Chapter D: M D M (1)

C MESSIO C TVTILIO RVPINO
SEQVMDINO XVO VENATORI
QVI VIXIT T. CAVDIVS SECVNDVS
ANNIS AMICO B M;
XVII MESES
IIII

a curious mosaic picture of fish, bearing the following inscription:—“This mosaic, containing 20,000 siliceous pebbles, is the work of Sosus Pergami, who flourished 320 years before Christ, and is mentioned in the writings of the elder Pliny. Discovered in the ruins of the Palace of Pope Leo the 12th, at Villa Chichignola. Presented by Pope Gregory the 16th to Sir Edward Thomason, in the year 1832;” and some other mosaics. There are also exquisite marble busts of Pitt, Wellington, George III., the Duke of York, Lord Liverpool, and others, as well as Chantrey’s charming head of our present beloved Queen Victoria when a little child.

The Grounds and Gardens of Lowther Castle are among its most glorious and charming attractions. Nature has done much for it in the beauty of its situation and the majestic character of its surroundings; and the purest taste in Art, allied to the most consummate skill, has taken advantage of those natural beauties, and added charm upon charm to the place. On the west front are lawns (divided from the Deer Park by a sunk fence) laid out tastefully in beds rich in their profusion of colours. At the west end of the mansion is the Conservatory, and near, but below it, approached by a flight of steps from the Terrace, is the Countess’s Garden. The site of this exquisitely lovely spot is a natural dell, and its sloping sides are turfed and planted, while the centre is somewhat elaborately, and with faultless taste, laid out in geometrical form, and filled with the choicest and richest of flowers; the disposition of the vases, the arrangement of the beds, and the harmonious blending of the colour showing the purest taste and a high order of skill on the part of the head-gardener, to whom it owes its origin. Near this is the Yew Avenue—a walk densely covered in by the intertwined branches and foliage of the rows of yew-trees, hundreds of years old, which range along its sides. From here pathways lead on to the Terrace outside the wood.

Of the Terrace it is impossible to convey an idea. It is simply a tract of high land, thickly wooded with the finest of forest trees and the most majestic of conifers, around the outer edge of which runs a broad grassy walk or drive, commanding almost a panorama of the finest of views that even this district of marvellous scenery can produce. From here, in one direction, is Knipe Scar, rising above the village of Bampton; and behind it, again, are Swindale, Walla Crag, beneath which is the lovely lake of Haweswater, and above these, again, rise Harter Fell and High Street (over which runs the old Roman road). Then the hamlet of Helton, and further to the right Helvellyn and other mountains above Ulleswater. Again, there is Askham, with the heights of Blencathra or Saddleback, and the mountains in the Keswick district; while through the Park, far down below, runs the river Lowther, whose murmurs over its rocky bed are distinctly audible. In the wood which skirts the Terrace are some gigantic conifers and other trees which are “great among the greatest.”[51]

The Kitchen Gardens, at some distance from the mansion, are well arranged, very extensive (about seven acres), and extremely productive; and their pleasing effect is much heightened by the judicious introduction of richly arranged flower borders: the glass houses of all kinds are of great extent.

At a little distance across the park is Lowther Church, with the family Mausoleum in its churchyard. The Mausoleum, upon which the gifted poet, the Rev. James Dixon, wrote the following stanza—

“A grander, fairer spot of English ground
To rest in till the trump of doom shall blow
From the high heavens through land and sea below,
In all this ancient realm could not be found.
Sheer from beneath, the river’s amber flood,
Breaking in white waves ‘gainst the stony shores,
Round this green eminence for ever pours
The loud voice of its waters, through the wood
That clothes its banks, and crowns the airy hills
And verdant slopes of Lowther’s wide domain,
Swelling and falling with the grand refrain
Of Nature’s voice omnipotent. What heart but thrills
To these wild charms, lit by the vernal beams,
Grey wood, green lawn, and river’s dancing gleams?”——

is a plain Gothic building, containing in its upper room a finely sculptured figure, by Stephens, of “William, Earl of Lonsdale,” 1863. The Church possesses some good Norman features which are worthy of careful examination, and many interesting monuments to the Lowther family. Among these may be named the following:—

In the north transept a large altar tomb to William, first Earl of Lonsdale of the second creation, who died March 19th, 1844; and Augusta, his countess (daughter of John, ninth Earl of Westmoreland), who died March 6th, 1838. Here, too, was buried the late third Earl, who died in August, 1876. There are also tablets to the memory of James, first Earl of Lonsdale, 1802, and his countess, Mary, daughter of John, Earl of Bute, 1824; and to Richard, Lord Lonsdale; and brasses to Colonel the Hon. Henry Cecil Lowther (father of the late earl), 1867; and to Lucy Eleanor, his wife, daughter of Philip, fifth Earl of Harborough, 1848; and to the Hon. Arthur Lowther, their son, 1855.

In the south transept are a remarkably finely sculptured monument with a reclining figure to the memory of John, Viscount Lonsdale and Baron Lowther, 1700, and Catherine, his countess; and other noble monuments to Sir John Lowther, 1637; Sir John, 1675; and Lord William Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck, who married the Hon. Mary Lowther, 1828. In the same transept is a recumbent effigy in plate armour, over which is a tablet of remarkable character, bearing a family pedigree. This almost unique example of inscription is as follows, each item being, on the tablet, enclosed in squares, which, however, we have not followed:—

“IOHN LOWTHER of Lowther in ye═╤═LUCYE his wife davghter of S^r
Covetye of Westmerland Knight │ Christopher Curwin Knight
│
┌————————————————————————┬——┘
│ │
HVGNE LOWTHER Esqvire═╤═DORATHYE davghter of Hen^{ry}
married │ L^d Clifford They had issve
│
┌——————————————┬————————┴———————┬————————————————————————*
│ │ │
MARGARET ANNE married FRAVNCIS married
married to Ioh to Tho Wibersh to S^r Henrye
Richmond of of Clif to Goodyer
Highet Esq^r Esqvire they of Powlswoorth
Hath issve Have issve Knight
they have iss^e

