual family and domestic apartments and offices. To the interior, however, we can but devote a very brief space.

The Entrance Porch (shown in the preceding engraving), on the north front, opens into the Front Hall. This occupies the entire length of the main body of the building from east to west, and is about sixty feet in length. The entrance door is in the centre, and on either side are deeply recessed mullioned and transomed windows, and there is a similar window at each end. From one of the recesses a doorway and steps lead up to the Dining-room; while from the other, in a similar manner, access is gained to the Library. On the opposite side a doorway leads to the Grand Staircase. This hall, one part of which is also used as a billiard-room, contains some magnificent old carved furniture and cabinets, and the walls are hung with family portraits. In the windows are a series of stained-glass armorial bearings and inscriptions, representing the arms of Pakington and the family alliances. These are:—

1413. Robert Pakington and Elizabeth Acton.

1436. John Pakington and Margaret Ballard.

1490. John Pakington and Elizabeth Washbourne.

1537. Robert Pakington and Anne Baldwynne.

1559. Sir John Pakington and Anne Darcy.

1575. Sir Thomas Pakington and Dorothy Kytson.

1620. Sir John Pakington and Frances Ferrars.

1625. Sir John Pakington and —— Smith.

1633. Sir John Pakington and Margaret Keys.

1679. Sir John Pakington and Dorothy Coventry.

1727. Sir John Pakington and Hester Preest.

1727. Sir John Pakington and Frances Parker.

1743. Sir Herbert Perrot Pakington and Elizabeth Conyers.

1762. Sir John Pakington and Mary Bray.

1795. Sir Herbert Perrot Pakington and Elizabeth Hawkins.

“1822. John Somerset Pakington, Esq., born 1799, wedyd 1stly, Mary,
dau. of Moreton Aglionby Slaney, of Shiffnall, Esq.”

1830. Sir John Pakington died unmarried.

“1844. John Somerset Pakington, Esq., created Bart. 1846, wedyd
2ndly, Augusta, dau. of Geo. Murray, Bp. of Rochester.”

Among the portraits in this fine old room are the present Lord Hampton; the Earl of Strafford; Hester Perrott, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Herbert Perrott, of Haroldstone, and second wife of Sir John Pakington, Bart.; Sir John Perrott, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1583; Margaret Pakington (afterwards Mrs. Dowdeswell), daughter of Sir John Pakington of Hampton Lovett, the celebrated Recorder of Worcester; Sir John Pakington, M.P. for Worcester from 1690 to 1727; Ursula, Lady Scudamore, daughter of Sir John Pakington; and many others.

The Dining-room, which occupies the lower story of the north-east radiating wing, has an effective geometrical ceiling, and its walls are hung with family portraits. The Library similarly occupies the lower story of the corresponding or south-east wing. It is a noble room, lined with a large and valuable assemblage of books, and fitted and furnished in an appropriate manner. The ceiling, whose geometric panelling and other decorations are in high relief, bears among its other devices the mullet of the family arms. In the Library are, among many other Art treasures, two important historical pictures—contemporary portraits of Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and Mary, his wife, daughter of Henry VII., King of England, and widow of Louis XII. of France—on panel.

The view from these rooms is truly magnificent. Immediately in front is the enclosed space already spoken of, with its grass lawns, its broad carriage drives, its luxuriant shrubberies; the ivy-grown and picturesque towers, one on either side; the grand old Gatehouse, with its central open-work tower, and picturesque boundary railings cutting it off from the park. Beyond this is seen the park, with its herds of deer, its forest trees of centuries of growth dotted about the landscape; its noble sheet of water, on which swans and wild fowl abound; and beyond, again, the thickly wooded confines of the grounds and the distant heights. Thus a view of imposing loveliness and of vast extent is gained from the windows of this side of the mansion. But, indeed, one of the main characteristics of Westwood is that, from whatever point the mansion is seen, it forms a striking and a pleasing object; and that, from whatever window one looks, a scene of surpassing beauty is presented to the eye.

