Chapter XXV: Introduction (8)

In the following year Allin was at the head of the White Squadron when the fleet fell upon the Dutch van, routing it and killing the three Dutch admirals who commanded that division. In the same year Allin attacked the French fleet, boarding and capturing the _Ruby_ of fifty-four guns. Three years later “he sailed with a strong squadron to chastise the Algerines,” which he accomplished, and returned home worn out in the heavy services of his country. In consideration of these many services Admiral Allin was created a baronet in 1673, and retired to Somerleyton, which, as has been stated, he had recently purchased. A portrait of the brave old admiral, who was called “the Scourge of Yarmouth,” is now at Somerleyton. That town took the side of the Parliament in the civil war, while Lowestoft was profoundly loyal. Sir Thomas married, first, Alice, daughter of Captain Whiting, of Lowestoft, by whom he had issue one son—Thomas Allin, his successor—and two daughters: Anne, who died unmarried, and Alice, married to Edmund Anguish, Esq., of Moulton, in the county of Norfolk, whose son inherited the estates and title; and, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Anguish, Esq., and sister of his son-in-law, by whom he had no issue. Sir Thomas died in 1686 or 1688, and was buried at Somerleyton. He was succeeded by his son, Sir Thomas Allin, who married Mary, daughter of John Caldwall, of London; but, dying without issue in 1696, the baronetcy became extinct, and the estates devolved upon his nephew, Richard Anguish, Esq., son of Alice Allin and her husband, Edmund Anguish, Esq. The arms of Allin were—_gules_, three swords barwise, points to the sinister side, _argent_, hilts and pomels, _or_, between four mullets of the third. Crest—a sword in pale, point upwards.

This Alice Allin had issue by her husband, Edmund Anguish, three sons—Richard, Edmund, and Allin—the eldest of whom, Richard, inherited Somerleyton, and having, in accordance with the will of his uncle, assumed the arms and surname of Allin, was created a baronet in 1699: the descendants of Edmund, the second son, afterwards inherited the estates. Sir Richard Allin (formerly Anguish) married Frances, only daughter of Sir Henry Ashurst, Bart., of Waterstock, by whom he had issue four sons—Thomas Allin, Henry Allin, Richard Allin, and the Rev. Ashurst Allin—and one daughter, Diana, married to Thomas Henry Ashurst, Esq., of Waterstock. Sir Richard died in 1725, and was succeeded in his title and estates by his eldest son, Sir Thomas Allin, Bart., who, dying unmarried in 1764, was succeeded by his brother, the Rev. Sir Ashurst Allin, Bart., Rector of Blundeston-cum-Flixton, who married Thomasin Norris, and, dying in 1770, was succeeded by his only son, Sir Thomas Allin, Bart. This gentleman died unmarried in 1794, when the baronetcy again became extinct, the Somerleyton estates passing to his distant kinsman, Thomas Anguish, Esq., as will now be shown.

Edmund Anguish, second son of Alice Allin, and her husband, Edmund Anguish, married Mary Betts, by whom he had issue two sons—the Rev. Thomas and Edmund—and two daughters, Mary and Dorothy. The Rev. Thomas Anguish, who was of Halesworth, married Mary Eling, of Beccles, and, dying in 1763, was succeeded by his son, Thomas Anguish, Accountant-General to the Court of Chancery; who, marrying Sarah Henley, of Docking, had issue by her three sons—Thomas, the Rev. George, and Charles—and three daughters, Catherine, Anne, and Charlotte. The eldest of the sons, Thomas Anguish, it was who inherited the estates of Somerleyton on the death of his kinsman, Sir Thomas Allin, Bart., when the title became extinct. This Thomas Anguish died unmarried in 1810, and was succeeded by his brother, the Rev. George Anguish, from whom, in 1843 (when the line became extinct), the estates passed to the son of his sister, Catherine Anguish, who, in 1788, had married Francis Godolphin-Osborne, fifth Duke of Leeds, she being his second wife. By this union she had issue Lord Sidney Godolphin-Osborne and Lady Anne Sarah Godolphin, married to John Whyte-Melville, Esq. Their son, Captain Whyte-Melville, is the distinguished author of many works of fiction. The arms of Anguish were—_gules_, a cinquefoil, pierced, _or_; the crest—a snake coiled, encircled with grass; and the motto—“Latet anguis in herbâ.”

The Somerleyton estate, having come by descent to Lord Sidney Godolphin-Osborne, was sold by him, in 1844, to Samuel Morton Peto, Esq., the extensive “contractor,” who had become the purchaser of the Norwich and Lowestoft ship canal, and to whose enterprise Lowestoft owes its railway, its pier, its harbour, &c. By Samuel Morton Peto the old mansion was entirely rearranged, extended, and altered; and by him also was the church, in a measure, rebuilt, and the village entirely remodelled, at a large outlay.

We should neglect an essential part of our duty if we omitted to do tender homage to that most enterprising and liberal gentleman. He “created” Somerleyton, so to speak, made it the grand and beautiful edifice it now is, formed its grounds, constructed and ornamented its delicious winter garden, hung the rooms with pictures, and filled the library with useful and pleasant books. Unhappily, circumstances prevented his enjoying them. Fortune, ever capricious, consigned it to other hands; the rich contractor had to sustain a reverse, and the “earthly paradise” passed from his hands into those of another. Happily, however, that other was the well-known late Sir Francis Crossley, who became the owner of the property, by purchase, in 1862.