*——————┬————————————————————————————————┬———————————————┐
│ │ │
RICHARD LOWTHER═╤═FRANCES the GERARD LOWTHER BARBERRIE
Knight │ davghter of Esqvier married to
married and │ Iohn Middleton Tho Carleton Esqvier
had issve │ of Middleton of Carleton Apprentice
by │ Esq Esqvi of y^e Law
│ they have iss^e
│
│
┌——————┬——┴—————┬—————————┬———————————┬———┬——————┐
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
ANNE married │ GERARD LOWTHER │ HVGH LOWTHER │ WILLIAM LOWTHER
to Alexander │ Esq: one │ Capitayne │ married
Fetherston │ of y^e Ivstices │ in y^e voyage │ Elinor Wel-Berye
of Fetherst │ of y^e Comon │ of Portvgale │ and by
Esqvire they │ Pleas in Ireland │ A Dni is │ Her hath
Have issue │ │ │ issve
│ │ │
┌—————┘ │ │
│ │ │
FRAVNCIS married S CHRISTOPH LANCELLOTT
to Tho: LOWTHER Knt LOWTHER Esqvire
Cliborne of married Elinor Sollicitor
Cliborne Esq Musgrave General
and hath and hath to Qveene Anne
issve issve

“S^r Rich: Lowther Knig: succeded Hen: Lo^d: Scroope in ye office of Lo Warden of y^e West Marches, & was thrice a Commissionor in y^e grete affayres betweene England & Scotland, all in ye time of Qveene Elizabeth & after he had seene his children to ye 4th degree geven them vertuous edvcation & meanes to live advanced his brothers & sisters ovt of his owne patrimonye governed his family & kept plentifvll hospitalitye for 57 yeares together, he ended his life ye 27th of Ian: A^o Dni. 1607. Ætas. svæ 77 vttring at his last breth these verses followinge”

Beneath this inscription is a plain black tablet let into the stone, which has, there can be no doubt, at one time borne, or been intended to bear, the verses. It is now quite black and plain, so that the “verses” Sir Richard was “vttring at his last breth” are literally “blank verse.”

In the south aisle are tablets to Colonel Lowther (grandfather of the present Earl of Londale), 1867, and Lucy Eleanor Shorard, his wife, 1848; to Elizabeth, second daughter of William, Earl of Lonsdale, 1869; to Mary, third daughter of the same earl, and widow of Lord Frederick Bentinck, 1863; and to Anne, fourth daughter of the same, and widow of Sir John Beekett of Sowerby, 1871.

From Lowther Church a delightful path leads by the side of the river Lowther to Askham Bridge, near which are the village Church, the charming Rectory-house, and Askham Hall, a noble old Border stronghold, now the residence of the Rev. Dr. Jackson, the respected and venerable Provost of Queen’s College and Rector of Lowther. Few spots in the whole district can compare in loveliness with Askham Bridge. The rocky bed of the river—flat table rock, full of deep wide cracks—the masses of stone hurled down upon its surface, the rich green and brown of its water, the number of fish seen disporting among the rocks, and the rich, deeply tinted, and massive foliage by which the whole is overhung, form a picture of faultless loveliness.

Of the district around Lowther we cannot say more than a few brief words. It is, as we have already observed, a district rich in natural beauties of mountain and lake, of hill and valley, of wood and river; but it is also equally rich in places of historic interest and in objects of antiquarian importance. The whole of the Lake district, including the two counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland, is, indeed, one grand storehouse of places of note, and objects to which attention is worthy to be drawn. It is only of a few that we can speak.

Penrith, one of the oldest towns of the district, with its ruined castle, its beacon, its “giant’s grave” and other Danish or Saxon remains, its famous old grammar school, its interesting church, its plague record,[A] and its altar-piece, the exquisite work of Jacob Thompson; Clifton, memorable as the scene of the battle of Clifton Moor, and where the old border stronghold, the house where the Duke of Cumberland slept, and the oak-tree under which the slain were buried, are still pointed out; Eamont Bridge, where “A welcome into Cumberland” is held out as the sign of the inn on crossing the river into that county, and close by which are the curious earth-works of “King Arthur’s Round Table” and “Mayborough;” Brougham Castle, a grand old ruined fortress, on the site of the Roman station _Broconiacum_, and the place from which Lord Brougham derives his title; Brougham Hall, “the Windsor of the North,” the seat of Lord Brougham and Vaux, a fine castellated mansion, with a glorious chapel, full to repletion with Art-work of costly and elaborate character; the famous stone circle “Long Meg and her daughters,” three hundred and fifty yards in circumference; Dacre Castle, a grand old fortress, whose owners fought at the siege of Acre under Cœur de Lion, and thus named their own stronghold now in ruins; Eden Hall, famous as the hall where is preserved the goblet called the “Luck of Eden Hall,” about which hangs so much traditional mystery, and the prophetic import of the couplet—