The Grand Staircase, of which we give an engraving, is a marked feature of the interior of the house, and differs in general character from any other with which we are acquainted. It is of four landings, and at each angle, as well as in the intermediate spaces, standing clear to a considerable height above the banisters, rises a Corinthian pillar with richly carved capital, supporting a ball. The whole is of dark oak, and has a rich and singular appearance. The series of these pillars and balls numbers thirteen. The Staircase has a panelled oak ceiling, which forms the floor of the upper gallery, from which the bed-rooms are gained. The walls of the Staircase are hung with fine old portraits, and others of more modern date: among them are the “Du^{sse} Dou^e de la Tremouille, née Princesse d’Orange,” 1626; General Monk; Master Herbert and Miss Cecilia Pakington; and the late Bishop Murray, of Rochester, full length, by Falconer. At the foot of the Staircase is the Baron Marochetti’s admirable bust of Lord Hampton, before that well-deserved title was conferred upon him. It bears the following inscription:—“Presented to Lady Pakington by the Medical Officers of the Royal Navy, in grateful acknowledgment of the benefits conferred upon that department of H.M. service during the administration of the Right Hon. Sir John S. Pakington, Bart., G.C.B., &c., 1858-9.”

From the landing at the head of the Grand Staircase access is gained, on the one hand, to the Saloon and the apartments connected with it; and, on the other, to Lady Hampton’s private rooms, the sleeping apartments on the same floor, and to the staircase to the upper story.

The Private Chapel, approached from the foot of the Staircase, occupies the wing at the opposite angle from the Library. Its ceiling is of oak, and it is fitted with open seats, also of oak, with fleur-de-lis poppy-heads. The stained-glass window, representing the Adoration and the Ascension, is remarkably good in design and pure in colouring. On a bracket on the wall is a splendid piece of sculpture, representing Mary Magdalene supporting the dead Christ.

The Saloon—the principal internal feature of Westwood—occupies the entire space, in the central block of building, over the Front Hall. It is a noble and lofty apartment, lit by two deeply recessed large mullioned and transomed windows to the front, and one, of equally large size, at each end. The ceiling, although of a somewhat later period, is a marvellously fine example of modelled plaster-work, the wreaths and festoons of flowers standing out clear from the surface, and modelled true to Nature. It is divided into ornamental panels, enclosing wreaths and festoons, and round the room is a boldly moulded and richly decorated oak frieze. In the centre of the side opposite the windows is a massive and elaborately designed oak chimney-piece, reaching up to the ceiling. The pillars, and mouldings, and panels, and, indeed, every part of this fine example of ancient Art, are elaborately carved with arabesques and foliage; the mouldings and cornices being likewise richly carved with grotesque figures and other characteristic ornaments. In the centre panel, over the fire-place, is a fine contemporary half-length portrait of King Henry VIII.

The walls are hung with grand old tapestry, and this, at three of the corners, conceals the doors leading respectively to the Drawing-room, the Staircase, and another apartment. The subjects of the tapestry, commencing at the doorway from the Staircase, are—First, “Isaac, blind; Rebecca sends Jacob for two kids.” Second, “Laban overtakes Jacob at Mount Gilead; kisses his daughter.” Third, “Jacob kisses Rachel at the well, and removes the stone from its mouth.” Fourth, “Jacob brings home the kids.” Fifth, “Jacob meets his brother Esau, and bows at his feet.” Sixth, “Jacob divides his flocks.”

The Drawing-room opens from the Saloon, and is over the Library: it is an elegant room, with a ceiling of moulded pargetting in scrolls and foliage, and is of great elegance in all its appointments. At the opposite end of the Saloon a doorway opens into an apartment over the Dining-room. It is now disused, but, with its panelled frescoed walls and beautifully decorated ceiling, is an apartment of much interest.

The remainder of the rooms of this grand old mansion do not require special notice; it is enough to say they are all full of interest, and that they contain many pictures of value.