Sir Francis Crossley had no pedigree to trace; his father was a self-made man, and he a self-made millionaire. His father was a journeyman carpet-weaver; his mother, herself a farmer’s daughter, was a farm servant. The mother lived to a ripe old age; the father to start the now famous firm of Crossley and Sons, and see it in a fair way to success. The humble origin of Sir Francis Crossley was a matter which he loved unostentatiously to trace. “Many years after the marriage,” he related on one occasion, “my father and mother took Dean Clough Mills. As my mother went with her usual energy to that place, down the yard at four o’clock in the morning, she made a vow—‘If the Lord does bless us at this place, the poor shall taste of it.’ It is to this vow, given with so much faithfulness, and kept with so much fidelity, that I attribute the great success my father had in business.” Sir Francis Crossley’s benefactions were large. To the town of Halifax, in 1857, he gave the People’s Park, at a cost of about £40,000. About 1861 there was commenced the erection of the Crossley Orphan Home and School on Skircoat Moor, which was built and endowed by Messrs. John, Francis, and Joseph Crossley, at a cost of £65,000. The building has accommodation for four hundred children. It was provided by the Messrs. Crossley with an endowment of £3,000 a year, but this sum has been increased from other sources. In 1871 he gave £10,000 to the Corporation of Halifax as a loan fund for the benefit of deserving inhabitants. Out of this fund men may borrow to the extent of £300, and women to the extent of £100, at 2½ per cent., on certain conditions, one being that £10 of the principal shall be paid back annually. Then he gave £10,000 to the Congregational Pastors’ Retiring Fund; £10,000 to a fund for the relief of widows of Congregational pastors; and £20,000 to the London Missionary Society—making a total within a short time of £60,000. He was a member of the Independent body, but he was a liberal contributor to every good cause. Sir Francis was born in 1817, and from 1852 to 1859 sat as M.P. for Halifax; from 1859 to 1865 for the West Riding of Yorkshire; from 1865 to 1868 for the North-west Riding; and from the latter year until 1872 for the north division of the West Riding of the same county; having thus sat in Parliament for an unbroken period of twenty years. He married, in 1845, Martha Eliza, daughter of the late Henry Brinton, Esq., of Kidderminster, by whom he left issue an only surviving child, the present Sir Savile Brinton Crossley. Sir Francis was created a baronet in 1863.

The present baronet, and owner of the immense estates and wealth of Sir Francis, is his son, Sir Savile Brinton Crossley, who was born in 1857, and succeeded to the title in 1872.

The arms of Crossley are—_gules_, a chevron indented, _ermine_, between two cross-crosslets in chief, and a saltire couped in base, _or_. Crest—a demi-hind erased, _proper_, charged with two bars, _or_, and holding between the feet a cross-crosslet, _or_. Motto—“Omne bonum ab alto.” The family seats are Somerleyton, near Lowestoft, in Suffolk, and Belle Vue, Halifax, Yorkshire.

The old hall of Somerleyton was one of the finest of the old brick mansions remaining, and possessed many interesting features. Fuller, the quaint old writer whose words are so often quoted, ranked it among the best of the many fine houses of the county of Suffolk, and says that it well deserved the name of Somerleyton, for here summer is to be seen in the depth of winter—the grounds being planted with evergreens, and the pleasant walks beset on both sides with fir-trees, green all the year round, besides other curiosities.

The Park, about two hundred acres in extent, is rich in beauty, and includes a deer park. Two miles from the house, in the direction of Yarmouth, there is a drive through ornamental grounds, and a “decoy” on a splendid sheet of water three miles long, and a quarter of a mile in breadth, called Fritton Lake. It abounds with a variety of fish, and is the resort of widgeons, ducks, teal, grebes, and other wild fowl during the season, which begins in October and ends in April. Vast quantities are taken yearly. The banks of this fine sheet of water are fringed with wood, and two or three gentlemen’s houses and pleasure-grounds add interest to the scenery. The lake separates the parishes of Fritton, Herringfleet, Belton, Lound, and Ashby; and in the Herringfleet woods, belonging to Major Leathes, there is a heronry. The owner of Somerleyton, to whom belongs a large portion of the lake, has a beautiful drive on one side of it, extending for nearly two miles, winding through plantations comprising choice specimens of pines, &c., with occasional peeps of the lake on one side, and heath and woods on the other. The lake—such is its natural and yet cultivated beauty—might be a bit of the lovely shire of Devon planted among the bare plains of Suffolk. It is zig-zag in form; tiny peninsulas jut into it, clothed with graceful firs and thick underwood, among which tall ferns luxuriate; the steeps have gradual ascents from the banks; closely planted trees of many varieties completely cover them; and it is only now and then that glimpses are caught of the water.

The lake is close and compact, and on no side does there seem any opening, only footpaths lead to it from the adjacent roads. Its solitary character—out of the way of passing intruders—and its thickness of composition, render it a favourite shelter of wild fowl. They do not, however, enjoy solitude in security. Man is always astir in search of prey: three “decoys” are active at all seasons to entrap the unsuspicious and unwary. One of them was in operation during our visit. Domestic ducks were sailing in and out of a narrow passage, quacking and playing and feeding, to show their wild cousins outside that no danger was near. Two or three bolder than the rest summoned courage to enter, and very soon were in the net-trap that furnished the bag of the gamekeeper.

This charming scene of mingled wood and water adds materially to the attractions of the locality; and here Art has been brought to the aid of Nature.

Passing in at the North Lodge, visitors are generally conducted through the kitchen and fruit gardens, the vineries, hothouses, and conservatories, to a sloping lawn facing the Winter Garden and north front of the house, from which point a charming scene presents itself. “Before us,” says a recent writer, “in a setting of old forest trees, cedars, aged thorns, clumps of azaleas, and rhododendrons, rises, as if evoked by a magician’s wand, a range of fantastic palaces of glass, their many sheeny domes and pinnacles sparkling like diamond facets in the noonday sun, and their contours and traceried outlines of graceful arabesques backed and thrown into relief by the deep red brick-work of the towers, gables, and campaniles of the hall.”

