1 ' 
 
f/ 
 
THE GMAT HOUSES 
 
 OP 
 
 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, 
 
 BY LEONARD JACKS. 
 
 NOTTINGHAM: 
 
 W, AND A, S, BUADSHAW, PELHAM STREET AND VICTORIA STREET. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 Few words are needed to introduce this little volume either to those who 
 have been kind enough to subscribe to it or to those of the public into whose 
 hands it may chance to fall. The contents comprise a number of articles that 
 have appeared at intervals of more or less duration in the columns of The 
 Nottingham Journal, a paper with which the writer has been intimately connect 
 ted for a number of years. 
 
 It has been suggested at various times by the writer's friends and by 
 others that the articles were worthy of being rescued from the fate which 
 ordinarily awaits the ephemeral literature of a public journal, and that their 
 re-publication in a more enduring form might be welcome. Yielding to this 
 kindly suggestion the writer has at length decided to place the articles in the 
 hands of the publisher, and to attach his name to what he has written, (often, 
 he is afraid, with too little care, and certainly with, until lately no idea, that 
 his work would appear in book form), to suit the requirements of a Daily 
 Newspaper. 
 
 Several of the articles have been necessarily abridged, and the writer 
 regrets that owing to the destruction of the material which he collected on the 
 occasion of his earlier visits, he is unable to give to the series the added value 
 which perhaps his maturer judgment would suggest. 
 
 The writer feels that in many cases scant justice has been done to the 
 places he has endeavoured to describe and to the associations which he has 
 striven to recall, but in the event of an adverse verdict concerning his book he 
 has the satisfaction of looking back upon a series of visits which owing in a 
 great measure to the kindness he has experienced at the hands of the Nobility 
 and Gentry of the County, have represented the pleasantest part of his 
 professional duties. 
 
 December f 1881. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/greathousesofnotOOjack 
 
ANNESLEY. 
 
 HEN Mr. Musters is not angling for Dee salmon in 
 Aberdeenshire, or engaged with rod and line upon the 
 banks of some swirling Norwegian river, he will most 
 probably be at his charming seat nestled amongst the trees of Annesley 
 Park, for Wiverton sees but little of him, and Colwick less. Fifty 
 years ago William Howitt, whose rural sketches are as familiar to 
 some as those of Washington Irving and scarcely less interestino:, 
 visited Annesley Hall, and found it forsaken, neglected, and ghostly, 
 by reason of the deep desolateness which possessed its grey walls, 
 silent courtyard, and unkempt gardens. 
 
 O'er all there hung a shadow and a fear, 
 A sense of mystery the spirit daunted. 
 
 " This was once the abode of a prosperous old family," says 
 the writer just mentioned, "but a blight and a sorrow have fallen 
 here." A change has taken place at Annesley Hall since this 
 description was written. It is now the abode of a " prosperous old 
 family ; " of one of the largest landowners in the county ; a genuine 
 sportsman, and a true gentleman, who now, having given up at a 
 tolerably early age all active participation in the national sport, still 
 takes the liveliest interest in everything concerning it. The desola- 
 tion has long since been dispelled by the going to and fro of friends 
 and dependents, the happy voices of children, who are rapidly 
 growing up into manhood and womanhood, and by the sunshine of 
 home life. But the memory of one sad incident will cling to 
 Annesley so long as a single stone of that old hall stands. It was 
 here that Lord Byron, always morbidly sensitive, but ere yet he had 
 acquired that spirit of deep and settled melancholy, that love of self- 
 accusation, which pervades much of his splendid poetry, bade 
 farewell to Mary Chaworth. The spot where that last sad interview 
 took place is still pointed out, and the spirit of Byron continues to 
 haunt the seclusion of Annesley. " Had I married Miss Chaworth 
 perhaps the whole tenor of my life would have been different," wrote 
 the poet, and there was doubtless a deep meaning in the words. It 
 was at Annesley that these two met as lovers ; it was there that the 
 incident which inspired " The Dream," and which imparted a painful 
 lustre to many of Lord Byron's minor poems, occurred. Surely in 
 this parting there was " an image of Death " — death of purest affec- 
 tion and tenderest attachment. If one is not sufficiently reminded 
 of thia interesting farewell scene by a mere sight of the grey 
 
6 
 
 and ivy-covered walls of Annesley, there are some small things 
 treasured up in the old drawing-room — the most interesting room in 
 the whole house — which serve to bring it to one's memory. Here 
 are preserved a couple of exquisite miniatures of Mary Chaworth 
 herself, one painted when the subject was sixteen years of age, and 
 the other after her marriage with Mr. John Musters. These are 
 carefully placed in a glass case along with other little treasures. 
 The youngj heiress must have been very beautiful, and from the look 
 of that miniature face one would be inclined to say that the descrip- 
 tion which attributes to her a disposition the most amicable and 
 attracting is not overdrawn. The features are small and beautifully 
 rounded ; the expression is of exquisite sweetness. 
 
 Among the treasures of Annesley, and carefully preserved under 
 a frame of glass, is the original of that pretty fragment written by 
 Lord Byron after the marriage of Miss Chaworth — 
 
 Hills of Annesley ! bleak and barren, 
 Where my thoughtless childhood strayed, 
 How the northern tempests warring, 
 Howl above thy tufted shade. 
 Now no more the hours beguiling, 
 Former favourite haunts I see, 
 Now no more my Mary smiling, 
 Makes ye seem a heaven to me. 
 
 The lines are legibly written in pencil with the signature of 
 Lord Byron affixed. The document is in an excellent state of 
 preservation. Of the other things which serve to remind one of 
 Byron's connection with this place is a modern picture by Mr. Ward, 
 K.A., on one of the staircases, in which the poet, his handsome face 
 bearing a look of anything but appreciation — he might be in just 
 such a mood as that which possessed him when he wrote " The 
 Waltz " — is looking through one of the windows of Annesley at some 
 festivity which is going on inside. Through the partially open 
 casement you can see that it is a dance, and probably the lady with 
 so much floating colour about her is Mary Chaworth ; equally prob- 
 able it is that the red-coated squire who is treading the mazes of the 
 waltz with her is her future husband. 
 
 The Annesley estate came into the hands of Lord Chaworth, 
 an L^ish peer, by the marriage of one of his ancestors with Alice de 
 Annesley, in the reign of Henry YI. Up to this time it had been 
 held by the Annesleys, a family who gave the estate its present name. 
 By the Chaworth-Musters marriage it passed into the hands of the 
 Musters family, who assumed the additional name of Chaworth, and 
 have held it since. Annesley then boasts great antiquity. Annesley 
 Hall is, I should think, pretty much what it was in Byron's time, 
 the only addition to the building made by the present owner, being a 
 wing built for family requirements. The stonework of the fine front 
 
7 
 
 is concealed by ivy of many, many years growth, and at the side 
 over-looking the park a gigantic Virginia Creeper stretches wide- 
 spreading, sturdy trailers bearing a profusion of dark red leaves in 
 autumn. The approach to the hall is through a spacious park, with 
 whose grand old trees and fine herd of deer many people who take 
 their walks abroad are familiar. To get to the hall you have to pass 
 through the portals of the " massy gate " which stood there in Byron's 
 day, and there is no cause to be afraid of a great handsome staghound 
 which comes bounding towards you in playful curves. There are 
 several of these beautiful hounds about the house, and they enjoy 
 special privileges. The central hall is full of objects of interest. 
 It has an unmistakeably ancient look. The furniture is old, the 
 pictures on the walls are old, the deerskins ^ich cover the floor are 
 getting the worse for wear, the great jack boots which hang over the 
 ancient fireplace, were made by no modern shoemaker, and the jerkin 
 which is suspended beside them is evidently the work of a mediaeval 
 tailor. The great boots and the old garment with the ancient 
 weapons which are hung up here are said to have belonged to that 
 eccentric outlaw whose existence has never yet been satisfactorily 
 established — Robin Hood. On the walls are some family portraits 
 representing ancestors, in the costumes which marked different 
 periods, including Mr. Mundy Musters, of Colwick, who, so far as I 
 know, did not distinguish himself in any particular line. In this 
 apartment is kept the delicate bladed, finely tempered, handsomely 
 mounted sword with which Sir John Byron is said to have killed 
 Mr. Chaworth in a famous duel that has become a matter of history. 
 The picture of that unfortunate gentleman, with his pale face and 
 melancholy expression is hung in another part of the house. The 
 strong quaint looking iron rails which guard the staircases, were not 
 forged in any existing furnace. Ascending the staircase, and 
 passing Ward's picture of Lord Byron to which attention has already 
 been called, and some more family portraits, one obtains access to the 
 old drawing room. Two great staghounds are enjoying the comfort of 
 this very comfortable apartment ; one is curled up in canine ease upon 
 the sofa and the other is studying the figuring of the Dutch tiles 
 which ornament a fireplace of gigantic proportions, and which on 
 this chill autumn morning contains a bright, warm fire. The 
 massive doorway contains one of those rare specimens of wood- 
 carving which are sometimes to be met with in old country mansions, 
 though there are few houses hereabouts that can boast such a specimen 
 as this. It was executed by some clever carver in the reign of 
 Chailes II. at the instigation, it is said, of Lord Chaworth, the then 
 lord of the manor. The ceiling is panneled and made dark with 
 cornices of carved wood. The carving is evidently of the same date 
 as that about the entrance. The huge fireplace with its Dutch tiles 
 furnishes further evidence of the antiquity of this chamber. On one 
 
8 
 
 of the sides of the fireplace have been scratched some lines by a long- 
 dead Chaworth. They are so obliterated now as to be undecipher- 
 able except by the keenest eyes, but they have been committed to 
 paper and preserved as a curiosity. On Christmas Day, 1669, 
 "Poore Chaworth " thus pours out his sorrows in old English : — 
 
 Alas, I flnde my poore heart will prove 
 
 Too small a vessell for oer flowing love, 
 
 "Which makes me wish thine eyes so bright had never shinde, 
 
 Or that thou hadst been from thy cradle blinde. 
 
 — PooRE Chaworth. 
 
 Then written, perhaps a little later, by the same hand, guided by 
 serener thoughts — 
 
 Juliana de la Fountaiue 
 
 Is more worth than a goulde mountaine, 
 
 The name above 
 
 Is her you love. — Chaworth. 
 
 There are in this old drawing room, besides a large and somewhat 
 faded picture of John the Baptist preaching in the Wilderness, 
 which occupies a considerable space over the fireplace, some 
 family portraits in an excellent state of preservation, for the colours 
 are almost as bright as when the pictures came from the easel. 
 They include paintings of Lady Mary Byron who died in 1703, 
 daughter of the Earl of Bridgwater, of Frances Lady Byron, daughter 
 of William, Earl of Portland. The beautiful little collection of 
 miniatures, the most interesting of which I have already mentioned, 
 are carefully preserved together with other small things each posses- 
 sing some particular interest of its own. The modern drawing-room 
 down stairs is a very different apartment. It is furnished and fitted 
 as the reception room of a great country house should be ; with 
 luxurious settees, and chairs and couches set upon a downy carpet. 
 Its broad casement commands a view of one of the prettiest bits of 
 park scenery in England. Such delightful grassy undulations ; hills 
 rising gently in the distance, grand old trees, the growth of 
 centuries, and the gleam of water down in the hollow. There are 
 some water colours of Eastern cities on the wall of the drawing- 
 room, a portrait of Lord Chesterfield, the man of fashion and cele- 
 brated wit, in court dress, and one of Lady Howe which bears the 
 one just named close company. The dining-room is a large and 
 handsome apartment, containing several hunting pictures the figures 
 in which are family portraits. The large one over the mantelpiece 
 shows the present owner's grandfather on horseback, with two other 
 gentlemen fully equipped for the chase, and the dogs look anxious to 
 be off. In the corner near the window is the portrait of Mr. John 
 Musters, a handsome man, who died in 1842 at the early age of 
 thirty-four, and near the door one's attention is called to the portrait 
 of a lady — very beautiful she must have been too, who by a single 
 game of cards wou a fine estate of several thousand productive acres. 
 
9 
 
 The room is lofty and light as are all the other principle rooms in 
 this old house. The speediest way of getting to the gardens is by 
 traversing a grand old flagged terrace, flanked all along by a high 
 wall covered with creeping plants which grow in the sweetest con- 
 fusion. Here it is said Lord Byron used to practice pistol firing, 
 probably to the terror of Miss Chaworth. The terrace is ornamented 
 by a balcony of stone, coloured in many places by lichens and 
 mosses, and bearing in the centre of its length a stone urn on which 
 is carved the escutcheon of the Chaworths. Two broad flights of 
 steps terminating the terrace, bring you into the gardens where 
 there are little paths leading into the most delicious solitudes. 
 It is worth a visit to Annesley to be allowed to wander amongst 
 the splendid shrubs which so thickly stud this portion of the 
 estate ; masses of bright green — sturdy bay, and lusty laurels, 
 which latter look like so many leafy wigwams. It is very quiet 
 in these garden solitudes, on this still October morning, when the 
 only sound to be heard is the crackling of the crisp reddish brown 
 leaves, which strew the paths, and the occasional shrilly note of the 
 robin. 
 
 It is a fine old place this Annesley Hall, the principal scat of 
 Mr. John Chaworth Musters, the owner of 8,000 broad acres in 
 Nottinghamshire, and everywhere deservedly popular. A thorough 
 sportsman and and an English gentleman ; that is how I should 
 describe Mr. Musters, of Annesley Park. One of the best riders 
 across country he has been in his day, and every sportsman in the 
 county was sorry enough when he withdrew from the chase, now 
 some years ago, as the tenant farmers of Nottinghamshire felt 
 sorry when he severed his active connection with the Chamber of 
 Agriculture, because he could not conscientiously lend himself to a 
 course which that body proposed to pursue. As master of the 
 Quorn, a post which none but a wealthy man and a sportsman versed 
 in every movement of the chase could possibly undertake, with any 
 hope of success, he won that peculiar and enviable popularity 
 which attaches to a successful master of foxhounds, and later as 
 master of the South Nottinghamshire, a pack which, under his sway, 
 became scarcely less famous than the Leicestershire one, he gained 
 the esteem of every lover of the hunt in the county. 
 
 The Annesley property as we have seen, came into the 
 family by marriage. The Colwick estate, on which the family 
 so long resided, was purchased by Sir John Musters, of Hornsey, 
 who was knighted at Whitehall in 1663. Wiverton Hall, which 
 also belongs to Mr. Musters, was formerly a house of consider- 
 able size and importance, was included in the vast possessions of 
 the Chaworths. It became their property in the reign of Edward 
 HI., and remained with the family until the Chaworth -Musters 
 marriage, when it went to the Musters' together with all the other 
 extensive possessions of the Chaworths, 
 
BABWORTH. 
 
 OME of the most delightful scenery m the county ig about 
 Babworth. It is as varied as it is beautiful. From one 
 point, close to the house, the eye travels over a bit of open 
 landscape, with a foreground of thriving trees, and further away the 
 crown of gently swelling hills. Looking across the bright and 
 gracefully designed gardens, either from the terrace or from the 
 windows inside, one catches the shimmer of water — of a large and 
 pellucid lake, on the other side of which rises a picturesque bank of 
 sandstone, completely covered with rich foliage, save in one or two 
 places where the red of the sandstone peeps out from the thick mass 
 of leaves and branches, acquiring a still ruddier tint in the light of 
 the summer sun. A skilful artist might make a charming picture 
 out of those trees and those bits of sandstone rock, with the lake and 
 the sedges, and the bright emerald of fertile pasturage in front. 
 
 Anyone who has visited the home of the Bridgeman-Simpsons 
 will have been struck with the singular beauty of the place and its 
 surroundings. Nature and art have here allied their gentle forces 
 to produce a scene of almost surpassing sweetness. The red sand- 
 stone rock, with its sylvan burden is Nature's ; the water has been 
 made to accumulate in a graceful sheet by artificial means. In the 
 laying out of the pleasure grounds, which are marvels of picturesque- 
 ness. Nature has been aided by art, but the former offers splendid 
 facilities for the operation of the latter, and the result could not be 
 more satisfactory. A more agreeable association of natural scenery 
 with artificial embellishments it would be difiicult to meet with, and 
 on all grounds — on account of its situation, of its natural advantages, 
 of the size and character of its house, of the repute of the family 
 that has long possessed it, and of the broad acres by which it is 
 surrounded, Babworth deserves to take a prominent place among the 
 great houses of the county. It is not a little remarkable that a 
 house like this should exist in such a locality. Babworth is but one 
 mile removed from Retford, a town of considerable dimensions, 
 which if it does not boast a staple trade, is at any rate a by no means 
 insignificant centre of activity. And within a few hundred yards 
 walk of some of its dwellings, is a house possessing a seclusion as 
 perfect as though it were situated in the depths of some primeval 
 forest, and surrounded by scenery which is as unsuggestive of urban 
 life as is the deer-haunted bracken of Sherwood. It is as noiseless, 
 as secluded, and as solitary, by the side of that pretty sheet of water 
 
11 
 
 at the foot of the sandstone rock, as it is in the quiet precincts of the 
 little church at Babworth, approached from the house by shaded 
 walks which no sound enters. 
 
 The hall at Babworth, a solid handsome building of red brick 
 relieved by white stone dressings, is, and has been for a considerable 
 period the residence of the Simpsons — the Bridgeman- Simpsons now, 
 and I suppose hereafter. For many years Simpson has followed Simpson 
 at the hall, and Simpson Simpson at the rectory — the latter a large 
 and commodious building not more than two hundred yards removed 
 from the hall. The first of the family who resided at Babworth was 
 Mr. William Simpson, of Sheffield, son of Launcelot of that name, 
 somewhere about the end of the seventeenth century. John Simpson, 
 who was born in 1668, resided at Stoke Hall, in Derbyshire, and 
 married a daughter of the famous Admiral Benbow, by whom he 
 had one surviving daughter who married Sir Henry Bridgeman, 
 afterwards created Earl of Bradford. In 1785 the Babworth estate 
 descended to the Hon. John Bridgeman, who took the surname and 
 arms of Simpson. This gentleman was succeeded by a son of his 
 second wife, Mr. Henry Bridgeman-Simpson, who in 1830 married 
 the daughter of Mr. Henry Baring, brother to Lord Ashburton, the 
 lady who now owns the estate, and to whose courtesy and kindness 
 I am indebted for what information I possess about this truly 
 charming place. Babworth gives the name to a parish of consider- 
 able extent, the inhabited portions of which are removed from the 
 house. It is pretty certain that for a very long period a house of 
 considerable size and consequence has existed there. Less than half 
 a century ago the present mansion was built to supply the place of 
 an old building, which is said to have been extremely commodious, 
 but somewhat ugly externally. So that the present mansion, so far 
 as the exterior is concerned, may be described as a modern structure. 
 In the interior some of the older features are still to be observed, and 
 there are a number of family portraits and other things up and down 
 the house, which tell of its antiquity. Among the more recent of 
 the portraits is an excellent one of the Hon. John Bridgeman, son of 
 Lord Bradford, who died in 1850, and who took possession at the 
 death of Mr. Lindley Simpson, in 1785. This gentleman, whose 
 portrait hangs in the billiard room, was a man of considerable taste, 
 and made several improvements on the estate and in the house. He 
 it was who enlarged the lake, having previously made a successful 
 appeal to the county magistrates to effect a deviation in the course of 
 a public highway that ran from Retford to Worksop, which he did 
 at considerable cost to himself. This gentleman was succeeded by 
 his son, Mr. Henry Bridgeman-Simpson, who, in the costume usually 
 worn by country gentlemen of a more modern school, occupies 
 a prominent place among the family portraits at Babworth, where he 
 lived 60 long. Of these portraits there are a great number in 
 
12 
 
 different parts of the house, and some fine faces are to be seen 
 amongst them — handsome men and beautiful women, who in their 
 day have been influential members of a refined and cultivated society, 
 and who have enjoyed the pleasures of opulence and position. 
 These canvases, which go back to the seventeenth century, throw 
 some light upon the history of the family — how it came to acquire a 
 compound name, and from whence its wives have been selected. In 
 these halls one is reminded of the Stringers, who formerly lived at 
 Eaton, in the neighbourhood of Eetford, and at Sutton-cum-Lound, 
 and who are connected by marriage not only with the Simpsons, but 
 with the Eyres, the Souths, the Copleys, the Worsleys (Earls of 
 Yarborough), and the Fitzwilliams. One of them fought bravely for 
 his country, and was a distinguised naval officer. The last action in 
 which he was engaged was off Carthegena, between the English and 
 French fleets, in 1782, under Admiral Benbow, whose granddaughter 
 was espoused to the Rev. John Simpson. In the house is a drinking 
 tankard which was used by the Admiral, and which accompanied 
 him through all his naval engagements. It came into the family by 
 the marriage of the Admiral's daughter to Sir Henry Bridgeman, in 
 1735. In the engagement above referred to, Mr. Stringer received 
 wounds from which he never recovered, and he died in Jamaica at the 
 close of the year. There is also a portrait of the first Lord Bradford, 
 Avhich reminds one of the connection of the Babworth family with 
 that of Bridgeman, of Avhich the present Earl of Bradford is the 
 head. The Hon. John Bridgeman, to whom the Babworth estate 
 descended on the death of Mr. Lindley Simpson in 1785, was of 
 a family formerly settled in Devonshire for several successive 
 centuries, one of them having been Sheriff" of that county in 1578. 
 Subsequently a branch of the family, now represented by the Earl of 
 Bradford, nephew of the Mr. Simpson who died in 1850, settled at 
 Great Lever, in Lancashire. A son of Edward Bridgeman, who 
 was High-Sheriff of Devonshire in 1578, became bishop of Chester, 
 and the eldest of this prelate's five sons, named Orlando, successively 
 became Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Lord Chief Justice of 
 the Common Pleas, and afterwards Lord Chancellor. The third son 
 was consecrated Bishop of the Isle of Man, in 1671. These scraps 
 of family history are suggested by the portraits which are distributed 
 over Babworth Hall, and which include Simpsons, Bridgemans, 
 Stringers, and Bridgeman- Simpsons. But interesting as many of 
 these portraits undoubtedly are, it is pleasant to tui"n from the con- 
 templation of unknown features which have become somewhat 
 dimmed in course of time, to brighter scenes which a deft hand, a 
 trained eye, and a tender appreciation of the beautiful, are capable of 
 perpetuating. It is pleasant to turn from the strange faces in the 
 dining room and hall to a beautiful collection of water colours with 
 which the walls of the drawing room, and of a brightly furnished 
 
13 
 
 ante-room, and of other parts of the house, are liberally covered. 
 Every picture in this interesting and almost endless collection, which 
 represents an immense amount of patient toil and graceful labour, is 
 the work of Mrs. Bridgeman-Simpson, the lady who at the present 
 time owns this charming and extensive North Nottinghamshire 
 estate. This lady is a great traveller ; she is away for months 
 together, and these are the sunny memories of her travels. Several 
 charming pictures there are of the beautiful scenery of Sicily — of its 
 seaport capital, with its numerous domes and spires, and the lofty 
 hills by which it is surrounded. With the beauties of the largest 
 island in the Mediterranean Mrs. Bridgeman-Simpson has made 
 herself acquainted, and she has looked upon them with the eye of an 
 artist. She has reproduced some of the most interesting scenes to 
 be met with at Palermo, and has searched beyond the confines of the 
 capital for material wherewith to make those bright water-colours 
 which now adorn the walls at Babworth. Mrs. Bridgeman-Simpson 
 has visited the ruined temples of Girgenti, where once stood the 
 famous city of Agrigentum, and one of them, that of Castor and 
 Pollux, has been admitted to this beautiful collection. An animated 
 scene, as it appeared from the windows of a hotel at Innspruck, the 
 Tyrolese capital, with its houses of limestone breccia, forms the 
 subject of a clever and spirited drawing, and the citadel of strongly 
 fortified Corfu has been treated with the same consummate skill. 
 Castles in the lovely country of the Moselle ; Egyptian architecture 
 at Cairo ; temples in Sicily ; lakes in Italy, and, coming nearer 
 home, the banks and braes of Scotland and the sweet landscapes of 
 Devon have been sketched and developed by this gifted lady, whose 
 travels have taken her to some of the brightest spots in Europe. I 
 have specially mentioned a few of these pictures, or rather their 
 subjects, because they form a remarkable collection. They are 
 works of art of a very high order ; they have been inspected and 
 scrutinised by distinguished persons, and I learn that they have been 
 made heirlooms, in such esteem have they been held. If this is so, 
 Mrs. Bridgeman-Simpson has been deprived of the pleasure she 
 would have had in presenting some of her exquisite work to intimate 
 friends, but the proviso which keeps them in the family, will secure 
 to the house of Bridgeman-Simpson a collection of paintings that 
 will not only make their possessors familiar with scenes which 
 perhaps they may never visit, but will serve to remind after genera- 
 tions of the talented and gracious lady who now owns the estate. 
 
BESTWOOD LODGE. 
 
 f PERSON straying from the high road to Mansfield at a 
 point beyond the village of Daybrook might by accident find 
 himself in one of the paths intersecting a thickly wooded 
 plantation of youthful firs both of the Scotch, Corsican, and Austra- 
 lian varieties, which have approached as near to Bestwood Lodge as 
 they well can do without violating the laws of consistency. It is 
 just possible that such a person pursuing the sinuous pathway, 
 if he happened to wander here during certain periods of the 
 year, might chance to come upon a gentleman, attired in a suit of 
 grey, somewhat determinedly engaged with a long-shafted instru» 
 ment, in putting an end to the existence of occasional thistles and 
 other noxious weeds which cumber the soil. Such an apparition 
 would scarcely alarm him ; there would be nothing extraordinary in 
 such a spectacle. But if the wanderer were suddenly told that the 
 solitary gardener, the thoughtful looking, trim bearded, grey suited 
 gentleman, was the Hereditary Registrar of the Court of Chancery, 
 the Hereditary Grand Falconer of England, was in short his Grace 
 the Duke of St. Albans, he would in all probability feel somewhat 
 surprised and certainly he might reasonably come to the conclusion 
 that he had lost his way. To us, who know very little of the home 
 life of the highest in the land the spectacle of a noble duke hoeing 
 thistles and thinning his own plantations, seems very strange. But 
 it is well known that many of those who belong to the aristocracy of 
 birth, and to the aristocracy of genius employ their leisure time in 
 the simplest ways. A late territorial magnate possessing half a dozen 
 titles has a great fancy for being amongst his workmen ; the late 
 Sir Robert Peel was fond of rolling his own grassplot ; Mr. Glad- 
 stone found recreation in felling big trees, and other distinguished 
 men, when at home spend much of their time in the simplest 
 pursuits. The Duke of St. Albans, during his residence at 
 Bestwood, which is never of long duration, spends very little time 
 indoors. He has the most charming study or private room, contain- 
 ing a small collection of good solid literature, but you won't find him 
 there when the weather is anything like fine. It is a room of fairly 
 large proportions and though readily accessible from all the other 
 principal rooms on the ground floor, it is always perfectly still and 
 you cannot hear a sound of what is going on outside its walls. Its 
 panneled ceiling would give it a sombre look were it not for the 
 abundant light let in through a tall handsome window against which 
 
15 
 
 the stirred leaves of a creeping plant flutter. His Grace when he 
 is writing can almost see what is going on in Nottingham. The 
 outlook is right across the ducal park and cricket ground to Not- 
 tingham. It is a prettily furnished cosy room, full of various 
 articles de luxe. The walls are not overloaded with pictures, but 
 they contain perhaps the most prized works in his grace's collection. 
 Here is a recent portrait of the present Duchess from the brush of 
 one of the most distinguished modern artists, representing her grace 
 in a simple black high dress, relieved by just one scarlet flower 
 fastened at the throat. There is here a portrait of the late duke, a 
 large painting of Redbourne, — his grace's Lincolnshire seat, in which 
 are the figures of two ladies in a small pony carriage who are hold- 
 ing converse with a substantial ecclesiastic of the old school, just 
 dismounted from a stout cob. In the background is Redbourne 
 Church, half concealed by autumnal foliage. Over a handsome 
 barometer clock, which occupies a goodly portion of the mantel- 
 piece, is an elaborately-carved frame containing a portrait of some 
 Spanish beauty ; the eyes are dark and soft, and the complexion is 
 delicate olire. His Grace is always bringing home something 
 beautiful from abroad, and that long table against the wall is covered 
 with all kinds of little nick-knacks. Some of these have come from 
 far distant climes. Here too are some few family treasures, includ- 
 ing a small illumination painted by the late duchess, and containing 
 a vignette of her whose memory still lives, and the likenesses of 
 some of her relatives. The bright coil of golden hair of such silky 
 texture, carefully preserved under glass and set in an oval frame of 
 dark blue velvet, on which is inscribed in golden letters, the word 
 "Cuckoo," was once worn by the duke's eldest daughter, Lady 
 Louisa Beauclerk. / 
 
 Bestwood Lodge is in all respects a fit residence for a noble- 
 man of the highest rank, and its historical associations are most 
 interesting. History relates that Bestwood was once a Royal 
 residence, much used for hunting purposes. King Edward III. 
 issued certain letters patent, dated, "at his Park at Bestwood," in 
 1364, and earlier still, Henry I. granted to the Priory of Lenton 
 permission to have " two carts to fetch dead wood and heath out of 
 Bestwood." Henry II., about the year 1160, granted the convent 
 to have every day " two carts, or carrettes, to bring them dead wood 
 or heath, as much as they should need for their own use." From 
 the same source we learn that in 1329, Bestwood was granted by 
 Edward III. to Richard de Strelley for his life. This monarch on 
 the 22nd of February, 1335, also granted to Richard de Strelley 
 " all the dry bruches, which in English were then called slovens or 
 stubbs, within the Hay of Bestwood." Bestwood has long been the 
 seat of nobility. It has been in the hands of three Earls of Rutland ; 
 before then a celebrated courtier in the reign of Elizabeth, Thomas 
 
16 
 
 Markham, by name, had it, and earlier still it was the residence of 
 Sir John Byron, one of Henry the Eighth's favourites. In 1683, 
 the Second Charles, by royal letters patent, granted the park at 
 Bestwood to Henry Beauclerk, Duke of St. Albans, and it has since 
 that date remained in the hands of the Beauclerks, who have at 
 various times united themselves with some of the oldest houses in 
 England. The first duke for instance married the sole heiress of the 
 last Earl of Oxford. The eighth duke married the heiress of Mr. 
 Carter Thelwall, of Redbourne Hall, and subsequently the heiress of 
 Mr. John Nelthorpe, of Little Grimsby Hall, which marriage 
 accounts for the acquisition of the 5,000 acres owned by the 
 Beauclerks in Lincolnshire. The situation of the present mansion, 
 which was completed but a very few years ago, is one of the finest 
 in the county, so far as elevation is concerned, and though only about 
 four miles from a large manufacturing town it occupies a perfectly 
 retired position, and its privacy is as securely maintained as though 
 it stood twenty miles from any seat of industry. Standing on its 
 broad terrace when the lights are lit at Nottingham you might 
 almost fancy that the town was oniy a stone's throw from that 
 high eminence. It is built in the domestic style of architecture 
 which distinguished the fourteenth century, from the designs of a 
 celebrated London architect, Mr. S. S. Teuton, and it forms a very 
 handsome and conspicuous object from many points. The flower beds 
 in front of the terrace are arranged in a kind of semi-circle, and below 
 is a lawn of exquisite softness sloping down to the edge of the park. 
 There are some large trees in the neighbourhood of the lawn-tennis 
 ground, and these are allowed to grow as they will. They are really 
 the only few old trees on the estate, and His grace likes to see their 
 tall leafy forms. The duke is a great admirer of trees ; firs are his 
 special favourites, and he himself has introduced a' fine variety from 
 Corsica which mingle well with their sturdy brethren of Scotch 
 extraction. The large plantations which occupy a considerable 
 portion of the estate, are composed almost exclusively of firs which 
 when they reach maturity will form a fine forest. A large strip of 
 the kitchen garden is devoted to the development of the young trees 
 which are perpetually being transplanted for the enlargement of the 
 covers. His Grace is a great lover of unconventional nature, and he 
 is the careful protector of woody vegetation. He will not have his 
 trees and shrubs trimmed and lopped. The few gorse bushes which 
 are left to indicate the remote existence of forest land, he preserves 
 inviolate, and laurel, bay, blackberry, and gorse grow up together on 
 the Bestwood domain. 
 
 The laws of comfort and convenience have been carefully 
 studied in the internal arrangement of Bestwood Lodge, and the 
 furniture and fittings of the fine large rooms bespeak the owner to be 
 a man of refined and cultivated taste. To the central hall light is 
 
17 
 
 admitted through a lofty glass dome, and the roof is large, massive, 
 and ornamental. It is luxuriantly furnished, and probably its best 
 aspect is seen from the gallery, which is arranged midway between 
 the roof and the floor. There arc some family portraits here, one a 
 life size picture representing the duke's three daughters ; the two 
 girls Lady Louise and Lady Sybil are paying attention to a Muscovy 
 duck which has come from the pond on the lawn to be fed, and the 
 boy — Lord Burford is amusing himself with a wooden horse. There 
 is a handsome portrait, painted some time ago I should imagine, of 
 the duke in the green and embroidered dress of grand falconer, and 
 one of the late duchess. There are paintings here of the sixth and 
 eighth dukes, and to the decoration of the room has recently been 
 added a pair of far-spreading antlers, which probably at some remote 
 time belonging to a very fine specimen of the Irish elk — now extinct. 
 The central hall is full of beautiful things and it makes a delightful 
 sitting-room. All the other principal rooms seem to radiate from 
 this hall, and the arrangement is a very convenient one. The 
 drawing-room at Bestwood has an outlook from lofty curtained 
 windows which embraces all the quarters. The pictures here are 
 chiefly portraits of kings and nobles, many of them from the brush 
 of Sir Peter Lely, who painted Charles the First, Charles the 
 Second, and Cromwell. I have sometimes thought I should like to 
 see Lely's portrait of the Protector, in which the painter, in obedience 
 to instructions, represented with perfect accuracy every pimple on 
 that august person's somewhat bibulous countenance. It is not at 
 Bestwood, but this master's portrait of Charles the Second hangs on 
 these walls. Several of the best pictures from this and other rooms 
 were at the time of my visit at the Castle Museum, his Grace 
 having generously allowed the authorities of that institution to make 
 a tolerably copious selection from his walls. There is a good 
 deal of Lely's work at Bestwood. Lely's portraits of women are 
 perhaps unrivalled ; there is a dignity about them which marks them 
 as persons of high rank. There is one here of the notorious Barbara 
 Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, and another of Elizabeth Noel, 
 Countess of Berkeley, from the brush of this master. There is a 
 beautiful picture in the drawing-room of a recumbent female figure 
 remarkable for the brilliancy of its colouring and for a certain charm 
 of flesh-painting which at once strikes the eye. The general look 
 of the features closely resembles that of a portrait of the beautiful 
 Nell Gwyn which is hung in another part of the house. There are 
 also in this superb drawing-room a couple of portraits of Charles 
 Beauclerk, first Duke of St. Albans, one of them painted when the 
 subject was a child, by Gascar, the French artist, to whom sat James 
 II. when Duke of York ; a portrait of Charles I. in armour, by 
 Jamesone ; a small portrait of the seventeenth Earl of Oxford ; 
 portraits of Diana de Vere, Duchess of St, Albans, daughter of the 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 twentieth and last Earl of Oxford ; of Lord Aubrey Beauclerk, who 
 was killed at Carthagena ; of Lord Amelius Beauclerk, a distin- 
 guished naval officer, the only ancestor of the Duke's who ever made 
 Bestwood his home ; and of the first Earl of Berkely., In one of the 
 window recesses I noticed three little gems which are worthy, and 
 perhaps have by this time, a more prominent position. The centre 
 one is a tiny landscape by the younger Teniers — a moonlight scene, 
 touched with a spirit," and displaying that silvery charm with 
 which this great painter invested all his best known landscapes. 
 Of the others, one is a Fragonard, and the other a good specimen of 
 Kottenhamer's delicate colouring. The mantel-pieces in this room, 
 as in the dining-room, are of marble, inlaid with mosaic work, 
 executed by Italian artists, and near one of them stand a couple of 
 crayon drawings, one of Lady Diana Huddleston, which at one time 
 graced the state cabin of his Grace's yacht, but which now makes one 
 of a pair of pretty screens. There are all sorts of beautiful things in 
 the drawing-room. There are cabinets of ornamental china, and 
 wondrous little china ornaments, chiefly figures of foreign make, 
 most of them brought from Spain. In one of these cabinets may be 
 seen placed upon a handsome mount, a small wooden doll, which at 
 some early period of its existence has gone through a course of 
 harsh treatment, for its limbs are imperfect and charred, as though 
 it had accidentally fallen into the fire. The mount is inscribed as 
 follows : — " This doll was worn by Albert Edward Prince of Wales 
 on his return from seeing the Derby run in 1865. And there was 
 much ado about nothing in consequence." The dining-room is of 
 fairly large proportions, and perhaps it is the pannelled ceiling of 
 darkly stained wood which gives it a somewhat darkened aspect. 
 There is here a bust by Roubiliac, of Wilks, the founder of the Beef 
 Steak Club, and an oval Magdelene over the mantel piece, which 
 almost reminds one of some of Lely's efforts. The billiard-room, the 
 foundation stone of which was laid by Earl Cadogan, who was at Eton 
 with the noble duke, is just what a billiard-room should be. It is 
 lofty, cheerful, and perfectly ventilated, containing some half-dozen 
 pictures, including one of her Majesty's ship Dryad, of 36 guns, 
 captured by Lord Amelius Beauclerk, and bringing to close action 
 the French frigate Proserpine ; some oriental figures which his 
 Grace has brought from abroad, and other appropriate articles of 
 decoration. All these rooms, the drawing-room, the dining-room, 
 the billiard-room, and the study are closely associated with each 
 other. They are all on one basement, and the means of communica- 
 tion between one and the other is admirably arranged. The 
 conservatory is connected with the house, and without walking ten 
 yards you find yourself under a spacious glass roof enclosing palms 
 and trees of luxuriant growth, with creepers bearing deep purple 
 flowers J the banana tree of Abysinnia, and the beautiful feathery 
 
19 
 
 papyrus which grows more luxuriantly here than I have ever 
 obserred it grow elsewhere. At the extreme end of the conser- 
 vatory is a sort of rockery arranged in a form of an alcove in which 
 is placed a beautiful white marble statue of " the two sisters." The 
 expression on the young faces is exquisitely sweet, and the limbs are 
 gracefully and delicately rounded. The arrangement of the up-stair 
 rooms, to reach which you have to pass a large oblong picture 
 representing Charles with his retinue going from the tower to 
 Whitehall is as happy as that downstairs. One of these is the boudoir 
 of the accomplished duchess — the daughter of Mr. Bernal Osborne. 
 The walls are fairly covered with some choice water-colours, chiefly 
 small landscapes, and the carpet of the softest fibre is of dark blue, 
 dotted with designs of a paler hue. Her grace has had some of the 
 pictures hung in a somewhat novel manner ; four or five of the 
 smaller ones are fastened together in the form of a cross. Distributed 
 through these upper rooms are several excellent little paintings from 
 the brush of her grace's sister, Mrs. Blake, who is not an unfrequent 
 visitor at Be&twood. 
 
 The little church at Bestwood is associated with the memory 
 of the late duchess, for the massive tombstone of solid granite, 
 surrounded by a narrow bed of flowers, at the west end marks her 
 resting place, and the two beautiful little stained windows and the 
 marble medallion, carved by Royal hands, serve to put one in mind 
 of her who was loved so well. The altar cloth, embroidered with 
 genuine artistic taste, is the work of a " vanished hand," and the 
 cloth covering the kneeling place at the Communion Table, is another 
 specimen of the late duchess' pious industry. It is a very pretty 
 church with an apsidal end, and when the duke and his family are at 
 Bestwood they regularly attend the services. 
 
 Princes have been entertained at Bestwood, twice within a 
 period of four years. In 1878 the duke opened his house to the 
 Prince and Princess of Wales when H.R.H. opened the Castle 
 Museum, and in 1881 he entertained the Duke of Albany and a 
 large and distinguished party on the occasion of the opening of the 
 University Buildings. In 1878, the Prince and Princess of Wales, 
 being desirous to leave some memorial of their visit, each planted a 
 tree, which is carefully guarded from harm, near the entrance to the 
 hall. The Duke of St. Albans spends but a very small portion of 
 his time at his charming Nottingham seat. He is very fond of 
 yachting, and he feels healthy breezes when sailing on the blue 
 waters of the Mediterranean. During session he attends assiduously 
 to his Parliamentary duties, and he sometimes rises in his place in 
 the House of Lords to put important questions to the representatives 
 of the Grovernment in the upper chamber. Nor does he always 
 confine himself to putting questions. On one occasion he answered a 
 
20 
 
 somewhat taunting question put to him by the Duke of Richmond, 
 in a manner which must have surprised the then leader of the 
 Conservative party in the Lords, and the House generally. The 
 duke takes an active interest in what concerns the welfare of 
 Nottingham. In her educational, and even in her political organisa- 
 tions — the duke is a Liberal in politics — he takes an interest, and he 
 is always ready to lend his assistance to every good movement. In 
 private life the Duke of St. Albans is no less respected and esteemed 
 than in public. His manners are affable and pleasant to a degree, 
 and whether at a race meeting, a cricket match, or at a social 
 gathering, his geniality and easy courtesy win the esteem of those 
 with whom he comes in contact. 
 
BRAMCOTE HALL, THE SMITHS. 
 
 HE Smiths, though the surname they bear is by no means an 
 uncommon one, and might be answered to either by a Cabinet 
 Minister or by the man who sells apples at street corners, 
 are a family of considerable consequence and distinction, as I shall 
 presently show. They have at one time or another furnished twenty- 
 two members to the Legislature (eighteen Smiths, one Bromley, and 
 three Caringtons). Seven of them sat in the House of Commons 
 in one Parliament, facts the like of which I venture to think would 
 not be disclosed by a most diligent study of the history of most other 
 county families. I am speaking now of the family to which the late 
 Member for North Nottinghamshire belongs, and not of legislators 
 who through bearing the same name are not connected with him by 
 ties of relationship. One of them, Robert Smith, was elevated to 
 the Peerage of Ireland in 1796, as Baron Carington, of Bulcote 
 Lodge, and a year later to that of Great Britain under the same title, 
 of Upton, in this county. Robert Smith was the friend of Pitt, and 
 it is not improbable that he Avas raised to the Upper Chamber in 
 recognition of the influence — numerical, if nothing more — which his 
 family possessed in Parliament. There are no fcAver than half-a- 
 dozen branches of the Smith family upon whose coat of arms appear 
 the three demi-griffins that are part of the Carington bearings. There 
 are the Smiths of Woodhall, the Smiths of Sacombe, the Smiths of 
 Selsdon, the Smiths of Dale Park, the Dorrien-Smiths of Tresco 
 Abbey, and the Smiths of Edwalton, who merged into Pauncefotes, of 
 Preston. These are all lineal descendants of a John Smith, of Crop- 
 well Butler, a substantial yeoman who purchased a farm in that South 
 Nottinghamshire village in 1622, from Sir Thomas Hutchinson, of 
 Owthorpe. This, the earliest member of the family of whom there 
 is any record, is supposed to have been the fifth son of George Smith, 
 of Ashby Folville, in Leicestershire, a family of some importance. 
 This, however, is only a matter of conjecture, and therefore not to be 
 taken into account in tracing the descent of the family. The pur- 
 chaser of Sir Thomas Hutchinson's farm died in 1641, while his 
 eldest son Thomas was yet a minor. The child was placed under the 
 guardianship of a Mr. Burrows, of Nottingham, by whom he was 
 probably apprenticed to Lawrence Collin, a mercer, and a man of 
 note in the town at that time. Li 1658 this Thomas Smith bought 
 some premises at the corner of Peck Lane, where he originally 
 carried on the business of a mercer, and at a later period he added a 
 
22 
 
 Bank. Here, then, we have the origin of the oldest country Banking 
 House in England, with which the name of Smith has for generations 
 been connected. The precise date of the establishment of Smith's 
 Bank is not ascertainable, but it was somewhere about the year 1688, 
 during the lifetime of Thomas Smith. Some twelve years after the 
 foundation of the Bank Thomas Smith died, having been twice 
 married, first to Mary, daughter of John Hooper, of Somerset ; and 
 secondly to the daughter of his old master, Lawrence Collin, of 
 Nottingham. During his lifetime he had amassed a large fortune, 
 and he died in 1699 possessed of a good deal of landed property, 
 including an Estate at Gaddesby in Leicestershire, which a short 
 time before belonged to the Carington-Smiths, of Ashby Folville, the 
 adjoining Parish. His eldest Son, Thomas, succeeded him in the 
 Banking business, which had largely developed during the lifetime 
 of its founder, aud had now reached some magnitude. In 1717 
 Mr. Thomas Smith, who had a large stake in Leicestershire, was 
 High Sheriff of that County, and in this year the heraldic arms of 
 the family were granted. Thomas Smith carried on the Bank at 
 Nottingham until his death in 1727, and he was succeeded by his two 
 brothers Samuel and Abel, the former a citizen and goldsmith of 
 London, and of Ashfordby, Leicestershire, and the other of East 
 Stoke, in this county. In addition to the Gaddesby estate Mr. 
 Thomas Smith owned the Manor of Broxtowe, in Nottinghamshire, 
 which was his principal residence. At his death these two estates 
 were sold and the proceeds divided amongst his five daughters. The 
 brother, Samuel, who, as already intimated, became a citizen and 
 goldsmith of London, died intestate in 1751, when his large personal 
 property, amounting to two hundred and forty thousand pounds was 
 divided amongst six children. The younger brother, Abel, remained 
 in Nottingham, and carried on the Bank there. His eldest Son, 
 George, of East Stoke, was created a Baronet in 1757, and the 
 honour passed to the ancestors of Sir Henry Bromley, who now owns 
 that estate. The younger son, Abel, applied himself sedulously to 
 the business of banking, and threw into it a spirit of enterprise 
 which resulted in the very considerable extension of the concern. 
 In or about the year 1757 he established the London Bank, and soon 
 after the Lincoln and Hull Banks, which with one at Derby 
 established, I believe, at a later date, represent the great banking 
 concern belonging to this wealthy and influential family. This 
 enterprising and successful banker and financier represented 
 Aldborough, St. Ives, and St. Germains, in successive Parliaments. 
 His sons were Abel, of Wilford, Nottinghamshire, once M.P. for 
 Nottingham, who died at the age of thirty-one, and whose grandchild 
 Emily, married the late Bishop Wilberforce ; Robert, who was 
 created Baron Carington ; Samuel, of Woodhall, Hertfordshire, 
 formerly M.P. for Leicester, and other sons. Since the establish- 
 
23 
 
 ment of the London bank the elder branches of the Smith family 
 have migrated to the southern counties, and they now hold large 
 estates in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, and Surrey. 
 They have no estate of importance in Nottinghamshire, though they 
 have been connected with the county for upwards of two hundred 
 years. Mr. Frederic Chatfield Smith, of Bramcote Hall, the head 
 of the Nottingham bank, and a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant 
 for the county of his adoption, belongs to the Smiths of Sacombe, 
 one of the six branches into which this large family is divided. 
 He is the second of the four sons of Mr. Samuel George Smith, of 
 Goldings, Hertfordshire. At one time three of these sons were 
 Members of Parliament, and met on the Conservative side of the 
 House of Commons. These were Mr. S. G. Smith, the elder 
 brother, who represented Aylesbury ; Mr. F. C. Smith, who 
 represented North Nottinghamshire ; and Mr. Rowland Smith, of 
 Duffield Hall, who represented the Southern division of Derbyshire, 
 for which county he is a magistrate and was High Sheritf, in 1877. 
 The younger brother, who resides at Broxbournbury, in Hertford- 
 shire, assumed by Royal licence the additional surname Bosanquet, 
 that being the name of his father-in-law. 
 