OF the many families of note upon which we have treated in these pages, few are of greater antiquity or possessed of more historic interest than that of Pakington, of which the Right Hon. Lord Hampton is the head. It dates from Norman times, and presents a long succession of notables, whose history is that of the various ages in which they lived, and moved, and had their being. It is clear, from the foundation of Kenilworth Monastery, that the family flourished in the reign of Henry I., and from that time down to the present moment its members have been among the most celebrated men of the country. In the reign of Henry IV. Robert Pakington died, and was succeeded by his son John, who in turn was succeeded by his son of the same name, who married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Thomas Washbourne, of Stanford, and thus the family became connected with the county of Worcester. By this lady he had issue three sons—John, Robert, and Humphrey. The eldest of these, John Pakington, was of the Inner Temple, and was constituted Chirographer of the Common Pleas in the reign of Henry VII., and in the next reign was made Lent Reader and Treasurer of the Inner Temple; and in the same year (20 Henry VIII.) had a grant from the King “that he, the said John Pakington, for the time to come shall have full liberty during his life to wear his hat in his presence, and his successors, or any other person whatsoever; and not to be uncovered on any occasion or cause whatsoever, against his will and good liking; also that he shall not be appointed, called, or compelled to take the order of knighthood, or degree, state, or order of a baron of the Exchequer, serjent-at-law, or any office or encumbrance thereto relating.”

In 1532, however, he was appointed serjeant-at-law, and received a discharge so as to enable him to accept that office. Having been appointed a justice of North Wales, he was, in 1535, commissioned to conclude and compound all forfeitures, offences, fines, and sums of money due to the King or to his late father, Henry VII. He received many other appointsovereign ments and honours, and was ultimately knighted. He received from the a grant of all the manors belonging to the dissolved monastery of Westwood, and thus that fine property came to the Pakingtons. At the time of his death, in 1560, Sir John was seized of thirty-one manors, and of much other land which he had purchased from seventy different persons. Leland says that he resided “at a goodly new house of brick, called Hampton Court, six miles from Worcester.” Sir John is variously stated to have married Anne Rolle (widow of Tychebourne) and Anne Dacres. Whichever of these is correct, he died without male issue, leaving his estates divided amongst his two daughters—Ursula and Bridget—and his two brothers, Robert and Humphrey.

His brother, Robert Pakington, was M.P. for the City of London in the time of Henry VIII., and was murdered in the streets of that city in 1537. By his wife, Catherine, daughter of Sir John Baldwin, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (by his wife, a daughter of Dormer of Wycombe, through whom the manor of Ailsbury came to the family), he had issue one son—Sir Thomas—and three daughters.

Sir Thomas Pakington, who was knighted by Queen Mary, succeeded to the estates of the Pakingtons and Baldwins. He was sheriff of Worcestershire in the 3rd of Elizabeth, and, dying in 1571, at Bath Place, Holborn, was conveyed in great pomp to Ailsbury, the officers of the College of Arms attending, and buried there in state. By his wife (who survived him, and married, secondly, Sir Thomas Kitson, of Hargrave), Sir Thomas had, with other issue, a son—Sir John, by whom he was succeeded—and three daughters.

Sir John Pakington, the “Lusty Pakington” of Queen Elizabeth’s Court, was an especial favourite of the “Virgin Queen,” and a man of rank in his day and generation. It is said that “Good Queen Bess” “first took notice of Sir John in her progress to Worcester, where she invited him to attend her Court, where he lived at his own expense in great splendour and reputation, with an equipage not inferior to some of the highest officers, although he had no greater honour than Knight of the Bath, which was conferred upon him in the lifetime of his father. He was remarkable for his stature and comely person, and had distinguished himself so much by his manly exercises that he was called ‘Lusty Pakington.’”