On the left is an aviary of gold and silver pheasants, screening a part of the offices. The area covered by the Winter Garden is one hundred feet square. Within the decorations are Renaissance, of a light and elegant character. Four main alleys converge under the great mosque dome, beneath which is a fountain supported on a rockery of ferns by four dolphins, and surmounted by a marble statue of the “Nymph of the Lily.”

From the central alley numerous aisles diverge to an outer one, circumscribing the building. The roof is supported by light iron columns covered with fuchsias and beautiful creepers, with wire baskets of flowers suspended overhead. Parterres of rare exotics, and large majolica vases filled with flowers, occupy the grand space. At the corners and in other parts are life-sized statues: mirrors and other appliances add to the beauty of the whole. The south side opens to the Billiard, Morning, and Withdrawing Rooms. Aviaries of singing-birds are placed at intervals throughout the garden, and in the corridor leading to the Palm-house are a fern-grotto and fountain. The whole, it should be specially noted, may be lit with gas.

From the Winter Garden the visitor is shown the Italian Garden, opposite the west front. This front of the house opens upon a noble terrace, three hundred feet in length, enriched with statuary, vases, &c., from which three flights of steps lead down to the Dutch Garden, laid out in geometrical form by Nesfield, in the same general manner as that by him at Castle Howard, which we have heretofore described. In the centre of this parterre is a noble sundial, and from this point, looking to the south, a view is obtained of the grand avenue of fine old lime-trees, four hundred and fifty yards in length, at the termination of which the Church of Somerleyton is seen. Near to this avenue, in which are some fine sculptured figures and groups and other objects, is a double avenue of elm-trees. In this garden will be especially noticed two admirably sculptured figures of “Night” and “Morning,” by the late John Thomas, an artist of eminence and great ability, whose advice is understood to have greatly guided Sir Morton Peto in the adornment of the beautiful house; he may, indeed, be described as “the architect.” There is also (but on the other side of the Winter Garden) a drinking-fountain, created by a statue, the work of Joseph Durham, A.R.A., of a milkmaid, her pail at her feet, in an attitude that implies outlook for the kine.

The West Front, one hundred and fifty feet in length, is composed of a central tower and two wings, with large bay windows. The entrance is by a porch in the central tower.

The Corridor, lined with wainscot, leads to a finely panelled Hall, from which a staircase ascends to the upper suites of apartments. The Hall is hung with arms and curious and valuable armour, one suit of which, of remarkably fine design and the most exquisite workmanship, is inlaid with gold, and bears a German motto, and the date 1652. Over the massive chimney-piece the wall is decorated by Maclise’s large oil-painting of “Chivalry.” It contains also other valuable works of Art; among them a fine picture of deer by Sir Edwin Landseer, in his best manner and his best time. In the stained-glass windows are the arms of some of the successive owners of Somerleyton—Allin, Anguish, Godolphin-Osborne, Peto, Crossley, &c. On the landing is a portrait-picture of George and Robert Stephenson, and in the passage from the Staircase to the Boudoir are “Edward the Confessor leaving his Crown to Harold,” and “Harold’s Oath to William, Duke of Normandy,” pictures of great merit by John Cross. There is also in the Hall a grand colossal statue of Æneas. In the outer Hall—placed on a very graceful pedestal—is a marble statue of a boy who has been gathering shells by the seashore; it is a portrait-statue of the present baronet, and is one of the charming works of Joseph Durham, A.R.A.

The Dining-hall, which is two stories in height, has a rich carved polychrome ceiling in compartments, and cornices of oak, with gilt reliefs, and clusters of fruit and wreaths of flowers. It has a huge pyramidal chimney-piece, supported by two full-length caryatides, “Summer” and “Winter,” by John Thomas. The ceiling is carried on brackets supported by heads of the roebuck, wild boar, &c. In the stained-glass windows are medallion-portraits of Newton, Watt, Chaucer, Shakspere, Wren, and Reynolds, surmounted by allegorical figures of the liberal sciences. On either side the fire-place are _chefs-d’œuvre_ of Stanfield fitted into panels, and above these are frescoes by Maclise and Horsley. The furniture is massive and appropriate, and a fine minstrel’s gallery adds much to the beauty of the room. In this gallery is a fine mechanical orchestral organ. The two paintings by Stanfield are, we believe, the largest in size of his productions, and undoubtedly his best works. They are so well known as to need no description here: one is the Storming of St. Sebastian, the other the dismantled _Victory_ towed into Gibraltar after the battle of Trafalgar. These are monuments to the memory of one of the greatest painters of any age. In this most beautiful room also hang a “St. Simeon,” by Guido, and a large and very fine example of G. Lance: it is called “The Seneschal,” and is certainly the best work of this artist.

The Breakfast-room, a charming apartment filled with choice objects, commands a view down one of the avenues; in it are the “Italian Peasants,” by Armitage, landscapes by Constable, a fruit-piece by Hunt, &c.

The Library has a beautiful ceiling, and is fitted with carved book-cases, containing editions of all modern authors. In the extensive collection few works of merit and interest are omitted. Over the chimney-piece, with its motto, “Learn to live, live to learn,” is Rembrandt’s grand picture of “Ferdinand and Isabella;” and there are also portraits of Milton and Shakspere, the latter a “life” portrait from Stowe.

The old Drawing-room is wainscoted throughout, and the cornices, door-heads, and mirror-frame are exquisitely and elaborately carved with game, and groups and festoons of fruit and flowers, attributed to Gibbons. In the upper lights of tho windows, of modern insertion, landscapes are introduced.

The Drawing-room, Billiard-room, and other apartments are all of equal elegance, and all filled with costly furniture and choice works of Art, among which are paintings by Beverley, Lance, Solomon, Mole, and others.