 A smaller house standing on the site now occupied by 
 Bramcote Hall, was formerly tenanted by Mr. Wilmot, a connexion 
 of the Chaddcsden family, who sold it to Mr. F. C. Smith. 
 The Hall was for a time occupied by Colonel Wright, but he left 
 it and went to Stapleford, a house that has not the advantages 
 of situation possessed by Bramcote. A strong liking for rural 
 life — regarding sweet air, narrow field paths threading pastures 
 bright with the colour of the commonest flowers, or fields of 
 standing corn, from which the smallest wind chafes measured 
 music ; lanes that are either dusty or not, according to the 
 humour of the weather, but always interesting in the months of 
 spring and summer, and a host of other wayside charms, as the 
 conditions of such a life — has taken me into most of the villages of 
 this county. Yet with the memory of these visits still fresdi and 
 vivid, I cannot name any Nottinghamshire village which furnishes 
 a more pleasing instance of the best type of English rural landscape 
 than does Bramcote. It is in a measure remarkable that a village 
 which is only five miles removed from the smoke and tall chimneys 
 of a manufacturing town should be so favoured. Standing on a 
 level and railed platform at the very top of Mr. Frederick Smith's 
 house at Bramcote, on a day when the distant landscape is not obliter- 
 ated by mist, you may see many miles of country. Lincoln Minster, 
 Bel voir Castle, the wooded heights of Leicestershire, and the more 
 barren hills of stony Derbyshire, come within the range of vision, 
 and the view is full of charm and variety. Both Mr. Smith and 
 Mrs. Sherwin Gregory, who owns the land about here, and whose 
 
24 
 
 house is called Bramcote Hills, enjoy incomparable views. The 
 hollows are studded with cottages here and there, and then there is 
 the pretty village. 
 
 On one of these eminences which give to the village a 
 type of picturesqueness which is rare in this part of Not- 
 tinghamshire, stands Mr. Smith's substantial mansion, and now that 
 its owner has relinquished his connexion with the Legislature, and 
 withdrawn to this extent at any rate from public life, you may fairly 
 count upon finding him at home. Some of Mr. Smith's friends could 
 never quite understand why he gave up his seat for North Notting- 
 hamshire, after a connexion with that constituency extending over a 
 period of a dozen years, and dating from a determined and successful 
 battle against a nobleman whose family had long been connected with 
 the county by territorial and official ties. Seeing this broad-shouldered 
 English gentleman, in the very prime of life, in every way fitted for 
 public service, no one would think that he had found considerations 
 of health sufficient to induce him to give up a seat in Parliament, 
 which any number of influential people would be glad enough to fill. 
 That his motive was a good one cannot be doubted ; a shrewd, clear- 
 headed, cultivated man, who has devoted twelve of the best years of 
 his life to the business of Parliament, and who has long been an 
 energetic partner in a great and prosperous banking concern, would 
 not make a movement of the kind indicated to gratify any idle caprice. 
 
 Bramcote Hall is not now in the condition in which it was 
 when by purchase it came into Mr. Frederick Smith's possession. Its 
 size, in the first place, was hardly proportionate to the requirements of 
 a county family ; its construction was quaint, not to say inconvenient. 
 In the alterations that were made Mr. Smith carried out his own 
 ideas, and by erecting a staircase here, a suite of apartments there 
 and by other important alterations, all of them more or less ingenious, 
 Bramcote Hall became the solid, comfortable country house of red 
 brick that it is to-day. Mr. Smith is not a landowner, as I have 
 already stated ; his Bramcote estate is represented by a small park, 
 in which are groups of trees — oak, elm, Scotch fir, and English chest- 
 nut, and a few acres of grass land beyond. His house is not a 
 museum of curiosities ; the pictures he possesses might almost be 
 counted on one's fingers. The family portraits are, I believe, in the 
 possession of Lord Carrington ; at any rate in the rooms of Bramcote 
 Hall there are no canvasses that would affi3rd the visitor any 
 assistance in tracing the history of the family. But this comfortable 
 country residence which presents all the outward signs of cultivated 
 prosperity, and all the inward graces of English country life as it is 
 enjoyed by families of position in the county, is not altogether 
 destitute of examples of pictorial art. The few pictures that the 
 I'ooms contain are not such as the art collector would pay fancy 
 
^6 
 
 prices for, but they are well selected and good of their class. In the 
 drawing room, with its small conservatory opening out at one end, 
 there are a couple of bright pictures by Unterberger, representing 
 under the favourable conditions of bright Italian sunshine and azure 
 sky, scenes that are familiar to those who have travelled in Italy and 
 have wandered from the way that is usually pursued by tourists. 
 Another picture which hangs over the mantel piece in the dining room 
 was produced by the same painter, who has here perpetuated a 
 pleasant memory of Sorrento in light and airy colours. In the same 
 room there is a charming picture, by Jacobson — a rich orange sunset 
 suffusing a Norwegian landscape. There is nothing remarkable about 
 these pictures, but they reproduce beautiful scenes and they reflect, 
 may be, in some measure the taste of their owner. A cabinet in the 
 drawing room contains some fine specimens of china, which have 
 been got together by Mr. Smith at different times and in different 
 places. Here I learned something of the distinctive characteristics 
 of those precious bits of ware. One soon gets to like old china ; it 
 improves on acquaintance. Under the guidance of a connoissieur 
 quaintness becomes beauty, and primitiveness of form and design 
 assumes an almost fascinating significance. Brought face to face 
 with the barest rudiments of china lore, one recognises the artistic 
 value of a Dresden drinking tankard, and becomes pleasantly recon- 
 ciled to tea cups of Crown Derby, so unlike the crockery which 
 graces modern tables. Here in this cabinet there are some interest- 
 ing examples of Dresden, Derby, and Chelsea china in a variety of 
 interesting forms, which have been collected with much patience and 
 artistic taste, and at a great deal of expense. There is much to be 
 learnt from an inspection of a fine collection of old china, and one 
 gets the Avholesome impression that those who are at so much pains 
 and expense to obtain it, are not altogether influenced by a prevailing 
 craze. At any rate Mr. Smith's collection of china, which has 
 spread to other parts of this house, certainly deserves a place in any 
 notice of Bramcote Hall. Some portion of it is preserved in an oak 
 cabinet which originally formed part of an old place at Rempstone 
 on the borders of this county, and now stands at the extremity of 
 the entrance hall, at Bramcote. 
 
BUNNY. 
 
 UNNY Park Hall, a mansion of considerable importance, is 
 owned and occupied by Miss Hawksley, niece of the late 
 Mrs. Forteath, to whom the estate was bequeathed by Lord 
 Eancliffe, the last of the barons of that title. The property 
 originally belonged to the Parkyns, an old and distinguished family 
 whose estates seem to have got into other hands, or to have been 
 worn away by the friction of legal machinery. The baronetcy is 
 still maintained, but the title does not carry any large rent roll. 
 The family of which Sir Thomas Parkins, baronet, is the head, can 
 claim long descent, and a distinguished and protracted connection 
 with this county. Towards the latter end of the sixteenth century 
 Richard Parkyns, Recorder of Nottingham and Leicester, who was 
 by no means dependent upon the emoluments of his office, purchased 
 the manor of Bunny, then as now of considerable extent. His 
 descendant, Mr. Isham Parkyns, also of Bunny, held the rank of 
 colonel during the Civil Wars, and in consideration of the determined 
 and courageous resistance he offered to the power of the Usurper, 
 which is said to have implied his own impoverishment, his son was 
 created a baronet in the year 1681. Li 1795, little more than a 
 hundred years later, the family acquired a higher rank, and Thomas 
 Boothby Parkyns was made Baron Rancliffe, an Irish peer. On the 
 death of the second Lord Rancliffe, in 1850, who succeeded to the 
 Bunny estates, the peerage became extinct. By marriage the family 
 is connected with several distinguished and titled houses. Mr. 
 Mansfield Parkyns, who formerly lived at Woodborough Hall, 
 married a daughter of Lord Chancellor Westbury, and one of the 
 daughters of the first baron was espoused to Sir Richard Levinge, 
 an Irish baronet. 
 
 George Augustus Henry Anne Parkyns, second and last 
 Baron Rancliffe, who died at Bunny Park, has not been dead long 
 enough to be forgotten by Nottingham people. His political 
 connection with the county town was as memorable as that of the 
 late Sir Robert Clifton, and between the two there is something in 
 common. For a long period Lord Rancliffe represented Nottingham in 
 Parliament, and his popularity was as remarkable as it was long-lived. 
 At the age of fifteen he was the bearer of a title and the possessor 
 of very considerable property to which he subsequently contrived to 
 add the ancient belongings of the Parkyns family. The newly 
 fledged lordling was brought up into the immediate care of Lord 
 
2t 
 
 Moira, who considered that he could have had better training than 
 that to be obtained in a fashionable regiment. On his marriage with 
 the Earl of Granard's daughter, the young lord left the army and 
 became equerry to the Prince of Wales, afterwards George the 
 Fourth. As soon as he reached manhood's estate, Lord Rancliffe 
 was returned to Parliament for Minehead, under the good old system 
 of purchase which obtained them. Lord Rancliffe sat for this place 
 for seven months, and it is said that his constituents never saw him 
 or knew what he was like. In 1812 there was a vacancy in the 
 representation of Nottingham on the resignation of Mr. D. P. Coke, 
 and a number of persons interested in the election went to Bunny, 
 and induced Lord Rancliffe to stand in the Whig interest. A sharp 
 contest ensued, and Lord Rancliffe was returned, his success being 
 largely due to the influence exercised upon the constituency by Lady 
 Rancliffe. The other successful candidate was Mr. John Smith, 
 who was returned at the head of the poll. In 1818 and again in 
 1826, Lord Rancliffe was returned for Nottingham, and he did not 
 withdraw from Parliamentary life until four years later, after 
 representing the borough for twenty-eight years. He died at Bunny, 
 in 1850, at the age of sixty-five, and of him, one of the principal 
 biographers says : — " Lord Rancliffe was what might be considered 
 a good party man, but by no means a good political leader. He was 
 neither fitted by natural endowments, nor yet by the liabits he 
 cultivated for the post of a leader ; still his views were sound and 
 constitutional on most political subjects, and his votes, which were 
 uniformly in accordance with his professions, were calculated to 
 advance the cause of social progress and the diffusion of civil and 
 religious liberty throughout the world." 
 
 There is very little at Bunny to remind one of Lord 
 Rancliffe's connexion with the house. Either he or those who 
 followed him evidently contemplated enlarging the place, and 
 commenced the necessary alterations. But the plan was never 
 carried out, and Bunny is an unfinished mansion at the present time. 
 The introduction of a new staircase or flight of steps was contem- 
 plated, and amongst the litter of a partially finished apartment there 
 are some of the pieces which were to form this new work, so long 
 since abandoned. Not that Bunny Hall requires any enlargement. 
 It is a large and spacious mansion with, on the ground floor, a 
 continuous suite of rooms said to be among the biggest in the whole 
 county. These, the drawing room, the library, and the dining room, 
 are entered from a long corridor lighted from above, terminating in 
 a billiard hall, and ornamented at intervals with glass cases 
 containing birds. In one case is an albatross ; in another the 
 graceful form and exquisite plumage of a flamingo. At the end of 
 the suite of rooms is a small conservatory opening into the drawing 
 room, which is furnished in sumptuous fashion. The walls are 
 
28 
 
 decorated with graceful designs and in lively colours, and the 
 furniture is bright and elegant. There are some rare old cabinets 
 here, amongst them a Louis Quatorze and one of Florentine Mosaic, 
 and some valuable pieces of china. The fireplace is the work of 
 Italian artists. It is supported by slabs of marble of exquisite 
 purity, bearing on either the perfectly sculptured form of some 
 beauteous goddess. Both drawing and dining rooms are destitute 
 of pictures ; it was never intended that those walls, so expensively 
 and artistically decorated, should be hidden by picture frames. In 
 the dining room there is another fine cabinet and a number of quaint 
 high-backed chairs, which are said to have been made and carved in 
 the reign of Elizabeth. The windows overlook a square of cheerful 
 gardens enclosed by a low and open wall. The library is between 
 the drawing and dining rooms, and there are in it a great number of 
 books. On one of the tables there is a small bust of the First 
 Napoleon, engaged in sketching a plan of the battle of Marengo. 
 A special value is attached to this ornament. The house contains a 
 number of portraits, about which one is able to get but little 
 information. They are all of them said to be members of the 
 ancient family of Parkyns, and one which hangs over the antique 
 mantelpiece in the billiard hall, a gentleman in armour, may, perhaps, 
 be safely described as that of Mr. Isham Parkyns, who took such a 
 prominent part in the Civil Wars. Possibly Yanderbank's portraits 
 of Sir Thomas and Lady Parkyns are among the collection, part of 
 which has been consigned to the housekeeper's room. The family, 
 of which these portraits remind one, at one time had great influence 
 in the county. They were settled in Berkshire before they came 
 here, but they should certainly be classed among the old Nottingham- 
 shire families. One of them, buried in the fine old church at 
 Bunny, the Sir Thomas Parkyns of the last century, was an 
 extraordinary man. He was a great wrestler, he studied physic for 
 the benefit of his neighbours, and he wrote in dead and living 
 languages. He distributed scraps of Latin over the parish with 
 becoming impartiality, and tombstone and horse block were alike 
 inscribed with the language of Maro and Flaceus. It was his 
 mission to encourage the spread of muscular Christianity, and to 
 give a classic turn to bucolic life. The whimsical epitaph on his 
 monument is not inappropriate, applied, as it is, to a worshipper of 
 muscle, who once said, " I receive no limberham, no darling sucking 
 bottle who must not rise at Midsummer until eleven of the clock, 
 till the fire has aired his room and clothes of his colliquative sweats, 
 raised by high sauces and spicey forced meats, where the cook does 
 the office of the stomach with the emetic tea table set out with bread 
 and butter for 's breakfast ; I'll scarce admit a sheepeater ! none but 
 beefeaters will go down with me." The Parkyns' were good friends 
 to Bunny. When they lived at the hall they built and endowed 
 
29 
 
 schools and almshouses in the parish, restored the church, and they 
 are said to have dispensed charity and hospitality with a lavish hand. 
 What is generally called a tower gives an imposing appearance to 
 Bunny Hall. This is an elevated piece of brickwork, Avhicli in the 
 distance looks like the tower of a church. It rises to a considerable 
 height, and from its summit, which is reached by an oak staircase, 
 you may see objects that are very far away. The brickwork is old 
 and it is evident that the house is old too. On the front of the 
 brickwork is a coat of arms, and the date recorded on the stonework 
 is 1723. The lower part of the tower is ivy-grown, with here and 
 there some odd sprays of ragwort. 
 
CHILWELL 
 
 HILWELL Hall is too near the road to enjoy that seclusion 
 which is regarded as one of the conditions of country life, 
 and its elevation is perhaps lower than is absolutely desirable. 
 But the traffic of the public highway which passes through the 
 village, and beneath a wall which encloses the hall grounds, is 
 neither frequent nor noisy ; and if it were both, the principal 
 building in the village would still enjoy comparative privacy. For 
 the shrubs are so thick, the trees are so tall, and the situation of the 
 house is so low that no part of the building is visible from the road, 
 so that strangers to the place pass and re-pass without being con- 
 scious of its existence. But if the proportions of Chilwell Hall are 
 not familiar to Nottinghamshire people, they are aware that there is 
 such a house in the county, and they know something of the family 
 residing there. How should it be otherwise, seeing that there has 
 been a county house at Chilwell before the reign of the Sixth Henry, 
 and that the Charltons have lived in it for more than two hundred 
 and fifty years ? It was once owned by the Martels, from whom it 
 descended to the Babingtons — both families of estate and position, 
 and according to worthy authority it passed by marriage to the 
 Delves, of Doddington, in Cheshire, and from them to the Sheffields, 
 Marquises of Normandy, and Dukes of Buckingham. The house 
 has been altered and enlarged by successive owners. Sir William 
 Babington, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, rebuilt it in the 
 reign of Henry the Sixth. Subsequent alterations were in the 
 Elizabethan style, and in 1652 further additions were made. From 
 Lord Sheffield it was purchased by Mr. Christopher Pymme, and 
 sold by one of that gentleman's sons to Mr. Thomas Charlton, of 
 Sandiacre, in whose family it has remained to this day. Mr. 
 Charlton at that time had a good house in the neighbouring county, 
 and it was not until 1620 that his son Nicholas made a home of 
 Chilwell. Before they came into Nottinghamshire, the Charltons 
 were among the landed proprietors of Derbyshire, to which county 
 one branch of the family belonged. They formerly, as already 
 stated, had a house at Sandiacre, and estates in different parts of the 
 county. The present head of this family is a landowner in Derby- 
 shire, for which county he is a magistrate as well as for Nottingham- 
 shire. About the reign of Edward VI. Thomas Charlton settled at 
 Sandiacre, before the purchase of the ChiUvell estate the family had 
 property in the adjoining county. Investigation and research have 
 
31 
 
 shown that the Charltons descended from a John de Charleton, who 
 was M.P. for the City of London as early as 1318, and from that 
 time until the Battle of Bosworth, when Sir Richard Charlton was 
 slain, the family attainted, and their lands confiscated to the Crown, 
 they were large proprietors. They were afterwards restored in 
 blood but never in purse, and it was left for after generations to 
 regain that territorial position which their remote ancestor had 
 forfeited. When the family belonged to Middlesex they were 
 represented in successive Parliaments, and one of them, Sir Thomas 
 Charlton, was Speaker of the House of Commons in 1453. Edward 
 Charlton, who died in 1658, was a commissioner under the Parliament 
 for raising troops at the civil wars, and the present head of the 
 family, Mr. Thomas Broughton Charlton, once faced a very trying 
 contest in order to gain a seat in the Senate. This was on the 
 occasion of the general election of 1841, when Mr. Charlton was a 
 candidate for the borough of Nottingham in the Conservative interest, 
 in conjunction with the late Mr. John Walter. The Liberal 
 candidates were Mr. George Larpent and Sir. John Cam Hobhouse, 
 and the contest was attended with riot and disorder. The tumult 
 which had taken place in the earlier part of the year at the bye- 
 election that followed the decease of Sir R. Ferguson, was repeated 
 in the summer, and both on the nomination and polling days the 
 town was a scene of uproar and confusion. Broken heads and 
 injured limbs were not uncommon, and the mob conducted itself as 
 only a Nottingham mob can do when its worst passions are aroused. 
 At the poll Mr. Charlton and his colleague were unsuccessful, the 
 Liberals being returned by a considerable majority. Mr. Charlton 
 never again sought Parliamentary honours, but Mr. John Walter, a 
 year later, when Mr. Larpent accepted the Chiltern Hundred, 
 defeated Mr. Sturge, the Liberal candidate, by 84 votes. 
 
 The house at Chilwell, which for so long a period has been 
 owned by the Charltons, forms part of a village whose rusticity has 
 not yet been destroyed by such building operations as those which 
 have gone on in the heart and outskirts of its neighbour Beeston, 
 once extensively owned by the Charlton family. It has retained 
 its village aspect and its village life, and some of its inhabitants have 
 a distinct belief, which sometimes finds expression, that a house 
 standing out in the fields is tenanted by a ghost, which, however, 
 never found its way into their last census papers, and is, therefore, 
 not accounted for. This is the restless spirit of a man who was 
 mysteriously murdered in the locality within the memory of many 
 living, and whose body was never discovered. Persons who have 
 tenanted this house in the fields, have spoken of noises in the night 
 and phantom-play of that kind, but none has ever seen anything 
 approaching the popular notion of what a ghost is like, so that people 
 who hear about the spectre are reasonably sceptical. Between the 
 
32 
 
 Chilwell ghost and Cliilwell Hall there is nothing in common, except 
 perhaps something which comes of the fact that the principal family 
 in the village is kept au courant concerning the proceedings of the 
 spirit who might perhaps find that appropriate calm, which would 
 confine him to his own resources when he felt the need of diversion, 
 that now assumes the form of pranks with shutters or windows, if 
 he could be induced to take up his abode in the dark and ancient 
 cellars of the hall. In these cool depths where the wine is kept, 
 there is some old stonework forming walls of tremendous thickness, 
 which in all probability formed part of the original mansion built 
 centuries ago, long before a Charlton ever dreamt of coming to 
 Chilwell. From the cellars to the drawing room is a pleasant 
 transition, for it is a passing from darkness to light. And in the 
 principal room at Chilwell there are pictures and old china and 
 pottery ware, some of it quaint, and showing figures roughly drawn, 
 whilst other pieces are ornamented with designs of great delicacy 
 and exquisite purity of colour. On the wall space between the 
 windows are two paintings by Gaspard Poussin, landscapes which 
 are full of beauty. One of them, perhaps the best, is an Italian 
 scene, with figures in the foreground, and a lake, upon whose surface 
 a stately castle, high up among the trees, casts shadows. On the 
 opposite side of the room are five water colours of considerable merit, 
 but somewhat faded now, of scenery at Bearwood, in Berkshire, the 
 home of Mr. John Walter. In one there is a patch of the lovely 
 purple heather of old Windsor Forest ; in another water, and in all 
 of them there is the brightness and the quiet beauty of the scenery 
 of open England. Mrs. Charlton, it may here be mentioned, is 
 sister to the owner of Bearwood, and to Mr. Henry Walter, of 
 Papplewick Hall. The two large pictures at the end of the hall, are 
 very fine copies of the Sibils of Persia and Cumge, the latter of 
 whom is fabled to have been consulted by ^ueas, when that hero 
 was in difficulties, and is known to have formed the subject of a 
 picture by Dominichino. Between them is an exceedingly pleasing 
 painting, by Montagu, of a portion of a Dutch town, and on the 
 carpet underneath are two handsome inlaid chairs of Florentine 
 origin. A very high panelling of dark coloured oak, which com- 
 pletely surrounds the dining room, except where the window recesses 
 are, subdues the light which is admitted into this apartment. The 
 woodwork here, which has a somewhat peculiar effect, originally 
 belonged to the prebendal Kectory Hall, at Sandiacre, which was 
 demolished in 1864. This panelling was then transferred to Mr. 
 Charlton's house at Chilwell, and put to the use just mentioned. 
 Where it ends, just below the ceiling, a number of china plates of 
 considerable beauty have been arranged in regular order, and these 
 serve to give some ornamentation to the room. In 1592 Thomas 
 Charlton, who succeeded his father in 1578, became the lessee of the 
 
33 
 
 rectory at Sandiacre, under a prebendal lease from the Dean and 
 Chapter of Lichfield, and it remained in the possession of the family 
 until the death of Nicholas Charlton in 1704. In the dining room, 
 a table, which was fashioned by furniture makers who lived in the 
 Jacobean period, and which is capable of considerable expansion, 
 serves the purpose of a sideboard. This piece of furniture, which 
 has been in the house for centuries, is interesting no less for its 
 antiquity than for the quaintness of its design. The greatest 
 curiosity in the house is an old iron chest of cylindrical shape. To 
 make it stronger and more secure it is bound at intervals with iron 
 hoops, securely rivetted, and furnished with a lock, the works of 
 which are curiously and ingeniously complicated. The key which 
 opens this remarkable specimen of the locksmith's art is many- 
 warded and of singular shape, and without its aid it would require 
 something more than the skill of the modern burglar to open the 
 chest. This curious receptacle, which now stands in the hall, was 
 unearthed some time back, and in it were found a large number of 
 parchment deeds, most of them being dated at the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century, and relating to a portion of the family property ; 
 and a number of old Bibles, which the owner was anxious to preserve 
 from the sacriligious touch of those into whose hands he feared they 
 might fall. It is supposed — and the supposition is perfectly reason- 
 able, that the chest was made to be placed in the earth, and to secure 
 valuables in times when the country was agitated by civil strife, 
 from which it is well known these parts were not exempt. The 
 Bibles and the deeds found in the chest were carefully preserved ; 
 the documents remain there still, and the books have been transferred 
 to the shelves of the library, where is carefully preserved the original 
 letter, written to Mr. Thomas Charlton by Major-General Ireton of 
 the Commonwealth army, a distinguished Republican, who took an 
 active part in the contest between Charles the First and the 
 Parliament. This remarkable man, who had very great influence 
 in the councils of the Protector, was the son of a Derbyshire 
 gentleman. The superscription is " to my honored ffriend, Mr. 
 Thomas Charleton, at his fFather's house, in Chilwell, near Notting- 
 ham." and it is dated "Colchester League, August 14th, 1648." 
 The handwriting is still easily decipherable, and the letter is as 
 follows : — 
 
 « Sr, 
 
 I have sealed and deliver^- the Conveyance of Carver's fflatte 
 unto you, & a letter of Atturney for makeinge lyvery of seisin ; 
 There is noe alteration from the draughts wch yr brother 
 brought me, save in the time limitted for deliveringe up to you all 
 writeings concerninge that lande, wch is altered from Michaelmas 
 next unto Lady Day followeinge Michaelmas, through the delay of 
 sealeinge, beeinge soe neare, & my employmt soe farre of & the 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 prsent troubles sucli, as I could not have pformed covenante wth 
 you in that poynte, if it had beene limitted to that time, all though 
 the mayne & most materiall of the writeings I delivered to yr 
 ffather at Addenborow last springe, wxh I prsume you have 
 allready. I desire you to paye the wholle price to my mother Ireton, 
 & her Receipt for it shall bee yr sufficient discharge, but at any time 
 afterwarde I shall be ready (upon yr deliveringe in of that) to give 
 you an Acquittance for the monye under my owne hand & scale. 
 The deeds now sealed are committed into yr brother Mr. Nich: 
 Charleton, his hande, in truste betwixt us, untill hee shall deliver to 
 mee a Receipt or letter from my mother Acknowledgeinge the Receipt 
 of the monye & a counterpte of the Conveyance to bee sealed by 
 you ; wch I desire you hasten, &, lett the counterpte bee deliverd 
 allsoe to my mother, whose acknowledgemt of the Receipt of it 
 shall serve w*^ out yr trouble of sendinge it to mee. An hundred 
 pounde of the monye I intend for the discharge of soe much due 
 from mee to yr uncle, Mr. Edw: Charleton upon bonde ; if you bringe 
 & deliver in that bonde to my mother wth the Rest of the price, 
 shee may give you a Receipt for the wholle price ; I know not 
 certaynly what Interest may in strictnesse bee due to yr uncle, but 
 my mother doth ; I hope hee will upon the payeinge in of the 
 principall, consider the troubles & difficultyes of the times since I 
 had it & not exacte full Interest upon the Acct. for the wholle 
 time, but make a conscionable abatemt & Acct. what the full 
 Interest (for the years hee hath Receivd it) does exceed the yearly 
 Rate hee thinks reasonable to take for the wholle time in satisfaction 
 for the time in arrears, wherein I pray you (wth my service) presnt 
 my desires to him. — I remayne, yr assured ffriend and servt., 
 
 H. IRETON. 
 
 Coir. League, Aug. 14th, 1648. 
 
 The interest of uncle's £100, from the time you entered upon 
 the lande, I prsume you will be soe reasonable as to discharge, over 
 and above the price ; at least consideringe, that very soone after the 
 bargayne, I desired ffather, or self, to pay £100 of the price unto 
 him, and take in the bond into your hande, until I should seal the 
 writings ; wherein I assure you there hath been noe witting delaye 
 on my parte. My humble service to flfather, mother, lady and 
 fFriencls with you, I pray you presnt." 
 
 In the hall are some good cases of birds, one of which 
 contains a very fine specimen of the kite — milvus vulgaris, a bird of 
 prey which is rarely seen in the Midlands. This one was killed in 
 the parish by one of the keepers between thirty and forty years ago. 
 What family portraits Mr. Charlton has are hung in the hall, and 
 there is one of Mr. William Charlton, his ancestor, who was High 
 
35 
 
 Sheriff of the county in 1824. The grounds outside the house, if 
 they are not extensive, are picturesque and pleasing, and the fatal 
 frosts of the past few winters, destructive as they have been, have 
 left some noble trees on the estate. In front of the east side of the 
 house, its fan leaves almost brushing the walls and windows, is a 
 mighty horse chestnut, whose branches sweep to the ground in 
 graceful curves and tower up aloft to a proud elevation. This is 
 said to be the largest tree of the kind in the county, and it is 
 certainly the dominating glory of the Chilwell pleasure grounds. 
 
CLIFTON. 
 
 LD houses get into the possession of new families, who, by a 
 convenient change of surname, obtain a fresh identity, and 
 acquire in the County of their recent adoption, a position of 
 territorial consequence. Very often it is an ordinary process of 
 inheritance which brings new families into old houses ; sometimes it 
 is success in trade. It is with some little astonishment, and perhaps 
 a little envy, that we learn that Mr. So-and-So, in the midst of a 
 successful business career, has taken such-and-such a hall, which for 
 generations has been occupied by a county family, and identified with 
 a county name — a house which has perhaps always taken a leading 
 part in the affairs of the shire. It is with considerably less 
 astonishment that we learn that an old estate has passed into the 
 hands of a nephew or second cousin of the late owner, because that 
 is a perfectly natural and regular change, and in the perpetuation of 
 the family name, the anomaly, if there is one, is soon lost sight of. 
 For centuries Clifton Hall has been occupied by a Clifton, and the 
 family has been located in this county longer, perhaps, than any 
 other that I could name. The Cliftons of Clifton have been men of 
 title and consequence, their position and standing being derivable 
 not alone from their landed possessions, but because of the part their 
 family has played in the affairs of the nation, both civil and military. 
 The surname of the Cliftons is derived from a village made up of a 
 few thatched cottages, some of which have of late years acquired a 
 tiled and conventional dignity, whilst others still retain their 
 primitiveness, and the manor has been held by the family ever since 
 Sir Gervase de Clifton purchased it of a certain De Rhodes, about 
 the latter end of the reign of Henry the Third. This Sir Gervaso 
 was Sheriff of Nottingham as far back in forgotten centuries as 
 1279, and he was afterwards Sheriff of York, the lustre attaching 
 to these honourable offic3S being somewhat dimmed by his committal 
 to gaol for having made a false return of a writ. Both Sir Gervase 
 de Clifton and Sir John de Clifton, who came afterwards, married 
 into titled families, the former taking as his wife a daughter of Sir 
 William Sampson, of Epperstone, and the latter a daughter of Sir 
 John Cressy, of Hodsock, both extinct county families. The last- 
 named lady brought considerable property to the already large estates 
 of the Cliftons. Her husband represented Nottingham in Parliament, 
 and was one of the twelve gentlemen who received the spurs of 
 
37 
 
 knighthood on the morning of the Battle of Shrewsbury, where he 
 was slain, together with Sir Nicholas Burden, of Maplebeck, 
 Sir Hugh Shirely, of RadclifFe-on-Soar, and several other Notting- 
 hamshire gentlemen. Then follows a long line of Cliftons, many of 
 whom held important offices and rendered service to their country. 
 There was Sir Gervase Clifton, of Clifton and Hodsock, who was 
 SheriiF of Nottingham and Derby from 1471 to 1477, Receiver- 
 General in those two counties, and Esquire to the body of Edward 
 the Fourth. This gentleman played a prominent part in the disputes 
 between the Yorkists and Lancastrians, and was engaged in the 
 Battle of Tewkesbury. He was thought much of by the Lancastrian 
 party, of whom the Duke of Somerset was the leader, on account of 
 his firm devotion to their cause. This Sir Gervase married a lady 
 of Kent, and was several times Sheriff of that County, and also 
 Lieutenant of Dover Castle, under the Duke of Gloucester. For 
 his faithful services Henry the Sixth conferred upon him the office 
 of Treasurer of Calais and surrounding districts, and on the death 
 of the then Archbishop of Canterbury the temporalities of that See 
 were committed into his hands. He was also governor of several 
 places in France. Ten years later the dispute between the two 
 Houses of York and Lancaster is still rife, and we find the next head 
 of the Cliftons, also a Sir Gervase, contrary to the principles of his 
 family, allying himself with the Yorkists. This Sir Gervase was 
 killed at Bosworth Field, the last of the thirteen contests between 
 the Houses of York and Lancaster, which had extended over a 
 period of more than forty years, filling the country with civil 
 disturbance, and deluging its plains with blood. A circumstance is 
 related in connection with the part Clifton took in the fray, which 
 is at once interesting and affecting. He left his country seat in 
 Nottinghamshire in company with Sir John Byron, a strenuous 
 supporter of the Lancastrians, and they bound themselves by an 
 oath that whichever of the two should survive the battle, should do 
 his best to save the lands of the slain one from confiscation. Sir 
 Gervase Clifton was mortally wounded, and Byron only arrived to 
 hear his expiring words, " All is over ; remember the oath between 
 us ! " Sir John Byron was no doubt true to his pledge. At any 
 rate the history of Clifton contains no record of confiscation, and the 
 house continued to furnish illustrious heads. A gentleman of 
 considerable authority, both in peace and war, in four successive 
 reigns, was the Sir Gervase Clifton, who is mentioned in a distich 
 penned by Elizabeth, 
 
 *' Gervase the gentle, Stanhope the stout, 
 Markham the lion, and Sutton the lout." 
 
 The other three names are those of Nottinghamshire gentlemen* 
 The son of this distinguished soldier and courtier, who in times of 
 peace was noted for the gentleness of his disposition, and the 
 
38 
 
 kindness of his heart, in turn left a son who died at the early age of 
 twenty years, leaving behind him a son. Sir Gervase, who is said to 
 have been even more gentle than his grandfather, and who has been 
 described as "the most noted person of his time for courtesy." 
 This Sir Gervase had a most conspicuous capacity for matrimony. 
 He was married no fewer than seven times, and the names of these 
 — most of them ladies of title — are recorded upon the canvas which 
 hangs over the mantelpiece in the dining room at Clifton Hall, and 
 upon which the strongly marked features of this remarkable 
 personage appear. The first was the beautiful Penelope, daughter 
 of Robert Earl of Warwick, and Penelope his wife. She was 
 mother of the wretched, unfortunate Sir Gervase, his father's 
 greatest foil ; she died October 26th, 1613, aged twenty-three years. 
 The second was Frances, daughter of Francis Earl of Cumberland, 
 and Grisilda, his countess. She brought him — 1. Margaret, who 
 was first married to Sir John South, secondly to — Whitchcote, 
 Esq., and lastly to Sir Robert Carey ; 2. Frances, first wife of 
 Richard Temple, Esq., afterwards married to Anthony Eyre, Esq. ; 
 3. Anne, married to Sir Francis Rhodes ; 4. Sir Clifford ; and 5. 
 Letice, wife of Clifton Rhodes. This second wife of Sir Gervase 
 died November 22nd, 1627, aged thirty-three years. The third was 
 Mary, daughter of Sir John Egioke, of Egioke, in Worcestershire, 
 and Anne, his wife ; she was widow of Sir Francis Leke, of Sutton, 
 in the county of Derby, and died January 19th, 1630. The fourth 
 wife was Isabel, daughter of — Meek, Esq., and relict of John 
 Hodges, alderman of London ; she died in July, 1637. The fifth 
 was Anne, daughter of Sir Francis South, knight, of the county of 
 Lincoln ; she was buried at Clifton, June 1st, 1639. The sixth 
 was Jane, daughter of Anthony Eyre, Esq., of Rampton, in the 
 county of Nottingham ; she died in London, and was buried at 
 Clifton, March 17th, 1655. The seventh and last wife was Alice, 
 daughter of Henry, Earl of Huntington ; she died after her husband, 
 in the same year, 1666, at London, and was buried in St. Giles' 
 Church, as was also the third lady. But though matrimony went 
 so largely to make up his celebrity, Sir Gervase did not allow his 
 uxorious proclivities to interfere with the due discharge of important 
 official duties, for he represented Nottinghamshire in Parliament in 
 the reigns of James the First, Charles the First, and Charles the 
 Second, and was Commissioner to the King during the Civil Wars. 
 Thoroton says he most generously, hospitably, and charitably served 
 all, from the King to the poorest beggar, that he was four score 
 years Lord of Clifton, of a sound body, and a cheerful, facetious 
 spirit. For his loyalty and fidelity, and for his general services to 
 the State, James the First rewarded him with a baronetcy, one of the 
 first of the order. He died in 1666, and was buried at Clifton. 
 The succeeding generations of Clifton s were more or less mixed up 
 
39 
 
 with public life, and the representatives of this ancient family 
 continued to occupy a leading position in the county. There was a 
 Sir Gervase Clifton, who for some time represented East Retford in 
 Parliament, and married a daughter of the Earl of Bellamont, and 
 after him in 1767 the then Lord of Clifton was High Sheriff of 
 Nottinghamshire. Little less than a century afterwards the last 
 baronet was returned to Parliament by the electors of Nottingham, 
 and enjoyed a popularity as remarkable as it was enduring. The 
 late Sir Robert Clifton was three times elected Member of Parliament 
 for Nottingham, and was an immense favourite with a large portion 
 of the constituency. If the most ardent admirer of the late baronet 
 was asked what were the special qualities which won this ever 
 faithful support, he would probably be at a loss for an answer. The 
 family name may have secured some of it ; a certain open-heartedness 
 and unfailing geniality on the part of the popular favourite, may 
 have had something to do with his success, though these suggestions 
 are, of course, of a distinctly speculative order. The fact remains 
 that the late Sir Robert Clifton possessed the sublime secret of 
 winning popular applause without any effort of his own. It came 
 to him whether he would or no, and from his first connection with 
 the borough in 1861, when he defeated the representative of a house 
 almost as old as his own, and having a far greater stake in the 
 county, down to the time of his death in 1869, he was the idol of a 
 vast section of political Nottingham. But his charm died with him, 
 and those who have sought to revive it have signally failed. In 
 1869 Cliftonism became extinct, and this venerable family died out. 
 Upon the death of Sir Robert Clifton the baronetcy became dormant, 
 and the estates of the Cliftons, together with their ancient house, 
 passed to Mr. Henry Robert Markham, who is now lord of the 
 manor, and was High Sheriff of this county in 1875. On coming 
 to the estates Mr. Markham changed his name to Clifton, so that 
 the family name, associated in times past with events which form 
 part of the history of the country, is still perpetuated, and the river 
 still flows beneath the home of the Cliftons, of Clifton. 
 
 I suppose almost every inhabitant of Nottingham knows 
 Clifton Grove about as well as he knows his own garden, if he has 
 one ; not a few are familiar with the handsome proportions of Clifton 
 Hall, which is a conspicuous object from the railway, and from many 
 other points on the Nottingham side of the Trent. In the late Sir 
 Robert Clifton's time there were many in this town who had 
 opportunities of making themselves acquainted with the interior of 
 this large and handsome house, for the popular baronet dispensed 
 hospitality with a liberal hand. Many people passed those outer 
 portals, where the demi-peacocks, expanded and counter charged, 
 which represent the Clifton crest, keep perpetual watch, and found 
 a cordial welcome awaiting them. The famous Grove is not much 
 
40 
 
 changed, though, perhaps, it grows more leafy every year. The 
 awful tradition of outrage and murder attaching to a particular part 
 of the overhanging cliffs still clings to it, and even the veneration in 
 which it is said to have been held by lovers in times gone by, is 
 maintained by the sweethearts of a modern and prosaic epoch. 
 
 The exterior of the house bears evidence of antiquity. The 
 bricks have acquired that soft tone which the long continued influence 
 of the elements produces, and the stone work, chiefly represented by 
 the ten Doric columns that support the principal front of the house 
 are mellowed with age. There are no traces of recent alteration ob- 
 servable, and it is probable that the house in its present condition is 
 much what it was in Sir Robert's time. Most of the furniture is new ; 
 that the visitor can easily see. There still remain, however, distrib- 
 uted over various parts of the house, handsome pieces of antique 
 furniture which serve to remind one of the past history of the place. 
 In the Library, for instance, there are some rare oak bookcases, filled 
 apparently with the literature of the last century, and four oak doors 
 leading into other apartments. One of these doors leads into what 
 is known as the Chinese drawing room — a name derived from the 
 "Celestial" character of its furniture and decorations. The house 
 contains many interesting rooms. There is the "red room," a small 
 sitting room where the furniture is blue and the walls red, a combi- 
 nation which produces a somewhat peculiar effect. Here are several 
 family portraits, including that of a certain Thomas, Lord Wentworth, 
 painted sometime about the middle of the seventeenth century, and 
 the Lady Clifton of a time long past, who, if the artist is faithful, 
 narrowly escaped being a very beautiful woman. In various parts of the 
 house there are portraits of the Cliftons in the uniforms and costumes 
 of ancient times, including that of the very much married Sir Ger- 
 vase, which occupies a panel over the antique marble mantelpiece in 
 the drawing room. There are several Ladies Clifton — very beautiful 
 some of them must have been — and a number of male members of 
 the family, whose identity it is difiicult to fix when there is no one at 
 hand who knows anything at all about them. There is, however, no 
 mistaking that big painting in the entrance hall, which takes up a 
 vast extent of wall. The small, and by no means unhandsome 
 features ; the jetty moustache and head-covering, the cigar end 
 smouldering on the ground, are there faithfully and happily placed 
 upon canvas. Sir Robert Clifton, bestriding a favourite gray, is there 
 to the life, more genial, more understandable, and certainly more con- 
 spicuous than any of those grim-looking ancestors of his who lived 
 in times with which we have very little in common. There are 
 other large portraits in this ancient hall, in whose corners long jave- 
 lins are reared, and upon whose cold floor the fire casts a cheerful 
 glow. Upstairs there is a State bed room, with yellow and satin bed 
 furniture, which it is said once witnessed the slumbers of Royalty j 
 
41 
 
 a marble hall floored with squares of black and white marble, and 
 looking like a big chess board, the walls occupied by a series of small 
 panel pictures, said to be intended to represent the faithful retainers 
 of one of the warrior Cliftons ; a bright and handsome sitting room 
 used by the lady of the house, and a large drawing room luxuriously 
 furnished. The walls of this room contain some very valuable pic- 
 tures which, I suppose, have been in the house for a very consider- 
 able period. There are some gems amongst these — sea pieces by 
 Vandervelde, and portraits by artists of the highest repute, Raphael, 
 Titian, Stoddart, and others being represented on these walls. 
 
 The grounds at Clifton Hall are among the finest in the county. 
 The house stands high on a solid rock of gypsum, and behind it are 
 swells of smooth turf ; green terraces rising one above the other are 
 shaded by yews which grow in rows, their dark and sombre foliage 
 contrasting with the livelier green beneath, and beyond the gardens 
 are the woods. From the house, from the pleasure gardens, and from 
 the woods the loveliest views are obtainable. At the end of a grassy 
 walk in the woods near the Hall, there is a kind of large summer 
 house. It is a single room reached by stone steps, and at one time 
 was rather richly decorated, but it is disused now ; the windows are 
 broken and there is a wide gap in the ceiling. This is the highest 
 part of the ground, and looking through these broken windows on a 
 clear day at a season when the country is fall of young life, you get 
 view, cheerful, diversified, and full of interest. On a dull day in 
 early Winter there is something weird in the outlook. Immediately 
 below there is a deep, still pool fringed with dead rushes and drooping 
 shrivelled grasses, a thin mist clinging to the surface of the water. 
 Between this and the Trent there is a kind of swamp which has re- 
 cently been flooded, and through leafless pollard willows and dead 
 osier sticks you can see the onward motion of the grand old river 
 which was navigable before the Conquest. The mysterious pool, the 
 dead rushes, the leafless swamp, and the dark river make up a dreary 
 bit of still life on a dull November day. 
 
CLUMBER, 
 
 N 1879, Clumber House was partially destroyed by an acci- 
 dental fire, and pictures and other things of immense value, 
 which can never be replaced, perished in the flames. This 
 fire happened just fifty years after the destruction of Nottingham 
 Castle in the Reform Riots. Both the Castle and Clumber belong 
 to the Duke of Newcastle, so that the family has suffered consider- 
 ably by disasters of the burning order. But their rent roll is vast, 
 and if the Dukes of Newcastle cannot buy pictures like those which 
 were destroyed in the last fire, they have been enabled to rebuild 
 their house on a sufficiently magnificent scale, and at a very con- 
 siderable cost to repair the damage that had been done to brickwork 
 and masonry and to internal decorations. Perhaps no home of title 
 in the whole county is so well known as Clumber. Its owners have 
 been men of high rank, great wealth, and mostly of power in the State, 
 and they have allowed the public to visit their house at certain times 
 of the year, and to see the treasures it contains — a house which for 
 size and situation can hold its own with any of those other palaces 
 that are occupied by the wealthy of this land, and treasures the 
 like of which the riches of England would not purchase. The Dukes 
 of Newcastle have been patrons of art and collectors of the best work 
 of painters, ancient and modern, and the Clumber collection is 
 celebrated in the art world and in the country. Visitors to the 
 Castle Museum at Nottingham have had the privilege of seeing some 
 of the choicest of the Clumber treasures, and it would have been a 
 fortunate thing for the noble owner and his successors and for the 
 country at large if the whole of the collection had been stored in those 
 galleries when the late disastrous fire broke out. 
 
 The mansion, which stands on what was once a waste of 
 forest land, was built in 1770 of white freestone, which was brought 
 from a quarry on the Duke's estate five miles away. At that time it 
 was said that no nobleman in England possessed such a princely 
 abode. Its situation was unique ; the lake facing its central front 
 added a decided charm to its outward appearance, and its architectural 
 advantages and great size gave it claims to be classed in the first 
 rank of the stately homes of England. The house originally con- 
 sisted of three fronts, the centre one facing the water, containing a 
 light Ionic collonade 5 and looking at the building from the elegant 
 bridge which crosses the lake^ its appearance was most pleasing. 
 
43 
 
 The lawns then, as now, were very fine, smooth, velvety, and of the 
 richest colour, descending by terraces to the lake and fringed with 
 thriving shrubberies. The park compasses eleven miles, and was 
 once part of a forest which had hardly been explored. It is now 
 surrounded by venerable woods, which are seldom trodden, except by 
 deer and small wild animals. From the windows of the house you 
 can see these noble woods, with their acres of sturdy vegetation ; but 
 the attention is necessarily taken up with the beautiful and costly 
 things arranged in the various rooms through which one is shown. 
 A day could well be spent in studying the Clumber china ; it would 
 take a longer time to do justice to all the pictures. The art treasures 
 of Clumber enjoy a celebrity which has reached far and wide. 
 