“If that glass should break or fall,
Farewell the luck of Eden Hall”—

is implicitly believed in; Askham, of which we have already spoken; Greystoke Castle, where “Belted Will” Howard and his wife, “Bessie with the braid apron,” lived; Shap, with its ruined abbey; Ulleswater, the grandest of lakes—wild, lovely, and beautiful, with its banks at its more sylvan end here and there studded with charming villas; Sharrow Bay, a “home of taste,” the seat of Anthony Parkin, Esq., where Art is more happily wedded to Nature than is usually the case, and where the views of the lake are more charming than from any other point; Lyulph’s Tower; Haweswater, another exquisite lake; Hackthorpe, rich in antiquarian interest, but rendered for all time famous as the residence of one of the most gifted sons of Art, Jacob Thompson,[52] from whose easel at the “Hermitage” emanate those marvellous conceptions which have created for him his “name and fame for all time;” Lowther village, planned in military style, and with adjoining battery; Bampton, Helton, and a score or two other places—these are not a tithe of the attractions which the immediate neighbourhood of Lowther Castle presents, and which are all easily visited by the stranger. Thanks to the railway companies—to the Midland more especially, by the formation of its Settle and Carlisle line—the Lake district is opened out to the world, and is able to be visited with real pleasure, with economy of time, with immense benefit, and with perfect comfort. By the line to which we have alluded the traveller passes along the side of one of the loftiest of the whole ranges of mountains, and sees the country mapped out beneath him in rich profusion of wood and meadow and stream, the towns and villages dotted about here and there, and the becks and streams, the tarns and lakes, the rocks and mountains, opened out before him, charmingly diversified and rendered rich in colouring by the ever-changing atmosphere. From London, without change, all this can be reached by the Settle and Carlisle route, and the visitor may thus in a few brief hours be transported from the busy town life of the metropolis into the very heart of the most lovely scenery the world can produce.

CLUMBER.

CLUMBER, the seat of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, is charmingly situated within about four miles from Worksop, and on the borders of Sherwood Forest. The drive from Worksop, up Sparkin Hill, and so along the highway for the forest, is lovely in the extreme, the road being well wooded on either side, and presenting glimpses of forest scenery that are peculiarly grateful to the eye. Leaving the main road to the left, and entering the grounds by the Lodge, a carriage drive of a mile or more in length through the well-wooded park leads to the mansion, which is at once elegant, picturesque, and “homely.” To it, however, we are only able to devote very brief attention.

Clumber is of comparatively modern erection, having been first built in 1770, and received since then many important additions. It has, therefore, no history attached to it. The place was, till about that time, simply a wild tract of forest land, which the then noble duke who planned and carried out the works cleared and cultivated at an enormous outlay, forming the extensive lake at an expense of some £7,000, and erecting the mansion at a princely cost.

The main feature of the house is its west front, facing the lake: this we have engraved. Its centre is a colonnade, and this gives access to the entrance hall, the oldest portion of the house being a part of the shooting-box, to which magnificent additions have been made. Between the mansion and the lake are the Italian gardens, elegantly laid out in beds of the richest flowers, and well diversified with vases and statuary; in the centre is a fountain of large size (the bowl being nearly thirteen feet in diameter), of white marble and of Italian workmanship.

The family of Pelham, which, with that of Clinton, is represented by the Duke of Newcastle, is of considerable antiquity in the county of Hertford, deriving the name from the manor or lordship of Pelham, in that county, which, in the reign of Edward I., belonged to Walter de Pelham. He died in 1292, leaving two sons—William, who died without issue, and Walter, who was succeeded by his son, Thomas de Pelham. John de Pelham, the grandson of this latter, “was a person of great fame in the reign of King Edward III.; and in memory of his valiant acts, his figure, in armour, with the arms of the family on his breast, was painted on glass in the Chapter-house at Canterbury, being (’tis probable) a benefactor to the cathedral, or was buried there.” At the battle of Poictiers he shared the glory of taking the French king prisoner with “Lord la Warr, and in memory of so signal an action, and the king’s surrendering his sword to them, Sir Roger la Warr, Lord la Warr, had the crampet or chape of his sword for a badge of that honour, and John de Pelham (afterwards knighted) had the buckle of a belt as a mark of the same honour, which was sometimes used by his descendants as a seal manual, and at others the said buckle on each side a cage, being an emblem of the captivity of the said King of France, and was therefore borne as a crest, as in those times was customary.” The “Pelham buckle” is still the badge of the family. Sir John married Joan, daughter of Vincent Herbert, or Finch, ancestor of the Earls of Winchelsea and Nottingham, and was succeeded by his son, John de Pelham, who was no less famous than his father for many great achievements and honourable exploits. He was Constable of Pevensey Castle, Treasurer to the King, Ambassador to the French King, and held many other important offices, and was knighted. Dying in 1428, Sir John was succeeded by his son, Sir John de Pelham, who also held many offices. He married twice: first, Joan, co-heiress of Sir John d’Escures; and, secondly, Joan de Courcy, by whom he had issue, with others, his son and successor, Sir John de Pelham, who married Alice, daughter of Sir Thomas Lewknor, but died without male issue, when the estates passed to his brother, William de Pelham, who also died without issue, and was succeeded by his brother Thomas.

Thomas Pelham was consecutively succeeded by his sons, John and Sir William, the latter of whom married, first, Mary, daughter of Sir Richard Carew; and, secondly, Mary, daughter of William, Lord Sands of the Vine, Lord Chamberlain to Henry VIII. By his first wife he had issue, with others, a son Nicholas, of whom hereafter; and by his second, with others, a son William, who became famous: from him descended the Pelhams of Brocklesby. Sir Nicholas Pelham married Anne Sackville, and, at his death in 1559, was succeeded by his son, Sir John Pelham, who married Judith, daughter of Oliver, Lord St. John of Bletsoe, by whom he had a son, Oliver, who died young four years after his father. He was succeeded by Thomas, brother to Sir John, who was created a baronet in 1611. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Walsingham, and was succeeded by his son, Sir Thomas Pelham, as second baronet, who married three times, and left issue by his first and third wives. The eldest of these was his successor, Sir John Pelham, Bart., who married the Lady Lucy, daughter of the Earl of Leicester, by whom he had a family of three sons and three daughters. He died in 1702-3, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir Thomas Pelham, Bart., who, in 1706, was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Pelham of Laughton, in Sussex.