“Having by his expensive life contracted great debts, he took the wise resolution of retiring into the country, and said he would feed on bread and verjuice until he had made up for his extravagances; which coming to the royal ear, the queen gave him a grant of a gentleman’s estate in Suffolk, worth eight or nine hundred pounds a year, besides goods and chattels, which had been escheated to the Crown; but after he had been in the country to take possession, he could not behold the miseries of the distressed family without remorse and compassion; and the melancholy spectacle of the unhappy mother and her children wrought so effectually upon his fine feelings, that he repaired to court immediately, and humbly besought the queen to excuse him from enriching himself by such means, and did not leave the presence until he had obtained his request, which involved the restoration of the property to the rightful owner. Soon after this he left the court, but not before he had liquidated all his debts, and then, with great reputation and honour, he commenced his journey into the country, being handsomely attended by servants and tenants to the number of sixty, well mounted and appointed, who came purposely from his estates to pay him this compliment, and waited at the court gates while he was taking leave of the queen. After settlement in the country, Elizabeth granted him for sixty years (in the 25th of her reign), for his good and faithful services, several lordships, manors, and lands which had fallen to the Crown, in no less than seventeen counties. He was also constituted lieutenant and _Custos Rotulorum_ of Worcestershire, and appointed bowbearer of Malvern Chase, one of the best in England, which he retained until he had finished his noble park at Hampton Lovet; and then, that chase being at too great a distance from his dwelling, he obtained the queen’s leave to dispose of it. He was in Elizabeth’s favour to the end, as appears as well from other evidence as from a grant she made him for eight years (in the 40th year of her reign, he paying into the Exchequer £40 per annum) that no one should import into the kingdom, or make any starch, but by his permission. By his affability and obliging deportment he acquired the good opinion of his equals and inferiors, and by his courage and resolution on occasions requiring the exercise of those attributes, he became formidable to persons in power. A memorable instance of this occurred when he executed the office of sheriff for his county. The Lord Chief Baron Periam having committed a gentleman at the assizes, Sir John, sitting in his sheriff’s seat, called to him to stay, telling the judge he would answer for his forthcoming; neither could he be dissuaded by all the menaces he received, boldly alleging in his defence that the gentleman was his prisoner, and he as sheriff was accountable for him. Sir John is said on one occasion to have betted with three courtiers to swim against them from Westminster, _i.e._ Whitehall Stairs, to Greenwich for a stake of £3,000; but Queen Elizabeth, out of her special regard for him, and her fear for his life or health, by her imperative command prevented it.” “The good queen,” it is said, “who had particular tenderness for ‘handsome fellows,’ would not permit Sir John to run the hazard of the trial.”

From this worthy member of a worthy family the popular tune of “Pakington’s Pound,” or “Paggington’s Pound,” which has held its own for three centuries, takes its origin. This tune, which in Queen Elizabeth’s Virginal Book is named “Packington’s Pound,” is called by Ben Jonson “Paggington’s Pound,” as also in an ancient MS. “A Fancy of Sir John Paginton” appears in many of the early books of tunes, and numberless ballads were written to it. Even Shakspere’s ballad (supposed to have been written by him) on Sir Thomas Lucy is written to this tune. It has been stated by some writers that, besides the tune of “Pakington’s Pound,” that of “Sir Roger de Coverley” took its origin from this worthy; but this is surely a mistake, as the latter tune takes its origin from one of the Calverleys of Yorkshire.

Sir John Pakington married the daughter of Mr. Humphrey South, Queen Elizabeth’s silkman, of Cheapside, London, the representative of an ancient family in Leicestershire. She was the widow of Alderman Barnham, “who left her very rich; and that consideration, together with her youth and beauty, made it impossible for her to escape the addresses even of the greatest persons about the court; but Sir John was the only happy man who knew how to gain her, being recommended by his worthy friend, Mr. William Seabright, town clerk of London, who had purchased the manor of Besford, in Worcestershire.” This lady, by her first husband, had four daughters; and by Sir John one son—John, his successor—and two daughters: Anne, married, first, to Sir Humphrey Ferrars, Knt., of Tamworth, and, secondly, to Philip, Earl of Chesterfield; and Mary, who married Sir Robert Brooke, of Nacton, Master of the Ceremonies to James I. Sir John died in 1625, aged seventy-seven, and his widow married, thirdly, Lord Kilmurry; and, fourthly, Thomas, Earl of Kelly.