 The collection of family portraits contains a long line of 
 nobles, some of whom have been illustrious in the service of the 
 State, whilst others have held local appointments, to the discharge of 
 the duties in connection with which they have brought the intelli- 
 gence, and the highmindedness that distinguished their race. At 
 various times the collection has been enriched by the addition of 
 works of art acquired by purchase or brought into the family by 
 marriage. To name them would involve the publication of a list of 
 almost all the great painters whose canvasses are famous in the 
 galleries of the nations. There are examples by Rubens, Gains- 
 borough, Hogarth, Reynolds, Snyders, Vandyke, Lely, Gerard Douw, 
 Guido, Poussin, Claud Lorraine, Rembrandt, Ruysdaal, Salvator 
 Rosa, del Sarto, Titian, Holbein, Creswick, Jansen, Teniers, Kneller, 
 Dominichino, and a host of others. Some of these pictures, and not 
 the least valuable of them, perished in the catastrophe of 1879. It 
 is not often that such celebrities as these can be got together under 
 one roof. Sigismunda weeping over the heart of Tancred, a picture 
 which in the Clumber catalogue is attributed to Con"egio, and was 
 once the property of Sir Luke Schaub, is said by some to have been 
 the work of Furino. It was this subject that Hogarth is said to 
 have chosen for the purpose of showing that the praise bestowed 
 upon the ancients was the result of prejudice, and his effort thus to 
 compete with the dead was coarsely criticised by Horace Walpole, 
 who likened his Sigismunda to a common courtezan, " with eyes red 
 with rage and usquebaugh, tearing off the ornaments her keeper had 
 given her." Guide's Artemisia, with the cup containing the ashes of 
 her husband, has generally been regarded as a companion to the 
 Sigismunda in the Clumljer collection, in which the touches of 
 Michel Angelo's genius are not wanting. The house is large enough 
 to hold all these valuable paintings, and they are distributed over 
 rooms which have long been famous for their size and beauty. The 
 State dining room, sixty feet in length, and thirty-four in breadth, 
 and designed to accommodate one hundred and fifty guests at table 
 has been described as one of the glories of Clumber, with its rich 
 
44 
 
 ornamentation and ornate fittings. On these walls were placed the 
 four Market pieces by Snyders, the two landscapes by Zuccarelli, 
 and the large painting of dead game by Wenix. The library was 
 admired by everyone who visited Clumber under the old regime, on 
 account of the light and elegant gallery round the upper part of the 
 room, and the highly decorated ceiling. Here Westmercott's superb 
 statue of Euphrosyne found a home, as also did Bailey's Thetis and 
 Achilles, and many valuable bronzes, besides an extensive collection 
 of rare old books, to say nothing of modern literature. Among the 
 Clumber statuary the most celebrated pieces, besides those already 
 mentioned, are a large figure of Napoleon, which some say is the 
 work of Canova, whilst others set it down to Franzoni, purchased at 
 Cararra in 1823 ; Bailey's statue of Thompson and busts of the 
 Duke of Newcastle by Nollekens ; Sir Robert Peel, Cromwell, and 
 others. 
 
 Among the pleasure-houses of England very few can rival 
 Clumber in pictorial and sculptural wealth, and like those other 
 houses in the Dukeries it deserves to be ranked amongst the greatest 
 houses of the country. The house was built in 1770, but successive 
 owners have altered it. It stands, as I have already said, upon what, 
 at the time the plans for its erection were being designed, was a 
 dense forest covered with great trees and sturdy growths of bracken 
 and heather. At enormous expense the then Duke of Newcastle re- 
 claimed the land, and formed a lake, a small undertaking which cost 
 him £7,000. In the re-building the aspect of the house has 
 necessarily been somewhat altered, but it has not changed so as to 
 subordinate the west front, which is still the most imposing part of 
 the building. In the gardens flowers blossom in geometric beds ; 
 there are still graceful statues in the grounds, and from the terraces 
 and from some of the principal rooms you look over this lake of 
 some ninety acres, where the water-fowl find a home, and where the 
 pike fatten which afford sport for the young Duke. 
 
 The head of the Pelham-Clintons, and the owner of their vast 
 estates, which have been somewhat impoverished during the last 
 generation, is a young nobleman, who was born no longer ago than 
 1864. His father died in the prime of life, and left the Earl of 
 Lincoln, who was then a public schoolboy, the possessor of a great 
 name and an estate, which in Nottinghamshire covers 34,500 acres 
 of land. In 1641 the annual value of the Newcastle estates was, 
 Nottinghamshire £6,229, Lincolnshire £100, Derbyshire £6,128, 
 Staffordshire £2,349, Gloucestershire £1,681, Somersetshire £1,303, 
 Yorkshire £1,700, Northumberland £3,000 ; total £22,390. The 
 rent roll now is considerably more than that sum, and in time it 
 may reasonably be expected that it will be still further increased. 
 For the origin of the family name— Pelham-Clinton— we have to go 
 
45 
 
 to the reign of Edward the First, during whose sovereignty the 
 lordship of Pelham belonged to a certain Walter de Pelham, who 
 died in 1292. In the reign of the third Edward, John de Pelham 
 w^as a famous person, whose figure in memory of his valiant acts was 
 painted on glass in the Chapterhouse of Canterbury Cathedral, of 
 which he is said to have been a considerable benefactor. He was 
 one of those who took the French King prisoner at the Battle of 
 Poictiers. The son of this celebrity was scarcely less distinguished 
 than the father, and amongst the offices he held were those of 
 treasurer to the King and ambassador to the King of the French. 
 Many of the Pelhams of succeeding generations were famous, and 
 held high places, and the family was ennobled in 1706. The second 
 Lord Pelham, by the will of his uncle, John Holies, Duke of New- 
 castle, was made his heir, and was afterwards created Duke of 
 Newcastle and a Knight of the Garter. His brother dying without 
 surviving male issue, the estates passed to Henry Clinton, Earl of 
 Lincoln, who assumed the additional name of Pelham, his mother and 
 his wife being both of that name. The Clintons had been settled in 
 England since the Conquest, and took their name from a place in 
 Oxfordshire. One of them was Bishop of Salisbury as early as 
 1228, and another was summoned to Parliament, under the title of 
 Baron Clinton, in the reign of Edward the First. The second son of 
 this noble was Lord High Admiral of England in 1333, and an 
 earldom was conferred upon him — that of Huntingdon. His suc- 
 cessors distinguished themselves in the wars of three reigns, and in 
 1572 the Clintons became Earls of Lincoln. The second of these 
 earls was one of the commissioners at the trial of Mary Queen of 
 Scots, the seventh was Constable of the Tower and Paymaster of 
 the Forces in the reign of Queen Anne, and the ninth became Duke 
 of Newcastle. 
 
 Of the Dukes of Newcastle the most distinguished were the 
 first and the fifth. William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, 
 succeeded to the estates of his father in 1617. Three years later he 
 was raised to the peerage as Baron Ogle and Viscount Mansfield, and 
 in 1627 he became Earl of Newcastle. He is said to have been a 
 man of retiring disposition, but of considerable attainments, and the 
 King had such a high opinion of his character and his worth that he 
 placed his son under his especial and immediate care. At that time 
 the Cavendishes, of which family the first Duke of Newcastle was 
 the head, resided at Welbeck and Bolsover Castle, and more than 
 once these places were visited by the Sovereign, who was entertained 
 with becoming splendour — entertainment which cost the Earl between 
 £14,000 and £15,000. The popularity of the Earl was unbounded, 
 and at one time or another he raised as many as 80,000 men to fight 
 in the service of the King. But the storms of martial warfare and 
 the worry of political conflict were little suited to the tastes of this 
 
46 
 
 nobleman, who infinitely preferred the arts of peace. He was a ripe 
 scholar, was very fond of the fine arts, and was, according to 
 Clarendon, a very fine gentleman. Hume describes him as an orna- 
 ment of the Court, and of his order, and says he tooli up cudgels on 
 behalf of the misguided Charles merely from a high sense of honour 
 and a personal regard to his master. He paid dearly for his elevation 
 to the dignity of a dukedom. When he returned to his estate, after 
 the wars were over, he found that his parks, with the exception of 
 Welbeck, had been destroyed and plundered of their game, and his 
 losses have been estimated at no less than £700,000. But fortune 
 favoured his successors, and the possessions of the family have been 
 augmented in a variety of ways. The Park property, then a part of 
 Sherwood Forest, was bought of the Earl of Rutland. The fifth 
 Duke of Newcastle was a most distinguished man, and when he was 
 in office many important documents were dated from Clumber. He 
 was successively Lord Warden of the Stannaries, Chief Secretary for 
 Ireland, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Secretary of State 
 for War. Of him the late Miss Martineau, writing his memoir in 
 1864, states "No statesman of our time has won a more universal 
 respect and regard, and few Ministers of any period could be more 
 missed and mourned than he will be by good citizens of all parties 
 and ways of thinking * * if- Those who were nearest 
 to him were subject to frequent surprises from his simplicity, his 
 unconcealable, conscientious, and abiding sense of fellowship with all 
 sincere people, whoever they may be. As a nobleman of aristocratic 
 England, he was in this way a great blessing, and a singularly useful 
 example." 
 
COLSTON BASSETT. 
 
 HE manor of Colston Bassett, which is situated in the Southern 
 Division of this county, has been in the possession of several 
 different families. It is perhaps absolutely certain that no 
 family ever held it so long as the Bassetts, who were its lords more 
 than seven hundred years ago, and who had property in the county 
 for generations afterwards. When Stephen was King, Ealph Bassett, 
 after whom this place is named, filled the highest judicial office in the 
 State, and his career furnishes an instance of judicial severity which 
 has probably no parallel in the records of judges' sentences. At an 
 Assize held in Leicestershire he is said to have convicted capitally 
 fourscore criminals, and to have condemned six others to undergo the 
 most horrible forms of torture. Perhaps it was in atonement for this 
 extraordinary severity that, later in his life, he gave a strip of land 
 and ten fat oxen for the maintenance of a Monk in an Abbey situated 
 in another part of England. But this attempt to gain a reputation 
 for piety and benevolence did not secure Judge Bassett against the 
 influence of public opinion, and it was darkly asserted that this ex- 
 alted official had condemned people to death and torture in order that 
 he might enrich himself by their forfeitures. Ralph Bassett's son 
 was also a judge, but his legal career, so far as I know, furnishes no 
 extraordinary incident. For generations the Bassetts' held Colston, 
 and it is said that one of them was successful in procuring a grant 
 from Edward the First establishing a market and fair in the village. 
 During the sovereignty of Richard the Second Colston Bassett passed 
 into the hands of the Dukes of Buckingham, and by them it was held 
 until the reign of Henry the Eighth, when it was again sold. The 
 Hon. Mrs. Kay, sister to Lord Strafford, was in possession of the 
 estate at the end of last century, and dying abroad left it by will to 
 the late Mr. Henry Martin, M.P. for Kinsale, and afterwards Master 
 in Chancery. He died in 1839, and was succeeded by his second son, 
 Mr. H. B. Martin, who sold the estate in 1864 to Mr. G. B. Davy, 
 of the firm of Anthony Gibbs and Co., the eminent London mer- 
 chants. This gentleman died in 1874, and his son, Mr. G. B. Davy, 
 disposed of the greater part of the estate to Mr. Robert Millington 
 Knowles, a gentleman belonging to a Lancashire family, who now 
 resides at the Hall. 
 
 The late Mr. Davy was a great gardener. He built a small 
 village of glass houses, and he spent vast sums of money in perfecting 
 orchids, a floral luxury for which his gardens were famous. He built 
 
48 
 
 a house for his head gardener which in a town would be considered 
 large enough to accommodate a tolerably influential family, and he 
 employed some twenty men to attend to the work of his conservatories 
 and pleasure grounds. Mr. Davy also took a great interest in 
 cricket, and he had made, close to his house, a very fine cricket 
 ground, a task which, looking at the somewhat uneven formation of 
 the park and grounds and the character of the land, must have 
 involved a very large expenditure of money. The stove-houses were 
 certainly among the finest in the county, and the rare and beautiful 
 things which they grew were famed beyond the limits of this shire. 
 Mr. Knowles, although his tastes and aspirations do not run in the 
 direction of orchids, keeps this part of the garden in excellent order. 
 You may see in the houses that once were consecrated to the growth 
 of the pampered children of horticulture, a collection of fine showy 
 plants, and ferns, and hothouse products, sufficiently rare to show 
 that scientific gardening is not neglected, and certainly sufficiently 
 beautiful to indicate the existence of excellent taste on the part of 
 those to whom they belong. Then there are great glass houses 
 where grapes are grown, and where delicious fruits are brought to 
 perfection, as was the case in the time of the great orchid grower. 
 In-door gardening so far from being a lost art at Colston Bassett, 
 is carried on with systematic attention, with constant care, and with 
 unquestioned skill. Much of the work out of doors is done under 
 the instructions of Mrs. Knowles, who has directed her attention to 
 the opening up of vistas, and to the removal of growths which have 
 marred the landscape or interfered with the view. Small shrubs or 
 trees, and even larger specimens, which have got out of place, spoil- 
 ing the efiect of their finer and more leafy brethren, or interfering 
 with the prospect, have good cause to tremble to their very roots if 
 they should be unfortunate enough to attract the attention of the 
 lady of the house, who has not only ordered a quantity of timber 
 near the hall to be hewn down and cast into the fire, but has also 
 caused to be removed from their native soil to a fresh locality, other 
 trees which, in her opinion, have been out of place. Near the house 
 there is a very fine row of yews, supposed by the late Mr. Veitch, of 
 Chelsea, to have been planted 600 years ago, the efiect of which is 
 somewhat marred by the obstructive influence of a number of smaller 
 trees of the same class. The obstructives are to be taken up and 
 placed like so many naughty children at the back of their elders, 
 whose proportions they are now hiding from view. Mrs. Knowles 
 has efiected many improvements of this kind, and several very 
 pretty bits of pleasure-ground scenery have been brought to light 
 and sight under her dynasty. 
 
 As to Mr. Knowles, he perhaps spends much of his time in 
 solving the farming difficulty. He takes considerable interest in his 
 farm, which is within a convenient distance of the house. He has a 
 
49 
 
 large flock of sheep of the famous Shropshire breed, and has taken a 
 number of leading prizes from the sheep classes of several of the 
 agricultural shows — the Royal amongst them. He has some 500 
 acres of land in cultivation, and he farms it on the best principle. 
 At his farm most of the work is done by means of machinery, moved 
 by steam, even to the drying of wet hay. The stacks are, most of 
 them, under long metal roofs, raised by substantial supports, an 
 arrangement which saves the trouble and expense of thatching, 
 which in these days is often so imperfectly done. If the hay be wet 
 there is a machine for drying it, the moisture being removed and 
 carried away in the form of vapour by means of a fan. The ar- 
 rangement is perfectly simple, and Mr. Knowles tells me it is so 
 effectual that this last season his hay crop was in no way spoiled by 
 the wet. Mr. Knowles is a constant follower of the chase, and with 
 first-rate hunters in his stables, four packs of hounds meeting within 
 reachable distance of his residence, and plenty of time on his hands, 
 he has ample opportunities of indulging in a pastime which is 
 perhaps even more to his taste than that which he followed more 
 frequently some years ago, when he was master of one of the oldest 
 packs of harriers in the country. 
 
 The hall and the church at Colston Bassett are removed from 
 the village. The former has stood the test of time remarkably well ; 
 the latter is the older of the two, and some would say that the time 
 had come when it might with advantage be placed in the hands of 
 the restorers. The church, which stands on an eminence on the 
 verge of the park, was built and endowed by the Abbey of Laund in 
 Leicestershire, and competent authority has fixed its date at about 
 1293, though it was evidently built on the site of an older church, 
 the Norman pillars of which remain. It was a cruciform building, 
 with north and south aisles and transepts, but the north aisle and 
 north transept were taken down just a century ago, the authorities of 
 that time considering it too large for the limited requirements of the 
 parish. Three of the five sweet-toned bells have quaint pre-Reform- 
 ation inscriptions on them. On the one of the date 1606 there is 
 this couplet — 
 
 My roaring sound doth warning give 
 That men here cannot always live. 
 
 The other two inscriptions are in Latin. In former times part of the 
 village surrounded the church, and in very dry seasons the foundations 
 of houses may be traced. In a map of Queen Elizabeth's time, still 
 in existence, the names of the occupiers of the dwellings may be 
 found. In all probability the village was much more populous than 
 it is now, but when the Fosse road ceased to be the principal artery 
 in this part of the county, the villages in the district became less 
 populous. In the year 1604 the village was visited by a terrible 
 p 
 
50 
 
 plague scourge which destroyed a number of the inhabitants and 
 spread alarm throughout the whole district. In presenting these 
 facts I ought to say that my own observation has been very much 
 aided by certain information very kindly furnished me by the Rev. 
 Joshua Brooke, who succeeded his father in the incumbency, which 
 he had held since 1800. 
 
 The hall has been altered by successive owners. For instance, 
 the entrance, which was formerly on the south side, is now on the 
 west. From the windows on the south you now look down a fine 
 grove of trees, planted in 1710, and overshadowing what is called 
 the Lord's Walk. The front part of the house looks towards the 
 village, which, however, is hidden from view. The most important 
 internal improvement made by Mr. Knowles is to be observed in the 
 drawing room, which has been extended so as to take in a smaller 
 apartment. This is a long elegant room, full of pretty furniture, and 
 bright with growing ferns and flowers. The walls are liberally 
 covered with water-colours, and the room well supplied with pretty 
 things, among them valuable china vases, and some elegant stands of 
 Indian workmanship. Amongst the water-colours is one larger than 
 the rest, " The Letter Writer," which has attracted such attention 
 that Mr. Knowles was asked to send it to the Philadelphia Exhibition. 
 He allowed it to go across the water, along with a magnificent water- 
 colour by Louis Haghe, which now hangs in the morning room, and 
 is perhaps the best picture in the whole of Mr. Knowles' collection. 
 It represents a Cardinal Mass in the Sistine Chapel, in all the rich 
 colouring and impressive detail which are associated with such a 
 ceremonial. At the back of the altar rises the grand fresco of 
 Michel Angelo, the figures in that masterpiece being faithfully 
 reproduced. The floor of the chapel is thronged with people, some 
 in an attitude of prayer, but the majority standing, while three people 
 kneeling at the altar are receiving some rite at the hands of the 
 priests. The picture is a masterpiece of its kind, and, I am told, it 
 attracted a good deal of attention at the Philadelphia Exhibition. 
 
 The whole of the pictures at Colston Bassett are modern. 
 Most of them have been bought by Mr. Knowles from the walls of 
 the Royal Academy at different exhibitions. The majority of them 
 are hung in the dining room and billiard room. Amongst the 
 Academy pictures are two by Mr. G. A. Storey — " Little Swansdown " 
 and "The Blue Girls of Canterbury" — a picturesque procession of 
 girls in the clean, comfortable garb of the institution to which they 
 belong, a work which I remember having seen on the walls of 
 Burlington House. The fine picture by Mr. Ansdell, R.A., where 
 the painter shapes out in firm drawing and truthful colour his con- 
 ception of Burns' " Poor Mailie,", 
 
51 
 
 " Now, honest Hughoc, dinna fail 
 To tell my master a' my tale, 
 And bid him burn this curs'd tether." 
 This said, poor Mailie turn'd her head, 
 And closed her e'en amang the dead, 
 
 which tells a pathetic tale of the sufferings of an unfortunate sheep, 
 was likewise purchased from the Royal Academy collection, as also 
 were " The Charcoal Burners," a very fine picture by Beavis, " la 
 the Haunted Chamber," by Mr. Yeames, an Academy associate, 
 supposed to represent a certain mysterious chamber at Belvoir 
 Castle, though I never knew of the existence of such an interesting 
 apartment ; a room in Hadden Hall, by Escusarer, painted on panel ; 
 Frith's " English Flower Girl," and two very fine landscapes by 
 James Linnell. One of these represents a panic in a hayfield caused 
 by the sudden breaking of a thunderstorm. A thin streak of forked 
 flame has just pierced the dark metallic clouds in the background, 
 two women at work in the field have hastily quitted their labour and 
 are snatching their babes from the sweet scented hay on which they 
 had laid them for safety, and among the male workers there is 
 manifest that sense of alarm which sometimes possesses people when 
 Nature's artillery is practising. This perhaps would not have a 
 place among the six best pictures in the house, but it is a stirring 
 painting, and one that solicits a close inspection. Among that 
 favoured six, a strip of the sea which beats on the Kentish coast, by 
 T. Webster, would certainly have a place. The water is alive, and 
 the crest of one big wave shows that peculiar transparency which is 
 seen the moment before it breaks into foam. In the billiard room is 
 a small picture — one of those blood-red sunsets, which travellers tell 
 us are peculiar to the East, which is worthy of mention, apart from 
 any claims its artistic merit may have. On the back is an inscription 
 which tells that the picture was presented to the late Charles 
 Dickens in 1850, by Roberts, the artist, as a mark of respect for his 
 talent and worth, and in one corner appears the peculiar autograph of 
 the novelist, so that in all probability the picture was formerly at 
 Gad's Hill. I noticed also in the billiard room, associated with the 
 English artists, a good example of the style of the American painter, 
 Bradford, (" The Wrecked Emigrant Ship.") who numbers among 
 his patrons the Queen and the Duke of Sutherland. 
 
FLINTHAM HALL 
 
 ^^PLINTHAM Hall stands just far enough from the old Fosse 
 %W§t Road to be removed from the sound of the occasional, and 
 ^^!| that mostly rustic, traffic, which passes along that broad, 
 continuous highway, still one of the best in the county, after many 
 centuries of wear. There was a populous, and not unprosperous, 
 village of Flintham, which numbered amongst its population the 
 inmates of a great house, long before the present mansion was built. 
 The stones of which its imposing walls are composed, and whose 
 bright, fresh colour may almost be taken as suggestive of the purity 
 of the air which is blown from the surrounding hills, were unquarried 
 when the Husseys, Hackers, and Fletchers had a seat at Flintham, 
 and were of the county families. It is not half a century old yet, 
 having been built by the late Colonel Hildyard, doubtless at a very 
 great cost, and with a determination to make it one of the leading 
 houses in the county. On the Fosse Road, midway between 
 Bingham and Newark, you come to a lodge which overlooks a 
 winding gravel walk and an ornamental plantation. Before spring 
 has set in, and while the wild winds of March sweep through the 
 leafless branches of the lofty park trees, there are white patches 
 upon the turf, and they look like the remains of a lingering winter. 
 They are natural beds of snowdrops, which grow here in chaste and 
 unchecked luxuriance. On either side of the drive there are some 
 stately specimens of auricaria imbricata and cedrus deodara, the 
 former of which have had a hard fight for it during the winter. 
 The auricarias with their writhing arms, which seem to have been 
 struck motionless just as they were in the act of making some 
 fantastic curve, are in their proper place along a broad carriage 
 drive. 
 
 The entrance to the hall is under the tower, and you do not 
 get an adequate idea of the extent of the building upon first acquaint- 
 ance. Its proportions are best seen from the park or the gardens. 
 The external appearance of the house suggests the possession of elegant 
 apartments. There is one room at Flintham which is much hand- 
 somer than any of the rest, and fulfils every purpose for which the 
 principal apartment in a great house is designed. It is now used as 
 a drawing room, but if one called it the library, or the central hall, 
 or the saloon, no grave error would be committed. At one end of 
 this large and well-apportioned room, is a smaller apartment, which 
 
53 
 
 is separated by a kind of screen supported by marble pillars ; at the 
 other is a conservatory, lofty, cool, and well filled with plants, an 
 arrangement which is no less artistic than convenient. This 
 conservatory, though small as regards the area it covers, has been 
 carried up to a considerable height and fitted with great taste. It 
 is ornamented with mirrors ; there is a fountain of white marble 
 placed opposite to the room by way of which you enter this 
 miniature crystal palace, and at intervals there appear brackets upon 
 which are placed small marble figures of nymphs and goddesses. 
 The gas burners — gas is made on the premises — are the stamens of 
 so many white lilies, the lips of which are of marble. In the upper 
 part of the principal room, of which the conservatory may almost 
 be described as a continuation, is a gallery, which is reached by a 
 small spiral staircase, and from which one may more closely inspect 
 the richly decorated ceiling. On one side of the gallery is placed a 
 range of bookshelves, well stocked with a miscellaneous collection 
 of literature, part of which belongs to the owner of the mansion and 
 part to his tenant. On the other side is a range of plate glass, 
 distributed in the form or windows, in the midst of which is a kind 
 of alcove or recess with easy chair and table. This is a favourite 
 place with most people who visit Flintham, and who wish to be alone. 
 It commands a full and uninterrupted view of one of the brightest 
 and most cheerful prospects in the county. 
 
 Flintham Hall occupies a somewhat elevated site in the midst 
 of a landscape which is not hilly. The country about is generally 
 flat and of a decidedly pastoral description, but the park supplies a 
 cheerful expanse of scenery, broken and diversified by a somewhat 
 scattered sylvan growth, and acquiring an added variety by the 
 presence of a small lake, in the middle of which is a pretty summer- 
 house, built upon a little island. In the park alone, which is some 
 two hundred and fifty acres in extent, there is much to please the 
 eyes of those who happen to look out of the windows, whether of 
 the gallery or the ground floor, in the full light of midday, or when 
 the sinking sun is reddening the surface of the lake. There is in 
 this handsome saloon, which I will call the library, a singularly fine 
 projecting mantelpiece of carved wood. This was purchased by 
 Mr. Hildyard at one of the exhibitions, and it is said that a desire to 
 have so handsome a piece of furniture set otf to the best advantage, 
 prompted the owner to build this superb apartment, in which the 
 proportions of the mantelpiece are now effectively displayed. On 
 either side of the fireplace a large picture is hung. Those who are 
 familiar with the best known examples of Snyders art, will recognise 
 that master in the library. The picture represents an affray between 
 dogs and foxes (not, I think, a common kind of warfare, that is, 
 when waged by three foxes against twice the number of dogs), in. 
 which the dogs appear to be getting the worst of iU 
 
54 
 
 The dining room contains the bulk of the pictures — chiefly- 
 family portraits of the Hildyards and Thorotons (the late Colonel 
 Hildyard was a Thoroton before he married Miss White, the heiress). 
 Dr. Thoroton, the historian and antiquarian, was one of the family, 
 and his portrait is among the dining room collection. Sir Robert 
 Hildyard, of whom more hereafter, sat in his early days to Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds, and later to Sir Thomas Lawrence, and the results are at 
 j)resent preserved on canvas in the dining room at Flintham, together 
 with several of the Darcys, who were collaterally related. Cuyp 
 and Ruysdael are both represented on the rooms of this beautiful 
 residence, and there are two good examples of the art of Philip 
 Mercier, and one of that of a celebrated Dutchman — " The Prodigal 
 Son." The portraits in the drawing room are let into the panelling, 
 which completely pervades the wall, with such nicety, that they 
 look like little panel pictures. They are mostly the portraits of 
 Mr. Hildyard's ancestors — the members of a family, one of whom, as 
 commander for the Lancastrians, beat off the Yorkists, at Towton, 
 held the bridge, and was distinguished for his general bravery. 
 Occupying a prominent position amongst this family group, is a 
 portrait of Mr. Thomas Blackborne Thoroton Hildyard, who has 
 represented the southern division of this county for many years, and 
 is as fine a specimen of an English country gentleman as you would 
 meet with in a day's march. The picture over the mantelpiece, 
 evidently painted some years ago, gives, I think, an imperfect idea of 
 Mr. Hildyard's presence, when, ten years ago, it was more familiar 
 in the district than now. 
 
 Mr. Hildyard belongs to a family of distinction, and one of 
 his ancestors, called Robin of Reddisdale, the holder of the bridge at 
 Towton, was a distinguished personage during the reigns of three 
 English kings. He was created a baronet at the Restoration. John 
 Hildyard was Recorder of Stamford, Grantham, and Leicester, at a 
 much later date. Yorkshire, I believe, counts the Hildyards among 
 its county families, and Winestead Hall, in the neighbourhood of 
 Hull, is still one of their seats ; but possessing as they do a splendid 
 mansion in Nottinghamshire, and taking the position they have taken 
 in the affairs of the county, that branch to which the member for 
 South Nottinghamshire belongs, may fairly be placed among the 
 leading families of this shire. Colonel Hildyard, who died fifty 
 years ago, was distinguished for his liberality. He considered 
 during his lifetime that the church, which adjoins the hall at 
 Flintham, wanted restoring, and at his own cost he put it in a proper 
 state of repair. He rebuilt the tower and nave, and left the chancel 
 as it is now, except that it was then perhaps, in a better state of 
 preservation. He may have thought that as little as possible should 
 be left to perpetuate the memory of a vicar whose eccentricity led 
 hito to do menial work for the farmers for the sake of earning a few 
 
55 
 
 pence. You can walk out of the conservatory at the hall into the 
 church, where there is a great family pew with faded hangings, a 
 roomy west gallery which appears to be little used, and in the corner 
 of the chancel part of an armed knight mutilated and imperfect. 
 Colonel Hildyard was succeeded by his son, who was first elected for 
 South Nottinghamshire in 1846. In that year Lord Lincoln was 
 appointed to the Chief Secretaryship for Ireland under Sir Robert 
 Peel, and Mr. Hildyard opposed his re-election for the county. At 
 that time two questions attracted public attention — the repeal of the 
 Corn Laws and the grant of £30,000 towards the Roman Catholic 
 College at Maynooth. Lord Lincoln was a staunch advocate both 
 for the grant and for Free Trade, and he had opposed to him the 
 formidable influence of his own father. At the poll Mr. Hildyard 
 secured the seat by a majority of 687 votes. Mr. Hildyard held the 
 seat until 1852, when he retired to make way for Lord Newark — the 
 present Earl Manvers — having sat during the intervening period with 
 Colonel Rolleston, and afterwards with Mr. Robert Bromley, as his 
 colleagues. After an interval of fourteen years, on the death of the 
 Earl of Chesterfield and the succession of Lord Stanhope, one of the 
 then members for the southern division of the county, to the peerage, 
 Mr. Hildyard was returned for his old constituency unopposed, and 
 was always returned without a contest, until the general election of 
 1880, when the Liberals, in the person of Mr. S. B. Bristowe, made 
 an unsuccessful attempt to oust him. When the late Lord Belper 
 resigned the chairmanship of Quarter Sessions, Mr. Hildyard was 
 appointed by his brother magistrates to succeed his lordship, and he 
 held the post for about three years. 
 
 In the Library at Flintham, belonging to Captain Lane, the 
 present occupant of the house, is a very fine drawing, representing 
 the kindly features of an elderly gentleman attired in an ecclesiastical 
 VGstment, and those of a lady somewhat younger. The picture is 
 beautifully executed, and it represents Canon and Mrs. Lane, the 
 father and mother of the gentleman who has recently come to reside 
 in this county, and who has occupied at various periods three of its 
 best known houses — Colwick Hall, Wollaton Hall, and now Flintham 
 Hall — three houses which have very few features in common. 
 Captain Douglas Lane, who has been long enough in the county to 
 win a popularity which does not fall to the share of every new comer, 
 and which wealth alone cannot purchase, comes of a Staffordshire 
 family — the Lanes of King's Bromley — who are said to have come 
 to England with the Conqueror. His father was an honorary canon 
 of Canterbury and rector of a Kentish parish, and his ancestor was 
 the Colonel John Lane who was instrumental in saving the life of 
 King Charles the Second at the Battle of Worcester — a saving which 
 may, or may not, have given the country cause for gratitude, but 
 which being a brave act, Colonel Lane was rewarded with a 
 
56 
 
 special badge of honour, and a peerage was offered to the 
 family but declined. Captain Lane, of this county, the descendant 
 of these, formerly held a commission in the 17th Lancers. He has 
 now laid down his arms and adopted the life of a country gentleman, 
 the pursuits connected with which appear to be admirably suited to 
 his tastes. He is a first-class shot, and his well stocked gun room at 
 Flintham may be taken as evidence that much of his time is spent 
 out of doors. His own private room commands a view of the stables 
 (and at Flintham there is ample provision for horses,) and furnishes 
 some further evidence as to the nature of his tastes. Captain Lane 
 is an owner of racehorses, though latterly he has abandoned the turf, 
 and retired still further into the arcadia which is open to a country 
 gentleman with abundant means at his disposal. But he has had 
 some good blood in his stables, and as far back as 1855 a horse of 
 his, named Epaminondas, won the Chester Cup to the delight of the 
 owner, who likes a horse to win on its merits. Small races he 
 has won in different parts of the country, and his nomination has 
 always been looked upon as a " square thing." 
 
GROVE. 
 
 ROVE originally belonged to Roger de Busli, who was 
 possessed of no fewer than a hundred and seventy-four 
 manors in Nottinghamshire. These were granted to him by 
 William the Conqueror, and Grove and West Retford were amongst 
 the number. In the reign of Henry the Second, the Grove estate 
 passed to Gilbert de Arches, and by marriage it was carried into the 
 de Hercy family in the following reign. With the de Hercys — a 
 family of title, it remained for a great number of years, until Sir 
 John de Hercy granted it to one of his sisters, and co-heiress, who 
 had married Mr. George Neville, of Ragnall. We now find Grove 
 in the possession of the Nevilles, and it so remained until the latter 
 end of the seventeenth century, when Sir Edward Neville sold it to 
 Sir Cresswell Levinz, one of the judges of the Common Pleas. The 
 son of this gentleman, who resided at the Grove after his father's 
 death, was one of the members for East Retford, and afterwards for 
 the county. Grove continued in the possession of the Levinzs for 
 three generations. In the year 1762, one of the family sold the 
 whole of the estate to Mr. Anthony Eyre, of Rampton, whose family 
 retained it until by marriage, it came into the possession of the 
 Vernons, who reside there now. Piercy, in his history of Retford, 
 says : — " A large brick house in the Old English style with gable 
 ends and mullion windows, had been erected at Grove, at a period 
 which is not known, and had undergone considerable alterations. 
 During the wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, the 
 Hercy family with their neighbours the Stanhopes of Rampton, were 
 active supporters of the House of Lancaster, and during the arduous 
 struggle for superiority were frequently surrounded by dangers of 
 no common kind. Afterwards as a mark of their zeal and as a 
 remembrance of their past services, they each of them inserted in the 
 walls of their respective mansions, a sculptured rose and crown, the 
 device assumed by Henry the Seventh and by many of his adherents. 
 This device was placed in the house at Grove, over a large Gothic 
 window which lighted the principal staircase. Sir Cresswell Levinz 
 and his son made some alterations in the house, and Mr. Eyre, after 
 he purchased it, entirely altered the character of it, removing the 
 whole of the ancient roof, and pulling down a considerable portion of 
 the south-west front, in place of which, under the direction of Mr. 
 Carr, the architect, he built a suite of rooms of handsome and more 
 convenient dimensions. In making this alteration he took down a 
 
58 
 
 stone tower, which must have been built in the time of Queen 
 Elizabeth, and under it were found a considerable number of coins of 
 that Queen's reign." 
 
 Grove Hall is one of the best houses in the north of the 
 county ; the estate in the midst of which it stands is, from its forma- 
 tion, and from its advantages of richly-wooded park and plantation, 
 one of the most picturesque in the locality. There are some charming 
 places round about Retford, and this is one of them. It is only three 
 miles distant from the ancient borough just named, and is well known 
 to most of the people who live there, not only because it is a large 
 and important house, employing a goodly number of people to do the 
 work of a considerable private establishment, but because the family 
 which has resided there for many, many years has taken a permanent 
 interest in Retford affairs, and has always been looked up to as one 
 possessing more than ordinary influence. The Vernons of Grove 
 are as well known in the north as any of the leading families are in 
 the south, though they have not been so long resident in the county 
 as a number of other families that I could name. They are a branch 
 of a family which has a peer for its head, and whose members have 
 held distinguished places in the Senate and in the Church. One of 
 them was an archbishop of York — Archbishop Harcourt ; several of 
 the family have been returned to Parliament by various constituencies. 
 One of them represented the neighbouring borough of Newark from 
 1852 to 1857. Mr. Granville Harcourt Vernon, who died only a 
 few years ago, and whose bones repose under a spreading 
 sycamore in the quiet churchyard at Grove, represented East 
 Retford in the Whig interest. The modest headstone recording 
 the name of the late lord of Grove and the date of his decease, 
 illustrates one of the leading traits of his character. His life was 
 one of the simplest, his habits were quiet and unobtrusive. But he 
 was a man of the world, and in his time had been looked upon in 
 high quarters with respect and deference. His successor, the 
 gentleman who now owns the important estate of the Vernons in this 
 county, extending over some 4,000 acres at Grove, is Mr. Evelyn 
 Harcourt Vernon, a canon of the Church, the second son of the 
 venerable squire to whom I have just referred. Until he came to 
 the property, Mr. Vernon was rector of Cotgrave, a village largely 
 owned by Lord Manvers ; he is now both lord and rector of Grove, 
 and in the thiy church near his charming residence he not unfre- 
 quently officiates. 
 
 The house over which the rector presides is a conspicuous 
 object in a charming landscape. Perhaps its proportions would 
 have been less familiar, if the brickwork of which its walls are 
 composed had not been coated with staring stucco — a piece of 
 questionable taste, for which a former proprietor was responsible. 
 Now it is a white house, dominating in landscape of exquisite beauty. 
 It enjoys a commanding situation, and its front overlooks an expanse 
 
59 
 
 of park land which is studded with old and majestic trees, and is 
 green with swelling turf. The view is charming ; the eye never 
 tires of it. Eastward lies Lincoln, with its superb minster, the 
 towers of which are visible from here on a clear day ; westward are 
 the sturdy oaks, delicate silver birches, and dark pines of Sherwood 
 Forest, and further away you may see the hills of Derbyshire. The 
 immediate neighbourhood is full of interest, for the Romans had a 
 station not far away, and relics of the past have been dug from the 
 fertile soil, upon which everything seems to flourish. In the house 
 one is shown several things which are connected with its early 
 history, and with that of the family to whom the estate originally 
 belonged. In the hall there is a striking portrait of Sir Hardolph 
 Wastneys, the old lord of Headon, not far away, who made Grove 
 his principal residence, and whose great niece was espoused to 
 Mr. Anthony Eyre. At Headon there was once a house of some 
 consequence, but there are no traces of it now. Here, too, is a 
 picture of Sir Gervase Eyre, who was killed at the defence of 
 Newark Castle, and two portraits of Canon Vernon's ancestors in the 
 costumes of a remote period. In the library are some rare old books, 
 amongst them a very fine copy of the first published edition of 
 Shakespear's works, with the red edges which stamp its value ; and 
 hung upon the walls are engraved portraits of men who were once 
 celebrated in the county and elsewhere — the late Mr. Vernon, Mr. 
 Gaily Knight, Archbishop Harcourt, Sir Hamilton Seymour the 
 diplomat. Lord Carlingford, and others. Several of the rooms in this 
 part of the house were added by the late Mr. Vernon ; other parts of 
 it were built in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Queen Anne. On the 
 main staircase there hangs a piece of curious tapestry work, upon 
 which an immense amount of labour has been expended, and upon 
 which wonderful geographical knowledge is displayed. This is a 
 complete map of Nottinghamshire, worked by Miss Mary Eyre, in 
 1632. The work is still perfect, and the name of every place in the 
 county is marked with accuracy, and in the deftest manner. 
 Formerly the dining room was upstairs ; this apartment is now used 
 as a dressing room, and it contains some exquisite carving, believed 
 to be by Gibbons. In one of the principal of the lower rooms are 
 three fine pictures, supposed to be of James II., of the Duchess 
 of Portsmouth, and of Nell Gwyn, and a massive carved 
 sideboard of Venetian origin. The gardens at Grove are famous. 
 They were formed in the year 1798, and at that time they 
 were amongst the finest in the county. Even now they grow 
 marvellously fine flowers and fruit — gloxinias, which for beauty of 
 form and purity of tint, could hardly be surpassed, grapes, which for 
 lusciousness and profusion would bear comparison with the produce 
 of larger and more recently made vineries ; and there is a big kitchen 
 garden, set round with rose trees and smart flowers, which make a 
 brave show, and fill the air with perfume* 
 
KELHAM HALL, 
 
 ^^KLMOST everyone, who is in the habit of travelling on the 
 tPilf Midland line between Nottingham and Newark, has had a 
 glimpse of the noble building known as Kelham Hall, the 
 seat of Mr. Manners-Sutton. As you cross the river Trent by the 
 railway bridge near Newark you see across the fields and amongst 
 the trees, which are not tall enough to conceal its lofty tower and 
 high stack of chimneys, the changing outline of one of the stateliest 
 houses in this part of England. Twenty years ago or more, a fire, 
 the origin of which has never been satisfactorily ascertained, wrecked 
 Kelham Hall, and left its four bare walls standing, charred and grim, 
 amid the same trees which with ampler boughs shelter and protect 
 from eastern blasts, its more magnificent successor. On the 27th of 
 November, 1857, after the servants at the only barely completed 
 mansion had retired to rest, the alarm of fire was given. The owner 
 and his lady were abroad on that date, but their two children — the 
 marriage of the lady who in the account of the disaster is described 
 as a little girl three and a half years of age, was celebrated with 
 great festivity only a few years ago — were in the house at the time. 
 The results of this fearful fire were most disastrous. At the time of 
 its occuirence the house, as I have said, had only just been restored 
 at very great expense, and at the very time Mons. Verreau, the 
 eminent French artist, was on the premises, giving the finishing 
 touch to the costly work with which he had been entrusted. Money 
 would repair the loss sustained by the destruction of the building, 
 but it could not replace the heirlooms which became a prey to the 
 flames. Four valuable historical portraits were consumed ; those of 
 James II., William III., Queen Anne, and Lady Ann Hyde. A 
 number of family portraits which were with difficulty saved from 
 the wreck, hang upon the walls of the present mansion, but these 
 that I have named were damaged beyond redemption. The music 
 room, drawing room, and billiard room were completely swept away. 
 Upstairs valuable furniture, with drapings of damask and point lace, 
 was burnt, and damage to the extent of some £15,000 was done in a 
 very few hours. 
 
 Singularly enough, the ancient fabric which stood on this site 
 was destroyed by fire in the reign of William and Mary. Some five 
 years after the burning of the restored mansion there had been 
 created a new Kelham Hall of magnificent proportion, and of au 
 
61 
 
 architectural beauty superior to that possessed by its predecessor. 
 It stands there now, a grand ornament to an exquisite landscape. 
 The late Sir Gilbert Scott supplied the designs, and Kelham Hall is 
 said to be one of that great architect's most successful works. It is 
 built in the Italian style, of red brick with stone facings, and its 
 sumptuous front, seen from the road, suggests many lofty and beauti- 
 ful rooms. Approaching the hall from Newark you are only made 
 aware of its whereabouts by furtive glimpses of red bricks, for there 
 is much foliage around Kelham. Without possessing elevation, 
 which is generally considered a necessary advantage, Kelham Hall 
 enjoys a most beautiful situation, and nature has given lavish aid to 
 its improvement. It commands a lovely bit of river scenery. Right 
 in front of its windows the Trent flows broad and rapid, making 
 angry little eddies where its course is impeded, and sweeping 
 swiftly through the wide arches of the handsomest bridge in the 
 county. Away to the right the spire of St. Mary Magdalene's 
 Church at Newark rises sharp and bold against the sky, and all about 
 are the fine tall trees — ash, oak, chestnut, elm, and fir — which 
 thickly stud the twenty -five acres of park land that belong to the 
 Kelham estate. As I walk along the broad, leaf-covered, gravel 
 drive that leads to the house a pair of pheasants, which have come 
 to look for something better than " hedge-fruit," utter their harsh, 
 startling note, and hide themselves in the thick shrubs which skirt 
 either side of the walk. The immediate approach of the house is 
 through a. spacious glass-covered court. It ought, perhaps, to be 
 described as a conservatory, for it contains an assemblage of palms 
 and trees of foreign extraction, which flourish with topical luxuri- 
 ance. It is a magnificent house inside, and the arrangements are in 
 ^ exquisite taste. The ceilings of the several rooms are wonders of 
 beauty. They ought almost to be culled roofs, for they are arched 
 and slanting, beautifully mounded and wondrously decorated, the de- 
 signs showing a delicacy of execution which could only have been 
 achieved by first-rate artists. The Music Hall is a superb room, 
 with a floor of polished oak, inlaid with rare woods which have been 
 set with every care and precision. There are pillars of polished 
 granite, arches of stone, mullioned windows, and a spacious fireplace 
 with a kind of slanting canopy supported by granite pillars. In the 
 principal drawing room the ceiling — the ceilings form one of the 
 great charms of Kelham, is even more beautiful than that of the 
 music gallery and the other rooms. It is not a large room, but it is 
 exquisitely furnished with a suite of green velvet. The walls are 
 panelled with the same material, and between the panels are hung 
 some three or four bright modern pictures of large size. The 
 pillar in the centre of the room, to which the painted ceiling dips for 
 support, is very beautiful. It is a triad of the most delicious marble 
 of that rare and richly marked creamy variety, which is so much 
 
62 
 
 thought of. The upper part of the pillar has a moulding of metal 
 elaborately wrought. The stonework of the windows of this room 
 shows very fine carving, and the pillars placed at the sides of each 
 one of them are of Australian marble, dark and wavy. The several 
 liquid mirrors with which the room is ornamented add to its bright- 
 ness. 
 