Lord Pelham married, first, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Jones, Attorney-General, and, secondly, the Lady Grace Holles, youngest daughter of Gilbert, Earl of Clare, and sister of John Holles, fourth Earl of Clare, created Duke of Newcastle (who had married the Lady Margaret Cavendish, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Cavendish, second Duke of Newcastle), by whom he had issue two sons—Thomas and Henry—and five daughters. He died in 1711-12, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas, as second Baron Pelham.

This peer was born in 1693, and by the will of his uncle, John Holles, Duke of Newcastle, “was made his heir, and authorised to bear the name and arms of Holles.” Besides many other important offices, he was made Steward, Keeper, and Warden of the Forest of Sherwood and the Park of Folewood, in the county of Nottingham, and in 1714 was promoted to the dignity of Earl of Clare and Viscount Haughton, with remainder, in default of male issue, to his brother, the Hon. Henry Pelham and his heirs male. In the following year he was created Marquis of Clare and Duke of Newcastle, with the like remainder, and was made a K.G. He married, in 1717, Lady Harriet Godolphin, co-heiress of Lord Godolphin, and granddaughter of John, Duke of Marlborough, but died without issue in 1768. His brother, Henry Pelham, who had married Lady Catherine Manners, daughter of the Duke of Rutland, having also died without surviving male issue, the estates and the titles of Duke of Newcastle and Baron Pelham passed to Henry Clinton, ninth Earl of Lincoln, who had married Catherine, daughter of Henry Pelham, and whose mother was the Lady Lucy Pelham, the Earl assuming the name of Pelham in addition to that of Clinton. His grace had issue—Henry Pelham-Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, who died during his father’s lifetime without male issue, and Lord Thomas Pelham-Clinton, who succeeded to the titles and estates.

Thomas Pelham-Clinton, third Duke of Newcastle, was born in 1752, and married the Lady Anna Maria Stanhope, daughter of the second Earl of Harrington, and by her had issue two sons and two daughters. He died in 1795, and was succeeded by his eldest son—

Henry Pelham Pelham-Clinton, fourth Duke of Newcastle and eleventh Earl of Lincoln, who held many local appointments, and was a man of high attainments. He married, in 1807, Georgiana Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Miller Mundy, Esq., of Shipley Hall, Derbyshire, and by her had issue five daughters—viz. the Ladies Anna Maria, Georgiana, Charlotte, Caroline Augusta, and Henrietta—and six sons, viz. Henry Pelham, Earl of Lincoln (who succeeded him), and Lords Charles Pelham, Thomas Charles Pelham, William, Edward, and Robert Renebald. His grace died in 1864, and was succeeded by his eldest son—

Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, as fifth duke. This nobleman was born in 1811, and, as Earl of Lincoln, represented South Nottinghamshire and the Falkirk burghs in Parliament. His grace, who was a man of the highest integrity, was the confidential friend of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (who visited Clumber in 1861), was successively Lord Warden of the Stannaries, Chief Secretary for Ireland, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Secretary of State for War. He married, in 1832, the Lady Susan Harriet Catherine, daughter of the tenth Duke of Hamilton (which marriage was dissolved in 1850, the Duchess in 1860 being married to M. Opdebeck, of Brussels), and by her had issue three sons and one daughter. These were—the present duke (of whom directly); Lord Edward William Pelham-Clinton, born in 1836, married to Matilda, daughter of Sir W. E. Cradock-Hartopp, Bart.; Lord Arthur Pelham-Clinton, M.P., born 1840, who died in 1870; Lord Albert Sydney Pelham-Clinton, born in 1845, and married to Frances Evelyn, widow of Captain E. Stotherd; and the late Lady Susan Charlotte Catherine Pelham-Clinton, born in 1839, married to Lord Adolphus Frederick Charles William Vane-Tempest, son of the third Marquis of Londonderry.

The present head of this illustrious house, Henry Pelham Alexander Pelham-Clinton, sixth Duke of Newcastle, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and thirteenth Earl of Lincoln, was born in 1834, and educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford. He sat, when Earl of Lincoln, for Newark, and was attached to Lord Grenville’s mission to Russia in 1856. In 1861 his grace married Henrietta Adela, only daughter of the late Henry Thomas Hope, Esq., of Deepdene, Surrey, and Castle Blaney, county Monaghan (by his wife, the Hon. Gertrude Elphinstone, daughter of the fourteenth Lord Elphinstone), by whom he has issue living—Henry Pelham Archibald Douglas, Earl of Lincoln, born in 1864; Lord Henry Francis Hope Pelham-Clinton, born in 1866; the Lady Beatrice Adeline Pelham-Clinton, born in 1862; and the Lady Emily Augusta Mary Pelham-Clinton, born in 1863.

The arms of the Duke of Newcastle are—quarterly, first and fourth _argent_, six cross-crosslets, three, two, and one, _sable_, on a chief, _azure_, two mullets pierced, _or_, for Clinton; second and third, the two coats of Pelham, quarterly, viz. first and fourth _azure_, three pelicans vulning themselves, _argent_, second and third _gules_, two pieces of belts with buckles erect, in pale, the buckles upwards, _argent_ (being an augmentation in commemoration of the part Sir William Pelham took in the capture of the French king at the battle of Poictiers). Crests—first, out of a ducal coronet, _gules_, a plume of five ostrich feathers, _argent_, banded _azure_, for Clinton; second, a peacock in pride, _proper_, for Pelham. Supporters—two greyhounds, _argent_, plain collared and lined, _gules_.

His grace is patron of ten livings—viz. Worksop, Shireoaks, Cromwell, Elksley, Bothansall, Brinsley, Markham Clinton, East Markham, Kirton, and Mapplebeck.

It will not be necessary to describe minutely any of the apartments of this “Home” of the Newcastles—Clumber. The house has been said, very absurdly, to be “a second Chatsworth,” and that “it embraces magnificence and comfort more than any other nobleman’s mansion in England;” but it is not so. It is a noble mansion, some of its rooms being characterized by great elegance and beauty, and by pureness of taste, while others are of a more mediocre character. To some of the apartments and their contents we proceed to direct attention.