In the upper rooms of the house—not, of course, shown to visitors—is preserved the ancient tapestry which adorned the walls of the old mansion; and here, too, are many gems of Art, including examples of Wright of Derby, Wilson, Bright, and others; with Manuel’s “Voyage Subjects,” twenty-two in number. The subjects of the tapestry are as follows:—In the Tapestry-room, the “Story of Lucretia;” in the Dressing-room, portions of a very large tapestry, “The Passage of the Red Sea,” “Moses striking the Rock,” &c. The “Story of Lucretia” is in five panels, very beautifully wrought, obviously from the designs of an accomplished artist. There are also pictures of great worth in some of these rooms; notably a portrait by Holbein of his mother, a series of charming drawings by Henry Bright, and several fine proof engravings of great pictures. Many of the pieces of furniture were purchased at Stowe, and are of great rarity and worth—brilliant examples of Art of a past but honoured age.

The Business-room is a finely groined apartment, hung with rich old tapestry, and contains, among other works of Art, three pictures by Herring, one attributed to Rubens, and some good examples of the old Dutch masters.

The Stables (flanked by a clock-tower of much elegance) lie to the right of the main entrance; they are models of architectural beauty, and are, of course, fitted up with all the modern appliances of comfort and convenience.

In the Church of Somerleyton are preserved the old rood-screen, containing sixteen painted panels of saints, and some of the monuments from the older edifice. Among these are memorials to Admiral Sir Thomas Allin, to Sir John Wentworth and his lady, and to Sir Thomas Jernegan—an altar-tomb, on which, according to Weever and Camden, there was formerly the inscription—

“Jesu Christ, both God and Man,
Save thy servant Jernegan.”

On the front of the tomb are three, and at each end one, lozenge-formed panels, in each of which is a quatrefoil with trefoiled cusps. In the centre of each is a shield of arms. On the top of the tomb are places where brasses have at one time been fixed. Among the arms are Appleyard impaled with Jernegan. This tomb has been much impaired by time. It is now, however, carefully preserved.

Another slab bears the inscription, “Margaret Jernegan, the wyef of Edward Jernegan, Esquyer, daughter of Sir Edmund Bedingfelde, Knt., which Margaret dyed the xxiiij of Marche, anno MDIII.”

The monument to Sir John Wentworth and his lady bears figures of the knight in armour, with the peaked beard of the times, and the lady habited in a plain dress; an escutcheon has the arms of Wentworth, _azure_, a saltire, _ermine_, between four eagles displayed, _or_; impaling Soame, _gules_, a chevron between three mullets, _or_, quartered with, second, _azure_, two bars gemelles and a canton, _or_, charged with a tun, and, third, _gules_, six annulets, _or_.

The memorial to Sir Thomas Allin is a tablet bearing the following inscription:—“Near this place lies interred Sir Thomas Allin, Bart., whose unshaken fidelity to his sovereign, Charles ye 2nd, was rewarded with many marks of his royal favour, having had the honour of serving him as Admiral in his fleets, in the British and Mediterranean Seas; Controller of the Navy, Captain of Sandgate Castle, and Master of the Trinity House. He died in 1686 in ye 73 year of his age.”

The Church is seen from many parts of the grounds of Somerleyton Hall—always a pleasant object in the landscape—through a grand avenue of elms: a wood-walk footpath leads to it from the house. A fine piece of the park forms a portion of the glebe. The Church is dedicated to St. Mary. A singular and interesting octangular font (in some parts recut), with an inscription, now illegible, is one of its few remains of antiquity.

There is also a small modern Chapel at a little distance from the house, where service is held on Sundays. It was originally erected as a Baptist chapel by Sir Morton Peto. Close to it is a Maze of dwarf yews, kept with exceeding nicety: in the centre is a graceful temple, from the seats of which views are obtained of the gardens and conservatories.

The Conservatories are of great extent, divided into “houses” for all the rarer plants, with vineries, pine-pits, and all the other accessories of abundance at every season of the year.

The principal entrance to the mansion is through iron gates, the stone piers, supporting deer _couchant_, sculptured by John Thomas. This view we have engraved on page 207: it is at once graceful and commanding.

Somerleyton is a magnificent house, but it was erected with a view to comfort as well as elegance; all the rooms, both above and below, are so constructed as to suggest the idea of home; the “appliances and means” of wealth have been judiciously exerted to promote the rational enjoyment of life; ease has not been sacrificed to state; and grandeur has been less studied than content. The house is splendid, and yet homely; there is none of the burden of magnificence either in the mansion or the grounds, while ostentation seems as far removed from the lofty and munificently furnished apartments as from those which ornament a simple cottage dwelling.

Its perfect architectural details, its noble conservatories, its garden, its avenues—one of elm, another of lime trees, stretching from the house across the park—its numerous vases and statues, happily placed—and especially its Winter Garden—all perfect when viewed separately, and all joined in admirable harmony—render Somerleyton remarkable among the most beautiful modern mansions of the kingdom, and do honour to the sculptor-architect under whose superintendence it was planned and executed. Somerleyton, therefore, may be described as one of the gems of the county of Suffolk—a county rich in baronial mansions, abundant of historic events, and full of traditions of the earliest, as well as of mediæval, ages in England.

It would be a long list that which gave even the names of the baronial halls in this grand historic county, and it would far exceed our space to give details of its ancient monuments—Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman—to say nothing of those that have descended to us from the still earlier Britons, many relics of whom are yet to be found in the neighbourhood. Suffolk is, indeed, if less graced by natural beauties than some other of our English shires, rich among the richest of them in antiquities and in traditions, while it has a high and prominent place in British history.

The scenery that neighbours Somerleyton is purely English; the lanes are pleasant and picturesque in spring and summer; the land is productive; the broad river Waveney fertilises miles upon miles of green or arable banks between which it runs; the trees have prodigious growth; and, above all, the sea is near at hand; the German Ocean rolls its waves into the harbours of these eastern shores, bearing the wealth that thousands of hardy fishermen gather in during every month of the year.