 In another part of the house there is a small drawing-room 
 panelled with cedar, which gives out a delicious odour that never 
 dies away, and here again one is charmed with the ceiling, which 
 shows the blue tint of a summer sky. There is a great profusion of 
 stone carving about the house. It forms the frames of the windows ; 
 it appears about the pillars, and there is more of it outside. The 
 dining room, the morning room, the billiard room, and the upstairs 
 rooms are all very beautiful, and perpetuate the general idea of 
 beauty with which one is impressed. Such a gigantic work was 
 the re-building of Kelham Hall that one or two of the rooms 
 are yet in an unfinished state. One apartment with stained glass 
 windows was intended for a chapel, but it has never been completed ; 
 and there is yet another unfinished room, and one would think the 
 house was large enough for all requirements if it never was 
 finished. In what is called the morning room there is an exquisite 
 miniature on ivory of Mrs. Manners- Sutton, painted some twenty 
 years ago by an artist who achieved some considerable celebrity in this 
 department of his profession, and on the walls is a portrait in oil of 
 the owner of Kelham, the work of a French painter. There are 
 some half-dozen or more family portraits in this room, including those 
 of Sir William and Lady Hungerford, Lady Lexington, wife of 
 Robert first Lord Lexington, of whom Mr. Manners-Sutton is the 
 lineal descendent. Several much-prized portraits were destroyed 
 by the fire of 1857, but others were happily preserved, and Kelham 
 now boasts a good collection of family pictures, the larger of which 
 are hung in interesting array on the ample wall flanking the main 
 staircase. These furnish us with a history of the family. There 
 are here Lord George Manners-Sutton, who achieved a military 
 celebrity ; the Hon. William George Sutton, son of the second 
 Lord Lexington ; Bridget, daughter and heiress of the second 
 Baron Lexington, by whose marriage the family became united with 
 the house of Manners (the name borne by the Duke of Rutland) ; 
 Robert created Baron Lexington, of Averham, in the reign of the 
 first Charles, and Mary, a daughter of the house of St. Leger, 
 who became wife of Lord Lexington. In Mr. Manners-Sutton's 
 business room there are one or two pictures and a portrait over the 
 mantelpiece of the third Duke of Rutland's son, John, Marquis of 
 Granby, who, judging from the expression of healthy, and settled 
 contentment that the canvas shows, was well satisfied with his lot, 
 
63 
 
 The table in the room is strewn with letters, papers, and books of 
 reference, for Mr. Manners- Sutton is a thorough man of business, 
 and when at Kelham he spends much time in his comfortable 
 little business room amongst his books and papers. The principal 
 upstairs rooms at Kelham are superbly fitted, and here again there 
 is some fine ceiling work. From a boudoir upstairs that charming 
 view towards Newark is to be had in its best aspect. The 
 gardens outside are just what the pleasure grounds of a great house 
 like this should be. They are extensive and tastefully laid out in 
 spacious lawns, ornamental flower beds and trim walks, and in 
 summer, when the flowers are in bloom, they look bright and 
 beautiful. The grey church with its low tower, grassy, silent church 
 yard 
 
 Where lies the turf in many a mouldering heap, 
 
 and dark yews can be reached through the gardens. Inside there is 
 a monument of fine statutary marble, to the memory of the last Lord 
 Lexiugton and his lady ; outside, in the tower, there was, at the time 
 of my visit, a battered clock, which at a quarter to eight, some 
 time or another, was afflicted with paralysis, and had never "gone " 
 since. 
 
 Mr. Manners-Sutton's family is of considerable antiquity. 
 His ancestors were the Lords Lexington, who took their title from a 
 village of that name in the north of the county, and one of whom 
 served his country as ambassador to the Court of Turkey. Henry 
 de Lexington, the fourth baron, died in 1257, when the title became 
 extinct. William de Sutton came in for a considerable share of the 
 property of this noble, and his descendant, Robert Sutton, was in 
 1646 created Baron Lexington of Averham, but at the death of 
 his successor in 1723, the title again became extinct, and has not 
 since been revived. From the year 1792 till his death, in 180.5, 
 Charles Manners-Sutton was Archbishop of Canterbury, and his son, 
 who bore the same name, \sas for many years Speaker of the House 
 of Commons. Mr. John Henry Manners-Sutton has had some 
 political experiences. Li the year 1847, when a young man, he was 
 elected Member of Parliament for Newark as a Liberal Conservative. 
 His opponent at that election was Colonel Stuart, Q.C., a London 
 gentleman, who came forward in the Protection interests, Mr. 
 Manners-Sutton being the free-trade candidate. At the nomination 
 which took place in July of the year just given, Mr. John Handley 
 proposed Mr. J. H. Manners-Sutton as a fit and proper person to 
 represent the borough, a nomination which was seconded by 
 Councillor Lacey, and the show of hands was in favour of Mr. 
 Sutton. Mr. Manners-Sutton's speech on that occasion was both 
 temperate and modest. He admitted the grave charge of youth that 
 
64 
 
 had been brought against him, and told the electors that " the only 
 ground on which he could rely for the honour he sought was that 
 of friendship." He was elected by a very appreciable majority, 
 but he did not remain in Parliament to see education extended 
 to all classes of the State — an education such as in these days is pro- 
 vided for the poorest child. Mr. Manners-Sutton is a magistrate for 
 the county and was High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 1863. 
 
KINGSTON. 
 
 ^^MHEN the late Lord Belper, as plain Mr. Edward Strutt, 
 ^BM acquired the Kingston property, there was no house in 
 ^^^^ the neighbourhood which could possibly be appropriated 
 as the residence of a man of his estate and position. The house 
 where Babington once lived, whose wicked plot to overthrow the 
 ruling monarch, and to re-establish the supremacy of the Roman 
 Catholic religion, brought him to a disgraceful death, had dis- 
 appeared, and the estate which had been owned by a succession of 
 illustrious personages was mansionless. Mr. Strutt was probably 
 struck with the quiet pastoral beauty of the surrounding country, 
 and he built himself a handsome mansion at Kingston, selecting a 
 favourable eminence for its site and the beautiful architecture of 
 the Elizabethan period for its lines. Built of good stone, laid with 
 geometric precision, Kingston Hall will last for ages, and will be a 
 conspicuous object in this admirable bit of border landscape, long 
 after its present lord has passed away. For some thirty-five years 
 the late noble owner, who was no less distinguished for his know- 
 ledge of, and connection with, the affairs of State, than for his scholarly 
 attainments and profound erudition, made Kingston his home, and 
 within the solid walls of his Nottinghamshire residence, with a 
 magnificent collection of the gems of modern literature to hand, 
 and surrounded by works of art, which at this point may bo 
 best described as being every one of them good ; with beautiful 
 grounds in which to spend so many of the sunny hours as he 
 chose, he enjoyed that rest which was so essential at the end of a 
 long — a very long and active life. The late Lord Belper was an 
 ex-Minister of State, who had spent a long life in the service of both 
 branches of Legislature, and had been called to a place in the Privy 
 Council of the Sovereign, and for a long period discharged the duties 
 of a chairman of Quarter Sessions with all the dignity and legal 
 acumen of a distinguished judge. Li his bright sitting room at 
 Kingston, under the spell of his gentle manners, of his cordial, 
 homely welcome, one might be pardoned for forgetting these facts, 
 and for regarding him simply as a kind-hearted old man, whose 
 engaging conversation could be listened to with a complacency 
 undisturbed by any consciousness of the disparity of position which 
 exists between the hearer and the listener. One felt no hesitation 
 in following him to a small cabinet which stands in a corner of the 
 
66 
 
 billiard saloon, and one listened with delight to the few words 
 uttered with the authority of a scholar, in which he told the history 
 of some half-dozen queer looking specimens of old pottery, which 
 were unearthed on the estate not very long ago, A question arose 
 as to whether they were of Anglo-Saxon or some other primitive 
 manufacture. Lord Belper thought they are Anglo-Saxon, and I 
 should not imagine anyone would dispute the accuracy of his 
 judgment. In the same cabinet is some Etruscan ware, which was 
 brought from Athens, together with a number of other curiosities, 
 by the late Bishop of Chichester. One listened with equal pleasure 
 to the concise history from the same lips of a singular unfinished 
 painting by West, once president of the Royal Academy, which 
 hung in his lordship's room, and in which the figures of three dis- 
 tinguished personages are introduced. Since my visit to Kingston, 
 the first Baron Belper has passed away, and his son, then Mr. Henry 
 Strutt, bears his title and owns the estate. 
 
 Lord Belper is the headof a wealthy family, whose represent- 
 atives have not inherited their property from ancestors who received 
 enormous grants from lavish monarchs. Some of them have amassed 
 wealth in the walks of commerce, and there have been members of 
 the family whose names were, and are, associated with acts of 
 munificence and benevolence. It was Mr. Joseph Strutt who gave 
 an arboretum to the people of Derby. The late Lord Belper was the 
 descendant of Mr. Jedediah Strutt, of Belper, his great grandfather ; 
 his father was Mr. William Strutt, of St. Helen's House, Derby, 
 where the Grammar School of that town now stands. After passing 
 a successful career at Cambridge, where he attained the highest 
 degrees the University could bestow, Mr. Edward Strutt entered 
 Parliament for Derby before the passing of the Reform Bill. He 
 represented that borough for eighteen years, during the two last 
 of which he was First Commissioner of Railways, a post then of 
 some considerable importance. In 1848 Mr. Strutt lost his seat for 
 the neighbouring town, on petition, but in 1851 he found a seat for 
 Arundel, in Sussex. In consequence of religious and poHtical 
 differences between Lord Arundel, the sitting member, and the Duke 
 of Norfolk, his relative, the former accepted the Chiltern Hundreds 
 in the year above named, and Mr. Strutt was elected in his stead. 
 Mr. Strutt represented this small constituency for one year, and then 
 came to Nottingham, for which town he sat in Parliament until 1856, 
 when, in recognition of his services to the State, he was raised to the 
 peerage under the title and sign of Baron Belper, having previously 
 held the Ministerial appointment of Chancellor of the Duchy of 
 Lancaster. Such is a brief and bare outline of the career of the 
 distinguished nobleman, who succeeded an equally distinguished 
 peer in the office of Lord-Lieutenant of the County, and whose 
 intellect at the advanced age of eighty was, perhaps, as keen and as 
 clear as at any period of his life. 
 
67 
 
 Though the mansion at Kingston-upon-Soar is too new to lay 
 claim to historic associations, there are some very interesting facts 
 connected with the bygone history of the village. Anthony 
 Babington, who, in 1588, was the ostensible leader of a diabolical 
 scheme, which had for its object the assassination of Queen Elizabeth, 
 a general insurrection, and an invasion of the country by the Powers 
 of France and Spain, in order to raise to the British Throne the 
 unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, and to re-establish the Roman 
 Catholic religion, had a mansion at Kingston. Babington 
 belonged to one of the leading county families whose represent- 
 atives were seated at Kingston for several generations. In the pretty 
 village church half a mile from the Hall, there is a handsome monu- 
 ment to their memory, and a piece of stone screenwork whose like is 
 not to be found in any part of the county. It may possibly have 
 been at Kingston that Babington and the priest Ballard conceived 
 the outline of that plot which brought them both to the gallows. 
 The manor has subsequently belonged to Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, 
 and to a former Duke of Leeds. These are matters which have a 
 legitimate place in any account of this residence, but it is with the 
 Kingston of to-day that I have to deal ; to give my readers some idea 
 of the nature of the contents of Lord Belper's mansion, and to 
 convey to them, if it were possible, some of the impressions that 
 I gained during the few pleasant hours I was permitted to spend 
 there on a beautiful day in the early part of the year. There are 
 some very fine works of art in the Kingston collection. We are 
 not all art critics ; we cannot all of us appreciate the subtleties of 
 merit which the trained and cultivated judge of pictorial art 
 detects on a canvas ; but we know when we are in the presence of a 
 master, and if we can find nothing specially interesting in a gallery 
 of family portraits — of cavaliers and courtiers, who may or may not 
 have been virtuous and good, we can find an almost unspeakable 
 delight in the grand masses of light and shadow, the transparency of 
 still pool or rippling brook of a Ruysdaal, or the charm of colour 
 in a Wynants or a Berchem. The pictures at Kingston are all 
 good. Some thirty of them, distributed over different parts of the 
 house, were purchased by the first Lord Belper from the famous 
 collection of the Duke D'Alberg, and they are all of them very 
 fine specimens of the masters whose names they bear. 
 
 Let us take a general glance at this very valuable collection, 
 the existence of which, it is fair to suppose, is not generally known. 
 In the library, with its rows upon rows of well-bound and well-read 
 books, its lofty ceiling and handsome proportions, there is fixed over 
 the mantel-piece, in a deep framing of oak, a grand composition by 
 Vandyck. It is a procession of Bacchanalian boys, one of whom is 
 leading a panther, which is bearing the drowsy Wine god. There 
 are a number of figures in the picture — rosy-limbed children in 
 
68 
 
 various attitudes, and the composition is one which possesses all the 
 splendour of a Titian. This picture long adorned the Balbi Palace 
 in Genoa, and was originally painted for that family by the famous 
 artist whose name it bears. A large portion of the D'Alberg 
 collection is spread over the walls of the drawing room. My 
 attention was drawn to two fine specimens of the work of Jacob 
 Kuysdaal's spirited pencil, which rarely touched any subject that did 
 not include a river, a brook, a ford, or water of some kind. One of 
 these is a view of the Castle of Bentheim, and the hill on which 
 the castle stands is bathed in glorious sunlight. It is said to be one 
 of the finest productions of the artist. On the same walls is a fine 
 specimen of the joint work of three of the most eminent masters of 
 the Dutch school — Vander Heyden and the brothers Adrian and 
 William Vandervelde. Not only the pictures of Vander Hayden, but 
 those of Ruysdaal and even of the great Wynants, whose disciple he 
 was, owe much of their beauty and worth to the embellishment of 
 Adrian Vandervelde. The beautiful slave engaged in dissolving 
 pearls, is by Guide ; that chaste picture of the Virgin and Child, 
 remarkable for its natural tone of colour, and truth of expression, 
 was painted by Andrea Vannuchi, commonly called Del Sarto, the 
 famous Florentine, who has been described as prince of the Tuscan 
 school. Amongst the other pictures which form part of Lord 
 Belper's magnificent purchase is a sketch in chiaroscuro, by Rubens, 
 of Christ bearing the cross, representing the procession to Calvary ; 
 in another part of the mansion there is a fine head by the same 
 master, which formerly belonged to the Elector of Bavaria, and 
 was preserved in the gallery at Munich. Returning to the drawing 
 room, one is permitted to make a passing study of the art of such 
 masters as Wynants, who is here represented by a couple of land- 
 scapes, Delorme, Nicholas Berchem, Vanderneer, and Polemburg, the 
 last-named of whom excelled as a flesh painter. One of Berchem's 
 pictures here is a bridge over the Tiber, and in the foreground is the 
 white horse, which this painter was so fond of introducing into his 
 compositions — a work remarkable for the power of its pencilling, and 
 the effective tone of the colouring. Vanderneer painted moonlight 
 effects perhaps as no other artist did either before or since his 
 time, and Lord Belper has a fine example of this artist's speciality 
 in his drawing room at Kingston, free from that intense black- 
 ness which characterises some of his works. It is a river scene 
 in Holland, and the moon rising behind an old mill illumines the 
 somewhat weird landscape with a soft and silvery light. The other 
 portion of the purchase has found its way into the dining room. Here, 
 above the mantel-piece, is a grand painting by Weenix — dead game 
 with some landscape in the background. A dead hare, painted with such 
 fidelity that one would hardly be alarmed if the draught from an open 
 window disturbed its fur, is a prominent object in the picture. Thg 
 
69 
 
 representation of the Cam pa Vaccino at Rome is by Romeyne ; the 
 figures were introduced by Cornelius Bega. Three admirable works 
 by Wright, of Derby, which hang in this goodly company, are not 
 unworthy to be mentioned in conjunction with those masters who 
 have contributed so largely to the Belper collection. Wright's 
 pictures are ever becoming scarcer and more valuable, and the fact 
 that he is allowed so much space on the walls at Kingston is sufficient 
 testimony to the excellence of his work. Two of the best of the 
 family portraits at Kingston came from his pencil and brush. Amongst 
 this class are two portraits by Linnel, and an admirable portrait of 
 the first Lord Belper by Richmond, whose likenesses are always 
 faithful. In other parts of the house are pictures by Tintoretto, 
 whose art here is represented by a mythological subject ; Holbein, 
 Cuyp, Sebastian Ricci (The Last Supper), Isaac and Adrian Ostade, 
 the elder Teniers, Maas, and Frank Hals, who may perhaps be 
 classed with Vandyck, as the greatest of portrait painters. Hals* 
 portrait of the two boys singing in the streets, is amongst a 
 number of other pictures in one of the upstairs corridors at Kingston, 
 and it bears evidence of that extraordinary rapidity of execution for 
 which the artist was remarkable. 
 
 Two or three excessively cold days during a recent winter, 
 destroyed acres of shrubs. Laurels and bays, whose development 
 had been the work of years, were utterly ruined, and there they 
 remain so many clusters of withered leaves in the midst of the 
 rich foliage of late spring. The frost knew no distinction. It chilled 
 the life out of the shrubs in the gardens and pleasure grounds of the 
 rich ; it worked equal ruin in the few roods of ground in which the 
 working man had planted his rose trees. Here and there in the 
 pleasure grounds at Kingston, small open spaces were left by the 
 removal of laurels ; and graceful shapes of shrivelled foliage, shown 
 by Cedrus Deodara and evergreen oak, marked the ruin wrought by 
 those two or three cruel days. But there still remain innumerable 
 sturdy and graceful firs of difierent varieties. The common pine, the 
 Cedar of Lebanon, the spruce fir, the Wellingtonia, and other 
 favourite shrubs bravely lived through the hard winter, and were 
 left to impart picturesqueness and beauty to the Kingston gardens. 
 It is a pleasure garden of shrubs and emerald turf — not flat and con- 
 ventional, but undulating and diversified. A lake of some nine acres 
 extent, has been formed in the grounds, and this is agreeably broken 
 by projections of sward, so that it has a variety of pleasant aspects. 
 In one part of the garden there is a patch of ground bright with 
 the turqoise stars of myosotis, the pale petals of primrose, and the 
 modest colours of some of the commonest spring flowers. This 
 plot, I was told, was the Dowager Lady Belper's special care, and 
 really it is one of the prettiest bits in the grounds. Under ranges of 
 glass, pines, grapes, peaches, and nectarines are grown in abundance and 
 
70 
 
 perfection, and flowers and plants are warmed into exotic brilliance 
 in the spacious stove houses. One of them is a bower of pale 
 yellow roses this morning ; another contains a wealth of geraniums 
 of dazzling brightness. Not far from the margin of the lake a 
 cluster of miniature tombstones publishes facts concerning the canine 
 mortality of Kingston, and furnishes an assurance that " Sprite," 
 " Madge," " Fritz," and a number of other defunct favourites, have 
 received a decent interment in unconsecrated ground. Beyond 
 the gardens is the estate, covering some 3,000 acres, some 400 of 
 which are farmed by Lord Belper's bailiff. A good deal of planting 
 has been done during the time the property has been in the 
 hands of the Strutts, and the limits of the estate are being gradually 
 extended. 
 
KIRKLINGTON HALL. 
 
 HE report of a breechloader comes from among the trees on 
 the well-wooded slope which shelters Kirkliugton Hall from 
 the severity of biting winds, and redeems a stretch of country 
 belonging to the house from the tameness which is sometimes asso- 
 ciated with pastoral landscape. The career of a luckless rabbit is 
 terminated, and the report rolls down the slope and dies away at a 
 crescent-shaped lake, the noise being loud enough to cause a hatch of 
 cygnets to crowd closer to their white plumed parent. The sports- 
 man is the representative of an old family, whose name has been 
 associated with Kirklington for more than a century. Duly entered 
 records in the College of Arms furnish proof of the connection of the 
 Whethams with the Sotherons, and the representatives of the first- 
 named family, who now own the soil here, ought to feel proud of that 
 connection whenever they visit the chancel of Kirklington village 
 church. The tablet which is intended to perpetuate the memory of 
 Frank Sotheron, Admiral of the White Squadron of Her Majesty's 
 fleet, describes him as an intelligent landlord, a friend of the poor, 
 a warm-hearted neighbour, and a most affectionate father. As a 
 sailor, he had a character for courage, conduct, and ability, and 
 " with these qualities he joined such engaging manners, such good- 
 ness of disposition, and unruffled temper, &c." The tablet publishes 
 the fact that the Admiral represented the county in Parliament for 
 nineteen years, and retired from public life in 1832, I suppose, to 
 spend the rest of his days at Kirklington Hall, enjoying sweet air 
 and fine views of wood and meadow, with those internal comforts 
 which the headquarters of the owner of a large estate afibrd, and 
 developing those superlative qualities with which his monumental 
 biographer was so profoundly impressed. It is probable that Major- 
 General Whetham, the only son of the Dean of Lismore, who served 
 his Sovereign in the field, was severely wounded at the assault of 
 Monte Video, and died at Kirklington Hall — his own home — had as 
 many virtues as the Admiral, but there is no record of them on the 
 church walls ; and the simple tablet which serves to remind Kirk- 
 lington church-goers of the late Colonel Boddam- Whetham, who 
 died in Rome only a few years ago, and whose widow now holds 
 and administers the estate, is an unobtrusive record of death, 
 setting forth that the deceased was a magistrate for the county, and 
 Colonel of the Sherwood Foresters, without note or comment. 
 
Many, many years ago, Kirklington Hall was owned by a 
 family named More, of whom also we are reminded by a nearly 
 illegible tablet in the church, but more recent generations knew it 
 as the residence of the Whethams. Most of the earlier members 
 of the Whetham family, as well as those of the present century, 
 followed the profession of arms ; several of them have gained 
 considerable distinction in the military branch of service, and some 
 of them have served their country as members of Parliament. From 
 a document that I had the privilege of inspecting, it seems that 
 Nathaniel Whetham, in the early part of the year 1600, was a 
 colonel in the Parliamentary Army, that he was afterwards governor 
 of Portsmouth and M.P. for that borough, in 1655, and for the city 
 of Edinburgh, in 1659. He was one of the council to the Lord 
 Protector Oliver Cromwell, and as a mark of favour for his 
 eminent services to the Parliament and the Commonwealth it was 
 resolved that a sum of £200 per annum be settled on the Colonel 
 and his heirs. The son of this distinguished personage, a barrister- 
 jit-law, married a daughter of Adrian Scroop, of Wormsley, in 
 Oxfordshire, a colonel in the army, and one of the Council to Oliver 
 Cromwell. The portrait of this gentleman, who, I believe, suffered 
 death in 1660, is to be seen on the walls at Kirklington Hall 
 to-day. Following up the pedigree we learn that Thomas 
 Whetham, grandson of the governor of Portsmouth, was a lieutenant- 
 general in the army and colonel of the 12th Regiment of Foot, 
 governor of Berwick and Holy Island, and major-general and 
 commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland, in the absence of the 
 Duke of Argyll and Earl of Stair. This gentleman's son was the 
 John Whetham who purchased the Kirklington estate, and whose 
 remains lie in Hockerton churchyard ; his brother was John 
 Whetham, First Commissioner of Excise, who died in 1737. In 
 more recent times Arthur Whetham was a lieutenant-general and 
 colonel of the 60th Regiment ; lieutenant-governor of the forces in 
 the south-western district, and groom of the bedchamber to the Duke 
 of Cumberland. His brother, John Whetham, an officer in the 12th 
 Regiment of Foot, was killed at the siege of Gibraltar ; the third and 
 youngest brother of this generation was drowned at school. The 
 present head of this old family, whose representatives in different times 
 have filled so many distinguished positions is the lady who now 
 owns Kirklington, Mrs. Boddam- Whetham, daughter of Colonel 
 Whetham, and widow of the late Colonel Boddam- Whetham, well 
 know in this county. 
 
 All the great houses of Nottinghamshire do not enshrine 
 treasures of art or objects which legitimately come under the 
 head of specialities. The internal aspect of one very much 
 resembles that of another, and the life of one county family does 
 not differ materially from that of another. One cannot be always 
 
13 
 
 describing the appearance of county drawing rooms, the quality of 
 the furniture, the designs upon the wall papers, or making literary 
 capital out of the contents of the conservatories. In a house like 
 Kirklington, which is occupied by a numerically small county family 
 — for two of the sons of the house are away, and the daughters are 
 married — and on whose walls are a number of portraits about T\hich 
 nothing definite is known, what can one find to write about ? Plenty. 
 In these great country houses with their big rooms, comfortable and 
 handsome furniture, and countless little treasures, the like of which 
 one never sees in town mansions which have been built yesterday ; 
 with their beautiful pleasure grounds and immemorial trees, there 
 is plenty to inspire the pen of a town dweller who lives in a street, 
 and who, if he gives ti supper party, has to consider whether his 
 rooms will accommodate more than half-a-dozen guests. To describe 
 Kirklington as a pretty place would convey to many of my readers 
 an indefinite, but not an inaccurate idea of what it is. A big solid 
 house, with white walls, which gleam through the surrounding trees ; 
 a house with a long drawing room, liberally ornamented, with a 
 kind of door-window on one side, and an abundance of glass on 
 the other ; with a comfortable dining room, a library of fair 
 proportions, a billiard room with appliances for playing that 
 favourite game, and a suite of fine rooms upstairs — these are the 
 main features of the house, and the same description would apply 
 to other houses. 
 
 Going more into detail, one might say a great deal about the 
 pictures, but, unfortunately most of these are mysteries of portraiture. 
 A number of the portraits belonged to Admiral Sotherou, and Mrs. 
 Boddam-Whetham does not know who those august personages in 
 their antique costumes really are. In the dining room there is a 
 portrait of one of the Whethams, by Wright, of Derby, who has 
 limned him in the costume he wore on the occasion of some 
 festivities when one of the Dukes of Portland came of age ; and 
 there is an old painting by an unknown artist, of Mr. Adrian 
 Scroope, who was connected with the family by marriage. There 
 are a few bright pictures in the drawing room, most of which 
 have been sent from abroad, and in difierent parts of the house there 
 are specimens of foreign art and spoils of far distant wood and forest, 
 which have been sent home by the eldest son of the house. Weapons, 
 stuffed birds of bright plumage, pictures, books, and a host of other 
 things have been derived from this source. Mr. Boddam-Whetham 
 has travelled much, and has written books on foreign lands. 
 Outside there is much to charm the eye. There is a beautiful 
 lake near the house, whose surface is flecked by animated snow- 
 flakes — white ducks of the purest plumage, and on a little island a 
 pair of swans have brought up their downy brood. This lake is 
 of picturesque formation j the water is clear and quiet, and there is 
 
74 
 
 a fine meadow on the other side. The fishing rod with its lash of 
 flies, which stands ready-jointed in the porch leading to the entrance 
 hall of the house, may be regarded as evidence that this sheet of 
 water is not uninhabited, and if you watch for a while you may see 
 the fish rising. The lawn about the house is smooth and well 
 kept, and there is plenty of it. The trees are abundant and of 
 almost endless variety, and the house is sheltered on one side by 
 a range of hills well wooded and profusely foliaged. On the other 
 side is the village, with its church, its small and substantial school, 
 its picturesque cottages and more pretentious farmsteads. The hall 
 is really in the village, and some two hundred yards of gravel road, 
 flanked by horse chestnuts and other tall trees, bring one within its 
 precincts. 
 
NEWSTEAD ABBEY, 
 
 ^^^ERHAPS no great house has such a wide reputation as 
 Newstead Abbey. Across the Atlantic its associations are 
 in men's mouths, and Americans coming to England, either 
 on pleasure or business, have found their way to its 
 secluded precincts, have been admitted to its splendid halls, and 
 have been allowed to inspect the few relics that are associated with 
 an imperishable name. They are small things these, but in the eyes of 
 pilgrims, they are covetous possessions, embodying a specific interest, 
 which the Florentine table of Pietra Dura work standing in the 
 grand saloon, and worth a fabulous sum of money, cannot boast. The 
 depositary of the famous skull cup is elegant and beautiful — a rich 
 cabinet of gilt and silver and tortoishell, but this superb shrine 
 would have escaped notice had the goblet itself been preserved. 
 For the vessel had the Byronic stamp upon it ; the poet's 
 lips had touched its rim, and it had contained the Burgandy, which 
 had stirred the blood, and brightened the eyes of the roysterers, 
 whose outrageous mirth has furnished the abbey with a tradition and 
 material for reminiscences that are now eagerly dwelt upon and fully 
 maintained. But the disappearance of the cup has not robbed its 
 owner's memory of a particle of its spell. There are Byron relics 
 at Newstead to-day, and visitors are freely admitted to their 
 presence. The precious collection is preserved in one of the corridors, 
 or galleries, where the light is abundant. There is the plain 
 circular table on which a portion of " Childe Harold " was com- 
 posed — the largest of the relics. The others are most of them 
 mere trifles, but possessing an interest which loses nothing of its 
 hold as they get older, dingier, and more insignificant. The spill 
 cups, the unpretentious specimens of crockery ware, the candlesticks, 
 inkstand, swords, singlesticks, boxing gloves, face guards, &c., 
 have but little intrinsic value, but for this miscellaneous collection of 
 old things, which you could almost press into an ordinary clothes 
 basket, there are those who would be glad to give fortunes. The 
 interest which still attaches to the Byron relics might possibly 
 be taken into account in assigning to the dead poet his place in the 
 temple of Fame. The Byron relics occupy but a small space within the 
 walls of Newstead, but they are reckoned among its most precious 
 possessions. Besides those already named, there are " Boatswain's " 
 Collar 5 carved oak chairs, containing embroidery work, by Lord 
 
76 
 
 Byron's sister Augusta, and the rapier which made the fatal puncture 
 in the body of the hapless Mr. Chaworth. A collection of autograph 
 letters and manuscripts, many of them by the poet, may be numbered 
 among the remains, though they are not generally shown. 
 These have been presented to Mrs. Webb at different times, and, 
 as in the case of the deeds of the Abbey, found in the ball of 
 the brass eagle lectern, which was taken from a pond to which 
 this piece of church furniture has given a name, they are most 
 carefully treasured. They are, however, occasionally brought to 
 light, and were produced for the inspection of Prince Leopold, when 
 that Royal Duke visited the Abbey, in 1881. 
 
 The abbey was founded in the twelfth century for the 
 accommodation of a set of canons, and attached to it was a good deal 
 of waste territory in Sherwood Forest, in which Newstead stood. 
 The revenues of the monastery increased during successive reigns,and 
 there is every reason to believe that it was in a thriving, and indeed 
 in a highly prosperous condition at the time of its surrender to 
 Henry the Eighth. In 1540 the abbey was granted to Sir John 
 Byron, Knight, Lieutenant of the Forest of Sherwood, and his heirs, 
 who spent money in destroying its monastic appearance, and convert- 
 ing it into a mansion, suited to the requirements of a sixteenth 
 century coun try gentleman of wealth and title. The grandson of the first 
 lay owner of Newstead was created a peer in 1643, and his descend- 
 entwas the author of "Childe Harold" and "Manfred." In the poet's 
 lifetime, Newstead, which had been in the possession of his family 
 ever since the reign of the Eighth Henry, which had once sustained 
 a seige, and which had often been the scene of great receptions and 
 of courtly assemblies, passed into other hands. It was here that 
 the foundation of that enduring movement of Fame, which Lord 
 Byron has left for the delectation of after generations was laid ; it 
 was within this Nottinghamshire house that some of the happiest 
 hours of his life were spent, and the trifles with which he amused 
 himself, and which were about him during the few short years of 
 his residence in this county, are still preserved among the treasures 
 of what was once his home. His attachment to the halls of his 
 fathers may be gathered from the oft-quoted extract from a letter 
 written to his mother, " Come what may, Newstead and I stand 
 and fall together. I have now lived on the spot, I have fixed my 
 heart upon it, and no pressure, present or future, shall induce me to 
 barter the last vestige of my inheritance. I have that pride within 
 me which will enable me to support difiiculties. I can endure 
 privations, but could I exchange Newstead for the first fortune in 
 the country, I would reject the proposition." But, mighty as was the 
 affection for ancestral masonry here disclosed, it was destined to 
 dissolve under the application of a pressing and galling necessity. 
 Three years after Lord Byron had assured his mother that he and 
 
77 
 
 Newstcad should stand or fall together, the home of the illustrious 
 house, of which he was the head, was brought to the hammer. A 
 bid of £90,000 was considered insufficient, and Newstead remained 
 unsold until an offer of £140,000 from Mr. Thomas Claughtonmade 
 it his property. Lord Byron seems afterwards to have regained 
 possession of the estate, which in 1818 was purchased by Colonel 
 Wildman, who was at Harrow with the poet, for £100,000. On the 
 death of Colonel Wildman, Newstead was again in the market, and at 
 the time it was stated that the Prince of Wales was in treaty for the 
 estate. But whether the sum asked for it was too large for even the 
 Royal Exchequer to disburse, in order to secure an occasional 
 residence, or whether questions of situation and convenience 
 exercised the Royal mind, certain it is that Newstead did not 
 become the residence of a Prince of the Blood. In 1860 Mr. 
 William Frederick Webb became the purchaser of Newstead Abbey, 
 which was sold by private contract. Mr. Webb, the intimate 
 friend of the great traveller, the late David Livingstone, and 
 himself a traveller and sportsman, as many a mighty trophy of 
 plain and jungle, distributed through the spacious halls of Newstead, 
 prove, is the son of Mr. Frederick Webb, of Westwick, Durham, 
 and is the owner of Cawton, in Yorkshire, as well as of Newstead 
 Abbey. 
 
 Newstead Abbey has had the good fortune to get into the 
 hands of those whose wealth and taste have enabled them to improve 
 the estate, to maintain the house with becoming splendour, and 
 whose liberality has been wide and generous enough to open its 
 portals to the respectable portion of the public. It is said that the 
 late Colonel Wildman spent £300,000 upon the estate, and tlie 
 improvement instituted by Mr. Webb, must have involved a very 
 considerable expenditure. As to the interior of the house, a day 
 might well be spent in looking over the contents, which, owing to 
 that afore-mentioned liberality, are familiar to large numbers of 
 people. The floor and walls of the grand saloon are loaded with 
 beautiful things — pictures by Vandyck and Kneller, Lely and 
 Lonsdale on the walls ; rare cabinets, enshrining gems of art and vertu, 
 lovely Limoges enamels, a supurb Etruscan vase, placed in an oriel 
 window so that the light may bring out its riches of colour ; an 
 ivory chair inlaid with gold, once the property of Warren Hastings ; 
 an inlaid table of Italie work, once the pride of an Italian 
 palace, itself worth the price of an estate ; and numerous other 
 things of beauty are brought within a closer range of vision. In 
 a corridor outside there are the famous Livingstone relics — the 
 explorer's cap and consular sword, with a number of weapons from 
 Central Africa, a collection to which Mr. H. M. Stanley has con- 
 tributed. A Wellingtonia and a Cedrus Atlantlca planted in the 
 gardens are pleasing, and it is to be hoped lasting memorials of the 
 
t8 
 
 visits to Newstead of Livingstone and Stanley, by whose hands they 
 were placed in the soil. There is a room in the abbey — in the Sussex 
 tower, known by the name of the great traveller — a room in which 
 was written that work which has now become a standard one, " The 
 Zambesi and its Tributaries." 
 
 The principal rooms at Newstead, full of interest as they 
 are, need not be described in detail to readers who have been 
 permitted to make themselves familiar with their contents. These 
 are what may be referred to as the historic rooms, which every 
 visitor is allowed to see — rooms in which sovereigns have reposed, 
 rooms that are still haunted by the spirit of the illustrious man of 
 whom Newstead was the cherished home. There is Lord Byron's 
 bedroom kept undisturbed, with its adjoining dressing room, con- 
 taining portraits of Joe Murray and of Jackson, the pugilist ; a 
 tapestry room, which was once occupied by Charles the Second ; 
 the Monks' chamber ; the library ; King Edward the Third's bed 
 room ; the Duke of Sussex's room ; Henry the Seventh's lodgings ; 
 the great dining room, formerly used as a refectory ; the breakfast 
 room, formerly the Lord Abbot's parlour. Then there are the 
 famous cloisters and the elegant little chapel, with its exquisite 
 memorial windows. But the proudest apartment of all is the grand 
 saloon, whose walls are covered with the work of the greatest 
 artists of Europe, and whose smooth floor is the resting place of 
 rare and handsome furniture, including many articles of great value 
 and rare interest, among them enamels by Courtois, Penicault, 
 Limousin, and Raymond ; and cabinets of beautiful and delicate 
 workmanship. 
 
 Within the gardens of the abbey there is much to be seen. 
 The beech tree, upon which, in 1814, the poet carved the names of 
 himself and his sister Augusta, was taken down in 1861, when it 
 showed signs of decay, and the piece which bears the precious 
 inscription is carefully preserved among the Byron relics. Boat- 
 swain's monument, with its sublime epitaph, occupies a familiar spot 
 in the quiet, shady gardens ; the shrubbery known as " the Monks' 
 Garden " is allowed to flourish undisturbed ; the deep, smooth pond, 
 with it emerald framework, is still fed by springs which are never 
 dry ; the " Devil's Wood " remains one of the darker glories of the 
 grounds ; and the Stew Pond, shaded by spreading yews of sturdy 
 growth ; the Monks' Well, with its sweet crystal water ; and the 
 great lake, where Mr. Webb casts his flies, give the charm of water 
 to the grounds. Choice plants and rare flowers are cultivated in 
 stovehouse and conservatory, under the care of a gardener who 
 thoroughly understands his business, and luscious fruits are produced 
 for the table of a house which is noted for the sumptuousness of 
 its hospitality. 
 
79 
 
 Newstead has more than once been the scene of Royal visit. 
 The Prince of Wales is familiar with its halls and pleasaunces ; the 
 Duke of Albany more recently spent a few pleasant hours among its 
 treasures, with the cultivated society Mr. and Mrs. Webb had 
 gathered about them. The priviliges which Princes have enjoyed is 
 placed within the reach of the liumbler classes, and many are the 
 pilgrimages made to Newstead Abbey. Its fall, if ever such a 
 catastrophe was threatened, has been arrested. In the hands of two 
 owners whose wealth has enabled them to maintain its reputation 
 and to introduce costly improvements it has not suffered. Relics 
 of earlier associations have been tenderly preserved. Decay has not 
 been permitted to mar its proportions or to ruin its walls ; there is 
 no " fall " for poet to lament in touching strains, and the " blasts of 
 fate " to which it is submitted are light as a summer wind. New- 
 stead is a great house of solid masonry. Order prevails alike within 
 its walls and without, and it belongs to an owner who has done 
 much towards making it what it is. 
 
NORWOOD PARK. 
 
 N one of the most elevated parts of the beautiful park of 
 Norwood, a mile or so away from the venerable towers of 
 Southwell Collegiate Church, there is a prostrate oak, the 
 decaying remnant of a tree of vast proportions, which was once a very 
 giant amongst the sturdy brotherhood of oaks that have flourished 
 in the Norwood domain for generations. What remains of it is 
 called to this day " Cludd's Oak." The tree has been cut in 
 sections, a long while ago, for a reason which does not appear 
 obvious, and to-day it lies in knarled and aged pieces amid the flowers 
 of May and the luxuriant undergrowth of a picturesque plantation. 
 This piece of fallen timber, whose only visible claim upon the 
 attention of the wanderer among the Norwood plantations, is that 
 doubtful one which comes of age and decay, remains to remind 
 one of a custom which was observed in the district two hundred 
 and fifty years ago, and is in a measure associated with the history 
 of the house which I visited in the spring of 1881. In the early 
 part of the seventeenth century there lived at Southwell, a certain 
 Mr. Edward Cludd, who had considerable influence in the neighbour- 
 hood. This gentleman is supposed to have been descended from the 
 Cludds of Shropshire, and at one time he is said to have been 
 possessed of a small property at Arnold, near Nottingham. He was 
 concerned in the civil war which took place between King Charles 
 and his Parliament, and he threw what influence and zeal he had 
 into the Parliamentary cause, his course of action being dictated, 
 it is recorded,not because he was an enemy to monarchical supremacy, 
 but because he was a strenuous opponent of the government 
 administered by the king. There is no necessity to invent an 
 excuse for the introduction of this gentleman's name into this 
 article, because not only did Mr. Cludd own Norwood, but he was 
 in his time the principal adviser of all measures taken by Parlia- 
 ment in the district in which he lived, and " was the person by 
 whose invitation and under whose protection the commissioners of 
 Scotland resided, and held their consultations in the Archiepiscopal 
 Palace of Southwell " — whose servant once told an enquiring friend, 
 " that he and his master (Cludd) ruled all Nottinghamshire." This, 
 of course, was a ridiculous exaggeration of Cludd's authority, but 
 that the then owner and occupier of Norwood Park was a man of 
 considerable power in the State, there can be no doubt, and perhaps 
 
81 
 
 those who admire the grand old Minster at Southwell are 
 not generally aware, that but for the influence of this man, that 
 famous pile would not have existed to give celebrity to a county 
 which cannot boast too many great buildings, to charm the antiquary, 
 to delight every lover of the beautiful, and to provide an excuse 
 for the estabUshment of a new episcopal see. Cromwell would have 
 demolished Southwell if it had not been for Mr. Cludd, afterwards of 
 Norwood Park, who had great influence with the stern Protector, 
 and who procured a revocation of the warrant that had already 
 been issued for the demolition of the Minster. It was not until 
 after the alienation of the episcopal and Church lands that Mr. 
 Cludd became the purchaser of Norwood Park. Here he built a 
 lordly pleasure house, whose hospitable doors were thrown open for 
 the reception of guests who could entertain him with their wit and 
 pleasant small talk, and also for the entertainment of those who 
 needed a larger supply of the good things of this life. That he was 
 a man of considerable wealth is tolerably certain, for a conveyance, 
 dated 1646, states that he became the purchaser of the Bishop's 
 Palace in Southwell, New Park, and Hexgrave Park, in the 
 bishopric of York, for one thousand six hundred and sixty-six pounds, 
 seven shillings, and threepence halfpenny — the last-named coin 
 presumably representing the fittings of the palace. Being a Justice 
 of the Peace and a Knight of the Shire for the county of Nottingham 
 in the Protector's Parliament, Mr. Cludd did not lead an idle life, 
 and in summer time he must have often led a pleasant one, as his 
 duties often took him to the cool shade of that magnificent oak 
 whose lifeless trunk now lies slowly rotting among the flowers 
 which grow in the Norwood plantations at the present time. At 
 the time to which I refer, marriages were solemnised by the civil 
 magistrate, and " Mr. Justice Cludd became very famous for the 
 numberless rites of this kind which were celebrated by his authority 
 under a remarkable oak in Norwood Park." Such is the history of 
 " Cludd's Oak," as it is called to this day, and round its 
 prostrate bole the flowers of the woods will blossom for many 
 years to come, unless some future owner regards it simply as a piece 
 of fallen timber that needs carting away. 
 
 After the Restoration, Norwood Park became the property of 
 the Archbishop of York, and at various times there have been grants 
 of timber from its well-wooded enclosure for the support of the 
 Church and other purposes. Norwood Park has always 
 been famous for its timber. A number of remarkably fine oak trees, 
 equal in size and in shape to any to be met with amid the vast 
 collection of Sherwood Forest, give it a picturesqueness and a charm 
 which cannot be met with in most modern parks, and then there are 
 elms and beeches and other trees of noble proportions. In a park 
 which extends over more than a hundred acres there is room for some 
 
82 
 
 big trees, and Norwood has the advantage of these. The sylvan 
 
 arrangements are, indeed, very fine, the views to be obtained from 
 various parts of the park are excellent, and not the least pleasing of 
 them is that glimpse of the spires of the Minster, which appear over 
 the tops of the trees as you stand on the steps in front of the hall. 
 Norwood Park has always been a delightful residence. The 
 luxurious Archbishops of York, who could enjoy pleasant pi'ospects 
 and delightful natural surroundings, as well as sumptuous feasts 
 and brilliant society, were happy in its retirement, and since then two 
 handsome houses have been built within its domain by successive 
 lessees, one of them that erected by Mr. Cludd. Towards the end of 
 the seventeenth century the Residence House at Southwell was built 
 in a great measure out of the profits arising from a sale of timber 
 in Norwood Park, directed by the then Archbishop of York for the 
 purposes of the Chapter. In the beginning of the present century 
 the estate was in the possession of Mr. William Burton, who sold 
 the lease of it, in 1731, to Mr. Edward Becher, from whom it was 
 purchased, in 1747, by Sir Samuel Gordon, Bart. It was purchased, 
 in 1764, by Mr. John Sutton, who built the mansion which stands in 
 Norwood Park at the present time. Mr. John Sutton dying 
 intestate, the family estates descended to Sir Richard Sutton, who, 
 in 1778, procured an Act of Parliament, enabling him to exchange 
 certain lands contiguous to the town of Southwell with the See of 
 York, for Norwood Park. This member of the Sutton family, who 
 owned large estates in Nottinghamshire, was one of the Lords of the 
 Treasury during Lord North's Administration, and was created a 
 baronet, in 1772. He died at Bath, in 1802. By the means just 
 mentioned the family estates became freehold, and the Norwood 
 portion of them remained in the possession of the Suttons, until it 
 was purchased by Mr. J. E. F. Chambers, J.P. In the meantime 
 the hall has had a succession of tenants. It was once the residence 
 of the Marquis of Carmarthen (the present Duke of Leeds), of 
 Lord Edwin Hill, of Mr. Dashwood Fane, and, in 1881, it was sold 
 by auction, and purchased by Mr. Starkey, a Yorkshire gentleman. 
 
 The mansion is of red brick, and its spacious front has caught 
 that agreeable tint — that subdued ruddy tone which gathers upon 
 good brickwork in the course of years in districts that are free from 
 the soiling influence of smoke and other elements which mix with 
 the air of towns. The house is three storeys in height, with 
 entrance hall, staircase, and five reception rooms on the ground 
 floor ; on the first and second floors are fourteen bed and dressing 
 rooms, and the two wings contain the servants' offices and store 
 rooms. Since the hall was built, considerably more than a hundred 
 years ago, few, if any, alterations have been made either to 
 increase its accommodation or to alter its proportions. It was, at 
 the time of its completion, as it is now, one of the great houses of 
 
83 
 
 the county and the distinguished and wealthy tenants who, since it 
 ceased to be the residence of the Sutton family, the head of which, 
 the present baronet, has settled in a handsome house in Berkshire, 
 have placed elegant furniture in its spacious rooms, and fine pictures 
 on its accommodating walls, have found it sufficient for their require- 
 ments, and have lived contentedly in the enjoyment of those 
 pleasures which make the life of an English country gentleman 
 an enviable one. Mr. Chambers purchased Norwood when it was 
 put up for sale some years ago, and became possessed of a residence, 
 which, under less advantageous circumstances than those which 
 obtain at the present time, was a centre of archiepiscopal hospitality, 
 and the scene of those dignified orgies, at which in olden times 
 the heads of the Church militant sometimes presided, gathering 
 round them the intelligence and wealth of the district in which 
 they had their residence. The late owner of Norwood is descended 
 from a Yorkshire family, who atone time held Compton, in the parish 
 of Collingham, from Kirkstall Abbey, and who, at a later date, have 
 been settled at The Hurst, in the neighbouring county of Derby. 
 A near relative of Mr. Chambers' possession is a letter written by 
 his Grace to that gentleman, which has a local interest, inasmuch as 
 it relates to the Nottingham Castle, and to a charity fund then exist- 
 ing in the town, in which the Pelham-Clintons have such a 
 considerable interest. The letter was written at Clumber, in 1830, 
 and in it the Duke says, " After all that has been done at the 
 Castle, I could not let it for less than was paid by the last tenants. 
 It is a charming place for anyone, and ought to let for at least 
 £150 for the half." The latter part of the letter refers to" the 
 charity fund at Nottingham," to which the noble writer requests Mr. 
 Chambers to raise his subscription from £25 to £50, " considering 
 the property which I possess in Nottingham, and that being free 
 from rates." This letter is preserved, together with others from 
 the same author, and among such of the documents relating to the 
 family as are in the possession of Mr. Chambers. 
 