The Entrance Hall, with an arcade supporting its ceiling, contains, among other works of Art, a semi-colossal statue of Napoleon, which has usually been ascribed to Canova, but has also, with reason, been stated to be Franzoni’s reproduction of Chaudet’s great work: it was purchased at Carrara, in 1823, by the then Duke of Newcastle. In the same hall, besides others, are Bailey’s statue of the poet Thomson, a fine figure of Paris, and busts of the Duke of Newcastle by Nollekens, Sir Robert Peel, Cromwell, Verschaffer’s Triton and Dolphins, &c.

The Library, perhaps the finest apartment in the mansion, is a noble room, of large size and lofty proportions, and fitted in a style of great magnificence. The geometric ceiling is richly decorated, and around the upper part of the room is a light and elegant gallery. Besides the choice collections of rare old books, and those of more modern times, which are arranged round the walls of the Library and the Reading-room (to which access is gained by a lofty arch springing from pilasters of the composite order), they contain Sir R. Westmacott’s noble statue of Euphrosyne, Bailey’s Thetis and Achilles, many good bronzes, and an assemblage of objects of _virtu_. From the windows of these rooms fine views of the Grounds, the Park, and the Lake are obtained.

The State Dining-room, an elegant apartment, has a richly decorated geometric ceiling and a recessed buffet, the recess being formed by well-proportioned Corinthian columns. The rich cornice, the gilt festoons that adorn the walls, the mirrors between the windows, the antique Venetian crystal-glass chandelier and side lights, and the silver-gilt service on the buffets give a sumptuous air to the room, while the four magnificent Snyders, and the other fine old paintings which adorn the walls, add materially to its beauty.

The principal Drawing-room, hung with satin damask, and the furniture of the most costly and elegant character, is a noble apartment, and contains, besides Lawrence’s portraits of the fourth Duke of Newcastle and his duchess, good examples of the Carracci, Vandyke, Castiglione, and others; while in the Crimson Drawing-room are pictures by Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin, Guido Reni, and Canaletti.

The Grand Staircase, with its iron-work railing, originally described as being “curiously wrought and gilt in the shape of crowns, with tassels hanging down between them from cords twisted in knots and festoons,” has stained-glass windows, and is enriched with a number of portraits and other paintings. Among the portraits are Pitt, Thomson, Scott, Southey, Campbell, King George II., Queen Caroline, Prince Rupert, Dante, Cowley, and Hatton; and among the other paintings are examples of Snyders, Westall, Van Oss, Andrea Sacchi, Lely, Shackleton, Diepenbeck, and others.

The other apartments—the Breakfast-room, Billiard-room, Smoking-rooms, Ante-rooms, and what not—as well as the bed-room suites, are mostly elegant in their fittings, convenient in their appointments, and replete with choice works of Art. We, however, pass them over, simply remarking that among these Art treasures are striking examples of Gainsborough (the “Beggar Boys”), Gerard Douw, Poussin, Borgognone, Neefs, Van der Meulin, Carlo Dolce (the “Marriage of St. Catherine”), Vandyke, Titian, Rembrandt, Breughel, Ruysdael, Teniers, Lely, Rubens (his wife), Andrea del Sarto, Salvator Rosa, Claude Lorraine, Wouvermans, Hogarth (portraits of himself and wife), Reynolds, Jansen, Holbein, Van Loo, Creswick, Dahl, Domenichino, Dobson, Rigaud, Cranach, Kneller, and others. Many of these are gems of Art of a high order of excellence.

At Clumber, too, are preserved four highly interesting Roman sepulchral altars, which were thus described by the Rev. Archdeacon Trollope, with the accompanying engravings:[53]—“No. 1 bears the following inscription on the two small front panels: M. CAEDICI . FAVSTI . NEGOTIATOR . DE . SACRA . VIA . CAEDICIA . SYNTYCHE . CONLIBERTA—one that is interesting as bearing reference to a tradesman of the celebrated _Via Sacra_ at Rome. The birds pecking at a basket of fruit between them would seem to claim a Christian origin for this work of Art, had not the ox’s head and pendent sacrificial garland in addition to the heads at the angles—apparently of Jupiter Ammon—pointed to heathenism; the garland intermixed with birds, below the inscription, is both rich and graceful. No. 2 rises from an enriched plinth, bearing, first, on the pediment of its coped lid, the inscription: D. M. M. IVNI . IVNIANI, and, on a panel below, D. M. ANTONIA . TARENTINA . CONIVGI . BENE . MERENTI . FECIT, forming a short but affectionate epitaph from a wife to a husband, worthy in these respects of modern imitation. Four masks are placed at the corners of the lid, and on another part of the lid appears a boar, for which animal Tarentum was famous. The figures sculptured in front perhaps represent one of the funereal games. No. 3 is a well-designed coped urn, both its form and details having received much careful attention. Within a long panel, surrounded by an enriched moulding, is the inscription, TI . IVLIO . FELICI . MANNEIA . TREPTEETTI . IVLIVS . PHILONICVS . HEREDES . FECERVNT. No. 4 is a longer and lower urn than the others, having two small panels prepared for inscriptions, which never appear to have been filled up. Small fanciful pillars, or candelabra, surmounted by birds, form the angles of the urn, from which depend rich garlands of fruit.”

Adjoining the mansion, but apart from it, is the unfinished Chapel—a design of much elegance, the work of Messrs. Hine, of Nottingham—which forms a prominent and pleasing feature from the grounds and lake. It consists of a nave and chancel, with chancel-screen and semicircular apse, and has on its north side an organ loft, and on its south a sacristy; and it has an elegant bell-turret and spire.