From any of the heights, which, though not numerous, occur occasionally, and, in a degree, from any of the roads that skirt the shore, may be seen a “multitudinous shipping,” so to say, from the huge three-master and the grand steamship to the comparatively small fishing-smacks that dot the sea-scape, and the heavily weighted coal vessels that are bearing sources of wealth to all parts of the world. It is to the fishing-smacks the locality is mainly indebted for its prosperity; but Lowestoft now holds rank among the fashionable and most frequented sea watering-places of the kingdom.

WILTON HOUSE.

WE do not refer to the earlier families who held the title of Earls, &c., of Pembroke—those of Montgomery, of Clare, of Marshall, of De Valence, and of Hastings—as they, although the predecessors of the Herberts in the title, were not so in regard to the estates. It has been well said by Sir Bernard Burke that “the name of Pembroke, like the scutcheons and monuments in some time-honoured cathedral, cannot fail to awaken a thousand glorious recollections in the bosoms of all who are but tolerably read in English chronicles. Sound it, and no trumpet of ancient or modern chivalry would peal a higher war-note. It is almost superfluous to repeat that this is the family of which it has been so finely said, that ‘all the men were brave, and all the women chaste;’ and what nobler record was ever engraved upon the tomb of departed greatness?”

We commence our notes with William ap Thomas, whose ancestors traced back to Henry Fitz-Herbert, chamberlain to King Henry I. This Sir William ap Thomas (who was the son of Thomas ap Gwillim ap Jenkin, by his wife Maud, daughter and heiress of Sir John Morley, Knight, Lord of Raglan Castle) married Gladys, daughter of Sir Richard Gam, and widow of Sir Roger Vaughan, by whom he had three sons and a daughter. The eldest of these sons was “created Lord of Raglan, Chepstow, and Gower, and commanded to assume the surname of Herbert, in honour of his ancestor,” the chamberlain to King Henry I., and afterwards Earl of Pembroke. “He was succeeded by his son, who renounced the earldom of Pembroke for that of Huntingdon, at the request of King Edward IV., that monarch being anxious to dignify his son, Prince Edward, with the title of Earl of Pembroke.

The honour, however, reverted to the Herberts in the reign of Edward VI., who conferred it upon Sir William Herbert.” This William Herbert, who had married Anne, sister of Queen Catherine Parr, was knighted by Henry VIII., and was appointed executor, or “conservator,” of the King’s will; and shared with Sir Anthony Denny the honour of riding to Windsor in the chariot with the royal corpse, when Henry’s ashes were committed to their final resting-place. By Edward VI. Sir William was elevated to the peerage by the titles of Baron Herbert of Cardiff and Earl of Pembroke. In 1551 his wife, the Countess of Pembroke, “died at Baynard’s Castle, and was carried into St. Paul’s in this order: first, there went an hundred poor men and women in mantle-freez gowns; next followed the heralds, and then the corse, about which were eight bannerels of armes, then came the mourners, lordes, knights, and gentlemen; after them the ladies and gentlewomen mourners, to the number of 200 in all; next came in coats 200 of her own and other servants. She was interred by the tomb of the Duke of Lancaster; and after, her banners were set up over her, and her armes set on divers pillars.” The Earl died March 17th, 1569-70, and was succeeded by his son Henry as Earl of Pembroke. This nobleman was thrice married; first, to Catherine, daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, from whom he was afterwards divorced; secondly, to Catherine, daughter of George, Earl of Shrewsbury; and, thirdly, to Mary Sidney, daughter to Sir Henry Sidney, Knight of the Garter, by his wife, the Lady Mary, daughter of John, Duke of Northumberland. This lady, the third wife of the Earl of Pembroke, was sister to one of the greatest of all great Englishmen—Sir Philip Sidney; and it was for her special delight that he, while visiting her at Wilton, wrote his inimitable “Arcadia.” By this lady the Earl of Pembroke had two sons, William and Philip, both of whom in turn succeeded to the earldom. The Countess, “Sidney’s sister, Pembroke’s mother,” “a principal ornament to the family of the Sidneys,” and of whom Spenser wrote that she was

“The gentlest shepherdess that liv’d that day,
And most resembling, both in shape and spirit,
Her brother dear,”

survived her husband some time, and at her death, which took place in 1621, that beautiful epitaph so often quoted, and as often erroneously ascribed to Ben Jonson, was penned by William Browne, and will bear again quoting here:—

“Underneath this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse;
_Sidney’s_ sister! _Pembroke’s_ mother!
Death, ere thou hast slain another
Fair, and learn’d, and good as she,
Time shall throw a dart at thee!
Marble piles let no man raise
To her name for after days;
Some kind woman, born as she,
Reading this, like Niobe
Shall turn marble, and become
Both her mourner and her tomb.”

William, third Earl of Pembroke under the new creation, eldest son of the Earl and of “Sidney’s sister,” succeeded to the title and estates on the death of his father in 1600-1. Of him Aubrey says, “He was of a most noble person, and the glory of the court in the reigne of King James and King Charles. He was handsome and of an admirable presence.

‘Gratior et pulchro veniens a corpore virtus.’

He was the greatest Mecænas to learned men of any peer of his time—or since. He was very generous and open-handed. He gave a noble collection of choice bookes and manuscripts to the Bodleian Library at Oxford, which remain there as an honourable monument of his munificence. ‘Twas thought, had he not been suddenly snatcht away by death, to the grief of all learned and good men, that he would have been a great benefactor to Pembroke College, in Oxford; whereas, there remains only from him a great piece of plate that he gave there. He was a good scholar, and delighted in poetrie; and did sometimes, for his diversion, write some sonnets and epigrammes which deserve commendation. Some of them are in print in a little book in 8vo., intituled ‘Poems writt by William, Earle of Pembroke, and Sir Benjamin Ruddyer, Knight, 1660.’”