 In his rooms Mr. Chambers had a good collection of topo- 
 graphical histories, and a small assortment of books of natural history 
 and learned literature. The walls of the drawing room, which is 
 entered from the hall, contained some very interesting modern pictures. 
 Mr, Chambers' collection comprised a set of nine excellent examples 
 of David Cox's lovely art. Some of them are the unfinished 
 sketches of the master watercolourist — unlike the incomplete work 
 of any other artist. If you look at them they are full of transparency 
 and life ; with a few touches the painter has produced a picture 
 truthful to nature and faithful to art. The more finished of the 
 nine are as good specimens of the rare powers of David Cox as I 
 have seen anywhere, and the collection is enriched by a very fine 
 specimen of De Wint's beautiful colouring and accurate drawing 
 
84 
 
 — Kirkstall Abbey. In the drawing room there were two fine 
 Venetian sketches in oil, by Mr. Keeley Halswelle,with whose bright 
 and picturesque style visitors to the Academy are familiar ; and a 
 characteristic piece or work by Cattermole — Cellini valuing one of 
 his works at the request of a party of brigands. There was in 
 the same apartment a landscape by Sidney Cooper, and over the 
 mantel-piece an intelligent portrait, by Sant, of Mr. Chambers* 
 sister. Two cabinets at one end of the room were filled with 
 china, amongst which collection are several pieces of Pinxton ware, 
 which have a certain local interest attaching to them. In the dining 
 room there is an old-fashioned wall-paper, which has adorned the 
 walls for a considerable time, and which does not seem to have 
 suffered. The pattern is a somewhat curious combination of curves 
 and colour, but it is pretty and light, and it certainly ought to be 
 preserved, if modern ideas of decoration can be made to pale in the 
 presence of the antique and the curious. The pictures in this room 
 were chiefly portraits — one of them, by Wright, of Derby, of a John 
 Whitehouse, F.S.A., of that town, who wrote a work on the stratifi- 
 cation of the earth ; another is of a Dean of the Irish Church, who 
 was at one time rector of Pleasley, in this neighbourhood,and was con- 
 nected with the Chambers family. The two sea pieces that were in this 
 room were by Carter ; the other paintings were family portraits,one of 
 a gentleman in shooting costume, with dogs and gun ; the other of 
 a person in uniform. The views from out the windows of these 
 rooms — windows for the privilege of enjoying which, I am told, a 
 former tenant had to pay a large sum of money annually in taxation 
 — embrace beautiful glimpses of the park and grounds. In grassy 
 hollow, and upon gentle swell, there are masses of tender foliage, 
 the grand old oaks, holding rank as the monarchs of the park, 
 their juices still circulating, after centuries of exposure to sunshine 
 and storm, their branches still wide enough to cover such cere- 
 monies as were performed under their prostrate brother yonder, three 
 centuries ago, and the foliage still dense enough to shelter a hunted 
 king. Under glass, within the kitchen garden enclosure, the grape, 
 the nectarine, and the peach, are cultivated in large quantities, 
 and on each side of one of the broad gravel walks, within the 
 substantial brick walls which enclose the garden space, there is a 
 growth of old-fashioned flowers, which fill the air with the scent of 
 innumerable cottage gardens, and charm the eye with variety of 
 familiar colour. 
 
NUTTALL TEMPLE. 
 
 UTTALL Temple has never been a show house, but it is 
 
 celebrated throughout the country no less on account of the 
 beauty of some of its internal features than of the estate of 
 its owners, who have not only been men of affluence and position, 
 but whose names have been identified with the history of the 
 country in comparatively recent times. In the latter part of the 
 last century this elegant mansion, with its lofty dome, the interior 
 of which is beautified by the handiwork of Italian artists, who 
 have copied with consummate skill the supurb art of the villa 
 Capra, was the principal residence of a family whose title has become 
 extinct, and whose name is hardly remembered in these days — I 
 mean the Sedleys. The last of these baronets, Sir Charles Sedley, 
 died at Nuttall Temple, in August of 1778, at a comparatively 
 early age, leaving his property, or at any rate the most important 
 portion of it, which embraced the Nuttall estate, to his daughter, 
 who had married a son of Lord Vernon. On the acquisition of this 
 fortune, Mr. Vernon does not seem to have exhibited any reluctance 
 to change his name to Sedley, and so the old family was perpetuated 
 for another generation, in name at any rate, though with different 
 titular honours. For the Sedleys were a very old family. Long 
 before they were known in Nottinghamshire they had considerable 
 estates in Kent, and were territorial magnates in the garden of 
 England. In the south, traces of them have been found as far 
 back as the middle of the fourteenth century, a circumstance, 
 which, apart from the connection of the family with this county 
 and their residence in this house, about which I shall have to say 
 something presently, may well warrant the revival of a dead name, if 
 not of an extinct title. In the ninth year of James the Fifth's reign, 
 William Sedley, founder of the Sedleian lectures at Oxford, was 
 created a baronet, perhaps more as a reward for scholarly attainments 
 than for political services, for this was a studious family, with plenty 
 of brains and abundance of energy. One of them was a by no 
 means unpopular poet, and it is on record that Charles the Second 
 was partial to the society of this clever man. But the successful 
 versemaker sacrificed his immortality to the tastes of a sensual court ; 
 he employed his Muse in the service of corruption, and his name 
 perished. Sir Charles Sedley, of Nuttall Temple, the last of the 
 baronets, was the best known member of the family in the town 
 
83 
 
 and counij. Like bis ancestors, he was a man of learning and 
 erudition, and was a Doctor of Civil Law of the University of 
 Oxford, but he was also a political figure of some importance, and 
 a most influential patron of the turf. He was elected member of 
 Parliament for Nottingham, in 1747, and was re-elected in the fol- 
 lowing year. After enjoying an interval of retirement from public 
 life, he again successfully sought the suffrages of the electors of 
 Nottingham at the general election of 1774, having four years 
 earlier been appointed Ranger and Keeper of his Majesty's Chase 
 for Nottinghamshire, an appointment which was in every way 
 congenial to his English taste, and possibly somewhat remunerative. 
 The Nuttall estate, as well as the manors of Hayford and Harleigh, 
 came into the Sedley family by marriage ; it came into that of the 
 Holdens, who have had it for three generations, by purchase. The 
 Rev. Alexander Atkinson Holden, M.A., the present owner of 
 Nuttall, is the third of five brothers, of whom the second was his 
 predecessor, the late Colonel Robert Holden, and the youngest, 
 Captain Henry Holden, Chief-Constable of Nottinghamshire. These 
 represent the younger branch of the Holdens, of Ashton, in Derby- 
 shire, a family at one time among the most influential of that 
 county. Mr. Robert Holden, of Darley Abbey, and of Nuttall 
 Temple, married an heiress of the Drury-Lowe family, and by ties of 
 relationship the Holdens are connected with some of the best houses 
 in Derbyshire. 
 
 The memory of the late Colonel Holden, whose death took 
 place some ten years ago, will not readily be effaced. The latter 
 portion of his life he devoted to good works, which were not 
 confined to his own village and to his own people, nor was the flow 
 of his sympathies checked by any narrow prejudices. To this day 
 his kindnesses are spoken of in the village, where he lived for so 
 many years, and his name will live among the promoters of 
 societies for the spread of Christianity and religion. One of the 
 rooms at Nuttall Temple was the centre of a system of private out- 
 door relief, which the kind-hearted Squire himself inaugurated and 
 kept up. To this room the poor came for materials to make 
 clothing and not unfrequently these gifts were supplemented by 
 articles of food in needy cases. With the death of Colonel Holden I 
 am told that the system dropped through, but its author is not 
 forgotten by those to whom it was extended. If Colonel Holden had 
 had a family to assist him in the enjoyment of the charming 
 estate, which was all his own, it is possible that the bounds of his 
 liberality might have been more circumscribed, though that is a 
 matter into which we cannot well enter. We must speak of 
 things as we find them, and all that can be said of Colonel 
 Holden is that he was a man at once liberal and tender-hearted, 
 doing good after his own fashion, and that a laudable one, and 
 
87 
 
 ever anxious for the spiritual welfare of his fellow-men. That the 
 late Colonel Holden was a man of considerable taste in art matters 
 is manifest when one sees the purchases that he made in the way of 
 pictures and other ornaments. 
 
 Nuttall Temple is a treasure house of pictorial art. In the 
 drawing room, in the dining room, in the billiard room, and in the 
 library there are pictures, many of them by masters, and most of 
 them interesting. In the library, above the well-stocked book shelves, 
 is ranged a collection of portraits, all of them of personages of note, 
 not one of whom I am enabled to name. There are courtiers and 
 philosophers — men from whose features, traced by a master hand, 
 there are beams of intellectual power ; there are men of firm lip 
 and daring eye. T\ho would face death in the cause of the right, 
 and there are men who would ornament a court. But they are a 
 collection of the unknown. Their owner does not know them, 
 though he may be perfectly familiar with the history of the times 
 in which their originals lived. All that I can say iibout them is 
 that they are a silent collection of celebrities, who have been famous 
 or notorious in various walks of life, and that they were purchased 
 by the late Colonel Holden. In one of the other rooms is a famous 
 picture by Wright — who had so many patrons in this county — " The 
 Captive " ; there is also supurb representation of a beggar boy, 
 which is ascribed to Murillo, and the portrait of an old lady by 
 Rembrandt. The massive features of Charles James Fox, and 
 beneath them a figure in a well-fitting costume, form one of the 
 pictures in the Nuttall collection, and there are three family 
 portraits which are interesting because they are those of three 
 gentlemen, whose names are well known in this county. These are 
 in the dining room, and they represent one of the Lords Middle- 
 ton, Mr. Whetham (of Kirklington), and a Mr. Holden. These 
 three were on very friendly terms, and they are associated together, 
 though in separate frames, on the walls at Nuttall. In the billiard 
 room are several good landscapes, including one by Turner, which 
 w^ould delight the eye of Mr. Ruskin, containing, as it does, some 
 of the best characteristics of that great painter, but about the 
 remainder of the collection I was unable to learn anything. Every- 
 boby that goes to Nuttall is struck with the magnificence of the 
 cupola which springs from the entrance hall, and which serves to 
 light that handsome apartment. It is indeed singularly beautiful, not 
 only on account of its airy loftiness, but because of the exquisite 
 shapes and figures in bas relief with which its walls are adorned. 
 These are in white plaster, and were the work of chosen Italian 
 artists. The hall beneath is octagonal in shape, and its pillars support 
 a light gallery, which brings one face to face with the beautiful 
 work on the walls. At two places in Kent, and nowhere else, 
 there are copies of the original rotunda of Palladio, which Nuttall 
 
88 
 
 Temple represents. It is the dome which gives a temple-like 
 appearance to this fine house at Nuttall, that, sheltered and hidden 
 as it is by fine trees, and kept private by a broad expanse of park 
 land, is not much known to the public. The entrance is approached 
 by an elegant flight of steps, on the summit of which is a portico, 
 supported by doric columns, and overlooking a park, in which there 
 is some good timber. A large sheet of water of picturesque forma- 
 tion improves the appearance of the estate in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of the house, affords a home for water fowl, and 
 provides sport for those of the family who care for pond fishing. 
 
OSBERTON. 
 
 ANDERING about the sumptuous pleasure grounds and 
 gardens of a great house like Osberton, where some thirty 
 or forty acres of land, set apart to serve these purposes, 
 are kept in the most faultless order, one unconsciously experiences 
 a sense of territorial consequence, which is pleasant enough while it 
 lasts. Mr. Foljambe's gardens are amongst the finest in the county. 
 There are velvet stretches of lawn of the greenest hue, watered by 
 a lake, which is narrowed into intersecting strips of silver. It is 
 the home of the swan and the coot, and of wild fowl, which inhabit its 
 remoter reaches. There are shady trees, Scotch firs, the tallest and 
 sturdiest of their species, and some of them dip to the waters of the 
 lake ; Australian pines, with their upward-pointing leaf spikes, and 
 there is the spreading plumage of the cedrus deodara, which grows 
 here in far-spreading luxuriance. There are beds of bright flowers, 
 and when they are in bloom the air is filled with perfume. Mr. 
 Foljambe's horticultural theory is akin to that of Lady Corisande ; his 
 gardens are sweet and luxuriant, and not mere hard and scentless 
 works of art. There is within the Osberton pleasure grounds a 
 little garden, whose box-lined mazes suggest the idea of a large 
 puzzle. Its geometric beds are sacred to one species of flower, 
 the heliotrope. It is a common flower certainly, but its simple 
 purple blossoms enshrine an odour richer than that which more 
 pretentious scent-bearers can disperse. In his last years the late Mr. 
 Foljambe was deprived of sight, and he loved the scent of the 
 flowers which he could not see. His successor has inherited this 
 taste for sweet-smelling flowers, and the gardens of Osberton are 
 always redolent of perfume. There are abundant patches of helio- 
 trope and mignonette, and the sweet-scented stock in the open air ; 
 in the conservatories the subtler perfume of exotics is prevalent. 
 Near the heliotrope garden there is a fernery, where the violet berries 
 of the barberry mingle with the long fronds of the ferns-*a delicious 
 retreat on a hot day. There are abundant growths of clematis, whose 
 flowers look like clusters of beautiful purple-winged butterflies. The 
 people who go to the handsome Norman church within the pleasure 
 grounds, which was built by Mr. F. F. Foljambe, in 1833, have to 
 traverse a broad, straight gravel walk. The grass on either side is 
 beautifully kept, and planted at corresponding distance with the tall 
 and delicate shapes of the humea elegans, which, in their scarlet 
 
90 
 
 feathery gracefulness, look like lines of phantom soldiers. There is 
 a stained glass window at the eastern end of the church, in which 
 are coloured the arms of the family, with their heraldic devices. The 
 crest of the Foljambes affords an heraldic study. The calopus, or 
 chatloup, passant, granted to Sir Godfrey Foljambe, 1513, and 
 modelled in enduring oak in one of the principal rooms in the 
 house is one of those chimerical figures of heraldry as to the 
 origin and meaning of which I have no information. The calopus 
 is not an elegant beast, and does not appear to have been adopted 
 by Sir Godfrey's descendants. In the lawnlike turf of the sacred 
 enclosure a beautiful cross of white marble is implanted, marked 
 with the letters G.F.S.F., and the first four lines of an exquisite 
 hymn that is sometimes sung in our churches. The grave is most 
 carefully tended, and the trees and flowers with which it is planted 
 are never allowed to languish. Under extensive ranges of glass in 
 kitchen gardens there are abundant growths of pines, peaches, and 
 grapes, in various stages of development, and the pomiferum or red 
 guava, and the Cape gooseberry, in its quaint pod, are successfully 
 cultivated. 
 
 For about two years Osberton Hall has been in the hands of 
 the builders. It is some seventy years ago since Osberton under- 
 went any material alteration, and now it has been enlarged to suit 
 modern requirements, and in such a manner that some of its 
 original features have been destroyed. It is a large house with a 
 vast front of unbroken red cement, which, undimmed as yet by time, 
 gives it the appearance of a very modern mansion. Its portico of 
 Ionic columns has been pulled down to be replaced by a structure of 
 a more convenient character composed of Roche Abbey stone ; 
 the terrace has been taken further out, and the appproaches to the 
 house, which commands a sweep of fine sylvan scenery, are being 
 altered and improved. A new wing has been added at the north- 
 west front, comprising a dining room, a library of spacious 
 dimensions, and other apartments. The old library, with its pleasant 
 outlook across the park, is already converted into a billiard room. 
 From the tall windows of the new library, with its handsome oak 
 cornices and fittings, you overlook a broad sweep of park land, and 
 the trees are not tall enough to hide the pediments surmounting the 
 church tower. On the site of the old drawing room has been builc a 
 magnificent saloon, or central hall, the most sumptuous apartment in 
 the whole house. It is lighted by domelike arrangements in the 
 roof ; a broad massive staircase of oak leads to its gallery where the 
 family pictures are hung. This splendid apartment with its Ionic 
 columns, oak pilasters, and carved oak chimney-piece, is called the 
 museum. It contains a perfect collection of British birds, which has 
 been arranged by Mr. Shaw, of Shrewsbury, in their new glass cases 
 on the ground floor. This superb collection— I believe it is the 
 
91 
 
 most complete one existing of Briti.sh birds — was commenced by Mr. F. 
 F. Foljambe, an intimate friend of Mr. Montague, the eminent 
 ornithologist, and great grandfather of the present owner. Most of 
 the earlier specimens were set up by Mr. Corbett, a London 
 naturalist of some repute, and he was succeeded in the curatorship 
 by Reid, of Doncaster, and Graham, of York. The collection con- 
 tains, amongst many rare specimens, one of the great auk — the alca 
 impennis, which has in former time been met with on the northern 
 shores of Great Britain, and the red-breasted goose so seldom seen. 
 The specimens are in beautiful plumage and excellent preservation 
 the greatest care having been bestowed upon them. Amongst the 
 other curiosities which are to have a place in the museum, are part 
 of the altar piece of Beauchief Abbey, representing the death of 
 Thomas a Becket — supposed to have been erected soon after the 
 occurrence in atonement for the foul deed ; a signet ring that belonged 
 to the Abbot of Roche Abbey ; an old Roman collar, found at 
 Littleborough, which was formerly a Roman station, and entomo- 
 logical, zoological, and geological specimens, old coins, and weapons 
 from the South Sea Islands. In the gallery of the saloon the painter's 
 art tells a portion of the family history. The owner of Osberton 
 can trace his lineage as far back as Sir Thomas Foljambe, of Derby- 
 shire, who lived in the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I., and was 
 bailiff of the High Peak, in 1272. A later ancestor was created a 
 baronet, in 1622, and at his death the baronetcy expired. Francis 
 Ferrard Moore, M.P., for the county of York, sometime about 1780 
 took the surname of Foljambe, and by marriage the family became 
 associated with the Thornhaughs, who originally held Osberton, the 
 Saviles, of Rufford, and later with several of the noble houses of the 
 realm. Among the family portraits there is one representing Colonel 
 Francis Thornagh (at one time M.P. for Retford) in a suit of armour, 
 who was killed at Preston during the Civil War, and a full-length of 
 Sir George Savile. There is Mr. F. F. Foljambe, of Aldwark, who 
 married the heiress of John Thornagh, of Osberton and Fenton, for 
 forty years, M.P. for Notts. The Lady Scarborough of a past 
 generation, the younger sister of Sir J. Saville, has been treated by 
 the master hand of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and the other portraits are 
 of Bridget Lady Thornagh, Sir Godfrey Foljambe, of Walton, who 
 was High Sheriff of Derbyshire in his day ; the late Mr. G. S. 
 Foljambe and his wife, and his wife, and the present owner when a 
 child, by Partridge. There are two very fine sporting pictures, 
 which serve to indicate the tastes of the wealthy owners of Osberton. 
 The one is a shooting picture, with the famous Clumber spaniels, 
 and portraits of Mr. G. S. Foljambe and Sir William Milner, and a 
 painting of the meet of the late Mr. Foljambe's hounds at Grove, 
 with portraits of the late Duke of Portland, the late Lords George 
 Bentinck and Henry Bentinck, Lord Galway, Mr, Bridgman-Simpson, 
 
92 
 
 and others. This collection comprises landscapes by Ruysdael, 
 Van Ostade, Claude Lorraine, and others, interiors by Teniers, a 
 sketch by Rubens, and other valuable works of pictorial art. 
 
 Mr. Francis John Savile Foljambe, M.P., for the Hundred of 
 Bassetlaw since 1857, and a magistrate for Notts, and for the West 
 Riding of Yorkshire, is the owner of some 10,000 acres of land in 
 Nottinghamshire, and of 5,368 acres of valuable territory in the 
 West Riding, and this does not represent the whole of his landed 
 possessions. He has his residences in both counties — Osberton 
 and Aldwark — and a pretty hunting-box and Monks' Tower, near 
 Lincoln. He is an ardent sportsman, tall, broad-shouldered, and 
 clean of limb ; in politics a moderate Liberal, a man of refined taste 
 and established culture, who is not above taking a pride in his herd 
 of shorthorns, and an interest in the operations of his farm, which, 
 during his residence at Osberton, he visits regularly. The 
 Foljambes have always been famous sportsmen — they belong to a 
 race of Englishmen. The late Mr. Foljambe bred a pack of hounds, 
 one of the most famous in the county, which he subsequently sold 
 to the latd Lord Galway. In 1871 Mr. Frank Foljambe assumed 
 the mastership of the Burton Hounds, which, though a Lincolnshire 
 pack, had been under Nottinghamshire masters since 1822, except 
 during the periods it was led by Mr. Chaplin and Lord Doneraile. 
 At the close of a recent season Mr. Foljambe, after leading the 
 Burton Chase for about ten years, determined to retire from the 
 mastership, a decision which was received with regret by all those 
 who had been associated with him in the field. The Osberton short- 
 horns are known wherever great shows are held. Numerous are the 
 prizes which have been won from time to time by the pick of this 
 herd, which is quartered at the Scrofton farm, not ten minutes' 
 walk from the house. 
 
OXTON HALL 
 
 ETWEEN Nottingham and Southwell, though nearer the 
 last-named place, stands the village of Oxton, in a sufficiently 
 pleasant situation. In 1861 it is said to have numbered 184 
 houses and 738 inhabitants, and since that time neither population, 
 house accommodation, nor rateable value have increased to any very 
 material extent. Perhaps after the church and the hall, a new and 
 commodious set or schools, which were completed in 1870, form the 
 most important building. Like the church and the hall, they are in 
 the heart of the village, and in tolerably close contiguity to the 
 vicarage, a comfortable looking house, which stands out some little 
 distance from the road in such dazzling whiteness that the eye is 
 almost glad to find relief in the green of surrounding shrubs and 
 trees. We may take it that curiosity marked the standard of 
 appreciativeness in such of our ancestors who professed a fondness 
 for the country, for the local historian of a century ago informs his 
 readers that Oxton was only relieved from the utter absence of the 
 curious by the perennial appearance on the church tower of an 
 uncommon species of fern. I believe there are now no traces of the 
 plant ; it has languished on its ecclesiastical nutriment, and the 
 species has probably become extinct in this part of the country. 
 The church, though an ancient edifice, shows scarcely any of the 
 ordinary signs of age. Its walls are uncorroded by decay, and its 
 interior presents a cheerful appearance, and is in a good state of 
 repair. To reach the chancel you step over a worn stone, whose 
 inscription, still perfectly legible, tells that one of the Savile family 
 was buried there two centuries ago. There are at this east end two 
 plain tablets placed there to perpetuate the memory of the former 
 lord of the Manor and his lady, and in various parts of the church 
 there are coats of arms belonging to the leading family, and a 
 hatchment with the Royal arms, so rarely seen in churches now. 
 In one of the window recesses there is a recumbent figure in stone. 
 It has probably been put there to be out of the way — out of sight of 
 the congregation on account of its lack of beauty. Time and rough 
 handling have combined to obliterate the features, and it is not a 
 handsome piece of sculpture now. Every village has a history more 
 or less interesting, more or less veracious. Oxton, at one time, was 
 within the forest of Sherwood, but when the " great perambulation " 
 was made in the reign of Henry the Second it was left out, and as 
 iu those days public rights aad ancient precedent were perhaps of 
 
94 
 
 less importance than was the due preservation of the King's deer, 
 the inhabitants of Oxton remained commonless until the reign of 
 Edward the Third. 
 
 Oxton Hall cannot well be described as a very ancient 
 mansion. It is not, however, a creation of yesterday, as its some«- 
 what embrowned exterior will testify. The house has been enlarged 
 by the present owner in a manner which has had the two-fold effect 
 of increasing its accommodation and improving its appearance. The 
 hall is on a level with the main road of the village, between which 
 and the entrance an expanse of garden thickly studded with shrubs 
 intervenes, and this is separated from the roadway by a stretch of 
 stone palisading. But it is only one portion of the house that can be 
 seen from the village. The large, bold bay-windows of the front are 
 faced by a broad expanse of undulating park land, and by a lake, 
 which has been made by checking the course of a small stream, and 
 upon whose surface float graceful swans and gay-coloured waterfowl. 
 If Oxton Hall is not pretentious, its external appearance suggests 
 not only comfort within, but that elegance and luxury which one 
 expects to find in the home of a country gentleman of Mr. Henry 
 Sherbrooke's position. If Mr. Sherbrooke is not at home you may 
 be pretty sure that he is engaged at Nottingham, at Southwell, or 
 some other part of the county upon business of a public character. 
 If your visit should happen in the hunting season it is just possible 
 that the master of Oxton may be afield in scarlet and leathers, for 
 there are few more ardent lovers of the chase in this country than 
 Mr. Sherbrooke. There are foxes in the neighbourhood of Oxton, 
 and their depredations prevent an increase to the numbers of the rare 
 feathered occupants of the lake, but Mr. Sherbrooke would rather 
 sacrifice his ducks than destroy his foxes, and Reynard carries away 
 his prey without fear of molestation. At an age when most other 
 men are past active service and outdoor pursuits, Mr. Sherbrooke 
 displays an energy and a capacity for work which would put many 
 younger men to shame. He is regular and assiduous in the discharge 
 of his magisterial functions ; he is to be found at Southwell when 
 there is any work to be done in connection with the administration 
 of the Poor Law. He takes an active part in the management of 
 several of the charitable and benevolent institutions of Nottingham, 
 and he is at the present time one of the most useful men in the whole 
 county. There are few people in this part of the country I think, 
 who have not at some time or another, seen Mr. Henry Sherbrooke. 
 His fine presence and dignified bearing are familiar to most of us. 
 Though he has passed the " allotted span, " there is no sign of 
 decrepitude, in the firm elastic tread, the square shoulders, and the 
 upright and graceful figure of the owner of Oxton, the elder brother 
 by one year of the Lord Sherbrooke, Ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 a Privy Councillor, and one of the most accomplished scholars of the 
 day. Mr. Sherbrooke is fond of being out of doors, as the bronzed 
 
95 
 
 healthy glow upon the cheeks plainly indicates, further confirmatory 
 evidence of this being contributed by thick boots and a stick which 
 is certainly not used for ornament. But Mr. Sherbrooke has evidently 
 been at work indoors this morning. The glass door of his study, or 
 business room, is open, letting in a flood of morning sunlight and of 
 soft spring air. Another glass door in this room opens into the 
 conservatory, which now is full of bright azalias, flowering creepers, 
 and other plants. A large account book lies open on a desk near the 
 window, and on the table are a number of letters, which the morn- 
 ing's post has brought, and most of which have been opened. The 
 general appearance of the room bespeaks its occupant to be a man of 
 order and method. There are a few books in the room, such as are 
 useful for business purposes, and on the walls are hung several 
 portraits, amongst them two of the ex-Minister, Lord Sherbrooke, 
 bearing some likeness to the elder brother. There are also small 
 portraits of the late Lord Galway, who is more faithfully represented 
 in another part of the house ; of the Lord Hastings of 1841, and of 
 other friends of the family. There is an antique fireplace faced with 
 oak in the entrance hall — oak which may have been taken from 
 Sherwood Forest. To the left of this are carefully preserved a 
 number of Oriental arms and accoutrements, the brightness of which 
 has been somewhat dimmed by age. These, carefully arranged on 
 the wall, are said to have been the spoils of Sir John Sherbrooke, 
 long dead, a distinguished warrior, who wore the star of the grand 
 order of the Bath. There is amongst them the once superb trappings 
 of a horse, which with the weapons, was taken by Sir John from 
 Tipoo Sahib at the siege of Seringapatam, a fortress which was three 
 times besieged by the British in the closing decade of the last 
 century. Sir John Sherbrooke was afterwards made Governor of 
 Canada. I have noticed in many of the great houses of Nottingham- 
 shire some token of the days of outlawry — objects which are pointed 
 out as having belonged to that personage who is said to have killed 
 the King's deer in open violation of the Royal mandate, and to have 
 plundered decent, quiet people on his Majesty's highway with trans- 
 cendant coolness — I mean Robin Hood. Li the hall at Oxton Hall 
 there are two ancient cross-bows, which may or may not have 
 belonged to that good-humoured scoundrel, and there are also 
 preserved there the heads of a pair of red deer — the last, it is said, 
 that were killed among the bracken of merrie Sherwood. There are 
 also on the same walls one or two excellent engravings of animals 
 taken from pictures by Mr. Carter, who not long ago completed two 
 excellent portraits of Mr. and Mrs. ChaAvorth Musters, of Annesley. 
 The drawing room is the handsomest room in the house, both as 
 regards its proportions and its fittings. It has lofty windows, com- 
 manding a clear, uninterrupted view of the gardens and the park 
 beyond. 
 
 The garden terminates in a road which runs between two 
 
96 
 
 rows of slender iron fencing. On one side are tlie gardens and 
 grounds, on the other the park, which, not many years ago, was 
 arable land of a not very fertile description. The whole of this 
 fine open piece of land, extending over about 175 acres, has been 
 grassed by the present owner, and, seen from the drawing room 
 windows, it has the appearance of a beautiful park. The walls of 
 the drawing room are rather extensively hung with bright modern 
 paintings, one or two of which are the work of Mrs. Sherbrooke's 
 sister. The dining room is also a large room, plainly and substanti- 
 ally furnished. Here there are some family portraits. Over the 
 mantel-piece there is a grave-looking gentleman of a century and a 
 half ago, dressed in a courtly garb — a loose coat embroidered with 
 gold, and a long judicial-looking wig — supposed to be the High 
 Sheriff of that day. To the right of this is Sir John Sherbrooke, 
 to whom allusion has already been made, in scarlet uniform, and 
 there are in the room several other family portraits, including one of 
 the present Mr. Sherbrooke, evidently painted some years ago, and 
 one of his predecessor. A tall, quaint, old-fashioned screen worked 
 on leather, and evidently of foreign origin, stands on one side 
 of the fireplace. The library contains an extensive collection of 
 books, arranged with the most perfect order and regularity. Some 
 of them are very rare, and there are a few old and valuable missals, 
 an investigation of which would be interesting. Oxton may, indeed, 
 be described as famous for its library, where one is very much 
 tempted to linger. The gardens attached to the hall are pleasant, 
 well arranged, and well ordered. The sturdy shrubs with which 
 they abound, impart a comfortable English look to the gardens. 
 The grounds are intersected by a broad gravel walk and they 
 terminate at the margin of a spacious lake, which glistens in the 
 mid-day sunshine. A high brick wall encloses an ample kitchen 
 garden, or rather kitchen gardens, for this portion of the grounds is 
 divided into parts. At one time the ground here was occupied by a 
 second mansion, the only remaining trace of which is to be seen in 
 the grim, unromantic outline of a tall water pump, flanked, by a 
 hugh stone trough of some antiquity. At the other end of the grounds 
 there is a road deeply sunk — the road leading to Southwell, 
 excavated a long time ago, and Mr. Sherbooke's inability to 
 understand what was done with the amount of material that was 
 taken out of it in the course of making is a pardonable piece of 
 perplexity. Mr. Sherbrooke, who was born in 1810, is the oldest 
 son of the late Rev. Robert Lowe, rector of Bingham. He took the 
 name of Sherbrooke on succeeding his cousin in 1847. He M^as 
 educated at Eton, and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he graduated 
 B. A., in 1832. He is a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant of the 
 county, and deputy-chairman of Quarter Sessions, and was High 
 Sheriff in 1859. His family became possessed of Qxton in the reign 
 of Queen Elizabeth, 
 
PAPPLEWICK HALL AND A POLITICAL 
 RETROSPECT. 
 
 ^^Sn the burial ground belonging to Papplewick Church there is a 
 ^||[ grand, sombre yew, and just beyond the spread of its shelter^ 
 ing branches is to be observed a tomb of more pretension 
 than the rest of the graves, which are chiefly marked by such 
 humble memorials as one is accustomed to see in a country 
 churchyard. The lettering upon the stone informs us that eighty 
 years ago the remains of the Right Honourable Frederick Montagu 
 were consigned to their last resting place. In 1787 Mr. Montagu 
 built Papplewick Hall, and, for some thirteen years, chiefly lived 
 there when he was not occupied in the service of his country. Mr. 
 Frederick Montagu was a man of some consequence. He was 
 appointed a Lord of the Treasury, in 1782, when Lord 
 Rockingham was at the head of the Government, and again, in 1783, 
 he held office under the Duke of Portland, though only for a short 
 time. The Papplewick estate still forms part of the very large property 
 belonging of the Montagus, who own some 3,300 acres of land in this 
 county. In the quiet church at Papplewick, standing in an isolated 
 position amongst the trees of the park, there are mural monuments, 
 which serve to remind one of the former connection of the Montagus 
 with this county. There is one to the memory of Lady Wearg, 
 daughter of Lord Chief Baron Montagu, grandson of the first 
 Earl of Manchester, a nobleman, whose family has since been raised 
 in the peerage ; and another to Charles, only son of the judge. 
 Papplewick Church is not a shrine to which many pilgrimages 
 are made, and the numbers who have not read the tablets on its 
 walls will hardly know that the family to whom they refer once 
 exercised a not unimportant influence in this county, it is so long 
 since they resided here. Papplewick Hall has been occupied by three 
 different tenants since the death of the minister. It has always been a 
 desirable residence. It is beautifully situated, and its apartments are 
 large, lofty, and well-arranged. For more than twenty years it has 
 been the residence of Mr. Henry Fraser Walter, who, during his long 
 tenancy, has made certain improvements, and has kept the estate in 
 admirable order, 
 
 Q 
 
98 
 
 Mr. Walter belongs to a family, which for a long time was 
 associated with the political history of the county town, and no 
 apology is needed for introducing him into this series of articles. 
 He is a brother of one whom the late Mortimer Collins described as a 
 *' Prince of the Press." It must have been the owner of Bearwood, 
 and the principal proprietor of the greatest and most influential 
 newspaper in the world, of whom Mr. Collins wrote, " This 
 week I visited the Palace of a Prince of the Press. You may 
 see the splendid, stately house miles away, as you may feel on the 
 other side of the world the influence of the famous newspaper 
 that built it." The Berkshire estate was purchased by Mr. Walter's 
 father, and the noble mansion, which is called Bearwood, was built 
 by him. Mr. H. F. Walter, of Papplewick, is the second of three 
 brothers, the other two being Mr. John Walter, who has represented 
 Berkshire in Parliament since 1859, and Mr. Edward Walter, a 
 captain in the army, who is known as the founder of the Corps of 
 Commissionaires. These gentlemen are descended from Mr. John 
 Walter, of Warwickshire extraction, who died in 1784, leaving two 
 Bons, Robert, an officer in the Royal Navy, and John, the younger of 
 whom founded the Times newspaper. Mr. Walter died at Ted- 
 dington, in 1811, and his second son became joint proprietor and 
 sole manager of the leading journal, raising it to a position which 
 has never yet been reached by any newspaper, and which it has 
 gince maintained. Mr. Walter was twice married, his first wife 
 being a daughter of Dr. Gregory, vicar of Ham ; his second a 
 Kentish lady. Mr. John Walter, M.P., of Bearwood, Mr. H. F. 
 Walter, of Papplewick, and Captain Walter represent the male 
 portion of his family. He had two daughters, one of who married 
 Mr. Thomas Broughton Charlton, of Cliilwell Hall, who was High 
 Sheriff of this county last year. From 1841 to 1859 Nottingham 
 was represented by a Walter ; first by the Mr. John Walter, to 
 whose energy and ability the Times ows its unrivalled position in 
 the world of newspaper letters, and afterwards by his son, who 
 now represents Berkshire. In April, 1841, the late Mr. Walter 
 was elected for Nottingham, in the Conservative interest, in the 
 room of Sir R. Ferguson, when he defeated Mr. Larpent by 138 
 votes. In June of the same year there was a general election, and 
 Mr. Walter had to undergo another contest, which he did in con- 
 junction with Mr. T. B. Charlton ; the Liberal candidates being Sir 
 George Larpent and Sir John Cam Hobhouse. Appealing to the 
 electors on that occasion, Mr. Walter said they would always find 
 him serving the just rights and privileges of the Sovereign and the 
 aristocracy, but not unmindful of the just rights and privileges of 
 the people, and especially of the poor. There are still some left 
 who can remember the disgraceful scenes that took place at that 
 election, and the resignation of Messrs, Walter and Charlton, 
 
99 
 
 which had the effect of preserving the tranquility of the town, and 
 which furnishes one of the brightest incidents in the history of 
 local Conservatism. In the following year, while the embers of 
 party feeling were still smouldering, there was another election in 
 Nottingham. Sir George Larpent accepted the Chiltern Hundreds, 
 in other words, resigned his seat, and Mr. Walter was again induced 
 to come forward in the Conservative interest. His opponent on this 
 occasion was Mr. Joseph Sturge, who was described at that time as 
 the exponent of teetotalism and Chartism. This compound of two 
 elements having nothing in common with each other, was not relished 
 by the majority of the electors, who returned Mr. Walter. The 
 election, however, was declared void ; Mr. Walter was unseated on 
 petition. Commenting on this circumstance, a Berkshire journal 
 spoke of Mr. Walter's first victory as having given that majority 
 of one which overthrew the Ministry, and of his second as having 
 crushed the new alliance between Radicalism and Chartism. There 
 was, of course, another election, and the house of Bearward was again 
 to play a prominent part in the contest. There were those who 
 sympathised with Mr. Walter as to the result of the enquiry, which 
 had deprived him of his seat. His high character, his unquestioned 
 ability, his fearless independence, and his unwavering support of 
 those principles which he believed to be right and true, had won 
 respect for his name amongst the more intelligent section of the 
 community, and the son was readily adopted by the party that had 
 been so true to the father. The younger Mr. Walter— the present 
 member for Berkshire, presented himself, and this is how he 
 dealt with the grave charge of being young — he was then twenty- 
 five, and fresh from Oxford — that was brought against him. He said, 
 " I trust I shall be able to prove to your satisfaction that even youth 
 is not without its advantages of zeal, of activity, and of increasing 
 knowledge, which I shall be careful to improve, and which, like the 
 spring-time of the year, though unpromising and cloudy for a time, 
 may yet, if duly attended to, give promise of a rich and abundant 
 harvest." But Mr. Walter's harvest of votes was not sufficiently 
 abundant to send him to Parliament, and the other candidate, Mr. 
 Thomas Gisborne, was victorious by a majority of 111. At the 
 general election four years later, Mr. Walter came forward at the 
 eleventh hour, and was returned at the head of the poll ; the late 
 Feargus O'Connor, the promoter of a famous bubble land scheme for 
 the advantage of the poorer residents, being second. The day after 
 this magnificent triumph at the polling booths Mr. Walter lost his 
 father. The Times of that day thus referred to the election and to 
 the death of the elder Mr. Walter : — 
 
 " Nottingham was a name of disappointment, and, in the 
 mouth of the enemy a name of reproach. All that survived from 
 repeated struggles was a strong attachment in the minds of a 
 
100 
 
 respectable class, and a deep feeling that justice had not been done to 
 a great man, a friend, and a benefactor. But we repeat there did not 
 exist in any quarter, neither in the constituency, nor, we are assured 
 in the successful candidate, any idea of attempting to retrieve the 
 past. In this stagnant and unalterable state affairs continued till 
 Wednesday. Then, at the eleventh hour, a rash adventure, a mere 
 forlorn hope, was attempted by a few sanguine gentlemen, more 
 with the view of keeping up the feeling of independence, and 
 ruffling the equanimity of the parties in possession, than with any 
 idea of possible success. Without a shadow of authority from Mr. 
 J. Walter, — without even his knowledge, his name was proposed. 
 That day there was no promise of success beyond the possibly 
 exaggerated hopes of a few ardent friends. On Thursday came the 
 poll ; a process which usually dwindles down to nothing, such hasty 
 and ill-advised endeavours. In this instance, however, there was a 
 far different result. In the meantime an event had taken place, which 
 threw a strange melancholy aspect over this singular proceeding. On 
 the morning of Thursday, at the moment of the opening of the poll, 
 it became generally known that he whose merits really were at issue 
 in this contest, and whose public character it was sought justify, was 
 no more. The injustice heretofore done to his name, the slight done 
 to the opinions, and especially the great cause of humanity, with 
 which he had been associated, the length, the labour, and the cost of 
 his political exertions, the sincerity of his attachments to those whom 
 he had once taken in hand, and the greatness of his achievements for 
 the social and political progress of his country, were all brought 
 before the constituency, and pressed with electric force to their minds. 
 Nothing in the history of elections has ever equalled the sudden 
 simultaneousness of the change. Men of all classes and minds rushed 
 to the poll. In a few hours he, who had hardly been thought of the 
 day before, and who was then only regarded as the heir of his father's 
 name, was not only at the head of the poll, but declared to be elected 
 by a majority amounting to nearly double the number enlisted in 
 support of the two late members. Sir J. C. Hobhouse, a Cabinet 
 Minister, fifteen years member for Nottingham, polled 803 ; Mr. 
 Walter, the son of that gentleman who had so often been twitted with 
 the name of that city, polled 1,683. In solemn earnestness we 
 commend this marvellous result to those rash politicians who think 
 it an easy thing to stifle the energies of a great cause, and the 
 honours of a good name. Mr. Walter was not only unseated, not 
 only flouted continually with the failure of his political cause, but 
 out of the statesman's way, — he was at last removed from this trouble- 
 some scene. But, *even in their ashes live their wonted fires,' — 
 the very day after his departure his name and his cause, in the very 
 scene of his reverses, triumphed far beyond his utmost expections. 
 One day closed his political career, the next day commenced, with 
 
101 
 
 the brightest auspices, a career we hope not less useful and 
 honourable." 
 
 At the election of 1852 Mr. Walter was again returned for 
 Nottingham as a Liberal-Conservative, together with the late Lord 
 Belper, then Mr. Edward Strutt, a third candidate, Mr. Charles 
 Sturgeon, described as a Chartist, and receiving 512 votes, being 
 placed at the bottom of the poll. In the following year Mr. Strutt 
 accepted office in the Government, and was returned again without 
 opposition. In 1856 the senior member was raised to the peerage, 
 and the late Mr. Charles Paget was elected in his stead. In 1857 
 there was another general election, and Mr. Walter again offered 
 himself as a faithful follower of the policy of Lord Palmerston. The 
 other candidates were Mr. Paget and Mr. Ernest Jones, the latter 
 of whom sought unsuccessfully to revive the languishing popularity 
 of Chartism. A fourth candidate, Mr. Samuel Fox, of High- 
 street, was nominated, but his nomination was not seconded, and he 
 was, therefore, excluded from the list. On that occasion Mr. Walter 
 told the people in a speech, in which he warmly advocated the 
 Palmerstone polic}', that Nottingham lace would find its way into 
 China, a piece of prophecy, which has perhaps been justified by the 
 development of the staple trade. For a third time Mr. Walter 
 was elected for Nottingham, in 1857, on independent principles, and, 
 in 1859, he transferred his political services to his native county, 
 m -^hich he has so large a stake. Seeing that the name of Walter 
 was so intimately connected with the politics of this borough for close 
 upon twenty years, during a not unimportant epoch in the history 
 of this country, and looking at the influence it has commanded, 
 and still commands, the foregoing retrospect will not be considered 
 out of place in an article dealing with the residence of one bearing 
 that name, who has lived in this county since the year follo"wing his 
 brother's last election for Nottingham. 
 
 The drawing room at Papplewick is of handsome proportions, 
 and the decorations of walls and ceiling have been much admired by 
 those who have seen them. The doors of mahogany, close-fitting and 
 smooth, are about the finest in the county. Three or four handsome 
 walnut cabinets form part of the decorative furniture of this apart- 
 ment. They contain a wonderful collection of birds' eggs — perhaps 
 the best private collection in England. The eggs are arranged in 
 layers of drawers, and are properly named and classified, some 
 attention having been paid to the placing of the different sizes and to 
 the arrangement of colours. Some of the foreign eggs are very 
 beautiful in colour and shape, and there is an almost endless variety, 
 from the tiny pearl-like egg of the humming bird to that of the 
 extinct auk or of the hairy-looking apteryx of New Zealand, a stuffed 
 specimen of which is to be seen outside, in the hall. Eggs of the 
 
102 
 
 ostrich, emu, cassowary, and the ova of the alligator are preserved in 
 larger receptacles than the drawers of these cabinets, and two of the 
 eggs of the largest of the feathered tribe have been made into very 
 handsome vases, which form part of the pretty ornamentation of the 
 drawing room. There are no pictures or furniture to remind one of 
 the Montagu connection. Formerly the dining room contained 
 portraits of the first Earl of Sandwich, the first Earl of Halifax, the 
 Earl of Manchester, and other family connections, but they were 
 removed before Mr. Henry Walter knew Papplewick, and their 
 places have not been supplied by other works of the painter. Now 
 and again Montagu relics have been found about the estate. A short 
 time ago a labourer in the fields discovered a discoloured plate on 
 which were engraven the arms of the Montagus, and the relic was 
 duly forwarded to the present owner of the family estates. The hall 
 enjoys a charming situation, and the country round is historical and 
 full of interest. From an eminence not many yards distant from the 
 hall, the grey walls of Newstead are to be seen, and dark woods and 
 gentle hills, green with pasture grass, or golden with ripening corn, 
 help to make up a pleasant and refreshing landscape. Papplewick was 
 the favourite residence of Mr. Frederick Montagu. He liked this solid 
 and comfortable house and the picturesque and fertile estate attached 
 to it, and, writing to a friend, he says, with a touch of playful irony, 
 that in the solitudes of his Nottinghamshire home he felt as happy 
 as if he were listening to the overloaded speeches of Lord Shelburne 
 at the Treasury. Since those days collieries have sprung up in the 
 neighbourhood, and their smoke is blown across a landscape, which 
 was once so still and unfrequented that outlaws roasted their venison 
 within its recesses, and found a hiding place among its hills. On 
 the side of one of these hills close to the hall, there is a small cavern, 
 which legend says was used by the most famous of all outlaws, as a 
 place of shelter for his horses, and to this day it is called Robin 
 Hood's stable. If Mr. Walter had lived at Papplewick in those days 
 and had bred famous Berkshire pigs, as he does now, it is probable 
 that the venison diet of Robin Hood and his followers would have 
 been varied by the introduction of roast pork, and that the black 
 swine which now pass a lazy, comfortable life in the adjoining farm 
 yard would not have been so secure. In its material aspects the 
 country round about is much as it was long ago, and the tenant of 
 Papplewick enjoys some of the prettiest scenery in the county, with 
 the comforts of a refined and cultivated English home. 
 
RAMPTON MANOR. 
 
 N the billiard room at Rampton Manor there are two standards 
 which were the first things that Colonel Eyre showed to me, 
 and of which he, as a distinguished soldier, may justly feel 
 proud. Where and when the material of which they are composed 
 was woven it matters not, but it is interesting to know that they 
 were once uplifted in battle, and were waved by the enemy at the 
 siege of Lucknow, when 
 
 Handful of men as we were, vre were English in heart and in limb, 
 Strong with the strength of the race to command, to obey, to endure. 
 