The Pleasure-grounds of Clumber are very extensive, and laid out with much taste. The terrace, which runs along by the lake, is of vast length, and is beautifully diversified with statuary, vases, lovely beds of flowers, and shrubs and trees; from it flights of steps lead down to the lake, and other steps give access to the Italian Gardens. A great feature of the grounds is the enormous size and singular growth of the cedars: some of these are said to be unsurpassed in England both for their girth and for their magnificently picturesque and venerable appearance. Some of the conifers, too, are of extraordinary size and beauty.

The Kitchen Gardens are extensive and well arranged, and the Park well stocked.

The Lake is one of the glories of Clumber. It is a splendid sheet of water, covering some eighty or ninety acres of ground, and beautifully diversified on its banks with woods of tall forest trees and rich verdant glades. On the bosom of the Lake rest two ships—one a fine three-master, forming a striking feature in the view.

The neighbourhood of Clumber is rich in places of interest and in lovely localities;[54] and its near proximity to Sherwood Forest—indeed, it is itself a part of that forest reclaimed—to Thoresby, to Hardwick Wood, to Welbeck, to Osberton, to Worksop and its manor, to Bilhagh, to Rufford, and to a score of other inviting localities, renders it one of the pleasantest, most desirable, and most enjoyable of “Homes.”

WELBECK.

WELBECK, which we have chosen as the subject of our present chapter, has a history, a character, an appearance, and an interest that are entirely and peculiarly its own. In its external character it differs very materially in many points from any other mansion yet built; while its internal arrangements and means of access from one part to another are so original, and so entirely distinct from what has anywhere else been adopted, as at once to prove its noble owner, his Grace the Duke of Portland, by whom it has been planned, and is being carried out, to be a man of enlarged mind, of princely ideas, of noble conceptions, of high engineering skill, and of great constructive ability. It is a place, as we have said, entirely to itself, by itself, and of itself; it is a place many of whose features, both in general plan and in minute detail, might with advantage be taken as examples for others to follow. Vying in extent with some of the largest mansions of the kingdom, Welbeck cannot, like them, be all seen on the surface, for many of its noblest and grandest features, and much of the finest and most complicated parts of its constructive skill, are hidden away from the general observer, and only flash upon him as brilliant creations of genius when he is permitted to approach them by descending into the “bowels of the earth;” then, and then only, does the magnificence of the design of the noble owner become apparent, and then only does the vastness of the work become manifest. But of these features we shall speak presently; first let us say a few words upon its past history and the changes it has undergone.

Welbeck, with its broad domain, is situated in Nottinghamshire, about four miles from Worksop, and close to the borders of the county of Derby. Its parks are one grand succession of fine old forest trees, and its herds of deer—for it has its herd of white deer, its herd of fallow deer, and its separate herds of red and other deer—are of great extent and of fine and noble quality. Before the Conquest Welbeck was held by the Saxon Sweyn, but afterwards it passed to the Flemangs as part of the manor of Cuckney. By Thomas de Cuckney (grandson of Joceus de Flemang) the Abbey was founded, and here, in the reign of Henry II., he planted a settlement of Præemonstratensian or White Canons from Newhouse, in Lincolnshire, the first house in which they were established in England. The Abbey was dedicated to St. James, and endowed with grants of lands. These were from time to time considerably augmented, and “in 1329 the Bishop of Ely bought the whole of the manor of Cuckney, and settled it upon the Abbey on condition of their finding eight canons who should enjoy the good things and pray for Edward the Third and his queen, their children and ancestors, &c.; also for the bishop’s father and mother, brother, &c.; ‘but especially for the health of the said lord bishop whilst he lived, and after his death for his soul, and for all theirs that had faithfully served him or done him any good;’ to which was added this extraordinary injunction, that they should observe his anniversary, and on their days of commemorating the dead ‘should absolve his soul by name;’ a process whose frequent repetition might naturally be considered as needless, unless the pious bishop supposed that he might perhaps commit a few additional sins whilst in purgatory.”

In 1512, it is stated, the Abbey at Welbeck was made the head of the order. At the dissolution it was granted to Richard Whalley, and later on, after other changes, passed to Sir Charles Cavendish, of whom we shall speak presently. By him the Abbey was converted into a noble mansion, but little of the original religious house being left standing, and these parts only used as cellars, or here and there a wall, for the new building. The present mansion is said to have been commenced in 1604, and was afterwards much altered and enlarged, the riding-house being built in 1623, and the stables two years afterwards, from the designs of John Smithson. By the late Duke of Portland many alterations in the mansion were effected, and the grounds were also much improved.