His lordship married Mary, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Gilbert, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury, by his countess, Mary, daughter of Sir William Cavendish, of Chatsworth, and his wife, Elizabeth Hardwick—“Bess of Hardwick”—afterwards Countess of Shrewsbury. By this marriage the Earl of Pembroke had two sons, who died in their infancy. Dying without surviving issue, he was succeeded in the title and estates by his brother, Philip Herbert, who thus became fourth Earl of Pembroke, and was shortly afterwards created Earl of Montgomery, and appointed Lord Chamberlain, Gentleman of the King’s Bed-chamber, and Lord Warden of the Stannaries. He was twice married: first, to Lady Susan Vere, daughter to the Earl of Oxford, by whom he had a numerous family; and, secondly, to Anne, daughter and heiress of George, Earl of Cumberland, and widow of Richard, Earl of Dorset.

Dying in 1649-51, the Earl was succeeded by his fourth but eldest surviving son, Philip, as Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. This nobleman married, first, Penelope, daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Naunton; and, secondly, Catherine, daughter of Sir William Villiers, and, dying in 1669-70, was in his turn succeeded by the eldest son of his first marriage, William, who, dying unmarried, was succeeded by his half-brother, Philip (the son of his father by his second wife), who thus became seventh Earl of Pembroke, and fourth Earl of Montgomery. This nobleman married Henrietta de Querouaille, sister to the Duchess of Portsmouth, but dying without male issue, the title and estates devolved on his younger brother, Thomas, eighth Earl of Pembroke, who held distinguished offices under William III., Queen Anne, and George I., and was the founder of the noble collection of sculptures, &c., at Wilton. His lordship married three times, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry, as ninth earl, of whose taste Lord Orford says, “Besides his works at Wilton, the new lodge in Windsor Park, the Countess of Suffolk’s house at Marble Hill, Twickenham, the water house in Lord Orford’s park at Houghton, are incontestable proofs of his taste: it was more than taste, it was passion for the utility and honour of his country, that engaged his lordship to promote and assiduously overlook the construction of Westminster Bridge by the ingenious Monsieur Labeyle.”

He was succeeded in the title and estates by his son, Henry, as tenth Earl of Pembroke and Earl of Montgomery, who, marrying Elizabeth, second daughter of Charles Spencer, Duke of Marlborough, had issue one son and one daughter, and, dying in 1794, was succeeded by his son, George Augustus Herbert, as eleventh Earl of Pembroke, &c.

That nobleman married, first, in 1784, Elizabeth, daughter of Topham Beauclerk, Esq., son of Lord Sidney Beauclerk, and by her, who died in 1793, had issue the Lady Diana, married to the Earl of Normanton, and one son, Robert Henry, who succeeded him; and, secondly, in 1808, Catherine, daughter of Count Woronzow, the Russian ambassador, by whom he had issue one son, the Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., and Secretary for War, created, in 1861, Lord Herbert of Lea (which title has now merged into the earldom of Pembroke), and five daughters—viz. the Lady Elizabeth, married to the Earl of Clanwilliam; the Lady Mary Caroline; the Lady Catherine; the Lady Georgiana; and the Lady Emma. His lordship, dying in 1827, was succeeded by the son of his first marriage, Robert Henry Herbert, as twelfth Earl of Pembroke, &c. This nobleman was born in 1791, and married, in 1814, the Princess Octavia Spinelli, daughter of the Duke of Lorraine, and widow of the Sicilian Prince Buttera de Rubari, by whom he had no issue. He died in 1862, and (his half-brother, Sidney Herbert, Baron Herbert of Lea, the heir to the title, having died a few months before him) was succeeded by his nephew (the son of that honoured statesman), George Robert Charles Herbert, the present peer—the thirteenth earl—then a minor.

The Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, who was born in 1810, married, in 1846, Elizabeth, only daughter of Lieutenant-General Charles Ashe A’Court, who survives him, and is the present Baroness Herbert of Lea. By her he had issue four sons and three daughters—viz. George Robert Charles Herbert, now Earl of Pembroke; Sidney, Lord Herbert, who is heir-presumptive to his brother, and was born in 1853; William Reginald Herbert, born in 1854; Michael Henry Herbert, born in 1857; Mary Catherine Herbert, born in 1849; Elizabeth Maude Herbert, born in 1851; and Constance Gwladys, born in 1859. Lord Herbert of Lea died in 1861, and was succeeded in that title by his eldest son, George Robert Charles Herbert, then eleven years of age, and who, eight months later, succeeded to the full family estates and earldom.

The present peer, the Right Hon. George Robert Charles, thirteenth Earl of Pembroke, Earl of Montgomery, Baron Herbert of Cardiff, Baron Herbert of Shurland, and Baron Herbert of Lea, Hereditary Visitor of Jesus College, Oxford, and High Steward of Wilton, was born July 6th, 1850, and succeeded his father as second Baron Herbert of Lea, in 1861, and his uncle as Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, &c., in 1862. His lordship, in 1874, married the Lady Gertrude Frances Talbot, daughter of the eighteenth Earl of Shrewsbury, and sister of the present earl.

The arms of the Earl of Pembroke are—party per pale, _azure_ and _gules_, three lions rampant, _argent_. The crest is a wyvern, _vert_, holding in its mouth a sinister hand couped at the wrist, _gules_. The supporters are—dexter, a panther guardant, _argent_, incensed, spotted, _or_, _vert_, _sable_, _azure_, and _gules_ alternately, ducally collared, _azure_; sinister, a lion, _argent_, ducally collared, _or_. Motto—“Ung je serviray.” The Earl is patron of twelve livings, ten of which are in Wiltshire, one in Dorsetshire, and one in Shropshire.

His lordship’s brothers and sisters, children of Lord Herbert of Lea, were, on his succeeding to the earldom, raised to the rank of earls’ children by royal warrant in 1862.