 The presence of such trophies as these in a quiet peaceful mansion in 
 the corner of an English county, and the property of an English 
 country gentleman, is not common. In this case they suggest some- 
 thing of family history and ancestral proclivity. These discoloured 
 banners, the fabric of which had been pierced by the bullets of those 
 who fought each one as if " hope for the garrison hung but on him," 
 (to use again the stirring words of the Laureate,) were captured by a 
 company of the Second Rifle Brigade, in which Colonel Eyre was au 
 officer. You would hardly think that the gently-courteous country 
 gentleman, full of vigorous activity, whose conversation runs upon 
 the arts of peace, and only occasionally upon political warfare, had 
 seen so much active and exciting service, had been wounded in the 
 service of his country, and had been decorated with medals of which 
 any brave man might well be proud. Colonel Eyre has carried arms 
 for nearly thirty years, including the period during which he has had 
 the command of one of the volunteer regiments of this county. He 
 fought in the Crimea ; he was wounded at the attack of the Redan ; 
 he served during the Indian Mutiny, was present at the siege and 
 fall of Lucknow, and was present with Ross's camel corps at the fall 
 of Calpee. A man who has been mixed up with events like these 
 knows something of the horrors of war, and can appreciate the peace 
 and tranquility of an English country life, to which certain duties 
 and responsibilities are attached. 
 
 The Eyres may be described as a family of soldiers. In the 
 early years of his service, Colonel Eyre was attached to the staff of 
 his relative, Lieut.-General Sir William Eyre, in the capacity of 
 aide-de-camp^ and he can look back with pride upon a line of 
 ancestors who have been skilled in the use of arms, and who have 
 attained distinguished positions in the service. Sir Gervase Eyre 
 
104 
 
 was a commander of forces in the reign of one of the Charlses, and 
 was killed in the defence of Newark Castle in the early part of the 
 seventeenth century ; and the descendant of this distinguished officer, 
 Sir George Eyre, K.C.B., held an important command. Anthony 
 Hardolph Eyre, the representative of an after generation, was also a 
 lieut.-colonel in the army ; and another of Colonel Eyre's lineal 
 ancestors, in the First Foot Guards, was killed at the Battle of 
 Barossa, in Spain, in 1811. To the memory of several of these 
 distinguished representatives of an ancient line there are tablets on 
 the walls of Rampton Church. From this it will be gathered that 
 Colonel Eyre, the gallant commander of the North Notts. Rifle 
 Volunteers, comes of a warlike stock. Of his own honourable con- 
 nection with the profession of arms there are evidences at Rampton 
 which his guests may see. In his little room where books and 
 papers are kept, there are a number of trifles brought from the Redan 
 and from Lucknow, some of them displayed on the same walls, as is a 
 collection of admirable sepia and other drawings, representing high- 
 land sports and moorland scenery, which have been executed by 
 Mrs. Eyre. Carefully framed and preserved from destroying 
 influences is a slight sketch — a half finished trifle, but displaying 
 remarkable artistic merit, which was rapidly outlined by an officer 
 attached to Sir William Eyre's staff at the moment the Zouaves were 
 making their gallant attack on the Malakoff, in September, 1855, and 
 representing that spirited movement. This the Colonel thinks much 
 of, and he also takes scrupulous care of a tiny wooden cross — one of 
 twenty that were made as the sad memorials of a cruel event. 
 These were carved out of the wood of the door against which the 
 heads of the unfortunate children were dashed by the murderous 
 Sepoys, at Cawnpore, the blood stains of which massacre were seen 
 by the holder of this small memorial of one of the most inhuman acts 
 that ever darkened the pages of history. A photograph of the 
 members of the 2nd Rifle Brigade, whose courage and fidelity their 
 old lieutenant still speaks of, and small things brought from Lucknow, 
 the Redan, and other fields of conflict, are carefully preserved by the 
 owner of Rampton Manor. Years have passed aw^ay since the 
 occurrence of those stirring events of which these small trophies 
 remind one, and we find Colonel Eyre in middle life actively engaged 
 in the aflfairs of the northern end of the county, and spending much 
 of his time in the study of Imperial politics. Colonel Eyre may not 
 unfitly be described as a practical politician. Many months ago now it 
 occurred to him that taxation pressed unfairly upon landed property, 
 and he is the founder of an association — the first of the kind which 
 has existence in the county, whose object it is to get the taxation 
 more equally distributed amongst those who, though they get the 
 lion's share of the benefits and conveniences for which the taxes are 
 levied, contribute little or nothing to their maintenance or support* 
 
105 
 
 Colonel Eyre may indeed justly claim to rank among the pioneers of 
 ratal reform, and it is more than possible that he will live to see his 
 very fair and modest proposals carried into effect. As a magistrate 
 of the county, and as a member of various public bodies. Colonel 
 Eyre renders most useful service, and his advice upon all matters of 
 county administration is always valuable. 
 
 The family of which Colonel Eyre is the head is undoubtedly 
 one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in the county. There has been an 
 Eyre at Rampton for more than two hundred years ; and beyond that 
 period the Eyres were possessed of land in Derbyshire to a very con- 
 siderable extent. In the pages of a very able work recently published 
 by Mr. J. C. Cox, on the churches of Derbyshire, the Eyres are 
 mentioned over and over again, and memorials of them are scattered 
 up and down that county in considerable profusion. In the reign of 
 Henry the Third, a certain William Le E} r had a residence at Hope, 
 in the Peak district, held lands of the King in capite, and had to do 
 with the custody of the forests of the High Peak. His ancestor 
 married one of the co-heiresses of George Hercy, the lord of Grove, 
 in Nottinghamshire, and that fine mansion, now the residence of the 
 Harcourt-Vernons, was once the principal seat of the Eyres. 
 Rampton was originally, after the Conquest, the property of Roger de 
 Busli, who seems to have acquired enormous slices of land up and 
 down the county, and before it came into the hands of the Eyres it 
 belonged to the Stanhopes, the Malovels, and the Babingtons. In 
 the reign of James the First, Sir Gervase Eyre, who was commander 
 of the horse, and was slain whilst defending Newark Castle on behalf 
 of his Sovereign, Charles the First, married the co-heiress of John 
 Babington, and by this marriage Rampton came to his descendants, 
 who have held it since. I have already mentioned several of the 
 Eyres who were distinguished in arms. Members of the family have 
 at various periods represented the county in Parliament ; their sons 
 and daughters have at different times married into noble and titled 
 families, and their armorial bearings contain no fewer than five-and- 
 twenty quarterings. The chancel of Rampton Church is filled with 
 mural monuments to the memory of different members of the family, 
 which included an archdeacon of Nottingham ; and in the churches 
 of Derbyshire you may find numerous records of them. At Rowton, 
 in the neighbouring county, they had at one time a mansion, and 
 about 1700, one of them built a chapel near his residence, and made 
 his kinsman, Gervase Eyre, of Rampton, his heir " on condition of his 
 constantly residing at Rowton, where he was to maintain a good 
 house and sober hospitality." 
 
 Rampton Manor, as it appears to-day, in bold, well-defined 
 Elizabethan proportions, situated in the midst of rich pasture laud, 
 and unobscured by any wealth of foliage, does not suggest antiquity. 
 
106 
 
 It is a handsome modern brick mansion, built thirty years ago, by 
 an eminent architect, and at considerable cost. Its predecessor was 
 built in the reign of the Eighth Henry, but was pulled down more 
 than a century and a half ago. The only trace of the old hall 
 remaining, is an oak shield or panel, on which are carved the arms 
 and crest of the Eyres. This solitary and somewhat modest relic of 
 the old family residence, now hangs over the doorway in one of the 
 lower apartments at Rampton, where there are a number of glass 
 cases containing rare birds of brilliant plumage, which have been 
 shot in different parts of the world, by Colonel Eyre. The principal 
 rooms are bright, and the prospects are cheerful, though the general 
 formation of the country is flat. A mile away, the Trent flows 
 along a broad and bending channel, and a stone thrown across the 
 river falls in Lincolnshire, where, close to the water's edge, are the 
 ruined and turreted walls of what is said to have been a castle. In 
 front of this dismantled brickwork, which once formed part of a 
 substantial and pretentious residence, the Trent flows through green 
 meadows, kept within bounds on the Nottinghamshire side by a 
 sturdy and continuous embankment, which is of great use when the 
 river is swollen by heavy rains. Rampton Manor is said to occupy 
 an elevated position, though this is hardly apparent to one sitting in 
 the comfortable dining room, and looking over the park and meadow 
 land, which spreads away towards the river. In summer, when 
 everything is in full life, the scenery is pretty about here, and one 
 would say that the manor was well situated. Inside, it is very 
 comfortable — filled with bright objects and cheerful furniture, and 
 one realises what is implied by that sober and genuine hospitality 
 which was enjoined upon the owner's ancestors nearly two centuries 
 ago. 
 
 In the dining room there are a few good pictures ; in the 
 drawing room are several excellent copies of old masters. Among 
 these is a striking copy of Murillo's " Children of the Shell," which 
 was executed by an artist Colonel Eyre had met in Rome. There 
 are also admirable copies of two well-known works by Guido and 
 Albert Durer, which, with other pictures in the drawing room, 
 overlook some choice pieces of Sevres China. Among the dining 
 room collection are two interesting landscapes, by Salvator Rosa» 
 Originally they are supposed to have formed one large picture, which 
 some former possessor divided into two parts, a division which 
 increased the collection to which they belonged, and affected a 
 companionship which has not marred the conception of the painter, 
 or caused any mutilation of his work. They are parts of a mountain 
 scene, into one half of which figures are introduced, the central one 
 an astrologer or seer, who, with outstretched arms, appears to be 
 invoking some spirit of the mountain. The picture is a good 
 example of Salvator's comprehensive genius and liyely poetic 
 
107 
 
 imagination, and the attitudes and actions of the figures are natural 
 and full of dignity. In another part of the room there is a 
 characteristic painting by Bloemart — a cook engaged in trussing a 
 fowl ; and there are good examples of the work of Van der Docs — 
 probably Simon of that name, and of Van Diest, the last-named in 
 two small frames, with herons and dogs upon a few inches of canvas. 
 There are, besides, a fruit piece and a Dutch painting without a 
 name, making up a small, but interesting, collection. In these 
 old houses of the county one generally sees what is good in 
 the way of pictures. If they are modern pictures, they are well 
 chosen ; if they are old, while they tell no tale of artistic taste 
 bearing upon their owner, they say something at least for his 
 ancestors, and form a hidden contribution to the art treasures of the 
 country. 
 
RUFFORD ABBEY. 
 
 NE does not see Rufford Abbey to the best advantage on 
 a keen frosty day in the waning of the year. The lime 
 trees, which form an avenue to the house, are bereft of 
 their leaves ; the larger tress in the spacious park have most of them 
 shed their foliage, which has collected in brown crisp masses on the 
 ground beneath the naked branches. The oak, the sturdiest of the 
 woody brotherhood, still retains its vesture in a shrivelled form, and 
 there are bright patches of gold and crimson in the plantations. The 
 autumn colour is not yet wiped out. The roads leading through the 
 park are sentinelled by stately beeches, and from under one of them a 
 dense flock of wood pigeons rises, leaving their repast of beech 
 mast at the sound of wheels in alarm, and scattering the crisp leaves 
 with the action of their wings. There is a thin coating of ice on 
 the lake, and on the smooth lawn in front of the abbey there are 
 triangular patches of hoar frost, where the shadows of the building 
 fall. A Sherwood Forest mansion might be visited under more 
 unpleasant conditions than those which present themselves on a clear 
 frosty day in the middle of November. The abbey could not have 
 been quieter than it was on this particular morning, in those 
 days when its floors were trodden by the sandalled feet of Cister- 
 cian monks, in the periods of unutterable silence which intervened 
 between orisons, seven hundred years ago. The result of a very 
 modest pull at the bell handle is startling ; but the sound is so 
 very modern and prosaic that it serves to destroy the sense of awe, 
 which a protracted search into the past history of monastic institu- 
 tions invariably brings. Once inside the abbey, one forgets traditions, 
 and learns to look, if not with contempt, at any rate with indiffer- 
 ence upon ancient customs and Cistercian characteristics. How is 
 it possible to preserve one's respect for Ulf, who is said to have 
 held the Liberty of Ruffbrd before the Conquest, in that modern 
 drawing room ? Here the walls are hung with crimson satin in 
 gilded panels ; there are costly cabinets and inlaid tables, and when you 
 remove the chintz covers, which keep the dust from the furniture 
 during the master's absence, there are revealed the brightest 
 mysteries of needlework, the sight of which would have disturbed 
 the complacency of the Saxon proprietor. Probably the shade of 
 the Conqueror's nephew, who afterwards held the fee, and perhaps 
 inherited the rude dvrelling and family plate of the departed Saxon, 
 
109 
 
 would be staggered by an introduction to the suites of handsome 
 bed rooms hung with rare tapestry, and fitted with costly modern 
 furniture, and even the spirit of a certain Earl of Lincoln, who 
 founded the abbey, in 1148, and was good enough to provide com- 
 fortable quarters for a colony of monks, in honour of the Virgin 
 Mary, could it be summoned from the vasty deep, would show signs 
 of perplexity at the intelligence that the abbey was heated by means of 
 hot air. The latest of the Seventeen Abbots, who held monastic sway 
 at Rufford from the time of its foundation as an abbey, in the 
 reign of Stephen, to its dissolution in that of the Eighth Henry, whose 
 portrait now hangs on the walls of the staircase, would not have 
 known the significance of that minature table with its green cloth 
 and pockets, which stands at one end of the brick hall. Fancy old 
 Abbot de Ryme reading extracts from the " Turf Calendar " tliat lies 
 on yonder table, to his cowled brethren, who probably knew the taste 
 of venison better than do those who listen every week to the liturgy 
 in the little chapel at the abbey. After the acquirement of Rufford 
 by the Earl of Shrewsbury and Waterford, measures appear to have 
 been taken to purify it from the religious sanctity which the monks 
 left behind them. In 1574 Bess of Hardwick, who seems to have 
 been capable of employing as much ingenuity and skill in match- 
 making as in the building of houses and the laying out of gardens, 
 succeeded in inducing Charles Stuart to visit Rufford, and in getting 
 a probably expensive and tiresome daughter off her hands, to the 
 great delight of her noble husband, who breathed his sense of relief 
 in a letter to a friend. During this period the abbey was frequently 
 visited by King James and his son, wlio were fond of hunting the 
 Sherwood Forest deer. At the beginning of the seventeenth century 
 the Rufford estates passed to the Savile family, the portraits of several 
 of whom still adorn the walls of the abbey. The first of the dis- 
 tinguished family, which has held Rufford for successive generations, 
 was Sir George Savile, a baronet of James the First's creation. He 
 belonged to a family possessing property in Yorkshire and Lincoln- 
 shire, and was an accomplished scholar, for he re-edited the works of 
 St. Chrisostom, and founded two important professorships at Oxford. 
 It is recorded that he descended from a long line of the Saviles, of 
 Thornhill, Eland, and elsewhere in Yorkshire, whose origin as a 
 family is traced by his historians to very remote periods, and that 
 some of the family were consuls of Rome prior to the Christian Era. 
 In 1833 the then Sir George Savile was raised to the peerage as 
 Viscount Halifax, and fifty years later he was created a marquis. He 
 was buried in Westminster Abbey, in 1695. At the death of the 
 second Marquis the title became extinct, and Rufford was held by 
 several generations of baronets, one of whom, Sir George Savile, 
 eighth baronet, represented Yorkshire in five successive Parliaments. 
 " In him," it is said, " was blended dignity, affability, rectitude, an4 
 
110 
 
 eminent abilities." From the beginning of the present century down 
 to 1856 Rufford has been possessed by the Earls of Scarborough, 
 when in the year just named it became the property of the late 
 owner, Mr. Henry Savile, a Deputy-Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, 
 of which county he was High Sheriff, in 1861. Mr. Savile died in 
 1881, and was succeeded in the estates by Mr. Augustus Lumley 
 Savile, his brother. 
 
 The Rufford Abbey of to-day, standing grey and solitary, in 
 the midst of forest scenery, with smooth stretches of lawn, and 
 further away a weed-grown lake of picturesque formation, is a 
 modern mansion. That is to say, it has been deprived by its several 
 owners of those features which gave it a monastic character, and 
 by successive stages of alteration, it has been converted into a resi- 
 dence suited to the requirements of a country gentleman of large 
 estates and large influence. It is now a piece of architectural patch- 
 work most interesting to look upon, presenting no irregularity to the 
 eye of the rare visitor, and looking like what it is — a great and 
 important house. The mansion is in pretty much the same condition 
 as it was when it came into the hands of Mr. Savile, at the death of 
 the eighth Earl of Scarborough. The south end is the oldest portion 
 of the building, and though it has within a recent date been dealt 
 with by the painters and decorators, the masonry is as it was in the 
 days of its first lay possessor. If the sight of so much modern 
 furniture and bright colour in the various rooms should cause one to 
 doubt w^hether a house containing all the costly surroundings of 
 patrican life had ever been the home of a colony of monks, a visit to 
 a crypt would serve to satisfy the sceptic. This part of the original 
 building was brought to light some years ago, and its arched propor- 
 tions, sharp and clearly defined, remain for the guidance of 
 archaeologists, and to overlook the comforts of servants. 
 
 To the late Mr. Savile's predecessor belongs the credit of furnish- 
 ing and decorating the rooms in excellent taste, for no material alterations 
 have been made in the internal arrangement of the abbey during the 
 last quarter of a century. Such alterations would indeed be super- 
 fluous. How, for instance, could the drawing room be improved, 
 even in the direction of further modernisation ? The panels of pale 
 crimson satin, with their silver floral ornaments, which adorn the 
 walls, are apparently as bright and as free from soil as they were 
 twenty years ago. The furniture — the needlework chairs, and tables 
 of rare and polished woods ; the beautiful cabinets will last for 
 generations, and surely it would be a sin to remove the plain antique 
 flreplace, and to replace it with something gorgeously modern. The 
 most interesting part of modern Rufford is to be found upstairs. 
 Here there are grand suites of rooms hung with tapestry— pictures 
 on canvas, wonderful works of art wrought by delicate fingers, and 
 
Ill 
 
 displaying an industry and a patience which does not belong to these 
 modern times. There is a sombre indescribable kind of appearance 
 in all tapestried rooms, and here in the State bed room, where George 
 the Fourth once slumbered, with its sumptuous hangings of pale 
 yellow silk and canopy of honeycomb work just a trifle faded, on this 
 still quiet morning, and in this still quiet abbey, one is impressed 
 with a sense of something awfully historic. There is a rare succes- 
 sion of these tapestried bed rooms, with their elaborately carved bed 
 furniture and rich hangings, with the family arms blazoned in 
 needlework at the back of the bed. The tapestry for the most 
 part is in an excellent state of preservation. The subjects are chiefly 
 scriptural ; and there are one or two scenes from the early history of 
 Rome, and some forest scenery in olive green. The house contains 
 an immense number of rooms, and from the windows of those in the 
 upper portion charming woodland views are obtainable. 
 
 The principal room is the long galleiy, 114 feet long, and 
 36 wide, which now is in a somewhat tumbled state. The late Mrs. 
 Savile seems to have had a liking for private theatricals, and the 
 long gallery not very long ago was fitted with a stage, and those 
 accessories necessary to the production of plays. The flood of sun- 
 shine admitted when one of the shutters is unfastened, is insufficient 
 to light up the whole of this long apartment, and it brings to view 
 a very handsome chimney piece, with some fine carving, and a 
 number of pictures. One of these, the portrait of Lady Gertrude 
 Pierrepont, wife of the first Marquis of Halifax, who was a Savile, 
 appears in two other parts of the house. A beautiful face in early 
 life ; in later life still beautiful, the beauty lines still unswept by 
 *' Decay's effacing finger." The Marquis of Halifax is also there 
 beside his lady, and there is a large painting of what is supposed to 
 be the abbey of former days. The library is a large room containing 
 a good collection of literature, amongst which the modern novel has 
 found a place beside the venerable tome, and "Ouida" and " Whyte 
 Melville" take their places in close proximity to ancient philosophers. 
 The brick ha I is an interesting curiosity. It gets its name from the 
 floor, which is of plain red brick, polished, and very pleasant to walk 
 upon. The beautiful carved mantel-piece of Caen stone, with the 
 family arms, the cases of stuffed birds, a miniature billiard table, and 
 a really handsome modern screen of polished wood richly carved, are 
 hardly in consonance with the old oak table, long and narrow, with 
 its bench of corresponding length, the quaint old chests, the queer 
 little imps in stone, who start from the walls, and the deep old- 
 fashioned casements. 
 
 The drawing room has already been mentioned in this sketch ; 
 the dining room is a small, square, and lofty apartment. Another 
 large room was called the billiard room ; it has now changed its 
 
112 
 
 name and is called the study. It, too, is a fine room with many 
 portraits on the walls. There is Lord Spencer, George, Earl of 
 Shrewsbury, the Earl of Northumberland, Lord Halifax and Lady 
 Savile, daughter of Lord Coventry, keeper of the great seal in 
 Charles the First's time, " a lady remarkable for her zeal and devotion 
 to the Royal cause, from the support of which no danger or fear of 
 death would deter." A more valuable tribute to her memory is 
 conveyed in the words which appear under under the portrait, " Her 
 spirit was equalled only by her piety and goodness of heart." Then 
 there is Sir William Savile, the Earl of Stratford, Lady Cole, and 
 other distinguished family connections. There is a fine collection of 
 portraits at RufFord, and a few good pictures of another kind, includ- 
 ing two sea scapes of considerable merit, and some classical paintings. 
 These pictures are scattered over various parts of the house. Some 
 of them are in the bed rooms, a large number are in the picture 
 gallery, and some in the study. Perhaps the choicest part of the 
 collection is to be seen on the grand staircase. Here there is a 
 Snyders, " The Boar Hunt," a large and valuable painting, and a 
 large number of portraits — gentlemen in hose and doublet, ladies in 
 ruffs and frills. Some of the worthies of Elizabeth's time keep 
 company with those of Charles I. and Henry VIH., and Sir Philip 
 Sydney, in an immense frill and pink doublet, fixes the intruder on 
 the staircase, with a cold stare from a pair of intellectual eyes set in 
 a pale, thoughtful face. I should have liked to spend more tiime 
 with the favourite Elizabethan poet, the charm of whose music, 
 carried through ages, has not yet died away, with the grosser Henry, 
 and with the straight-limbed courtiers and stern cavaliers of the 
 staircase, but the light is becoming dimmer, mists are beginning to 
 gather in the woods, and over the lake, and the day is nearly spent. 
 
SERLBY. 
 
 HERE is already the faintest suspicion of autumnal colour in 
 the beechen avenues of Serlby, in the very north of the 
 county. It is a famous place for beeches, almost as large and 
 as towering as those which fringe a celebrated Thames district. 
 To reach the hall you have to pass through a fine beech avenue. 
 The trees are tall, stately, and of uniform height. They are in full 
 leaf on this August day, and in the transient periods of sunshine the 
 road bestrewn with the green-looking little husks, which contain the 
 tiny fruit of these giant trees, is flecked with restless patches of 
 light. These trees are in the park, and they follow the curve 
 of the road, which dips into the hamlet of Serlby, whose 
 few houses are occupied by Lord Galway's people, and belong to 
 the estate. From the Bawtry side you get no distant view of 
 Serlby. Its white walls come upon you suddenly — you pass through 
 a slender iron gate, large enough to admit a carriage, flanked by a 
 dark growth of shrubbery, and the few yards of crisp gravel walk 
 lead to the south front of the family residence of the Moncktons. 
 The owner of Serlby may well be proud of his ancestral beech 
 trees. Here these tall giants of vegetation, standing in almost 
 military exactitude, have drawn their forces nearly up to the house, as 
 though they had a desire to become domesticated, but dare not 
 make further advances in that direction. The broad gravel walk 
 that runs parallel with the mansion, terminates with an avenue of 
 beeches, which provides a delightful vista. One half of the avenue 
 is carpeted with a soft green moss, whose growth has been en- 
 couraged. At the extremity there are a couple of statues, and 
 there is a lovely stretch of open country, grassy and well wooded. 
 The moss carpet, which is velvety and soft, has been torn in 
 places by birds in search of insects. The woods are intersected by 
 beech avenues, some of which are narrow and fairy-lookiiig. They 
 are all of them quiet and unfrequented. Rabbits, silver grey 
 and brown, abound in the woods, and with a confidence in 
 human tolerance, which their kind do not usually display, venture 
 onto the lawn in front of the house. 
 
 In 1727 John Monckton was created a^ peer of Ireland — 
 Viscount Gal way and Baron Killard — and in that year he purchased 
 the Serlby estate, soon after his marriage with a daughter of the 
 Duke of Rutland. The Moncktons can claim long descent, and it 
 
 H 
 
114 
 
 cannot justly be said that their lives have been useless, idle, or 
 undistinguished. As early as 1545, William Monckton, of Cavil, in 
 Yorkshire, in obedience to the command of his Sovereign, repaired 
 with his tenants and retainers to Newcastle, there to oppose the 
 threatened invasion of the Scots and the French. The title has 
 extended into a seventh generation, and the heads of the house 
 have generally been legislators. The first Viscount represented 
 Clithero, in Lancashire, and Pontefract, in successive Parliaments, 
 was appointed a Commissioner of his Majesty's Revenue in Ireland, 
 and afterwards Surveyor-General of the King's " Honours, Woods, 
 Forests, &c., in England and Wales." In 1741 his lordship received 
 the degree of LL.D. on the installation of the Duke of Newcastle as 
 Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. The second Viscount 
 was appointed receiver of his Majesty's crown and farm rents in 
 several counties, and he was returned Member of Parliament for 
 Pontefract and Thirsk. The first Viscount was Member for York 
 and Pontefract, and a Privy Councillor. The sixth and late 
 Viscount, who died in 1876, represented the Hundred of Bassetlaw 
 for many years, and was at one time a Lord-in- Waiting to the 
 Queen. The present Lord Galway was first returned to Parlia- 
 ment for North Nottinghamshire, in 1872, when Mr. Speaker 
 Denison was raised to the peerage. He has retained the seat since, 
 and in the fourth session ofLordBeaconsfield's last Government he was 
 selected to move the Address to the Throne in the Commons. Stored 
 away at Serlby there is an old and rusty helmet, in which decay 
 has eaten great holes. A stream of rusty particles escape from it as 
 Lord Galway takes it from a cupboard for my inspection. This 
 now delapidated head gear once gleamed in the battle field. It was 
 worn by Sir Philip Monckton, whose portrait, by Lely, hangs in 
 the dining room at Serlby. Sir Philip was a brave man, and a 
 distinguished soldier, and his loyalty to the First Charles frequently 
 brought him into difiiculties. He fought at Marston Moor, and in 
 half-a-dozen other engagements. His property was twice confiscated, 
 twice his horses were shot from under him, and on one occasion 
 being wounded, he continued fighting with his bridle between his 
 teeth until he was again severely wounded, and made prisoner. 
 
 Serlby is a comparatively modern mansion, with an extensive 
 south front, the plainness of which is agreeably broken by a colionaded 
 portico, forming the principal entrance to the house. It enjoys a 
 superb situation. Facing it, stretches a fine expanse of park land, 
 planted with abundant trees — beech and oak — and distributed in that 
 wilful manner, which secures picturesqueness, where methodical 
 arrangement, or observance of any definite rule of order, would fail. 
 The scene is brightened in one direction by the appearance of a lake, 
 whose surface gleams through the openings in the trees, as also does 
 that of a small wandering stream, which holds trout, I should think, 
 
115 
 
 and takes its course to the lake. The end window of the south front, 
 that nearest the quiet beech avenues, and the two handsome cedar 
 trees, which spread their sombre layers far and wide, belongs to the 
 library. In the room is a fairly comprehensive collection of books, 
 and some fine old pictures, chiefly portraits of celebrities by dis- 
 tinguished artists. Amongst them is a Caualetti, which has attracted 
 much attention whilst it has hung there. A few of the best of the 
 Serlby pictures have been exhibited at various times in some of the 
 public galleries of art — notably that at Nottingham Castle. The 
 walls at Serlby are innocent of modern pictures ; the collection is 
 one of old masters. There are portraits by Vandyck, distinguish- 
 able by the inexpressible grace of the head, and the delicate beauty 
 of the hands, the flesh transparent enough to show the deep blue of 
 the veins through which the life-current flows ; there are master- 
 pieces of colour displayed in portrait painting, by Sir Peter Lely ; 
 there are specimens of Holbein's work, and Hogarth is not mis- 
 represented. There is a gigantic picture, bearing the sign manual of 
 the pleasure-loving and extravagant Daniel Mytens, covering the end 
 of one of the rooms ; there are several Canaletti's, and the charm of 
 Paulo Panini, whose paintings, chiefly of the ornaments of modern 
 Rome, were esteemed no less for grandeur of architecture,and for truth 
 of perspective, than for their limpid clearness of colour is not want- 
 ing. These pictures have been in the family for generations, and 
 when, by the kindness of Lord Galway, they are away on exhibition, 
 they leave an almost painful blank upon the walls, and create an 
 appreciable void in the house. There are a few large pictures in the 
 entrance hall. Some foxes, which have occupied the brush of 
 Renique, are enjoying themselves with a reckless demeanour, which 
 suggests complete forgetfulness of the fangs of the Grove hounds, and 
 a very fine collection of stag heads, which is arranged about the 
 staircase and passages, gives additional evidence that the lord of 
 Serlby is a follower of sport. These are the heads of animals shot 
 in Scotland by the sixth Lord Galway and his son. The most 
 striking pictures in the hall are a fine portrait of Charles the First, 
 by Vandyck, and a large and well-preserved painting representing 
 William the Third entering London, amid all the splendors of a 
 Royal ceremonial. In half-a-dozen frames arranged in the drawing 
 room, from whose windows there is a delightful view, there are 
 portraits by Vandyck. There is his Royal patron, at whose hands 
 the painter received the Monarch's own portrait set in diamonds, and 
 Henrietta, his Queen. There is the Duchess of Buckingham and her 
 family, the Earl of Bedford, and Lord Pembroke. The fine painting 
 on wood of Henry VIII. is by Holbein ; hanging in a line with it are 
 the features of Nicholas Cratzer, Royal astronomer. These pictures 
 have been exhibited at South Kensington, and other places, and 
 possibly may ba away at the present time. Panini's picture here is 
 
116 
 
 the interior of St. Peter's. There are some views of Venice, by 
 Canaletti, and the original sketch of tlie " Descent from the Cross." 
 The picture of Mytens, already alluded to, is remarkable, both for 
 size and quality, if such an association of words may be employed 
 to describe a great work of art. It is 12 feet 2 inches in height, and 
 15 feet 4 inches in breadth. The principal figures are those of 
 Charles the First and his Queen, with two horses, one of them 
 carrying the curious side saddle of the period, and dogs, observable 
 amongst which latter is the monster King Charles' spaniel. In the 
 foreground, Geoffry Hudson, the dwarf, is exerting all his strength to 
 keep in check a couple of dogs, which are exhibiting a desire to be 
 demonstrative. All the figures are life size, and the picture is so large 
 that some time back, when it was lent to an exhibition at Manchester, 
 it had to be conveyed by road. In the company of Kings and 
 Queens, and of his less warlike descendants, appears Sir Philip 
 Monckton, of the rusted helmet, I had seen previously. Sir Philip's 
 son occupies a place at his warrior father's right ; and they are 
 surrounded by an array of ancestors and descendants, including the 
 first, second, third, and sixth Viscounts, the last a striking portrait 
 by Sir Francis Grant. There are also in this distinguished com- 
 pany. General Monckton, who took command at Quebec on the 
 occasion of General Wolfe's death — a fine picture by Weste ; the 
 Marquis of Granby, whose memory has been perpetuated by 
 countless sign painters, with more or less consistency, and the famous 
 Lady Cork. 
 
 Each Sunday, Divine service is held in a little chapel attached 
 to the hall, and containing Vandyck's representation of " The 
 Crucifixion." Within the pleasure grounds there is a large mound, 
 thickly covered with leafy shrubs and tangled undergrowth. This 
 was once the site of a church, all traces of which have long 
 since disappeared, just as the village of Farworth, the smoke of 
 whose quiet cottages, curled among the trees near Serlby Hall, has 
 disappeared. Not a vestige of the village remains, but the plough 
 occasionally unearths some remnant of brick or stone which once 
 belonged to the foundations. Many years ago, Serlby had a rare 
 collection of statuary, but the graven images, which once adorned its 
 halls, have departed. One or two specimens are still preserved in 
 the grounds. They are lichen grown, discoloured by climatic in- 
 fluences, and smoke. Formerly a portion of what now is the lawn 
 in front of the house was used as a bowling green, a use to which 
 it has been a stranger these many years. The gardens are laid out 
 in Dutch fashion, and they contain some fine shrubs, including two 
 small fir trees, brought from Nova Scotia, which seem to thrive in 
 North Nottinghamshire soil. In one of the divisions of the kitchen 
 garden there is a venerable mulberry tree, a very fine specimen, which 
 may at one time have attracted the attention of Cardinal Wolse^, 
 
for it is supposed that it once adorned the episcopal palace at 
 Scrooby, which was the occasional residence of this celebrated 
 dignitary. In these gardens the edelweiss, a plant whose flowers 
 Mark Twain comtemptuously likens to cigar ashes, grows in small 
 quantities. It is said to preserve the person who wears it from ill, 
 but, as it prefers the ice-bound soil of Alpine regions to the more 
 kindly nutriment of this country, it does not often appear in English 
 button-holes. 
 
SHERWOOD LODGE. 
 
 HE proverbial dulness of late autumn is sometimes broken by 
 days of exceptional brightness, when the sky is full, not of 
 sober depths of grey, as one of the poets would have us 
 believe it always is in November, but of lively blue, and when the 
 air is so still that you may hear the fall of a shaken leaf. This year 
 the leaves have lingered long, as though they had not had enough of 
 life during the too brief summer ; so that the beeches and other trees 
 at Sherwood Lodge have not yet become " bare ruined choirs," for 
 this morning they are liberally clothed with the golden and umber 
 tints of the autumn season, and brightened by a sunlight which has 
 none of those sickly characteristics of the November sun that the 
 poet Thompson observed. But the gardens, which, earlier in the 
 year, are bright with a variety of colours, are flowerless, for the 
 summer is ended, and dead shrivelled leaves, flying before the gale, 
 have settled upon the lawn, where the tennis nets are still left 
 standing. If all days were like this. Colonel Seely would not have 
 ordered that large square of ground to be filled up with asphalte, in 
 order to provide facilities for the perpetual practice of a game which 
 has properly been voted one of best ever invented. Going through 
 a small plantation towards the kitchen garden, one walks ankle deep 
 in dead leaves, from which a pleasant and freshening odour arises. 
 Some men are clearing them from the gravel, and putting them into 
 a cart. To-morrow, the effect of their labour will be destroyed, for 
 every breath of wind brings more leaves from the branches, and the 
 ground is quickly strewn. The wych elm is a variety of tree which 
 has done well in the grounds of Sherwood Lodge. Its proportions, 
 defined in skeleton fashion, now that the leaves are gone, are very 
 fine. Its branches project in graceful sweeping lines, and its shape 
 is at once imposing and symmetrical. 
 
 When Colonel Seely came to Sherwood Lodge, there was 
 nothing worthy the name of an estate attached to it. The house 
 was built about a century ago, and has had some four or five tenants. 
 Colonel Samuel Coape, who was heir to Mrs. Sherbrooke, of Oxton, 
 once resided here, and before Mr. Seely purchased the property, it 
 was the residence of the Rev. George Francis Holcombe, who was 
 Vicar of Arnold, a county magistrate, the possessor of rare social 
 qualities, and a very good judge of horse flesh. Mr. Holcombe was 
 a tenant of Colonel Welfitt's, of Lang with Lodge, who sold the 
 
119 
 
 property some time back, and Mr. Seely no sooner came into possession 
 than he threw the house into a state of bricks and mortar, and 
 commenced improvements on a scale, the magnitude of which may 
 be imagined when it is stated that Sherwood Lodge is about twice 
 as large as it was in Mr. Holcombe's time. The two most important 
 rooms in the house, are the drawing room and library, both of which 
 have been added by Colonel Seely, who evidently intends to make 
 this very desirable residence a permanent home. In making these 
 alterations, care seems to have been taken not to mar the general 
 character of the building, which it would perhaps be impossible to 
 redeem from a certain conventionalism. In these additions, its 
 character has been very wisely preserved, so that Sherwood Lodge, 
 from the Mansfield Road, looks just what it is — a solid brick mansion, 
 imposing enough to indicate the position of its owner, and commodious 
 enough to meet the requirements of a large and influential family. 
 The new rooms are very fine, and furnished with perfect taste. The 
 library is entered through handsome doors of unpolished oak ; the 
 mantelpiece is of oak richly carved, and this beautiful woodwork is 
 carried throughout the whole room, even to the organ, which occupies 
 the end opposite the entrance. It may here be mentioned that when 
 the family is at home, this charming apartment is used on Sundays 
 for the purposes of worship. The nearest church is some considerable 
 distance from the house, so service is conducted here, by a clergyman 
 of the Established Church, with the assistance of this beautiful organ, 
 which, in its silent intervals, is a conspicuous ornament in the room. 
 This service is attended by those who belong to the household, and 
 by any who choose to come and take their seats upon the forms 
 which are kept for this interesting devotional gathering. There are 
 some very fine examples of modern pictorial art in this room— 
 amongst them, one in John Linnell's best style. It is called " The 
 Last Load." Probably the waggorier, who is conducting this last 
 load of hay or corn to the rickyard, is as indifferent as is the 
 slow-paced horse in the shafts, to the wonderful light which suffuses 
 the sky and reddens the surface of the mere in the background. I 
 often think that pictures are affected by weather influences. The 
 soft light of this autumnal morning seems to bring out the intenser 
 glow of this summer sky of Linnell's, which illumines the landscape 
 whilst the waggoner is taking the last load to its destination. The 
 pictures at Sherwood Lodge are numerous, modern, and well chosen. 
 There are no knights in armour, or questionable characters, belonging 
 to the court of Charles. They are chiefly landscapes and seascapes 
 by first-rate modern artists. In the bright drawing room, with its 
 pleasant south-easterly aspect, there are several of Birket Foster's 
 happiest efforts, full of transparency and vitality — gems which shine 
 in the world of water-colour. The water-colours, numerous and 
 admirably chosen, are amongst the best of the pictures at Sherwood 
 
120 
 
 Lodge, though they do not represent the whole of the collection, 
 which is distributed over library, drawing room, dining room, and 
 hall, and contains some really good oils. There are water-colours by 
 Birket Foster, Lewis, and Duncan, some of which once formed part 
 of the collection of Lord Dunmore, and oils by Royal Academicians, 
 and by painters of modern notoriety. The sculptors' art is represented 
 in the hall, where there are two exquisite marble pieces, one delineating 
 the recumbent figures of children ; the other representing the graceful 
 figure of a young girl who is caressing a pet lamb. These two 
 beautiful pieces were shown in the International Exhibition of 1851. 
 
 Within the last few years, Colonel Seely has made large 
 purchases of land in the neighbourhood of his house, and he has 
 now a considerable stake in the county, in addition to his interest in 
 the family estates in Derbyshire, Surrey, and the Isle of Wight. 
 He is the owner of some 3,000 acres of land in Nottinghamshire ; 
 indeed, he seems to have bought whatever he could lay his hands 
 upon in the neighbourhood of his residence. One of his recent 
 purchases is an estate called Haywood Oaks, not far from Blidworth, 
 which includes a substantial house, some 600 acres of land, and 
 some fifty or sixty grand oak trees, specimens as fine as any in the 
 county, or elsewhere. This portion of the estate is somewhat 
 sequestered ; it stands in the midst of a picturesque country, and 
 its superb cluster of oaks gives it a kind of interest, which attaches 
 to but few places in these days. Ramsdale, another portion of 
 Colonel Seely's recently acquired estate, is nearer home, and upon it 
 there is a lofty hill, from which, on a clear day, can be seen the 
 towers of Lincoln Cathedral. At one time the Colonel thought of 
 making that hill the site of his new house, the situation appeared 
 so favourable, and the views were so fine. All about here the 
 land belongs to the senior Member for Notttingham, who has 
 already inaugurated many improvements. Colonel Seely having 
 thus become a considerable landowner in the county, what more 
 natural than that he should turn his attention to farming ? It is very 
 evident, both from his public utterances and from the condition of 
 the some 1,400 acres at present under his control, that Colonel Seely 
 has given considerable attention to agricultural matters, and those 
 immediately interested in the cultivation of the soil may fairly look 
 with some degree of expectency for the result of the experience of 
 one, who has been so eminently successful in another important 
 department of industrial life. I may perhaps be permitted to state that 
 Colonel Seely, with his yet limited experience as a practical farmer, 
 has developed certain opinions concerning the chances of agriculture 
 in the future. He has a habit of reducing these matters to statistical 
 proportions, and he thinks that agricultural operations ought to be 
 iso systematised as to show, in account form, the sources of gain 
 or loss, with a view, I suppose, to enable people to provide remedies 
 
121 
 
 for mistakes, or facilities for pursuing a successful course. In 
 collieries, Colonel Seely has had considerable experience. Every 
 quarter there is submitted to him an elaborate statement of account 
 bristling with figures, by which he can tell — as surely as he can tell 
 the hour of day by looking at his watch, the financial result of the 
 operations at the several great collieries, of which he and his father 
 are the owners. These figures are an index of what is being done at 
 the collieries ; they tell the cost per ton of getting every seam of 
 coal, and when it is mentioned that between 800,000 and 900,000 
 tons are got annually from these collieries, it will be understood that 
 the figures referred to are not unimportant. They represent, in 
 fact, a complete analysis of the working of the several collieries, and 
 a system upon which the proper management of the great operations 
 which the Messrs. Seely direct, depends. 
 
 Weighted, as he must necessarily be, with the responsibilities 
 attaching to the very large colliery undertakings in which he is 
 engaged, the younger Mr. Seely has devoted himself assiduously 
 for a number of years to various branches of the public service, so 
 that the margin of time left for his own private enjoyment must be 
 very narrow indeed. The public exercises a threefold call upon his 
 time and upon his energies. He is the senior Parliamentary repre- 
 sentative of a large constituency, he is Colonel of the Robin Hood 
 Rifles, and he is a magistrate for two counties, in one of which 
 he officiates with some regularity. In these days of long sittings, 
 interminable debate, and persistent opposition of a factious order, 
 the duties of a Member of Parliament are by no means light, and the 
 benches of the House of Commons can hardly be described as seats 
 in Paradise. Mr. Seely is not an inexperienced Member of Parlia- 
 ment. His father has sat in the House of Commons for upwards 
 of a quarter of a century ; he himself has been twice elected for a 
 great commercial constituency. At the general election of 1868 he 
 first solicited the suffrages of the electors of Nottingham, when he 
 came forward, in conjunction with Mr. P. W. Clayden as a Liberal 
 candidate. On that occasion there were five candidates in the field, 
 the late Sir Robert Clifton, Colonel Wright, and Mr. Bernal 
 Osborne being the other three. Mr. Seely was defeated, and 
 Sir Robert Clifton and Colonel Wright elected, Mr. Seely 
 being 587 votes behind the last-named gentleman. On the death of 
 the senior member, in 1869, Mr. Seely was returned for Notting- 
 ham, in opposition to Mr. Digby Seymour. He continued to repre- 
 sent the borough until 1874, when he retired from the representation, 
 for reasons which were perfectly justifiable. At the last election, in 
 April of 1880, he was returned at the head of the poll by a majority, 
 wdiich showed that the people of Nottingham had long been anxious 
 again to have him as their representative. Meanwhile> Mr. Seely 
 had been appointed Colonel of the Robin Hood Rifles — a position of 
 
m 
 
 whicli any man might well be proud. This was certainly a post to 
 which duties,at once arduous and responsible, were attached, but when 
 Colonel Wright resigned the command of the regiment the choice 
 of his successor was made without demur. The appointment of 
 Colonel Seely was at once popular and appropriate, and, under the 
 influence of his strict and even discipline and soldierly ability, the 
 regiment has maintained its proud position. With all these things 
 on hand— his collieries, farming, and Parliamentary, military, and 
 magisterial duties — Colonel Seely has not much leisure at his dis 
 posal, and with his time so fully occupied, and his energy so fully 
 taxed, he must of necessity sacrifice many of those social and other 
 pleasures, which are within the reach of men of wealth and 
 position. 
 
STAPLEFORD HALL THE WRIGHTS. 
 