We have just alluded to Sir Charles Cavendish, and this leads us on to the consideration of the descent of the estates from his time down to that of the present noble owner, and enables us to give, as is our wont, a genealogical account of the great and important families to whom Welbeck has belonged. The family of Cavendish, as already more fully detailed in our account of Chatsworth, traces back to the Conquest, when Robert de Gernon, who came over with the Conqueror, so distinguished himself in arms that he was rewarded with grants of land in Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire, &c. His descendants held considerable lands in Derbyshire, and Sir William Gernon obtained a grant of a fair at Bakewell, in that county. He had two sons—Sir Ralph de Gernon, Lord of Bakewell, and Geoffrey de Gernon, of Moor Hall, near Bakewell. From the second of these, Geoffrey de Gernon, the Cavendishes descend. His son, Roger de Gernon (who died in 1334), married the heiress of John Potton, or Potkins, lord of the manor of Cavendish, in Suffolk, and by her had issue four sons, who all assumed the name of Cavendish from their mother’s manor. These were—Sir John Cavendish, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench in the time of Edward III., and Chancellor of Cambridge, 4th of Richard II., who was beheaded by the insurgents of Suffolk in that reign; Roger Cavendish, from whom descended the celebrated navigator, Sir Thomas Cavendish; Stephen Cavendish, Lord Mayor, member of Parliament, and Sheriff of London; and Richard Cavendish. Sir John married Alice, daughter of Sir John Odyngseles, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, who brought to her husband the manor of Cavendish-Overhall, and by her, who died before him, had issue two sons—Andrew and John—and a daughter, Alice, married to William Nell. Sir Andrew Cavendish, the eldest son, was Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk. By his wife, Rose, he left issue one son, William, from whom the estate passed to his cousin. Sir Andrew was succeeded by his brother, Sir John Cavendish, Esquire of the Body to Richard II. and Henry V., who, for his gallant conduct in killing Wat Tyler, in his conflict with Sir William Walworth, was knighted by Richard II. in Smithfield, and an annuity of £40 per annum granted to him and his sons for ever. He was also made Broiderer of the Wardrobe to the King. He married Joan, daughter of Sir William Clopton, of Clopton, in Suffolk, and by her had issue three sons—William, his successor; Robert, serjeant-at-law; and Walter. William Cavendish, who was a citizen and mercer of London, and of Cavendish-Overhall, married Joan Staventon, by whom he had two sons—Thomas and William. This Thomas Cavendish, who was of Cavendish and Pollingford, in Suffolk, married Katharine Scudamore, and left by her, as son and heir, Sir Thomas Cavendish, who, having studied the law, was employed by Thomas, Earl of Surrey, Treasurer of the King’s Exchequer. He was also Clerk of the Pipe in the Exchequer to Henry VIII. He married twice, and left, by his first wife, Alice, daughter and co-heiress of John Smith, of Podbroke Hall, besides other issue, three sons—George Cavendish, Sir William Cavendish, and Sir Thomas Cavendish.

George Cavendish, the eldest of these three sons, was of Glemsford and Cavendish-Overhall, and is said to have been the author of “Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey,” although the authorship of that work has also been attributed to his brother, Sir William Cavendish. He received a liberal education, and was endowed by his father with considerable landed property in Suffolk. His character and learning seem to have recommended him to the special notice of Cardinal Wolsey, who “took him to be about his own person, as gentleman usher of his chamber, and placed a special confidence in him.” George Cavendish was succeeded by his son William, and ultimately the manor of Cavendish-Overhall passed to William Downes. Sir Thomas Cavendish was one of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and died unmarried.

Sir William Cavendish, the second son of the first Sir Thomas, became the founder of the ducal House of Devonshire and of several other noble families. He was married three times: first, to a daughter of Edward Bostock, of Whatcross, in Cheshire; secondly, to a daughter of Sir Thomas Conyngsby, and widow of William Paris; and, thirdly, to Elizabeth, daughter of John Hardwick, of Hardwick, and widow of Robert Barley, of Barley, all in the county of Derby. He was “a man of learning and business,” and was much employed in important affairs by his sovereigns, filling the posts of Treasurer of the Chamber and Privy Councillor to Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Mary. At the suppression of the religious houses under Henry VIII. he was “appointed one of the commissioners for visiting them, and afterwards was made one of the auditors of the Court of Augmentation,” which was instituted for the purpose of augmenting the revenues by the suppression of the monasteries. For his services he received three valuable manors in Hertfordshire, which, later on, he exchanged for lands in Derbyshire and other counties. He was also knighted by Henry VIII. By his first wife he had issue one son and two daughters who died young, and two other daughters, one of whom, Catherine, married Sir Thomas Brooke, son of Lord Cobham, and the other, Anne, married Sir Henry Baynton. By his second wife he had three daughters, who all died young, and she herself died in child-birth. By his third marriage with “Bess of Hardwick” he had a numerous family—viz. Henry Cavendish, of Tutbury, member of Parliament for Derbyshire, who married Grace, daughter of George, Earl of Shrewsbury, but died without lawful issue; Sir William Cavendish, created Earl of Devonshire, and direct ancestor of the Dukes of Devonshire; Sir Charles Cavendish, of Bolsover Castle and of Welbeck Abbey, ancestor of the Dukes of Newcastle, Portland, &c. (of whom presently); Frances, married to Sir Henry Pierrepoint, ancestor to the Dukes of Kingston; Elizabeth, married to Charles Stuart, Duke of Lennox (younger brother of Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and father of King James I.), the issue of which marriage was the sadly unfortunate Lady Arabella Stuart; and Mary, married to Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury.

Of the Countess of Shrewsbury, “Bess of Hardwick,” mother of the founder of this house, it will now be well to say a few words. The family to which she belonged, and of which she eventually became heiress, that of Hardwick, of Hardwick was one of considerable antiquity in the county of Derby. One of the family, William Hardwick, married the heiress of Goushill, of Barlborough, and by her had two sons, the eldest of whom, Roger Hardwick, married the daughter of Robert Barley, of Barley, and had issue by her, John, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Bakewell, of Bakewell. Their son, John Hardwick, married Elizabeth Pinchbeck, of Pinchbeck, and was succeeded by his son, John Hardwick, who espoused Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Leake, of Hasland, of the same family as the Leakes, Earls of Scarsdale. By this marriage John Hardwick, who died in 1527, had issue one son—John Hardwick—and four daughters—Mary, Elizabeth, Alice, and Jane. The son, John, who was only three years old at his father’s death, married Elizabeth, daughter of Philip Draycott, of Paynsley, but died without issue, leaving his four sisters his co-heiresses. Of these Elizabeth, afterwards Countess of Shrewsbury, inherited Hardwick and other estates. When very young—indeed, it is said when scarcely fourteen years of age—she married Robert Barley, of Barley (son of Arthur Barley, of Barley-by-Dronfield, in Derbyshire, by his wife, Elizabeth Chaworth), who died a few months after marriage, leaving his possessions to her and her heirs. By this short-lived marriage she had no issue, and, after remaining a widow for some twelve years or so, she married, as his third wife, Sir William Cavendish, by whom she had a numerous issue, as will be presently shown. To Sir William Cavendish this remarkable lady brought not only Hardwick and the other possessions of her own family, but also those of the Barleys, which she had acquired by her first marriage. Sir William died in 1557, and a few years later his widow married, as her third husband, Sir William St. Loe, or Santloe, Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth, who settled the whole of his estates upon her and her heirs, and thus greatly added to her already immense possessions. By this marriage there was no issue, and, on the death of Sir William St. Loe, she was a third time left a widow. Soon afterwards she married, as his second wife (he being, of course, her fourth husband), George, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, stipulating, however, that the Earl’s eldest daughter, the Lady Grace Talbot, should marry her eldest son, Sir Henry Cavendish, and that his second son, Gilbert Talbot (eventually Earl of Shrewsbury), should marry her youngest daughter, Mary Cavendish. These family nuptials were solemnised at Sheffield on the 9th of February, 1567-8, the younger of the two couples being at the time only about fifteen and twelve years of age respectively.