By this great Sir John Pakington the house at Westwood was erected. “After he had finished his stately structure at Westwood,” it is recorded, “Sir John invited the Earl of Northampton, Lord President, and his countess to a housewarming; and as his lordship was a jovial companion, a train of above one hundred knights and gentlemen accompanied him, who staid for some time, and at their departure acknowledged they had met with so kind a reception _that they did not know whether they had possessed the place or the place them_. The delightful situation of his mansion was what they had never before seen, the house standing in the middle of a wood cut into twelve large ridings, and at a good distance one riding through all of them: the whole surrounded by a park of six or seven miles, with, at the further end facing the house, an artificial lake of one hundred and twenty-two acres. His most splendid entertainment was given, however, to James I. and his queen at Ailsbury, when his majesty honoured him with a visit after his arrival from Scotland, before his coronation. Upon this occasion he set no bounds to expense, thinking it a disparagement to be outdone by any fellow-subject when such an opportunity offered; and the king and court declared that they had never met with a more noble reception.”

Lloyd, in his “Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of England since the Reformation,” thus speaks of Sir John Pakington:—“His handsome features look the most, and his neat parts the wisest at court. He could smile ladies to his service, and argue statesmen to his design with equal ease. His reason was powerful, his beauty more. Never was a brave soul more bravely seated; nature bestowed great parts on him, education polished him to an admirable frame of prudence and virtue; Queen Elizabeth called him her Temperance, and Leicester his Modesty. It is a question to this day whether his resolution took the soldiers, his prudence the politicians, his compliance the favourites, his complaisance the courtiers, his piety the clergy, his integrity and condescension the people, or his knowledge the learned, most. This new court star was a nine days’ wonder, engaging all eyes until it set, satisfied with its own glory. He came to court, he said, as Solomon did, to see its vanity, and retired, as he did, to repent it. It was he who said first, what Bishop Sanderson urged afterwards, _that a sound faith was the best divinity, a good conscience the best law, and temperance the best physic_. Sir John Pakington in Queen Elizabeth’s time was virtuous and modest, and Sir John Pakington in King Charles’s time loyal and valiant; the one did well, the other suffered so. Greenham was his favourite, Hammond his; the one had a competent estate and was contented, the other hath a large one and is noble; this suppresseth factions in the kingdom, the other composed them in the court, and was called by courtiers Moderation. Westmorland tempted his fidelity, and Norfolk his steadfastness, but he died in his bed an honest and a happy man.”

His son and heir, John Pakington, was created a baronet in 1620, as Sir John Pakington of Ailsbury, where he resided. He married Frances, daughter of Sir John Ferrars, of Tamworth (who married, as her second husband, the Earl of Leven): by her he had issue one son, John, and two daughters. John died at the early age of twenty-four, during the lifetime of his father, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his infant son, who ultimately became possessed of the whole of his grandfather’s estates.

Sir John Pakington, the second baronet, who was only five years of age when he succeeded, was placed under the guardianship of the Lord Keeper Coventry, “by whose vigilant care of his education, both by travel and other advantages, he became a most accomplished gentleman.” He was elected M.P. for Worcestershire (15 Charles I.), and when the rebellion broke out was member for Ailsbury; and, having on all occasions given proofs of his fidelity to the Crown and the rights of the subject, was intrusted by the King, in 1642, with a commission for arraying men for his service in Worcestershire, on account of which he was taken prisoner, committed to the Tower, and fined £5,000; had his estate sequestered, his house in Buckinghamshire (one of the best in that county) levelled with the ground, and such great waste committed in his woods, that an estimate of the loss, still remaining, in the handwriting of his lady, amounts to £20,348. His zeal in the loyal cause never swerved, for, notwithstanding he had suffered so much for his loyalty, he had the courage to join King Charles II. with a troop of horse at the battle of Worcester, and was taken prisoner there, yet was so popular that, when afterwards tried for his life, not one witness could be produced to swear against him. He was consequently acquitted and set at liberty, but afterwards fined £7,670, and compelled, “for the said fine, to convey the market-house, the tolls, the court leet, and certain grounds called Heyden Hill, parcel of the estate at Ailsbury, to Thomas Scott (who was one of the king’s judges), and other trustees, for the use of the town, which they kept until after the Restoration, when, by a special act of parliament, the said conveyances were made void.”