Wilton, a town of “great antiquity,” is situated at the conflux of the rivers Nadder and Willey, from the latter of which it is said to derive its name—“Willytown” or “Wilton:” “in Latin it is called Ellandunum.” The ancient Britons had one of their chief seats here; it was a capital of the West Saxons, and was undoubtedly famous long before the Norman Conquest. Afterwards it obtained renown from the number and importance of its monastic establishments. Leland informs us that it had over twelve parish churches. Of its abbey there are no remains. It was dissolved in the thirty-fifth year of King Henry VIII., and the site and buildings given to Sir William Herbert, afterwards created Earl of Pembroke; while from its relics Wilton House was principally built.[47]

Wilton House—one of the grandest and most beautiful in the kingdom, and the entrance to which adjoins the town—stands on the site of a monastery of Saxon foundation, which, on the dissolution, was levelled with the ground. As we have just intimated, no portion whatever of the monastic buildings remains, but there can be no doubt they were of considerable extent and importance. The mansion was built partly from the designs, it is said, of Hans Holbein, to whom is ascribed the porch, which, however, in the early part of the present century was much altered. “The garden front was built by M. Solomon de Caus in the reign of Charles I., and, having been destroyed by fire in 1648, was re-erected by Webb from plans which are presumed to have been furnished by Inigo Jones. In the commencement of the present century the house was considerably enlarged and remodelled by James Wyatt, R.A., one of the principal additions being the cloisters for the display and preservation of the magnificent collection of sculptures. The general plan of the house is a hollow square, the glazed cloister occupying the central space.”

In this Cloister, and in the Hall that leads to it, are the famous “marbles” which form so prominent a feature in the attractions of Wilton—statues, busts, bassi-relievi, urns, vases, fragments of various kinds—a wonderful assemblage of remains of Greece and Rome.[48] The collection was formed towards the close of the last century by Thomas, Earl of Pembroke, who purchased such of the Earl of Arundel’s collection as had been placed in the house, which were principally busts; to these he added many purchased at the dispersion of the Giustiniani collection of marbles, and also at the dispersion of the Mazarin collection, and from various other sources.

The Hall contains several statues; but its interest is derived from the many suits of armour by which it is adorned: they are chiefly trophies and memorials of the battle of St. Quentin, fought in 1557, in which the Earl of Pembroke commanded the forces of England. One of the suits was worn by the Earl, and two of them were, it is said, worn by the Constable Montmorency and the Duc de Montpensier, both taken prisoners at that eventful fight. A passage from the Hall leads to the Cloisters, from which, on either side, are entrances to the various apartments: these are furnished with judgment and taste, but their attractions are the pictures that adorn the walls.

The renowned “family picture” by Vandyke is beyond question the great painter’s masterpiece: it is 17 feet in length, by 11 feet in height, and fills one end of the drawing-room. It contains ten whole-length figures, the two principal of which are Philip, Earl of Pembroke, and his lady, Susan, daughter of Edward, Earl of Oxford. On the right stand their three sons, on the left their daughter and her husband, Robert, Earl of Carnarvon. Before them is Lady Mary, the wife of Charles, Lord Herbert, and above them, in the clouds, are two sons and a daughter who died young. It is a most grand and glorious work, the value of which is not to be estimated by money.

The room, which is called also the Cube Room, contains some thirteen other pictures, the productions of Vandyke.

Other of the great old masters are well represented in the several apartments of the mansion: many of them are, indeed, of great beauty and value.

We might occupy much space by printing a list of these pictures: they comprise a large number of the great Italian artists. They are, however, such as one usually meets in these palatial residences, and are thrown into comparative obscurity by the glorious assemblage of Vandykes.

In Lady Pembroke’s Summer Dressing-room there is a Gothic window by Price, “to whom Parliament granted £5,000 for having discovered the ancient method of staining glass.”

The house is made thoroughly comfortable as a home; it has never been abandoned by the family, but has been their continual residence. Everywhere, consequently, there is an aspect of thorough comfort. Grace, elegance, and indeed splendour, are sufficiently apparent, but the obvious study has long been to render the dwelling in all respects the abode of an English nobleman who loved to live among his own people. None will wonder at this who knew the late Lord Herbert of Lea, who so long and so continuously lived in that delightful home.

To the Gardens and Grounds of Wilton House we desire to direct the reader’s especial attention; they have been by no means left solely to the guardianship of Nature. Art has done much to give aid to the beauties of hill and dell, and river and wooded slopes and pasture-land. Immediately around the mansion the skill of the gardener is manifest: trim walks, and pastures, and summer-houses, and conservatories add to the natural grace and beauty of the scene. One garden especially, into which there is a passage from the Drawing-room, is very beautifully laid out, overlooked by a graceful arcade, in which are vases and busts, and to which, no doubt, the family and their guests often retreat to enjoy the bounties of free air and light among the adornments that are here so lavish.

A most picturesque and singularly beautiful bridge joins the park to the grounds, crossing the Nadder. It was built from a design by Palladio, and has an open Ionic colonnade. The park slopes up from the river; and in the grounds are some of the finest cedars to be seen in England.

Here, it is said, Sir Philip Sidney wrote the “Arcadia;” and the memorable book bears conclusive evidence that he drew much of his inspiration from these gardens and grounds. The book may be, as Milton styles it, “a vain amatorious poem;” but it is full of beautiful descriptions of Nature, and shows how dearly the chivalric writer really loved the natural and the true; and it demands no strong stretch of fancy to imagine Philip Sidney, accompanied by William Shakspere, Edmund Spenser, and Philip Massinger (he was born in the place, and probably in the house), walking among these now aged trees, along these embowered walks, and by the banks of the fair river that runs to enrich them as it did centuries ago:—

“And all without were walkes and alleys dight
With divers trees enrang’d in even rankes;
And here and there were pleasant arbors pight,
And shadie seates and sundry flowring bankes,
To sit and rest the walker’s wearie shankes.”