The events of the Countess of Shrewsbury’s life are so thoroughly mixed up with those of the stirring times of the kingdom at large, more especially during the period when the truly unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots, was in the custody of the Earl and his countess, that it is unnecessary here to enter into them. By the Earl of Shrewsbury the Countess had no issue, and he dying in 1590, she, “Bess of Hardwick,” became, for the fourth time, a widow. “A change of conditions,” says Bishop Kennet, “that perhaps never fell to the lot of one woman, to be four times a creditable and happy wife; to rise by every husband into greater wealth and higher honours; to have a numerous issue by one husband only; to have all those children live, and all by her advice be creditably disposed of in her lifetime; and, after all, to live seventeen years a widow in absolute power and plenty.” The Countess, as we have before written, “besides being one of the most beautiful, accomplished, and captivating women of her day, was, without exception, the most energetic, business-like, and able of her sex. In architecture her conceptions were grand, while in all matters pertaining to the arts, and to the comforts and elegancies of life, she was unsurpassed. To the old hall of her fathers, where she was born and resided, she made vast additions, and she entirely planned and built three of the most gorgeous edifices of the time—Hardwick Hall, Chatsworth, and Oldcotes—the first two of which were transmitted entire to the first Duke of Devonshire. The latter part of her long and busy life she occupied almost entirely in building, and it is marvellous what an amount of real work—hard figures and dry details—she got through; for it is a fact, abundantly evidenced by the original accounts remaining to this day, that not a penny was expended on her buildings, and not a detail added or taken away, without her special attention and personal supervision. Building was a passion with her, and she indulged it wisely and well, sparing neither time, nor trouble, nor outlay to secure everything being done in the most admirable manner. It is said, and it is so recorded by Walpole, that the Countess had once been told by a gipsy fortune-teller that she would never die so long as she continued building, and she so implicitly believed this that she never ceased planning and contriving and adding to her erections; and it is said that at last she died in a hard frost, which totally prevented the workmen from continuing their labours, and so caused an unavoidable suspension of her works. Surely the fortune-teller here was a “wise woman” in more senses than one, for it was wise and cunning in her to instil such a belief into the Countess’s mind, and thus insure a continuance of the works by which so many workmen and their families gained a livelihood, and by which later generations would also benefit. Besides Chatsworth, Hardwick, Oldcotes, and other places, the Countess founded and built the Devonshire Almshouses at Derby, and did many other good and noble works. She died, full of years and full of honours and riches, on the 23rd of February, 1607, and was buried in All Saints’ Church, Derby, under a stately tomb which she had erected during her lifetime, and on which a long Latin inscription is to be seen.”

By her second husband, Sir William Cavendish, she alone had issue. These were, as already detailed, Sir Henry Cavendish, of Tutbury, who married the Lady Grace Talbot; Sir William Cavendish, created Earl of Devonshire, from whom the Dukes of Devonshire and other lines of peers are lineally descended; Sir Charles Cavendish, the founder of the noble House of Newcastle; Frances, married to Sir Henry Pierrepoint, ancestor of the Dukes of Kingston; Elizabeth, married to Charles Stuart, Duke of Lennox, and mother of Lady Arabella Stuart; and Mary, married to Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury. It is with the third of these, Sir Charles Cavendish, that we have now to do.

Sir Charles Cavendish married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Cuthbert, Lord Ogle, and Baroness Ogle in her own right. He left issue by his first wife, Margaret Kitson, three sons—Charles, who died an infant; William, created Duke of Newcastle; and Sir Charles, of Bolsover. Dying in 1617, the estates passed to the eldest surviving son, William Cavendish, who became one of the greatest men of the age.

Sir William was successively created Baron Cavendish, of Bolsover, in the county of Derby, Baron Ogle, Viscount Mansfield, Earl of Newcastle, Earl of Ogle, Marquis of Newcastle, and Duke of Newcastle, was a Knight of the Garter, and held many very important appointments. He was a staunch Royalist, and suffered many losses and privations through his wise adherence to the royal cause. He fortified the town of Newcastle, the Castle of Bolsover, and other places, and did good service in overcoming the Parliamentarian forces at Gainsborough, Chesterfield, Bradford, and many other places. His grace built the greater part of Welbeck, including the famous riding-house, yet standing, and the stables. He was the most accomplished horseman of the time, and his name will ever remain known as the author of the finest, most learned, and most extensive work on horsemanship ever written. The original MS. of this marvellous treatise is carefully preserved at Welbeck Abbey, and copies of the work, especially the first French edition, with all the original plates, are of great rarity. He also wrote some volumes of poetry. The “Horsemanship” is particularly interesting to an historian of Welbeck, from the many plates in which views of the mansion as it then existed are given: to these we may again refer.

The Duke was married twice. First, to Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of William Bassett, of Blore and Langley, Derbyshire, and widow of the Hon. Henry Howard, third son of the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire; and, secondly, to Margaret, daughter of Sir Charles Lucas, and maid of honour to Queen Henrietta. By his first wife the Duke had issue ten children, six sons and four daughters, of whom five died young.