 R. Charles Ichabod Wright, best known as Colonel Wright, 
 of Stapleford Hall, in this county, and of Watcomb Park, 
 Devonshire, is the head of a family which has every claim 
 to be numbered amongst the representatives of the great houses of 
 this county. The Wrights of Mapperley are represented on the male 
 side by four brothers, of whom the late Colonel of the Robin Hoods 
 is the eldest. The other brothers, who are well known here, are 
 Mr. Henry Smith Wright, of Park Hill, in Hampshire ; Mr. 
 Frederick Wright, of Lenton Hall, a place which, generations ago, 
 was occupied by his ancestors ; and Mr. George Howard Wright. 
 The two elder brothers have, to some extent, at any rate, been 
 identified with local politics ; the two younger have taken a very 
 useful part in movements for the improvement of the moral and social 
 condition of the people. In his early life Colonel Wright probably 
 enjoyed advantages which do not come within the reach of all sons 
 of the wealthy. His father was not only a ripe scholar but a 
 thoroughly practical man. He combined with a cultivated intellect 
 and the possession of high scholastic acquirements, a genuine spirit 
 of business. Such a combination is rare ; the scholar may become 
 an ascetic ; the business man may sacrifice his finer faculties on the 
 shrine of Mammon, or in the idle pursuit of profitless forms of 
 pleasure. In any reference to Colonel Wright and to his antecedents, 
 one must say something of his father, because he was a distinguished 
 man who is yet very well remembered, though the introduction of 
 his name in this part of the article is somewhat out of chronological 
 order. The late Mr. Ichabod Charles Wright, whose Christian 
 names the Colonel bears, joined his father in the banking business in 
 the year 1825, after he had become a fellow of his college. In the 
 year of his entrance into business he married the daughter of the first 
 Lord Denman, who afterwards became Lord Chief Justice of 
 England. His after life was spent most industriously between 
 business and study. He translated the " Inferno," " Purgatorio," and 
 " Paradiso " of Dante, which translations were published by Messrs. 
 Longmans, in 1833, 1836, and 1840. A second edition of these 
 translations was published in 1845, and their value may be gathered 
 from the verdict of a critic who, writing in one of the leading journals 
 said : " Lord Denman may well be proud of his son-in-law, who has 
 converted into his lordship's yernacular one of the grandest works of 
 
the human imagination, making the Engb'sh peasant familiar with 
 the loftiest dreams of genius that ever swept the eyelids of the 
 Italian poet. These translations may be placed amongst the worthiest 
 of the kind we possess in our own language." In 1841 Mr. Wright 
 published "Thoughts on Currency," and in 1847, "Evils of the 
 Currency," subje'cts on which he was well qualified to write. In 
 1865 he published a translation of the Iliad of Homer in blank verse, 
 which may take its place with the translations of Pope and Lord 
 Derby. Mr. Wright's last issue from the Press was in 1857, and 
 consisted of a selection from the Psalms, in verse, which was written 
 when he was partially blind. Of this distinguished and respected 
 gentleman, whose remains were laid in Carriugton Churchyard only 
 nine years ago. Colonel Wright is the eldest son, and it is more than 
 probable that to his early training are now due, in a measure, those 
 qualities which have made him so popular in this town, and which 
 leave such a pleasant impression upon those with whom he comes in 
 contact, whether in the relations of business, or within the hospitable 
 walls of either of his country residences. The lineage of the Wrights 
 of Mapperley starts with a Thomas Wright, of Nottingham, who, 
 born in 1724, had sons, Ichabod, of Mapperley, and John Smith, of 
 Rempstone Hall, who was High SherilF of this county in 1815. The 
 third son lived at Upton Hall, near Newark, and was also in turn 
 High Sheriff of the county. His son was Joseph Banks Wright, 
 who married into the Dashwood (Stanton Hall) family. Then we 
 come to Ichabod Wright, grandfather to the four brothers who now 
 represent the Nottinghamshire branch of the family, who married 
 Miss Harriet Day, of Yarmouth, by whom he had fourteen children, 
 amongst them nine daughters, most of whom married into families of 
 distinction, whilst one of his sons married a daughter of Archbishop 
 Howley, the then Primate, and another a near relative of Lord 
 EUenborough's. One of the daughters, of whom Colonel Wright and 
 bis brothers are nephews, married a son of Lord Boston ; another 
 married Sir John Shaw Lefevre, a man of considerable distinction, 
 and brother to Lord Eversley ; a third married one of Lord Carlisle's 
 sons, who became Dean of Lichfield ; and a fourth became Lady 
 Overstone, when her husband, Mr. Samuel Jones Lloyd, was raised 
 to the peerage. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable that this large family comprised 
 three sets of twins. After this gentleman, came the distinguished 
 man who translated the wondrous Tale of Troy^ and now Colonel 
 Wright perpetuates the favourite forenames which for generations 
 have been borne by the head of the Wrights of Nottinghamshire. As 
 the Wrights of Swanwick, in Derbyshire, are another branch of th6 
 family, it would perhaps be well to glance at such parts of their 
 pedigree as affect the Colonel's family. We are now enabled to gd 
 back two centuries earlier than the house of Thomas Wright, of 
 
125 
 
 Nottingham, and to trace the family to a John Wright, of Stow- 
 market, in Suffolk, whose will was made in 1557, and who assumed 
 the alias Camplyon — a rather picturesque patronym, by the way. 
 His first son was Captain John Wright, who suffered eight years* 
 imprisonment in Newark Castle for his attachment to the Parlia- 
 mentary cause, and it was very natural that he should never be able 
 to understand why he was incarcerated. He afterwards acquired 
 property in several parts of Nottinghamshire, and in a certain part 
 of Suffolk, and at his death he was buried in St. Peter's Church, in 
 this town. The second son of this gentleman settled at Bingham, 
 and was interred in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham, where there is 
 a monument to his memory. He left two sons, Samuel and Ichabod, 
 the first named of whom was born about the year 1697. Ichabod, 
 the second son, born in 1700, is described as a banker, who owned 
 lands in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. This member of the 
 family, so far as I have been able to make out, was originally engaged 
 in the Baltic trade, and late in his life, about the year 1760, he 
 devoted a portion of his wealth to the establishment of Wright's 
 Bank, taking his two sons into partnership. This, the first of the 
 family, who was christened Ichabod, is also buried in the precincts 
 of St. Mary's Church. John, the heir of Ichabod, was also a banker 
 in Nottingham ; he married a daughter of John Sherbrooke, of this 
 town, and left issue several children, one of whom, Samuel, of Gun- 
 thorpe, married a daughter of Lord Coventry. His eldest son, John 
 Wright, banker, of Langar and Lenton Hall, principal proprietor of 
 the Butterley Works, married a daughter of Mr. Berresford, of 
 Ashbourne, Derbyshire. His eldest son, also of Lenton Hall, died in 
 Naples, in 1828, and left a daughter, who became the wife of the 
 Earl of Buckinghamshire. One of the sons of this John Wright was 
 the late Mr. Frank Wright, of Osmaston Manor, a magistrate for 
 Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire, and High Sheriff of 
 the first-named county in 1842, who married a daughter of Sir 
 Henry Fitzherbert, of Tissington. From documents in the possession 
 of Colonel Wright, and from other sources, I have selected such 
 portions of this pedigree as bore more directly upon the family of 
 bankers. 
 
 Colonel Wright is undoubtedly one of the most popular of 
 our local public men. Yet he is no orator as Brutus was ; his public 
 speeches are delivered in a hesitating manner, and they convey to 
 the listener the impression, which is rightly founded, that public 
 demonstrations are not in his line, and that he would very much 
 prefer to be away from the glare of that fierce light which beats 
 about the life of a public man. Yet Colonel Wright's public career 
 may be described as eminently successful. He got into Parliament 
 twelve years ago with very little trouble ; he simply put himself in 
 nomination at the eleventh hour, and the people returned him with 
 
126 
 
 acclamation. Ill health, combined perhaps with some little dislike 
 
 of the stormy atmosphere of political life, induced Colonel Wright 
 to give up his seat after a few months of senatorial experience, but 
 he continued to command the Robin Hood Rifles for a long period 
 after his resignation, and no one questioned the prudence or the 
 policy of the step he had taken. He was as popular as ever, and at 
 the head of the famous regiment in whose welfare he took, and still 
 takes, such a thorough interest, and on the occasion of his rare 
 attendance at public gatherings, whether political or social, his 
 presence was equally acceptable, and he had still that hold upon 
 public estimation which he has always maintained. Such is the 
 picture, imperfect, perhaps, in some of its lines, but truthful so far 
 as it goes, of the high-minded English gentleman who divides his 
 time between Stapleford Hall and Watcomb Park — between Not- 
 tinghamshire and Devonshire. 
 
 A river, from which the Yalley of the Erewash takes its 
 name, turgid when there has been much rain, tolerably bright under 
 ordinary conditions, has been forced to take its course close to the 
 house, which has a low situation. Running water, whether in the 
 volume of a river, or in the form of a thread-like brook, always gives 
 picturesqueness to a landscape, and the only regret with regard to 
 the Erewash at Stapleford is that it contributes this element at a 
 point which is rather too near the mansion. The grounds have been 
 very much expanded by the present owner, who has taken in large 
 pieces of what was open field beyond the boundaries of the grounds, 
 and placed them under the hands of his gardener. They are now 
 part of the garden, and set with a very fine collection of shrubs, 
 chiefly of the fir kind. Colonel Wright, I may mention, is a great 
 admirer and a successful grower of coniferte, and has discovered that 
 a ball shot straight from a small rifle will remove a superfluous 
 " leader " from the summits of the tall ones, which cannot well be 
 reached by ordinary appliances. The other portions of the garden 
 are planted with flowers, which seem to have been chosen for the 
 brightness and beauty of their colours. There is a still brighter 
 collection in the spacious copper-roofed and copper-framed conser- 
 vatory attached to the house, and built, I believe, necessarily at great 
 expense, by the late Lady Warren, who formerly lived here. A 
 broad gravel terrace runs parallel with the house, and terminates at 
 a small group of Scotch firs, which is immediately approached by a 
 flight of grass steps. Ihe Stapleford mansion itself does not 
 represent any distinct type of architecture. It has been in all 
 probability added to and altered by successive owners. One portion 
 of it dates back many generations, and presents the solid conven- 
 tionalism which certain architects of the sixteenth century observed. 
 The inner walls of this part of the house are almost unnecessarily 
 substantial, and the mullioned windows, through which light is still 
 
127 
 
 admitted into several of the rooms, furnish still further evidence of 
 the antiquity of the building. The manor has been successively 
 owned by the Staplefords, the Tevereys, and at a later period by 
 that celebrated admiral, Sir John Borlace Warren, who performed 
 many important services, which are fully recorded in the naval 
 histories of the period, and who represented the borough of 
 Nottingham in Parliament from 1796 to 1806. During the 
 American War Sir John occupied the important post of Commander- 
 in-Chief of her Majesty's ships on the North American station. At 
 the close of that contest he returned to his country, and spent most 
 of his time at Stapleford Hall, taking an active part in the magisterial 
 business of the county. His widow resided at Stapleford until a 
 comparatively recent date. Lady Warren died, I believe, in 1839. 
 
 There is an old picture in the possession of Colonel Wright, 
 which contains a representation of the original proportions of Staple- 
 ford Hall. It is of large dimensions, and is evidently the work of 
 an artist of more than average ability. Much of the canvas is 
 occupied by sombre foliage, which might belong to any locality, 
 but in one corner appear the conventional proportions of the old 
 hall, and its identity is fixed more conclusively by the introduction 
 of the river, and other features peculiar to the village. It is 
 curious to note how love of, and aptitude in, certain accomplish- 
 ments permeates certain families. I have know families, of whom 
 each member is practically musical, if one may so speak. Several 
 of Colonel Wright's family are painters. The Colonel himself, is 
 or was, a not unskilful manipulator of the pencil and brush, and 
 his two sons spend much of their time at the easel. The elder of 
 them has reproduced very faithfully two of Niemann's landscapes, 
 now hanging in the dining room, which represent that famous 
 and most industrious artist in his brightest and sunniest mood, and 
 there is more of his work in the house. There are certain rooms 
 in the house consecrated to painting, and the younger brother is 
 working at a drawing this morning. Perhaps they may have in- 
 herited this taste from their ancestors, for in one of the principal 
 rooms there is a large picture of rare merit by their great-grand- 
 mother — a Mrs. Wright, of Mapperley. The subject is one which 
 might have been chosen by Gainsborough, and in some of its aspects 
 the picture reminds one of that master. There are others, too, of the 
 family, in bygone generations, who painted well. That Colonel Wright 
 is fond of good pictures there is abundant evidence within the walls 
 of his Nottinghamshire residence. In making his art purchases he 
 does not seem to have been actuated by a mere desire to possess. 
 After looking at his collection, one is impressed with a notion that 
 he has bought what most appealed to his taste and sympathies. 
 The more valuable of his large pictures are exhibited in corners 
 of the house, where they would hardly be seen by the casual 
 
128 
 
 visitor. The brighter specimens adorn the walls of the drawing 
 room ; others, including the two Niemanns, have taken up per- 
 manent quarters in the dining room. But the masters are not alto- 
 gether excluded from the collection. Frank Hals* portrait of 
 Vandyck, and an example of Guido, entitled " The Assumption," 
 take their place on the same walls, with modern landscapes, 
 seascapes, and river and mountain scenes, not the least meritorious 
 of which are contributed by Mr. Wake, who has more than once 
 been a guest of the genial owner of Stapleford. In the same 
 company is to be seen the fascinating Duchess of Cleveland as 
 Sir Peter Lely saw her, when her beauty and vivacity won for 
 her a foremost place in the Court of the Second Charles, and there 
 are two charming water-colours from Varley's facile brush. I believe 
 Colonel Wright's taste runs in the direction of water-colours. From 
 his own little room, used for the purposes of business and study, 
 the graver work of the painter has been banished, and the walls 
 are covered with pretty water-colours — bits by Prout, Gastineau, 
 Bernard Evans, and half a dozen others, whose names stand high 
 amongst the water-colourists. Several of the pictures in the dining 
 room came from Mapperley Hall, which was built nearly a century 
 ago by Mr. Ichabod Wright, " before I had any idea of being 
 married," as he says in the volumnious journal he left behind him. 
 Here are two small pictures by Von Blumen, the fine examples of 
 Niemann already mentioned, two, of five or six, works by this great 
 artist possessed by Colonel Wright ; a meritorious painting by 
 Thomas Wright, a member of the family, who lived at Upton, in 
 this county, said to have received finishing touches from the hand 
 of Wilson ; a Clarkson Stansfield, a Canaletti, and two paintings 
 by Bussy, representing incidents on the Field of Bosworth, which 
 possesses local interest. These two pictures formerly formed part of 
 a collection at Wartnaby. A representation of tree trunks, lichen 
 — covered and knarled, bears the sign of Salvator Rosa, and at one 
 end of the room there is a large picture by Sir William Allen, 
 once president of the Scotch Academy — a canvas from which we 
 learn something of the generous side of the First Napoleon's 
 character, for the Emperor is here distributing money to helpless 
 prisoners. Upstairs there are several interesting old paintings, 
 which, it is fair to suppose, have been placed rather out of the 
 way on account of their size ; partly, perhaps, because their subjects 
 are not the most pleasant to look upon. It is pleasanter to feast one's 
 eyes upon Niemann's grand picture, "London, from Waterloo Bridge,'* 
 which hangs, in Colonel Wright's name, on the walls of the Castle 
 Museum, at Nottingham, than to study Le Brun's canvas showing 
 Hercules, of brawny limb, slaying the flesh-fed horses of Diomedes, 
 which occupies the greater part of one of the upstairs corridors at 
 Stapleford. 
 
STOKE. 
 
 F the artist, whose painting — a bit of Thames scenery, calm 
 and reposeful, put the Bishop of Peterborough in such an 
 amiable frame of mind, that a priest or a curate might play 
 with him with impunity, were to paint a particular reach of the 
 Trent at East Stoke that I could point out to him, he might gain a 
 fair amount of episcopal patronage, assuming that all the Bishops 
 are amenable to the soothing influence of skilful waterscapes, and 
 receive the blessing of erring curates and refractory clergymen. 
 Stoke Hall is removed from the river by a distance of park land 
 that could almost be covered by a stone's throw, a gentle rise in the 
 ground where it stands, being sufficient to secure immunity from 
 the floods which rise in the neighbourhood of the Trent after 
 protracted rains. A full view of the river can only be obtained 
 from one or two of the upper rooms in the house, for the park is 
 thickly studded with lofty trees — beech, elm, and horse chestnut, 
 wide spreading and thickly foliaged. There are oak trees also, but 
 these are not remarkable for size or for luxuriance of foliage. 
 Through the openino;s, however, you can discern in the sunshine 
 quivering patches of silver, down where 
 
 The river glideth at its own sweet will. 
 In the fishing season when the barbel should bite,the owner of Stoke 
 walks across the park and under the trees to the river's edge, before 
 the dew has yet dried on the long grass, which clothes his enclosed 
 domain. A fishing punt is moored at the water side, and into 
 this the baronet steps, and is assisted in his exposition of the 
 gentle art by old Tom Davis, who probably finds that baiting 
 a hook, putting the line to rights when it has " caught " at the top 
 of the rod, and the occasional throwing in of a plumb or a weighted 
 float, for an indulgent master, is not quite such hard work as 
 cricketing. Sir Henry Bromley is an inveterate fisherman. In the 
 fall of the year he will sit in his punt all day long ; facing 
 down the river in full view of the sparkling reaches. A skilful 
 fisherman, an excellent shot, an enthusiastic lover of cricket, a game 
 in which some years ago he used to participate with zeal, energy, 
 and sometimes with success ; an ardent admirer of his ancestral trees 
 and of his fine flowers. Sir Henry Bromley has abundant resources 
 within himself, and the world without his own domain really sees 
 but Jittle of him. 
 
 I 
 
130 
 
 Stoke Hall is a handsome brick building of baronial preten- 
 sions. It stands away from the river, a circumstance which may be 
 recorded as illustrating the wisdom of its founder. It is confronted, 
 and flanked on the one side, by as fine an expanse of park land as 
 can well be seen in this part of England. When there have been 
 heavy rains, the low lying portions of the park are flooded. After the 
 waters have subsided some time elapses before the grass assumes its 
 original brightness. The trees are abundant and lofty, and there is a 
 row near enough to the water's edge to fling shadows upon the 
 surface of the river. The best view of the park and grounds, a 
 view which embraces a lovely bit of river scenery, and the elegant 
 spire of the parish church at Newark, is to be obtained from a long 
 asphalte walk to the right of the house, which marks the termination of 
 the pleasure grounds. The asphalte can be walked upon with comfort in 
 wetweather,and the overhanging trees of laburnum andhawthorne form 
 either a graceful shade or a tolerably eflTectual shelter according to the 
 humour of the elements. The Stoke laburnums are remarkably fine 
 and very numerous. They rain their golden showers with great 
 liberality at every turn, and outside the walls of the park, the ground 
 is thickly strewn with their auric favours, turning to a pale brown in 
 decay. To the right of this asphalte walk that I have mentioned is 
 a deep gorge, which gradually shelves down to the meadows. It is 
 pointed out as the place where the rebel army, which, in 
 the reign of Henry VII., made an unsuccessful attempt to 
 assert the claims of an impostor, the misguided son of an 
 opulent baker, to the British Crown, lay concealed. It is 
 now filled up with a thick, sturdy growth of alder and thorn, and 
 game finds a safe retreat in its dark recesses. The blue of the ger- 
 mander speedwell and the white of stitchwort and saxifrage, give some 
 colour to the walk, and turn one's thoughts anywhere rather than 
 to the unhappy disturbances, which have given Stoke a place in 
 national history. This battle, between Henry VII. and the army 
 of the impostor Simnel, who assumed the title of the Earl of 
 Warwick, and put forward a claim to the British Crown, is said to 
 have been fought some little distance from where the village now 
 stands. In writing of Stoke, one could not well omit to make some 
 mention of the battle that was fought there, as far back as 1487. 
 Thoroton alludes to the event in the following terms : — The army of 
 the invader landed in company with the Earls of Lincoln and Kildare, 
 Lord Level, and a German general. These were joined by a small 
 body of English troops under command of Sir Thomas Broughton. 
 This combined force marched towards York, while Henry was ad- 
 vancing to Nottingham. At this place he discovered the Earl of 
 Lincoln's design to march to Newark-on-Trent, which he resolved to 
 prevent, if possible. He therefore marched hastily to that place, and 
 encamped between the enemy's army and Newark. The same day, 
 
131 
 
 the Earl of Lincoln, who commanded the rebel army, advanced to 
 Stoke, and encamped on the side of an eminence. The next day, 
 the 6th of June, or as some say, the 16th, Henry offered him battle, 
 his army being draAvn up in three lines, the front being composed of 
 his best troops. The battle commenced with determined vigour on 
 both sides, and continued for three hours, without either of the 
 armies giving way. At length, by the death of the Earls of Lincoln 
 and Kildare, and other great officers in the rebel army, and the pro- 
 digious slaughter made amongst the German forces, the Irish and 
 English fled from the field of battle, leaving almost 4,000 dead. This 
 contest and victory cost the King about 3,000 slain. Simnel, we are 
 told, spent the remainder of his days in the Royal kitchen in the 
 capacity of a turnspit, and history relates how the remains of Lord 
 Level, another of the insurgents,were found years afterwards in a vault 
 in Oxfordshire, where he had perished, either through treachery or 
 accident. 
 
 The entrance hall at Stoke is used as a billiard room, a very 
 good idea on the part of the owner, for there is abundant light and 
 plenty of space here for the practice of that excellent game. The 
 players are overlooked by Royalty, for at one end of the room are 
 full-length portraits of William and Mary, which, I think are credited 
 to Kneller. There are some interesting paintings by old masters 
 on the walls, for Stoke is rather rich in good pictures — chiefly por- 
 traits. The dining room is well stocked with them. Here one is 
 introduced to the Queen of Bohemia, daughter of James L, and there 
 are a dozen other celebrities of a bygone day. Vandyck is repre- 
 sented by Prince Rupert, Sir Peter Lely by the Duchess of York, a 
 good example of that great artist's incomparable flesh painting, Jan 
 Stein by Frederick, King of Bohemia, a dark, handsome monarch. 
 The Duke of York, is here too, and that little boy with the beautiful 
 features, over the mantelpiece, is the present baronet's father. The 
 house, I have already stated, boasts a fine collection of portraits, the 
 largest portion of which is to be found on the walls of the great stair- 
 case, where one can again detect the work of the masters. In the 
 large drawing room — a fine apartment — the walls of which are 
 covered with a pictorial paper, where oriental birds are enjoying 
 themselves in oriental fashion, there are some handsome painted 
 vases, which owe their beauty to Lady Bromley's skilful touch. Her 
 ladyship has executed a quantity of this beautiful work, and the 
 accuracy of drawing and fidelity of colouring in the flowers and other 
 objects introduced, show proficiency in an art which is by no means 
 easily acquired. There is another lady of artistic acquirements in 
 the house— Mrs. Henry Bromley. The carved oak cabinet in the 
 hall is her handiwork, and so is the oak pulpit in the ad- 
 jacent church. There is some more graceful work by these ladies 
 in the small drawing room. A splendid room is the library, with its 
 
132 
 
 rows of books, and decorated ceiling. The three courtly faces within 
 one frame at the far end, are of Charles I., in as many different 
 aspects, and the small picture " Cleopatra," in another part of the 
 room, is by Guido. The house has not undergone much alteration 
 during the time it has been in the hands of the present baronet. It 
 was thoroughly well built by its founder, and the substantial walls, 
 close fitting double doors, with which all the principal rooms are 
 provided, look capable of defying time. There are some twenty bed 
 rooms over these lower apartments that I have thus briefly mentioned, 
 and those on the north-east side command a view of the river. Sir 
 Henry is a great grower of fruit and flowers. Under the manage- 
 ment of a head gardener, who has been with him for a quarter 
 of a century, his greenhouses, forcing houses, and conservatories 
 are always filled with something beautiful, and his four acres of 
 kitchen garden produce abundant fruit and vegetables of the finest 
 descriptions. There are some lovely flowers in the hot houses — 
 begonias, gloxinias, with delicate waxy throats, and a small frame of 
 gardenias enshrines a perfume, the rush of w^hich is almost stifling 
 when the covering is removed. There is an ample range of glass 
 for growing grapes, and figs are produced in a separate forcing 
 house. You have only, as it were, to step out of the hall into the 
 church of St. Oswald, whose square, low tower and roof were, years 
 ago, the home of " pigeons and sparrows." It is now as bright 
 and as cheerful a little church as any in this county. At the east end 
 there is a coloured window, designed by Lady Bromley, and the 
 handsome altar cloth is her ladyship's handiwork. The church coa- 
 tains several tablets, including one to the memory of Admiral Sir 
 Robert Bromley, who died in 1857, and to that of Robert Bromley, 
 his (Sir Robert's) eldest son, who once represented South Notts, in 
 Parliament. An ancient tablet of stone says that a certain Elizabeth, 
 wife of Richard Wightman, who died in 1696, was " full of charity 
 to the poor," and the resting places of the first baronet, Sir George 
 Smith, of Nottingham and Stoke Hall, who died in 1769, having 
 enjoyed his title for twelve years, and his wife are similarly 
 marked. 
 
 The first baronet married a granddaughter of Prince Rupert ; 
 the second, also Sir George Smith, assumed by sign manuel, the 
 name of Bromley in 1778. Sir Henry is the second of the twelve 
 children of the third baronet. Sir Robert Howe Bromley. He is a 
 Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Notts., a Magistrate for 
 Newark, and was formerly a captain in the 48th Foot. 
 
THE PAGETS, STUFFYNWOOD. 
 
 HE Pagets — I do not mean those who have a marquis at their 
 head, nor the Pagets of Worcestershire, nor of Somersetshire, 
 but those whose estates Ue chiefly in Nottinghamshire, 
 Leicestershire, and Derbyshire — are a numerous family. They 
 belong to Leicestershire, in which county their property is principally 
 situated, though they have acquired a landed interest in other shires, 
 and their possessions are extensive. They have been located at 
 Ibstock, in Leicestershire, for upwards of two centuries. I find that 
 as far back as 1678 the Master and Brethren of Wigston's Hospital 
 granted to Thomas Paget a lease of certain land and cottages. The 
 present head of the family, Mr. Tertius Paget, Member of Parliament 
 for the Southern Division of Leicestershire, has property there now. 
 The ancestors of this gentleman, who are also the ancestors of the 
 Nottinghamshire branches of the family, were county gentlemen of 
 considerable position. One of them, of Ibstock, seems to have been 
 an eminent agriculturist. Long before the days of steam ploughs 
 and sewerage farms, he made successful experiments in scientific 
 agriculture, and Marshall, in his survey of the Midland Counties, 
 published many years ago, makes special mention of what he saw in 
 the way of agricultural improvement at Ibstock. He speaks of Mr. 
 Paget's proficiency in the art of watering grass lands on a modern 
 principle, and adds, " He cuts a considerable quantity of hay annually 
 from the lands which have received no other manure than the water 
 during the last forty years." He then speaks of Mr. Paget as a 
 representative of the highest class of yeomanry, who has made 
 himself a master of the art, taught it to his labourers, and practised 
 it on an extensive scale upon his own estate. Having taught the 
 young men of his village the art of draining the laud, he sent them 
 into various districts, there to spread the system which he had found 
 to be so profitable and so worthy of adoption. " How fortunate for 
 rural affairs," says the surveyor of the Midlands, " when genius is 
 assisted by science and self-practice ! " 
 
 Does it not occur to those who have read the above sentences 
 that the late Mr. Charles Paget inherited in some degree this side of 
 his ancestor's character ? The name of Paget is known in this 
 county as well as in that of Leicester, and this must be my excuse 
 for bringing the family into a series of articles, which indeed could 
 hardly have been complete, did it not contain some account, however 
 
m 
 
 hnpel'fect, of a family, one of whose representatives at any rate, has 
 done so much for Nottingham and for the county of which it is the 
 chief town. The other members of the family who are settled about 
 here, are Mr. Joseph Paget, of Stuffynwood ; Mr. G. Ernest Paget, 
 of Sutton Bennington, one of the directors of the Midland Railway 
 Company ; Mr. William Paget, of South Field ; and Mr. Frank 
 Paget, of Birstall — the first three of whom are magistrates for 
 Nottinghamshire. The late Mr. Charles Paget, who lived at 
 Ruddington Grange, was, as I have already intimated, descended 
 from the Pagets of Ibstock. He was first returned to Parliament as 
 Member for Nottingham in 1856, on the elevation of the late Lord 
 Belper to the peerage, practically without opposition. At first he 
 declined to accept the honour which was pressed upon him by some 
 of the most influential members of the Liberal party, for a reason 
 which indicates a certain lofty independence of character, not always 
 to be met with in candidates for Parliamentary honours. Mr. Paget 
 had got it into his head that some views he held concerning the 
 Sunday Question, were distasteful to a certain section of the party 
 ■whose battle he had been asked to fight, and the following extract 
 from a letter written by Mr. Paget in 1856, to one of the leaders of 
 the Liberal party in Nottingham, may be interesting : — 
 
 " Since the conversation at Ruddington, in which you and Mr. 
 Birkin (the late Aid. Birkin) enquired how, if I were in Parliament 
 I should vote on a bill for opening places of instructive amusement, 
 such as the British Museum and the National Gallery on the Sunday, 
 to which enquiry I replied that I should vote in its favour, I have 
 been honoured by a visit from Messrs. Heymann and Mundella, 
 requesting to know if I would consent to become a candidate if the 
 Liberal party generally wished it. 
 
 I replied that if I were called upon by the great Liberal party 
 which supported Mr. Strutt, I should think it my duty to respond to 
 that call, but that I would not do anything which would weaken us 
 by dividing us. 
 
 The question upon which I differ from many of my friends 
 amongst the Reformers appears to me to be of the highest importance* 
 
 The Sunday is an invaluable blessing to us all, particularly to 
 the labouring man, and I cannot consent to any legislation which will 
 prevent his using in the way he believes to be the best for his 
 religious, moral, and intellectual impro\^ement, that day which by 
 universal consent Christendom has adopted as a day of religious 
 worship and repose from labour* 
 
 On the proper mode of passing this day great difference of 
 opinion exists, and I do not think I should be justified in endangering 
 the Liberal representation of Nottingham on this ground." 
 
135 
 
 The difficulty, however, was no(: an insuperable one, and Mr. Paget 
 was induced to come forward in the Liberal interest. Mr. Paget 
 retained his seat as a Member for the borough for a period of ten 
 years, and Nottingham never had a more worthy representative. 
 He was thrown out at the election of 1865, and Parliament lost the 
 services of one of the ablest, most respected, and most influential 
 private members. Mr. Paget now turned his attention to matters 
 immediately affecting the welfare of the town, obtained a seat on the 
 first School Board, and his wide experience and sound knowledge 
 were of great service in the working of the new Education Scheme. 
 He was, indeed, a most valuable acquisition to the School Board, as 
 indeed he was to every other public body with which he was con- 
 nected. He continued to live a useful and active life until one day 
 in August, 1873, when he had attained a ripe age, the waters of the 
 deep gathered about him, as he sat upon the rocks at Filey enjoying 
 the wild beauty of the Yorkshire coast, and he and his wife were 
 swept away never to be heard of more. 
 
 Stuffynwood, the residence of Mr. Joseph Paget, although 
 only four miles away from Mansfield is not in this county. It 
 belongs to Derbyshire and is just over the border line. The division 
 of the two counties is marked by a turbulent little stream, taking its 
 excited course through the picturesque grounds which form an 
 approach to the mansion, and is called the Meden. The scenery at 
 this dividing point, if it may be so described, is exquisitely pretty — 
 might fairly be called romantic, for it reminds one of the softer 
 aspects of the Peak of Derbyshire. The stream has not the width 
 of the Dove, but it has some of its graceful curves and sparkling 
 eddies, and it threads its way along a ravine, which is sheltered by 
 masses of limestone rock of picturesque formation, and by overhang- 
 ing foliage. The name " Little Matlock" has been given to it. The 
 house which has the advantage of an elevated situation commanding 
 extensive views in both counties, is a large, handsome building, of 
 fine architectural proportions, and a conspicuous object from certain 
 quarters, though as it is away from the population — its name does 
 not stand for any parish or village — it is not much known. It was 
 built by Mr. Charles Paget upwards of twenty years ago, and as its 
 substantial walls are composed of the hard magnesian limestone so 
 abundant in the neighbourhood, it is likely that it will last for many 
 generations. 
 
 Living at Stuffynwood, a drive of a few miles brings you in 
 the midst of all the glories of Sherwood Forest ; in another direction 
 you may soon get amongst some of the scenery for which the 
 adjoining county is so famous. On clear days, Mr. Paget, by an 
 instantaneous process, takes photographs of the surrounding scenery 
 from his grounds. From his dining room window you may see thQ 
 
trains passing along the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire line, 
 giving life to the landscape, and these with the smoke outpouring 
 from the funnel of the engine as the train rushes along, he has 
 photographed successfully. The large and well-lighted rooms, 
 decorated with quiet taste and furnished in a befitting manner, 
 without any appearance of display, contain many beautiful things. 
 In the hall there are curious cabinets and quaint pieces of furniture 
 which once belonged to a Roman noble, and are, I should think, very 
 valuable. One of the cabinets is said to have been designed by 
 Michael Angelo ; the other pieces are curiously inlaid, and quaint 
 illustrations of proverbs and episodes in sacred and profane history 
 are introduced to form part of the work. A fine picture of Gilbert's 
 hangs in the hall, and faces the entrance. It is a Scotch landscape, 
 suffused with the light of an evening sun. A dusky haze is gather- 
 ing over a reedy lake from which the wild fowl are rising — a picture 
 that would always arrest one's attention. The principal pictures, I 
 gathered, were mostly chosen by the late Mr. Charles Paget, who 
 had rare taste in matters of art. If the pictures at Stuffynwood are 
 not numerous they are all of them good, and they would brighten 
 any room in which they were hung. The room of an indiscriminate 
 collector of pictures — I mean of a man who makes a practice of 
 buying the works of great artists whenever they are offered to him, 
 and who cares more for the autograph of the painter than for the 
 subject or character of the painting, are sometimes the very reverse 
 of cheerful. But the incongruity of arrangement to which I allude 
 is only to be observed in houses where works of art are got together, 
 either from a love of possession or to gratify a mania for collection. 
 The owner of Stuffynwood is not an art collector in the accepted 
 sense of that term, but he would be justified in pointing with some 
 degree of pride to the few works of the painters' and sculptors' art 
 which his house enshrines. 
 
 In the dining room, over the mantelpiece, there is a large 
 Scriptural painting — an Old Testament subject — showing all the soft 
 beauty of an Eastern landscape, by Marco, a Hungarian painter of 
 considerable repute. It represents the meeting of Laban and Jacob, 
 and it is flanked on either side by an example of Herring's exquisite 
 art, full of bright, transparent light and of atmospheric vitality. 
 On the opposite wall there are some half-dozen portraits, two of 
 them at once recognisable. These are of the much lamented and 
 much missed public man, whose name will ever occupy a prominent 
 place in local history, and of his son who inherited his estates, and 
 who is the present owner of Stuffynwood and Ruddington Grange* 
 The ceiling in the drawing room is ornamented with a very fine 
 centre piece. It is a reproduction of one of the masterpieces of 
 Guide, and was painted by Italians. On the walls of this room are 
 a number of fine water colours, chiefly of the scenery of Italy* 
 
137 
 
 One of them is the Largo di Gardo, by Vandervelde, formerly 
 Geographer Royal to the King of Holland, and who made the first 
 famous map of the Holy Land. In recesses at opposite sides of the 
 large window, are two chaste pieces of white marble statuary — 
 Pastorella, from the chisel of Wolff, and Cupid, disguised as a 
 shepherd, designed by Gibson, and executed by one of his pupils. 
 There is a finer piece of statuary than either of these, in the library ^ 
 upstairs. This is Benzoni's " Diana," a lovely figure, which the 
 sculptor executed as a commission for the late Emperor of Russia, 
 at the time of the Crimean War. The statue was not, however, 
 destined to adorn the Imperial Palace. His Majesty was probably 
 too much occupied with the disastrous event in which his country 
 was involved, to indulge in art cravings, and the statue remained in 
 Rome until it was seen by the laie Mr. Charles Paget, who purchased 
 it and sent it to England. It now graces the library of an English 
 country gentleman, and is safe from dynamite and the machinations 
 of Nihilism. But the effect of this beautiful figure would hardly 
 have been lost among the splendours of the home of Russian Royalty. 
 It is of more than life size ; the superb goddess holds in her shapely 
 fingers an arrow which she has just taken from the quiver ; the head 
 is slightly towards the exquisite shoulders, showing a clear cut and 
 perfect profile, when the statue is moved in the certain position ; the 
 drapery is backward-fluttering, and one delicate foot is lifted, 
 suggesting progression and swift movement. It is beautiful as an 
 ornament, perfect as a work of art, and not easily to be forgotten by 
 one who has had an opportunity of studying it for any length of 
 time. 
 
 Almost every good country house has a billiard room. 
 Billiards is a game which never loses its fascination, and in these 
 country houses the room where the board of green cloth is set, is 
 frequently used. The game is generally played under the most 
 favourable and favoured conditions. The board is of the very best 
 make, the cushions are kept in perfect order, the cues carefully 
 selected, and of the best description, and the room very comfortable. 
 The billiard room at Stuffynwood is just what a private billiard 
 room ought to be. It is detached from the other principal rooms in 
 the house, but is quite easy of access. It is lofty, and is well 
 lighted both by windows and by a skylight arrangement of diaphanous 
 glass, which modifies the effect of the sun's rays when that orb is 
 shining. The progress of the game is marked by electricity ; by 
 touching one of the nipples set in the polished ledge on every side of 
 the board, the players register their strokes upon a figured disc 
 without any further trouble. If this arrangement is generally 
 adopted, billiard marking may possibly become an obsolete calling. 
 If my visit had happened earlier in the year, I might have had a 
 better chance of seeing the gardens and the beautiful things iu the 
 
138 
 
 ■way of orchids and other showy exotics that are grown in the 
 extensive ranges of glass that are attached to the gardens, which 
 cover a large area of ground. These visits are much pleasanter in 
 summer — they are made pleasant in the winter by the unvarying 
 kindness which is shown to me by the heads of the various families 
 representing the great houses of this county, but after spending 
 several hours amid internal comforts, such as are alone to be met 
 with in residences of this class, on a cold and boisterous day, one is 
 not anxious to pass much time in flowerless gardens and leafless 
 pleasure grounds. 
 
THORESBY. 
 
 HE Duke of Westminster, during a visit to Lord Manvers at 
 Thoresby Park, was surprised to find one of the grandest 
 houses in England in the midst of a forest, where " Nor- 
 man kings once hunted, and Saxon outlaws plundered." Vast and 
 ornate, Thoresby stands in the heart of a forest, which the axe 
 and the plough have not yet invaded ; a palatial residence, far re- 
 moved from busy scenes. Thoresby, beyond a doubt, is one of the 
 stateliest of the many noblemen's mansions, which are scattered over 
 this island ; it would be the fitting habitation of Royalty, and its 
 situation gives it an advantage and a charm, which scarcely any 
 other residence in the country possesses. In 1745, the Duke of 
 Kingston's residence, at Thoresby, was destroyed by fire, and but 
 very little was saved from the wreck. In its place, the second, and 
 last, Duke of Kingston built a house of considerable magnificence at 
 the foot of a beautiful grove of Spanish chestnuts, set in regular 
 array, which are now flourishing in the same soft turf, and in the 
 same fertile soil which nurtured them then. This house, having 
 served as the family residence for two generations, was rased to the 
 ground by the present Earl Manvers, and further away from the 
 Chestnut Grove, and the little stream, which carries away the over- 
 flow from a broad and pellucid lake, his lordship caused to be built 
 the present magnificent mansion. In a short article it would be 
 impossible to present anything like an adequate description of 
 Thoresby, and even given the command of unlimited columnial 
 space, I could not hope to furnish a satisfactory detailed account 
 of Earl Manvers' princely residence. Outside, one is struck by the 
 imposing look of the place, with its massive stonework, moulded 
 windows, and tooled quoins and dressings. Inside, one is 
 dazzled by much magnificence, and one leaves the house with 
 confused memories of satin-covered walls, tapestry curtains, statu- 
 tary mantelpieces, and gilded ceilings. To give some idea of the 
 size of this great house, which is the boast of the north of the county, 
 it may be stated here that the main fronts measure 180 feet oii 
 the east and principal entrance, and 159 on the west, and 182 on 
 the south. Thoresby, though it does not strictly come in the 
 category of " show places," is yet, so to speak, open to the public, 
 for when the family is away in London, or elsewhere — and 
 their absence usually extends over several months in each yeav 
 
140 
 
 • — parties of pleasure-takers and tourists are allowed to see the house. 
 Lord Manvers does not believe in that exclusiveness, which shuts 
 the doors of some of these private places against those who know 
 how to appreciate the beautiful objects they enshrine. By reason 
 of Lord Manvers' liberality, the splendours of Thoresby are pretty 
 widely known, in this county, at any rate. The central hall, for 
 instance, has been admired by scores of tourists, as the visitors' 
 book on the table there, containing many familiar names, will tell. 
 Its stone walls are as white as when the material of which they 
 are composed was first smoothed, and from the hammer-beam roof 
 to the floor of patterned oak, it has a look of imposing newness. 
 All the oak in the room, and there is a great deal of it, was 
 grown in the adjoining forest. The stone arches, which support 
 the music gallery at one end, are perpetuated on the wall behind, 
 where brightly burnished bayonets are arranged in arch form. At 
 the other end of the hall, which is sixty-five feet long, stand 
 two grim-looking suits of armour, which, placed in an upright 
 position, surmounted with visors, and possessed each with a sword, 
 look like ghostly knights of old. Other portions of the wall are 
 occupied by weapons of curious shape, arranged in graceful devices. 
 There are some family pictures here, including the second Duke 
 of Kingston, on whose death that dukedom became extinct. 
 The last duke's only sister. Lady Francis Pierrepont, who married, 
 in 1734, Mr. Philip Meadows, the son of Sir Philip of that name, 
 is not far removed from her brother on these walls. There is 
 also a large oil painting of Lady Manvers' great-grandfather, 
 Francois de Franquetot, Due de Coigny, representing this distin- 
 guished French nobleman on horseback. The large picture over the 
 handsome chimneypiece is evidently by some well known artist, 
 but I am wholly unacquainted with the three wigged figures — pre- 
 sumably persons of high rank — who are engaged in amicable con- 
 verse over some rare golden wine, supplied from a flask which 
 stands on the table. Another portrait worth noticing is that of the 
 celebrated Lady Wortley Montague, the eldest daughter of the 
 first Duke of Kingston. This remarkable lady was born as Thoresby. 
 The dining room at Thoresby contains some choice modern pictures, 
 which have been chosen with much good taste. It is a beautful room, 
 with doors and panels of polished walnut, and a fine ceiling, the 
 upper part of the room being surrounded by a deep and beauti* 
 ful frieze. The large sideboard looks like a piece of foreign 
 furniture, whilst the two smaller ones are the work of a local 
 carver. On these walls hang portraits of the Earl and Countess 
 Manvers, the former in his uniform of Colonel of the South Notts. 
 Yeomanry ; her ladyship, in a dress of white satin, a small vase of 
 flowers occupying her attention. Both are unmistakeably good like* 
 nesses. The other portraits in the dining room are of the fifth Earl, 
 
141 
 
 afterwards Marquis of Dorchester, and first Duke of Kingston, who 
 died in 1725 ; of the Duchess, his second wife ; and of Lady 
 Isabella Bentinck, daughter of the Earl of Portland, all fine speci- 
 mens of portrait painting. If one were asked to make a choice 
 from the half-dozen large modern paintings in this dining room — 
 they are all good and carefully selected — I think it would fall 
 upon that by Creswick, who, notwithstanding the fault that has 
 sometimes been attributed to him, that of giving too much effect 
 to the coldness of our northern atmosphere, occupies a leading 
 place amongst modern landscape painters. The sheep form the 
 prominent feature of this picture, and there is a wooliness about 
 them, and a life in the shepherd dog, which strike one as much as 
 the fine atmospheric effect in the background, and the faithful 
 rendering of the tall trees. Vicat Cole's picture of a mill, with the 
 translucent water and reedy detail, which was painted as late as 1872, 
 arrests one's attention, and is one of that painter's best efforts. It 
 is evening, and the sky has that purple tone, which one sometimes 
 sees at the close of a summer day. There is a large painting of 
 the " Old Steps at Margate," with a warm sunlight on the rocks, 
 and a restless sea. There is some very skilful management of 
 colour in Milbye's picture of a Spanish vessel at sea ; a deep purple 
 glow is upon the waves, and over the whole scene is the glamour 
 of sunset. To get to the library you have to pass through a small 
 drawing room, with curtains of rare Gobelin tapestry, and great 
 doors of polifc^hed maple of the American and British varieties. 
 The library is large and quiet ; the stillness of that large, bright 
 room, with its rows of handsomely bound volumes of English, 
 foreign, and classic literature is unbroken by the faintest sound. 
 The most noticeable object here is the chimney piece, which is a 
 piece of elaborate and beautiful carving, displaying remarkable 
 artistic skill ; one can scarcely imagine that the material from 
 which it is wrought once grew on the estate. Almost every knot 
 in the venerable Major Oak is here produced in miniature, 
 and in kindred substance ; there is a herd of deer, and the 
 spreading fionds of forest fern, the piece being supported on either 
 side the fire place by statuettes of Robin Hood and Little John, the 
 whole oak-covered. This piece of work, is about fifteen feet 
 high, and ten feet wide. Above the bookcases are ranged portraits 
 of kings, queens, and nobles. There are the Dukes of York and 
 Gloucester, and Charles IL, by Nason, a Dutch artist who visited 
 England in the reign of the Second Charles ; Prince George, of 
 Denmark, by Veriest, whose arrogance lost him the patronage of 
 Lord Chancellor Shaftesbury ; of Queen Anne, and George the 
 Third, and of Mary, the last painted by Godfrey Kneller ; of 
 William III., from the brush of Wyck, and some family portaits by 
 eminent artists. The ceiling of this room, is like that of the other 
 
142 
 
 principal rooms, higjhly ornamented. The floor is of oak with 
 parquetrie bordering. The drawing room is a very handsome 
 apartment. The crystal pendants of the massive chandeliers hang 
 from a rich coffered ceiling, ornamented with pink and blue, and 
 gold, sparkle in the light. The walls, to the length of fifty-three 
 feet — that is the length of the room, are covered with blue satin, 
 with graceful floral figurings of silver grey, and the curtains are of 
 taiDCstry. With the same costly fabric much of the furniture is 
 covered, whilst other of the gilded pieces are draped with worked 
 silk of splendid texture, or with the richest velvet. The mantel- 
 pieces are of statuary marble, snow-white. Everywhere appears 
 rare ornaments ; on the mantelpieces there are some fine specimens 
 of Sevres china, and at the end of the room there is a massive 
 vase, mounted on a handsome pedestal, which was presented to Lady 
 Manvers by the Empress Eugenie, in 1854. There are ornamental 
 timepieces encased in rare china — and in the recesses are brazen Cupids, 
 making vain attempts to fly away with brackets, on which are some 
 dozen candle holders. Satin wood, bird's eye, and foreign maple, 
 walnut wood, and oak have been employed in forming the more 
 substantial fittings of the drawing room, and the carpet is of 
 the choicest Indian manufacture. 
 
 It seems that at Thoresby, art has exhausted its invention, 
 and that wealth has offered all its resourses. In every part of the 
 house the same aspect of completeness and magnificence is apparent. 
 There are over a hundred bed rooms in the building, and the principal 
 of these are furnished with dressing rooms of the size of an ordinary 
 sleeping apartment. From "the windows of some of these rooms 
 there are lovely views. Away in the distance you can see clusters 
 of great forest trees. To the right, the silvery surface of a great 
 lake, which covers sixty-five acres, shows itself, and nearer still, the 
 foam of a turbulent little waterfall catches the eye, whilst beyond the 
 beautifully kept gardens, and the great broa<l terrace, is the park and 
 forest, with its numerous herd of deer. In traversing the landings, 
 one comes upon occasional specimens of tapestry, and there are one 
 or two large pictures commemorating French martial events, in which 
 Lady Manvers' ancestors played a leading part. The walls 
 of the Countess' boudoir are pannelled with rich Aubisson 
 tapestry, and the curtains are in part composed of the same 
 rare fabric. The mantelpiece is of white marble, a treasure which 
 has been transplanted from some Italian palace. There are three 
 carved figures of Cupid on each side, each figure holding shell-fish, 
 or fruit in the hand. The chairs and other articles of furniture are 
 covered with worked silk and tapestry. One side is occupied by a 
 low book case, containing a small collection of good standard 
 literature. When her ladyship is not here, writing letters and 
 reading, in all probability she will be interesting herself in the 
 
143 
 
 welfare of some of the children who attend the little school at 
 Perlethorpe. Lady Manvers, it may be here mentioned, is the second 
 daughter of the Due de Coigny, of France, and sister to the Countess 
 of Stair. She was married to Earl Manvers in 1852, eight years 
 before he succeeded to the earldom. 
 