Yes; it is obviously to these grounds and gardens that reference is made in the “Arcadia:”—

“There were hilles which garnished their proud heights with stately trees; humble vallies whose base estate seemed comforted with refreshing of silver rivers; medowes enamel with all sortes of eypleasing floures; thickets, which, being lined with most pleasant shade, were witnessed so too, by the cheerfull disposition of many well-tuned birds; each pasture stored with sheepe feeding with sober securitie, while the pretie lambes with bleating oratorie craved the dams’ comfort; here a shepheard’s boy piping as though he should neuer be old; there a young shepherdesse knitting and withall singing; and it seemed that her voice comforted her hands to worke, and her hands kept time to her voice’s musick.”

It is to-day as it was so long ago—when the sweetest of all the singers and the most heroic of all the cavaliers of old times had their healthy walks through these woods, and their poetic “talks” under the branches of these patrician trees—old then, and very old now. Truly Wilton is “a place for pleasantnesse,” and “not unfit for solitarinesse.”

“Gloriana”—Queen Elizabeth—did certainly visit this “chosen plot of fertile land;” partook of “a very fair and pleasant banquet” in this park; and from Wilton she carried away many rich gifts, including “a mermaid of gold, having a maid upon her back garnished with sparks of diamonds.”

From a queen to a man of genius, who was a good man, is not a long leap. What visitor to Wilton will forget the name of that George Herbert who was the humble and faithful servant of God—who did His work in this locality, and who, while he threw a line across the glistening Nadder (for he was the disciple as well as the friend of Izaak Walton), here wove those fancies into verse which after ages have not suffered to die?

And surely we may well close our notes on Wilton by quoting good old Izaak’s summary of the character of Lord Edward Herbert:—

“He was one of the handsomest men of his day, of a beauty alike stately, chivalric, and intellectual. His person and features were cultivated by all the disciplines of a time when courtly graces were not insignificant, because a monarch-mind informed the court, nor warlike customs rude or mechanical, for industrial nature had free play in the field, except as restrained by the laws of courtesy and honour. The steel glove became his hand, and the spur his heel; neither can we fancy him out of his place, for any place he would have made his own.”

There is yet another of the worthies of Wilton to claim and receive the homage of every visitor—the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, created Lord Herbert of Lea before his premature death. He did not outlive his brother, the Earl, but his son inherited the titles and estates, and is now, as we have stated, the thirteenth Earl of Pembroke.

There is a statue of Sidney Herbert, by Marochetti, in the Market-place at Salisbury; and a far better statue of him, by Foley, fronts the War Office in Pall Mall: it honours him as the Secretary of War, and makes record of some of his triumphs as the gentle and genial advocate of peace and Christian charity to all mankind. “Sidney Herbert,” says Mr. Hall, who was associated with him as one of the Honorary Secretaries of the Nightingale Fund, “seemed to me a copy, and without an atom deteriorated, of his renowned relative-predecessor, Lord Herbert of Cherbury. He lived in another age, and had to discharge very different duties; but there was the same heroic sentiment, the same high chivalry, the same generous sympathy with suffering, the same stern and steady resolve to right the wrong. It is not too much to say that what we may have imagined of the chivalry of a past age we have witnessed in our own: a gentleman who gave dignity to the loftiest rank; who thought it no condescension to be kind and courteous to the very humblest who approached him. To rare personal advantages he added those of large intellectual acquirements. He spoke, if not as an orator, with impressive eloquence; as a man of practical business, few were his superiors; he had the mind of a statesman, yet gave earnest and thoughtful care to all the minor details of life. His death was a public calamity.”

No one who visits Wilton—either the town or the mansion—will leave it without seeing and examining “the New Church,” of which we give an engraving. It was erected in 1844, at the cost of Sidney Herbert, the architects being F. H. Wyatt and D. Brandon. The style, as will be perceived, is that of the ordinary Romanesque. It is a singularly beautiful and very gorgeous structure, built without regard to expense: perhaps there is nothing more perfect, of its class, in the kingdom. The following details from a local newspaper give a technical description of this edifice:—

“The church is raised on a terrace with a noble flight of steps 100 feet long, and a platform 20 feet in width. The centre entrance of the east front forms an open-recessed porch within a rich archway, which contains four columns on each side. Over this centre entrance is a series of small circular-headed arches, forming a sort of exterior gallery at the back of the one within, and producing a good deal of relief and richness. Immediately above it is a very large rose window, of elaborate design, set within a square, whose spandrils are sculptured with the emblems of the four evangelists. The lofty campanile tower is connected with the south-east angle of the building by a vestibule or cloister, whose elaborately carved open arches and columns present a pleasing contrast to the breadth and solidity of the other parts. On the same side of the church, at the west end, is a projecting porch (or vestry), which naturally increases the play and picturesqueness of the composition. Upon entering the rich door in the east front, already described, we pass between two screens of twisted columns, dividing the gallery staircase from the centre porch. Immediately opposite to this entrance is placed the font, a massive structure of black and variegated Italian marble. It is carved with lions’ heads at the corners, and the basin is richly foliated. The pedestal is of white marble in panels, inlaid with vine-leaves in black marble. The whole is raised on a black marble plinth.... The pulpit is of stone, inlaid with panels of marble, and glittering with rich mosaic-work, having also four twisted columns wholly composed of ancient mosaic, and supported by the black marble columns with alabaster capitals. The roofing of the nave and aisles is of open timber-work, stained to imitate dark chestnut.... The height of the campanile is 100 feet; and in it are hung a peal of six bells, brought from the old church. The remaining dimensions are as under: from the western porch to the chancel apse, 120 feet; width, 53 feet; width of nave between the columns, 24 feet; height, 57 feet; aisles, 13 feet wide, and 24 feet high.”