 Thoresby Park covers about 2,000 acres and is some ten 
 miles in circumference. The estate embraces a vast tract of forest 
 land studded in some places with mighty and vigorous oaks, in 
 others with gi'aceful beeches, and the Spanish chestnut with its 
 bosses of prickly husks flourishes in the fertile forest soil. The 
 wide-spreading, undulating ground is covered, far as the eye can 
 range, with a sturdy undergrowth of fern, which, in the fall of the 
 year-, becomes golden or reddish brown. There is every combination 
 and variety of woodland scenery here, and it is as still in these 
 sylvan wilds as in any primeval forest. This surely was the 
 very forest where the day-dreams of Coningsby, on his way to 
 Nottingham, were put an end to by a storm which made the oaks 
 and beeches express their terror or their agony. The pleasure 
 grounds of Thoresby are severed from the forest by a sunken fence, 
 which is a sure protection against the inroads of cattle or deer. 
 They are thickly studded with tall vigorous trees, and 
 intersected by a shallow stream, which after making a foamy water- 
 fall, calms itself in a smoother bed, and so pursues its way. The 
 broad and clear lake which extends into the forest as far as one can 
 see, is fed by the Medin. The pike and the perch thrive in its deep 
 waters, and the coot rears her young in the thick growth which 
 fringes its margin. Outside the pale of the pleasure grounds are the 
 workshops, wood-yard, and gas works, which are ever busy, and 
 they are large enough to do the work of a small town. The machine 
 shops contain the best inventions in the way of machinery, and the 
 works regularly employ a number of hands. There are circular 
 saws and hand saws, and upon the floor are piles of oak and ash, 
 which will be drilled and grooved for all manner of purposes on the 
 estate. The most skilled workmen are employed here ; joiners, 
 sawyers, and machinists, and if one did not know that the whole of 
 Lord Manvtrs' large estates were supplied from these workshops, 
 one would be at a loss to know what was done with all this wood- 
 work which keeps a powerful engine perpetually on the move. The 
 clerk of the works has his permanent office here, and everything is 
 done in the most systematic and regular manner. The gas works 
 are close by, and here there are two gasometers, retorts, and all the 
 requisite appliances for making sufficient gas to supply the hall, the 
 church, and other places. All this in the heart of a forest where 
 " Norman kings once hunted and Saxon outlaws plundered," 
 
THRUMPTON HALL 
 
 HRUMPTON Hall was built two hundred and fifty years ago 
 by the Pigots who were then among the county magnates. 
 Old country houses, whether of brick or of stone, are always 
 interesting ; it is only to be regretted that there are so few of them 
 hereabouts. If of brick, they acquire a soft, quiet tint in old age, 
 which does not in any way owe its existence to the prevalence of 
 smoke, but which comes of long exposure to the sun, and to the 
 fresh, sweet air. Thrumpton Hall is a brick building, and its outer 
 walls have got this beautiful colour of which I speak. When the 
 trees are in full leaf the house is by no means a conspicuous object 
 from any point of view, and it is, perhaps, one of the few great 
 houses near at hand, with whose proportions large numbers of 
 people living in the county town are not familiar. Those who have 
 only seen the house from the river, whose swift current flows a few 
 hundred yards in front of it, or from the towing path, can form no 
 adequate idea of its dimensions, or of its architectural character. It 
 does not show its best side to the gaze of those who happen to be 
 walking along the river side, or to the fishermen who try their luck 
 in the Thrumpton waters. To get a really good view of the house 
 you must go into the grounds, which, by the way, are not show 
 grounds, but strictly private gardens, and there you may see the 
 gabled front with its peculiar stone mouldings, and the square, heavy 
 framed windows, which are a distinguishing mark of the architecture 
 of James the First's reign. The house is undoubtedly one of very 
 handsome proportions, and when the sun is out, you appreciate all 
 the more those rich brick-tints of which I have spoken. While in 
 the grounds one is bound to take some notice of the trees, which are 
 very fine. There are two magnificent specimens of the larch, tall, 
 wide-spreading, and elegant. In winter, the ground beneath them 
 is completely covered with the small needle-shaped foliage, which is 
 pleasant to walk upon. These trees were planted upwards of a 
 century ago, and they are said to be the finest of the kind in the 
 county. Then there is a great cedar, which was planted in com- 
 memoration of some event when George the Third was king, and a 
 set of glorious elms, which flourished as saplings three hundred years 
 ago. So that there is some interesting timber within the Thrumpton 
 domain, for several of these venerable trees have a history of their 
 own. Near the house, and in front of the terrace, is a backwater, 
 
145 
 
 made from the overflow of the adjacent river, and to this retreat wild 
 fowl come and establish a right of residence, living on good terms 
 with their more domesticated kindred. Beyond is the river, which 
 in flood-times becomes a nuisance to the village, though the inhabi- 
 tants do not suffer so much personal inconvenience as those of other 
 river side parts of the county. 
 
 The mansion is on the site of an older house, which was 
 occupied by the Putrels, and it was built, as I have said, by the 
 Pigot family, who lived in it for several generations, and were at 
 one time, people of considerable distinction. In 1669, in the reign 
 of Charles the Second, Mr. Gervase Pigot, of Thrurapton, was High 
 Sheriff of the County, and he is said by Thoroton to have been a 
 person of great parts, both natural and acquired, and the historian 
 adds, " for sobriety, ingenuity, generosity, piety, and other virtues, 
 few of his rank will ever exceed, if any equal him." It would 
 perhaps be appropriate to mention here a fact that was told to me the 
 other day. It was at Thrumpton Hall that Thoroton made up his 
 mind to write that very interesting and very valuable history of 
 Nottinghamshire which is known so well. Dugdale, the Warwick- 
 shire historian, and Thoroton were guests in the house at the same 
 time, and the former suggested to the latter that he should write a 
 history of this county. The suggestion was, in all probability, 
 encouraged by Mr. Pigot, who was a man of considerable attainments, 
 and who would, no doubt, urge Thoroton to the task, a similar one to 
 which had been so successfully undertaken by his other guest, for 
 another midland county. Whilst Mr. Pigot was High Sheriff of 
 this county in 1638, the wife of Sir Francis Burdett's eldest sou 
 died, and the Sheriff adopted black liveries and silver trimmings for 
 his javelin men. Shortly after the Assizes he died, and the men 
 who attended him when he received the judge, carried him to the 
 grave in those same liveries which they had worn on a melancholy 
 occasion a few days previously. Mr. Pigot's executors in the year 
 above mentioned sold the manor to Mr. John Emmerton, of the 
 Middle Temple, who bequeathed them to John Emmerton Wescomb 
 Emmerton, the eldest son of a nephew. The estate is now in the 
 hands of Lady Byron, a daughter of Rev. William Wescomb, an 
 Essex clergyman, who married firstly the Hon. Captain Byron, after- 
 wards eighth Lord Byron ; and recently Rev. Philip Douglas, 
 rector of Thrumpton, who now resides at the hall. Her ladyship 
 has been a true friend to Thrumpton. Some years ago she restored 
 the church at a cost of several thousand pounds. She has also caused 
 to be erected an excellent set of schools, and has built two additional 
 farm houses on the estate. 
 
 The most conspicuous feature in the interior of Thrumpton 
 Hall is a superb staircase. It is of wood, massive, and elaborately 
 J 
 
146 
 
 carved, leading from the basement storey to a suite of upper rooms. 
 It was placed in the house sometime about 1660 by the Pigots, 
 whose coat of arms it bears. Upon the original bearings of that 
 family three pickaxes appeared, these devices having probably been 
 suggested by the surname of the lord of the manor, though the 
 connection is somewhat vague. It was afterwards discovered that 
 the family was entitled to another coat of arms, so that two shields 
 are part of the carving on the staircase, the second displaying a 
 greyhound in a couchant position with a collar about his neck. 
 The staircase is unique of its class, and is perhaps the finest example 
 of this kind of decoration in the county. Its effect is, however, 
 somewhat lost on account of the position in which it is placed. It 
 does not rise immediately from the hall, as some grand staircases do ; 
 it is, in fact, hidden from the view of the casual visitor, who, if he 
 were only admitted to the principal rooms of the house, would not 
 know that such a rare and useful piece of ornamentation existed. A 
 large room in the upper part of the house was formerly used for 
 reception purposes, and probably the staircase may have been devised 
 as a means of communication with that apartment. The house is full 
 of woodwork. The walls of most of the principal rooms are pro- 
 tected by it, and its colour and condition have been preserved 
 through time, for it is fair to presume that the woodwork in the 
 rooms is as old as that of the staircase. 
 
 KnoAving that the late Lord Byron, who made this fine old 
 house his residence for a time, was a lineal descendant of the 
 illustrious author of " Childe Harold," I asked if the hall contained 
 anything which would remind one of the poet. I was informed that 
 it did not ; that such of the Byron relics as are not at Newstead 
 were in the possession of the present peer. There are, however, 
 Bome very interesting things in the house. Among the pictures I 
 noticed several good portraits on the walls of the dining room, 
 among them one of that distinguished naval officer, General Monk, 
 afterwards Duke of Albemarle, who, sooner than allow any foreign 
 fleet to dispute the British sovereignty of the seas, would have fired 
 his pistol into the powder magazine and blown the British navy into 
 smithereens. His presence on these walls is accounted for by the 
 fact that he and Sir William Marshall were great friends ; and Sir 
 William, whose portrait hangs on the same walls, was connected 
 with Lady Byron's family by ties of relationship. In this distin- 
 guished company, which includes Sir William Marshall's two wives, 
 is a Miss Appleton, one of the ladies-in-waiting to Queen Anne, w^ho 
 presented her with a set of gold plate, which is still in the possession 
 of Lady Byron. There are several portraits on the staircase ; one of 
 them a stern-visaged w^arrior of solid proportions, very likely the 
 sturdy Protector, who, it is known, issued a writ requiring the 
 attendance of Gervase Pigot, of Thrumpton, at W^estminster, on the 
 4th of July, 1653, as Member for the county of Nottingham, 
 
147 
 
 The Library contains a rare collection of books, some of 
 which are very valuable. The shelves are rich in county histories, 
 a kind of literature which is much in demand just now, amongst 
 them " Bloomfield's Norfolk," " Omerod's Cheshire," and " Nicholls' 
 Leicestershire." There are splendid editions of the works of the 
 great French and German writers, and complete sets of the classics, 
 all these being arranged in perfect order. Whilst here I had an 
 opportunity of glancing through a small, thin volume in old 
 fashioned print, which has a local bearing. It was written a long 
 while ago by Sir Thomas Parkyns, of Bunny Park, in this county. 
 It is entitled " The In play, or Cornish-Hug Wrestler," and it claims 
 to be a digest of the method which teaches how to throw an opponent 
 on the most approved principles. "It is easy to be understood," 
 the title page announces, " by all gentlemen and by all tradesmen," 
 presuming they have some previous knowledge of the rudiments of 
 the art which its mission is to teach. The book, if I remember 
 rightly, is dedicated to his Majesty George II., and on the frontis- 
 piece there is a rude engraving of the titled author in a wrestling 
 attitude, after the fashion of the well known monument in Bunny 
 Church. In a small recess above the mantelpiece there is a queer 
 figure of the statuette order — a piece of antique sculpture represent- 
 ing an inebriated Bacchus, which was brought by the late Mr. 
 Wescomb from Italy, and is said fo be very valuable. In the small, 
 bright drawing room, there is a cabinet containing a choice collection 
 of china, in which I noticed some rare pieces of Sevres, Dresden, and 
 Lowestoft, and a number of other interesting objects which one has 
 not time to linger over. Not long ago a curiosity was unearthed by 
 some member of the household, in the shape of a richly brocaded 
 dress, which was discovered in an old trunk, along with a Nottingham 
 newspaper, published sometime in 1749. 
 
THURGARTON PRIORY. 
 
 Thurgarton Priory retains its monastic title, but there is very 
 little else to remind one of its early history. For many years, I do 
 not know exactly how many, it has been the residence of a succession 
 of country gentlemen who have furnished its bright and ample rooms 
 with taste, and perhaps with a certain luxuriousness, and have 
 enjoyed the pleasantest side of village life, in the retirement of a 
 email, but picturesque, park, whose gates open from the road. But 
 the Priory, though it is in the village, possesses a seclusion as 
 complete as if it were further removed from the quiet cottage life of 
 a rustic hamlet. It is guarded by big trees, and the rising character 
 of the ground helps to keep it private. If the canons of Thurgarton 
 selected this admirable site for the original Priory, it is possible that 
 they may have had something more in view than that privacy which 
 was considered necessary for the proper performance of the monkish 
 ceremonies. For those old cenobites who held Thurgarton, knew 
 how to look after their own interests, and they perhaps had their 
 house in this particular locality in order that they might have direct 
 and immediate control over their dues. In the twelfth century, when 
 Thurgarton Priory was founded, strange customs prevailed in some 
 of these out-of-the-way places. Let the dwellers by the side of the 
 brook which runs through Thurgarton to-day, who are inclined to 
 grumble when the water gets into their small cottages at flood times, 
 reflect upon the calls that were made upon their rural ancestors, of 
 the dues that were filched from their scanty and hardly-won stores— 
 of the extraordinary tithe that was exacted from their small belongings 
 by those cowled vampires who held the Priory in the reign of the 
 First Henry, and plundered the villagers in the name of their tutelar 
 saint. Listen, ye damsels who hope to be led to the village altar, 
 and to become the hard-working wives of hard-working husbands, to 
 the tale of extortion which the history of those dark times furnishes 
 in connection with that bright village of Thurgarton, through which 
 the brook ripples pleasantly, and in whose centre the leaves of the 
 horse chestnuts " spread into a perfect fan." When these holy friars 
 held Thurgarton, a female inhabitant who took a husband, or who sinned, 
 had to give to the monks a fee of 5s. 4d., or half that amount, according 
 to her quality, " for the redemption of her blood." In the one case the 
 fee stamped the union as felicitous ; in the other, a so-called religion 
 profited through the medium of sin and shame. But this is not the 
 only interesting custom which was enforced by the holy brotherhood 
 
149 
 
 who lived at the Priory, and the Thurgarton tenants of that day 
 may be forgiven if they grumbled at the demands that were made 
 upon them. Not only were these worthy husbandmen contemptuously 
 described as villains, but they were expected to contribute in kind to 
 the Christmas feast at the Priory. Nor does this represent the 
 despotism to which the unfortunate Thurgartonians were subjected 
 by these grasping friars. They were compelled to put into the 
 Abbot's fold, all the sheep they had in their possession or custody 
 during the winter, except their own, and if any were sold they had 
 to make good the number in order that my lord Abbot's fold might 
 not lose anything. This abominable system of extortion was carried 
 to a still lower and more miserable level, for it is on record that the 
 Thurgarton tenants were compelled to house and feed their sheep in 
 the Abbot's fold during the winter months, in order that the monastic 
 dunghill might be enriched, and if a cottager sold one of the folded 
 sheep to pay his rent, or to get food for his household, he had to 
 procure another, by fair means or foul, in order that the Abbot's 
 supply of manure might not be permitted to dwindle. From these 
 historical facts, it will be gathered that village life, as far back as 
 the period to which such facts refer, had its drawbacks, and the 
 occupiers of land and cottages of to-day will hardly be reluctant to 
 admit that it is better to bear the tightness which comes of agricultural 
 depression, than to live under the control of an arbitrary and exacting 
 brotherhood, who practiced despotism in the name of religion. 
 
 Thurgarton Priory was founded in 1130, in the reign of 
 Henry the First, by Ralph de Ayncourt, at the request of Thurstan, 
 Archbishop of York. It was built for the accommodation of canons 
 of the order of St. Augustine, dedicated to St. Peter, and was 
 endowed with all Thurgarton and Fiskerton. The resourses of the 
 Priory were supplemented in the succeeding reign by additional 
 grants of land, and the Sheriff of Nottingham was commanded by 
 the reigning monarch to see that the canons of Thurgarton held 
 their mills on the river Trent " peaceably and without let or molestation 
 from the men of the See of Durham." Other kings granted additional 
 property and privileges to these Thurgarton monks, who seem to have 
 been able to possess themselves of whatever took their fancy in the 
 neighbourhood. The head of their order claimed a seat of honour 
 in the church at Southwell, above the heads of all others, and the 
 Priory acquired a territorial consequence and a monastic power 
 which were known throughout the length and breadth of the county. 
 
 In 1537, Thurgarton Priory ceased to exist as a religious 
 institution. It was then valued at £259 per annum, and was granted^ 
 with appurtenances and other hereditaments, to William Cooper, one 
 of a Derbyshire family, who was, or had been, in the service of the 
 King, Henry the Eighth, and to his heirs. From these descwd^d 
 
150 
 
 Sir Koger Cooper, who played a prominent part in the wars of Charles 
 the First's time, espousing the interest of the King, and swearing 
 lasting allegiance to his Sovereign. Like other rash enthusiasts of 
 the time, he spent his patrimony, not in riotous living, but in the 
 eervice of the King, and so ruined the prospects and fortunes of his 
 family, which at one time was of leading consequence in this county. 
 However, his descendant was made carver to his Majesty, and receiver 
 of certain royal dues in recognition of the services rendered by the 
 family to the King's cause. From this family descended Colonel 
 Cooper-Gardner, who died in 1832, shortly after the close of the 
 first election under the provisions of the Reform Act, on which 
 occasion he was a candidate for the northern division of the county. 
 At the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, the rectory of 
 Thurgarton, together with a considerable portion of the village, was 
 granted to Trinity College, Cambridge, then a new foundation. In 
 1794, this land was sold to Sir Richard Sutton, Bart., of Norwood 
 Park. 
 
 The present house was built by Mr. John Gilbert Cooper, 
 who pulled down the old Priory, leaving the crypt to remind the 
 occupant or the visitor of the original character of the building. 
 This remnant of monastic accommodation remains to the present 
 day, and forms part of the cellarage of the house. The arched 
 ceiling is in a good state of preservation, and may endure for 
 generations yet to come ; the stones underfoot, under which, perhaps, 
 lie buried the dust of those old Abbots to whose larder the cottagers 
 carried their poultry to make a feast, are worn and broken. But in 
 most respects the crypt is tolerably perfect, and it will remain 
 hereafter to identify the building as belonging to a limited number 
 of houses in the country, which served as religious institutions until 
 Henry YHI. took it into his head to abolish the monasteries. Of 
 late years, Thurgarton Priory has been known as the residence of 
 Mr. Richard Milward, who died in 1879, and to whose memory a 
 fine stained-glass window has been placed in the old church. It is now 
 tenanted by Mr. J. B. Barrow, formerly of Ring wood Hall, near 
 Chesterfield. 
 
WALLINGWELLS. 
 
 0 an edition of " Thoroton's Nottinghamshire," which rests on 
 the shelves of the library at Wallingwells, a painstaking 
 member of the family residing there, has, at some time or 
 another, made certain valuable additions in manuscript. These are 
 extracts and compilations from deeds and other documents in Sir 
 Thomas White's possession, and consequently the information they 
 contain may be described as exclusive. Turning over the closely- 
 written leaves, which have made this particular copy of the local 
 historian precious, I came across the following interesting extract : — 
 " In the house (Wallingwells) were nine persons besides the 
 prioress, all of good life and conversation, who desire to continue 
 religious ; the house well reputed, and good hospitality there daily 
 kept. The moveable goods worth £52 3s. 8^d. ; no debts owing to 
 the house." Some of these characteristics, described as they are, 
 with an almost pathetic exactness, the modern house at Wallingwells 
 still retains ; the others belongs to a past, which is ever becoming 
 more remote. The house is still " well reputed." It is occupied 
 by a family, whose connection with the county is of centuries 
 long duraition, and whose representatives have always been inti- 
 mately associated with the administration of its affairs. It was the 
 first titled owner of Wallingwells, who, a generation ago, in view 
 of an invasion of these shores, voluntarily sustained the cost of the 
 formation and maintenance of an entire volunteer force, and who 
 firmly declined to accept a portion of this self-imposed expense 
 from those who were perhaps better able, and who were certainly 
 willing to bear it. His immediate successor, who has now reached 
 the advanced age of eighty, was brought up to the profession of arms. 
 In Nottinghamshire he was known as an ardent politician, who con- 
 sistently supported the Conservative cause, as an active magistrate, 
 and a considerate landlord. Ten years ago an untoward accident 
 deprived Sir Thomas White of one of his limbs, and the county of 
 the active services of one of the most influential of its magnates, but 
 under the rule of a high-minded, warm-hearted, and intelligent 
 owner, who lives amongst his people, Wallingwells has sustained 
 that " good repute," which seems to have attached to it when its 
 floors were softly trodden by the feet of holy women. But it has 
 lost its monastic character ; there are scarcely any remaining evi- 
 dences of the " good life and conversation," to which its earlier 
 
152 
 
 inhabitants were pledged, and the value of its " moveable goods " has 
 increased to meet the requirements of one of the leading county 
 families. The antiquity of Wallingwells is fully established by 
 historic testimony, and there exists no doubt as to the purposes to 
 v^hich it was originally devoted. It was formerly part of the 
 manor and parish of Carlton-in-Lindrick, until, in the reign of 
 Stephen, a certain knight, by name Ealph de Cheurolcourt, 
 granted " to Almighty God and the Virgin St. Mary a place in his 
 park at Carlton-by-the- Wells, to make and build there an inhabi- 
 tation for holy religion, so free that this place shall not depend on 
 or belong to any other place." In conformity with the conditions of 
 Sir Ralph's generous grant, a Benedictine Nunnery was built here, 
 and, so far as can be ascertained, the only breach of the conditions 
 laid down by the worthy knight, was in the naming of the place, 
 which was called Waldon-de- Wells, from its situation among " wells, 
 fountains, and streams," and from which its present nomenclature 
 has been derived. It is more than probable that for a very con- 
 siderable period Wallingwells, to adopt its most modern name, was 
 a small centre of religious asceticism, for there is evidence that it 
 was used as a priory many years after its foundation. Not 
 more than fifty years ago, whilst some excavations were being 
 made near the house, several stone coffins were brought to light, in 
 one of which were the ashes of a prioress, who governed the nun- 
 nery in the reign of the First Richard, were found, together with a 
 silver chalice, which, it is supposed, had been placed in the hands 
 of the deceased Superior. The whole of these coffins were re- 
 interred, probably to remain hidden from view for another six 
 hundred years. In the reign of Elizabeth, we find Wallingwells 
 in the joint possession of a leather seller and a grocer, who pro- 
 bably respectively made her Majesty's boots, and supplied the Royal 
 table with small commodities. The heirs of the leather seller made 
 it the family residence, until the reign of Charles II., T\hen it was 
 sold to a Major Taylor, who had been Governor of Tangier, and 
 this family held it until it came into the possession of the 
 Whites. 
 
 Thomas White, of Tuxfcrd, who lived some two hundred 
 years ago, was a lucky man. He was out hunting one day, and, as 
 many a follower of the chase has done, both before and since, he 
 lost his way. The day waned ; twilight deepened into dark, and 
 a propitious fate or a distant light, led Thomas White's jaded horsCj 
 and his probably equally exhausted and disconsolate rider to the 
 friendly portals of Wallingwells. At that time the house was oc- 
 cupied by Miss Bridget Taylor, who, besides being a great heiress^ 
 was a lady, whose personal charms, if they are fairly represented oa 
 the canvas, which I saw on Sir Thomas White's walls, were pro- 
 nouncedi Mr, White found shelter and a wife he, a gentleman 
 
153 
 
 of good family and considerable standing in the county, married the 
 heiress of Waliingwells as a result of that accidental visit. But 
 for an incident equally strange, though perhaps less romantic, an 
 account of which I had from Sir Thomas White's own lips, the 
 family honours, which were bestowed upon a lineal descendant of 
 the country gentleman who wooed and won the heiress, would pro- 
 bably have passed in another direction. Sir Thomas, when a boy, was 
 with his father at Scarborough, taking part in a sport, of which the 
 first baronet was a leading patron — hawking. Wandering by the 
 sea-shore, with a hawk fastened to his wrist, the heir to the title 
 and estates of the Whites was overtaken by the tide, and washed 
 out to sea some considerable distance. The hawk having, like 
 Stephano, a very distinct aversion to water, made such vigorous use 
 of its powerful wings, that it dragged the drowning boy to shore, and 
 saved his life. There is no connection between these two incidents, 
 but each of them is extraordinary in its way, and each is in a 
 manner associated with the history of Waliingwells, and the fortunes 
 of its lords. The first serves to show how the Wallingwell's pro- 
 perty came into the hands of the Whites, who formerly resided at 
 Tuxford, the manorial rights of which place were purchased by one 
 of the family, in 1545. The purchaser of this estate married a 
 sister of Lord Burleigh, Lord High Treasurer of England, and was 
 succeeded by his son. Sir John White, Knight, who was Sheriff of 
 Nottinghamshire in the reign of King James L The successors of 
 this gentleman were Members of Parliament for Retford, from 1678 
 downwards, and one of them is mentioned by Walpole " as an old 
 Republican who governed both Newcastle and Lord John Cavendish.'* 
 
 I suppose the original priory was a much less pretentious 
 building than that which now adorns this broad and beautiful bit of 
 north Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire landscape. The old nunnery 
 was never destroyed, and some of its walls still remain to form part 
 of the present house. It overlooks a fine piece of park land, remark- 
 able for charm of foliage and variety of aspect, and much of it is in 
 Yorkshire. A tree which, from the library window, looks to be but 
 a few yards away, marks the boundary line ; the house is in 
 Nottinghamshire, the greater part of the park and a large portion of 
 the estate are in Yorkshire, and from a high piece of ground in the 
 gardens you can see the hills of Derbyshire. Standing on the gratel 
 outside the hall the sound of falling water comes pleasantly upon the 
 ear. This suggests the streams and wells from which the place 
 takes its name. The sound is associated with a grotto which stands 
 near a small lake, whose waters are inhabited by trout and grayling. 
 This grotto, which is of picturesque formation, is of large size and of 
 evident antiquity. It is composed of huge blocks and greyish stone, 
 which, arranged two hundred years ago with a kind of studied 
 gracelessness, haye remained to form a cool and desirable retreat on a 
 
154 
 
 hot day. The stones are of vast size, some of them, and John White, 
 who raised the structure somewhere about two centuries back, at the 
 cost, at any rate, of immense labour, introduced various forms of 
 stone from the petrifying wells of Derbyshire, and made a ceiling to 
 his picturesque summer-house of the beautiful spars and ores which 
 were found in the mines belonging to the family in Yorkshire. 
 
 The head of a tiger, his terrible jaws open, and exposing rows 
 of sharp and curving weapons, resting upon the extremity of the 
 balustrade of the main staircase at Wallingwells, confronts all Sir 
 Thomas White's visitors. The skin of the tiger (which was shot by 
 Colonel White in India) to the extremity of the tail is continued 
 along the upward sloping bannister, so that the aniraal looks in the 
 act of springing, and the stranger may be pardoned if he involuntarily 
 withdraws his hand from the bell handle, and retreats from the 
 portico with more or less precipitancy. The house is full of such 
 trophies of the tropical chase. They have most of them been 
 brought home by Colonel White, Sir Thomas' eldest son. There 
 are the tusks of elephants, the heads of ibex and bison, and birds of 
 brilliant plumage. In an ante-room belonging to the library there is 
 a collection of ancient weapons, amongst which is an ancient breech- 
 loader, with the old-fashioned flint lock, which serves to prove the 
 fallacy of a prevalent notion that breechloading guns are modern 
 inventions. The house is a museum of curiosities. There are the 
 handsome and costly trappings worn by the horse ridden by the first 
 Duke of Marlborough. The trappings, which are of rich and 
 elaborate workmanship, were used by Sir Thomas White, when, as 
 High Sheriff of the county in 1833, he rode out to meet his Majesty's 
 judges on their way to open the Commission of Assize at Nottingham. 
 General Armstrong is twice associated with the illustrious duke in 
 the Wallingwells collection ; his daughter was married to an ancestor 
 of Sir Thomas White's. He was governor of the Tower of London 
 where his ashes now lie. Bridget Taylor, the heiress, had some 
 queer fancies. The chief of these, so far as I can make out, was an 
 almost absorbing fondness for silver. Her toilet service was of this 
 beautiful and precious metal, the backs of her hair brushes were of 
 silver, and the furniture of her baby house was of silver filigree 
 work. Locked in an antique cabinet of tortoise-shell, which stands 
 in one of the smaller rooms at Wallingwells, is a collection of small 
 nick-knacks which may be described as the chairs and tables of a 
 house of dolls. They are all of silver and supposed to have been 
 worked in Italy. They are perfect examples of miniature furniture, 
 every detail, even to the folding of the leaves of the tables, being 
 represented. These were part of the belongings of the heiress. 
 Under the head of curiosities and objects of interest, I may mention 
 one which appears amongst a collection of stuffed birds which 
 occupies a portion of one of the corridorB. It is a heroa round 
 
165 
 
 ■whose neck an eel is coiled. The bird with the eel still alive was 
 picked up from the shores of the lake near the house, and his death 
 was readily accounted for. The heron had pierced the head of the 
 eel with his long bill, and the snake-fish 
 
 round his enemy's neck, 
 Locked in stiff rings of adamantine coil, 
 
 strangled the bird who perished with his prey. The incident is a 
 remarkable one, and Lady Maitland, one of Sir Thomas White's 
 daughters, has reproduced it in bronze. This admirable model 
 stands on the dining room mantelpiece. Lady Maitland, besides 
 being a clever and artistic worker in bronze, as several objects in 
 different parts of the house testify, is an equally clever worker in 
 marble, and perhaps the best specimen of her art is a small sculp- 
 tured bust of her father. 
 
 The bibliomaniac would say that the cream of the Wallingwells 
 heirlooms was to be found on the shelves of the library. It is a 
 famous collection of old literature, some in black letter, some in 
 manuscript. The room is filled the thoujihts of past centuries; 
 a book bound in coloured cloth would be as much out of place among 
 that dingy fraternity as a harlequin in a synod of saints. One of 
 these books that I chanced to look at was a tract dedicated in 1696, 
 by a celibrated Nonconformist divine of that day, to that very 
 heiress of whom I have spoken, exhorting her not to put her trust in 
 riches, but rather, I suppose, in Nonconformist divines. Lady 
 Mildmay's " Lesson of Heaven and Earth," written in manuscript 
 forty years earlier, contained no doubt some valuable prescriptions 
 for mending spiritual weakness. The pictures at Wallingwells are 
 interesting, because they serve to tell the family history. A portrait 
 of Sir Ralph Knight in the dining room suggests that the well-known 
 family of which he was a distinguished representative, had some 
 connection with the Whites, and calls for an enquiry which leads to 
 the information that some of the Yorkshire part of the Wallingwells 
 estate passed from the hands of Mr. Gaily Knight into those of its 
 present owner. In the same room there is a representation of the 
 first Duke of Marlborough, whose horse wears the very gold and 
 crimson trappings which were worn by Sir Thomas White as High 
 Sheriff" of the county nearly half a century ago, and which have only 
 seen daylight on rare occasions since. In another part of the house 
 the same warrior noble is presented by Sir Godfrey Kneller, who 
 painted the double portrait — for the duke and his faithful general 
 appear on the same canvas — in fulfilment of a special commission. 
 There are, I think, in different parts of the house, three portraits of 
 the first of the Churchills who held the rank of duke, and in two of 
 them General Armstrong is introduced. As 1 have said the daughter 
 of this illustrions soldier was married to aii ancestor of Sir Thomas 
 
156 
 
 White's, a fact which will, perhaps, account for the presence of these 
 pictures in the Wallingwells collection. Among the other portraits 
 are a couple representing Sir Peter Lely's best style, portraits of 
 Miss Jenny Deering, afterwards Lady Ogle, and Lady Castlemaine ; 
 a portrait of Miss Bridget Taylor, the heiress who was so fond of 
 silver ; one of Lady St. Aubin, and a number of family likenesses in 
 oils. Besides these, what may be described as family pictures, there 
 are a few good paintings, — landscapes, seascapes, and others, by 
 masters, and in the dining room there are three large pictures by 
 Paillou, an artist of some repute about a century ago. There is 
 much that is interesting in the halls of this old county family who 
 owned an estate at Cotgrave before their untitled ancestor purchased 
 the manor of Tuxford, and took up his residence there more than 
 three hundred years ago. It is pleasant to hear from the lips of the 
 surviving head of that family, that one is welcome to examine the 
 treasures of cabinet, gallery, and library, or to wander at will about 
 the well-kept walks of a pleasant and well-ordered garden. Under 
 some circumstances one would be inclined to tarry long ; to take a seat 
 in that still old library, and in the soft light of a May evening to 
 imbibe the wisdom of the medaevial scribes ; to examine more closely 
 the articles of virtu in the drawing room where the is a handsome 
 sandal wood cabinet full of quaint little trinkets, and to read a letter 
 which was written by the Rajah of Cashere to Colonel White, when 
 that gallant officer commanded the 16th Lancers, but time presses, and 
 one can only take a cursory glance at these several objects of 
 interest. 
 
WATNALL HALL. 
 
 ATNALL Hall is interesting for a variety of reasons. It is 
 
 an old building, situated in the corner of a county, pleasant 
 parts of which are chosen for modern houses of more or 
 less pretention, and which often rather spoil the landscape than add 
 to its beauty ; it can lay claim to associations, that are to some extent 
 mixed up with the history of the county, and it has since the early 
 part of the seventeenth century been the seat of a family, of both 
 antiquity and distinction— the Rollestons. These were formerly of 
 Rolleston, in Staffordshire, from which place they took, or gave, their 
 name. The Rollestons, of Rolleston, they were, before they disposed 
 of their estate to the Mosleys (who have been settled there since), 
 and came to live in this part of the country on property which they 
 acquired by marriage a long while ago. They derived their descent 
 through a younger son of Ralph Rolleston, who settled at Lea, in 
 Derbyshire, about the time of Edward the Third. Some time during 
 the reign of the good Queen Bess, Ralph Rolleston married the 
 co-heiress of Sir Richard Bingham, the then head of a family of some 
 consequence in the county, who lived at, and owned, Watnall 
 Chaworth, and by this alliance the Rollestons became possessed of 
 the house, which their descendants have occupied for generations. 
 A considerable estate in Lincolnshire was brought into the family, 
 somewhere about 1680, and they have held lands in these two 
 counties ever since. The house at Watnall is unmistakably old. 
 The beautiful iron gates — some of the best work of that famous 
 ironworker Shaw — which serve to make fast the entrance to the 
 shady drive leading to the higher ground, upon which the building 
 is situated, bears traces of antiquity. In some places the metal is 
 worn thin, and has slowly succumbed to climatic influences. The 
 gilded eagle's head — the crest of the Rollestons — which looks defiance 
 on the very summit of these tall gates, has lost its lustre ; the lower 
 work is tarnished with age. Formerly these same gates occupied a 
 different position. They served to guard a flight of ancient and 
 worn stone steps, almost immediately in front of the house. The 
 steps are there still, though they are not used. Lichens have eaten 
 into them ; moneywort and other parasitic plants grow profusely 
 from their crevices. Thesft steps have never been moved, and I 
 should think they never will be whilst a Rolleston owns Watnall. 
 Mary Chaworth probably tripped light-footed down that picturesque 
 
158 
 
 flight after dancing at the balls with the young gallants of the county. 
 
 You can see the hills of Annesley from the terrace, and it is said 
 that Byron's Mary sometimes escaped the vigilance of her guard- 
 ians, and left her home, surreptitiously to dance at the balls, for 
 which Watnall was famous. The house is as old as the steps. 
 Portions of it were built in the reigns of three English monarchs— 
 Henry the Eighth, Elizabeth, and Anne — and it is easy to see that 
 at certain periods it has been found necessary to make alterations, 
 with the view of remedying symptoms of decay. But these have 
 been made with care and judgment, and the building has not suf- 
 fered in consequence. It is a brick house of delightful colour, which 
 time has laid on in the course of centuries. For a house was there 
 as far back as 1620, when the Rollestons migrated from Staffordshire, 
 and it is fair to suppose that a good deal of the present building was 
 in existence then. The architecture is somewhat quaint ; from one 
 aspect the building looks like a solid and somewhat conventional 
 block, from another, and this, the principal one, it is agreeably 
 broken, and almost divided into wings. Further investigation shows 
 that it is built upon three sides of a quadrangle, and the quad- 
 rangle, and the design has been, in a measure, disturbed by the 
 addition of a straight piece of brickwork, which enclosed several 
 rooms. 
 
 The interior is large and roomy, and when it is stated that 
 Mr. Lancelot Rolleston, who now owns the estate, and lives at 
 Watnall Hall, is unmarried, it may readily be imagined that certain 
 of the apartments are not regularly used. Under the present regime^ 
 the library and the dining room may be described as the principal 
 room, though these are not the only apartments in the house to which 
 interest attaches, or which call for notice in an article of this kind. 
 The library is panelled and quiet ; supplied with a collection of 
 books, which, from the nature of the bindings appear to have been 
 been got together at no very recent date, and with a few pictures, 
 chief amongst which is a fine drawing of a Rolleston, surnamed 
 Lancelot, who, in his time, was High Sheriff of the county, and who, 
 during his ownership made some additions to the hall. There is a 
 monument in Watnall Church to the memory of this gentleman, who 
 was respected in the county, and esteemed by those with whom he 
 had anything to do. On a small table, embedded in velvet, there is 
 the hunting horn, which was presented to Mr. Rolleston, a year or 
 two ago, as master of the South Nottinghamshire Hounds, by the 
 followers of the hunt — a token, no less of their admiration of the 
 master's conduct in the field, than of their appreciation of his 
 geniality and uniform courtesy. This responsible and trying post — 
 for even fox-hunting has its trials and responsibilities, Mr. Lance- 
 lot Rolleston accepted, on the resignation of Mr. Chaworth Musters, 
 a few years ago, and hunting men say that the country has never 
 furnished better sport uuder any previous master. 
 
159 
 
 In the dining room, hanging over the mantelpiece, is a portrait 
 
 of the late Colonel Rolleston (Sherwood Foresters), who, from 1837 
 to 1849, was one of the representatives of the southern division of 
 the county in the House of Commons, and for some years chair- 
 man of the Nottinghamshire Quarter Sessions. This portrait was 
 presented to Mr. Rolleston by a constituency, which was attached to 
 him by ties, other than those represented by Parliamentary duties and 
 electoral requirements, and it is said to be a true and faithful likeness. 
 There are in the same room some other family portraits, which, 
 perhaps, only have an interest for those to whom they belong, and in 
 other parts there is a further collection of ancestors, amongst whom 
 possibly — for their identity cannot be clearly established — is that 
 member of the family, who, in a work little read now-a-days, is 
 mentioned as one of the intended deliverers of an imprisoned 
 Queen. He is there described as " a squire of good worth in the 
 country, and a devoted Catholic man." One of those who had joined 
 the delivering league turning traitor ; the whole matter, so says the 
 historian, was betrayed, the authors of the plot were placed in dur- 
 ance vile, and Mr. Rolleston, spelled in the narrative Rowlston, 
 was condemned to die. 
 
 On the mantelpiece in the dining room there is a small 
 likeness of the late Canon Kingsley — whom it was Mr. Rolleston'a 
 privilege to know intimately. One is impressed with the 
 quaintness of some of the upper rooms at Watnall. 
 
 There are a number of bed rooms in the older part of the 
 house, the formation of which is both peculiar and picturesque. The 
 windows are small, and set in deep recesses. The plaster ceiling, of 
 a pinkish colour and sloping at the sides, is extremely curious and 
 old-fashioned. There are numbers of these rooms upstairs, and there 
 is also a curious panelled apartment of Elizabethan date. Here 
 there are one or two hunting pictures, to which some special family 
 interest attaches, for Mr. Rolleston inherited his love of the chase 
 from his ancestors. Here, too, are some heraldic devices, in stained 
 glass, which has never been disturbed, and which has let into that 
 old room a coloured filtration of light, for no one knows how long. 
 All these are family shields, and the bearings are distinctly 
 traceable and authentic. Higher up in the house there is what 
 Mr. Rolleston calls, a lumber room, but what might fitly be de- 
 scribed as a disused armoury. It is a grim-looking apartment. 
 Reared up in one of the corners is a rusty collection of musketry, 
 — a pile of ancient flint locks which were originally procured for 
 the defence of the house when the neighbourhood was disturbed 
 by the Luddite riots. Scattered about, are the ammunition cases, 
 also much the worse for age, but still preserved to give an idea how 
 warm was the reception that awaited any invasion of the WatualJ 
 4omaia, 
 
160 
 
 From the leads of Watnall you can get glimpses of five 
 counties, and a view of garden and field, woodland and distant 
 hill, which it would be difficult to match in this part of the 
 country. Beneath is the old-fashioned garden, with its gigantic 
 laurel bushes — that in front of those old steps, like a huge wigwam 
 made of foliage ; its curious yew hedge, which encloses the arena 
 wherein cock-fighting formerly took place ; its old bowling green, 
 which is now occasionally used for that game of bowls, which is 
 threatened with extinction in these days of dangerous pastimes ; 
 with its small conservatory, bright with geraniums, and calceolarias, 
 and with its thatched bee-house, full of murmurous sound. Of 
 that bee-house I made a closer inspection. It was designed by Mr. 
 Rolleston, who takes considerable interest in bee culture, and is large 
 enough inside for a study. As a matter of fact, Mr. Rolleston 
 occasionally shares this house with the bees. The boxes in which 
 the insects deposit their honey are so arranged that, they cannot 
 fiy about in the interior of the apartment, whilst their operations 
 can be watched and studied through glass. So the bee-house serves 
 a double purpose, besides being an ornament to the garden. 
 Whilst the bees are making their honey, and arranging? their 
 domestic matters in the glass cases, Mr. Rolleston is writing his 
 letters at a table, and the apartment is filled with a soothing 
 sound. 
 
WELBECK. 
 
 ^^pN November, 1878, by favour of the late Duke of Portland, 
 I was permitted to visit Welbeck Abbey, and the 
 stupendous works connected with it, for there is no 
 exaggeration in what has been written and rumoured concern- 
 ing their magnitude. I reached the abbey at eleven o'clock one 
 morning, after a drive of nine miles through a racy air, with just 
 a touch of "winter's sting." The long grass on either side of the 
 undulating park-drive had a thin, crisp covering of hoar frost, which 
 sparkled in the rich November sunlight, that gave a more golden 
 hue to the dying foliage of oak and elm. I was somewhat dis- 
 turbed at the outset by the intelligence that one could not see 
 Welbeck thoroughly in less than three of these short days, know- 
 ing full well that my stay could not extend over more than one. 
 A brief November day would scarcely afford time to see the 
 works at Welbeck, if you wished to inspect the extensive out- 
 buildings which are, as it were, the outcome of those works. 
 Then there is the house itself, with its grand suites of rooms, rare 
 pictures, and treasures of art from the master brushes of Snyders, 
 Vandyck, Rembrandt, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and a host of other great 
 painters. Welbeck is at once extraordinary and magnificent. A 
 quarter of a mile away from the house there is the perpetual buzz of 
 machinery, and a vast space of ground covered v/ith sheds, in which 
 the newest mechanical inventions are in constant use. The vastness 
 of the work-yards astonishes one ; they might be the premises of 
 some great contractor who had an order for the building of a big 
 village. Very soon after his succession to these immense estates 
 and the titles that go with them, the fifth Duke of Portland com- 
 menced a series of improvements on a scale of unprecedented 
 extent, and for upwards of eighteen years Welbeck was in the hands 
 of the builders. During this time his grace devoted something like 
 £100,000 per year of his princely income to the improvement of 
 the Welbeck estate, and some 1,500 workpeople of all classes 
 were constantly employed in carrying out his instructions. The 
 numerous great and expensive works, which are to be seen at Wel- 
 beck, were under the immediate supervision of the noble duke him- 
 self, who really ought to be described as their architect. When a 
 new building was to be erected he caused a model of it to be con- 
 structed, and a flaw or an aspect of inelegance, was detected by him 
 
 K 
 
162 
 
 at once. That he was a man of exalted taste in matters of architecture 
 is abundantly manifest everywhere on his estate. The very lodges 
 which dot the park, and which are occupied by keepers and others 
 in his grace's employ, are models of architectural beauty, and 
 everywhere there are evidences of superb taste, and considerable 
 engineering skill. In the late duke's time, people applying for em- 
 ployment at Welbeck were able to obtain it — no matter what 
 they were — and the full market value has been paid for their 
 labour. 
 
 Welbeck Abbey has a history. It is one of the oldest 
 mansions in the country, though few of its original features are left ; 
 certainly it has no monastic appearance now. Much of it is new, 
 and the new seems to assimilate with the old so exactly that it 
 is difficult to say what part of the building is ancient and what 
 modern. It is a vast pile, white and castellated, with innumerable 
 windows, overlooking Sherwood Forest, where the immemorial oaks 
 grow, and the deer have a peaceful existence. Before the Norman 
 invasion Welbeck was held by a Saxon, named Sweyn. After 
 the conquest it became part of the Manor of Cuckney, and was held 
 by a family of that name, who founded the abbey, and dedicated it to 
 St. James, in the reign of the Second Henry. After an existence of 
 398 years, the abbey was destroyed by Henry the Eighth, along 
 with other similar institutions up and down the country. After 
 being occupied by a family named Whalley, and by a London 
 clothworker, the abbey came into the hands of the Cavendishes, 
 who converted it into a noble mansion. In 1619, King James 
 visited Sir William Cavendish at the abbey, and, in 1663, Charles the 
 First was entertained there, with " such excess in feasting, as had 
 scarcely ever been known in England," the abbey at that time being 
 in the possession of the Earl of Newcastle. It passed from the 
 Cavendishes to the Bentincks by marriage. The only remains of the 
 old monastic building, now to be seen, are some arched 
 rooms in the lower part of the house, which are used by certain 
 of the servants. In 1604 the present building was commenced, and 
 being held by a succession of noblemen, each of whom seems to have 
 added some improvements, though on a scale which is utterly in- 
 significant, when compared with what has been done by the late 
 owner, it has developed by easy gradations, until now it is unques- 
 tionably one of the most commodious houses in the country. On 
 the occasion of my visit to Welbeck, I had spent the morning out 
 of doors about the " works," in the stables and outhouses, which 
 are on a gigantic scale, and in other of the outworks, and there was 
 only time for a very hasty inspection of the house. The Gothic 
 hall of Welbeck is a gem of architecture, the existence of which 
 is pretty well known. This is part of the old building, which 
 was altered and restored by the Countess of Oxford,— another 
 
163 
 
 " Bess of Hardwick," in 1751. The ceiling is a marvel of beauty. 
 It is of pendant fan tracery, delicately and elaborately designed, 
 and the room is splendidly decorated in pure Gothic style in 
 keeping with the ceiling, which I have but imperfectly described. 
 The room contains at least half a dozen rare antique cabinets of 
 ebony and bronze, and of inlaid marble. The large drawing room 
 at Welbeck is a treasure-house. On its walls are hung large and 
 valuable pictures in plenty. The Duke of Portland has one of the 
 best private collections of pictures in England. The walls of the 
 drawing room and of the dining room, which is the largest room in 
 the house, were, and I dare say are now, literally covered with 
 splendid paintings, some of them of great size, and all the works of 
 the best known artists. In the last-named room there are Rembrandt's 
 famous portrait of himself,a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds,ofone of 
 the first Earls of Portland, who, when plain William Bentinck, 
 came over on his first visit to England as page-of-honour to 
 William, Prince of Orange, afterwards William the Third. On the 
 accession of this King, William Bentinck was created Baron of 
 Cirencester, Viscount Woodstock, and Earl of Portland, all of 
 which titles are held by the present Duke. This splendid suite of 
 rooms, which forms part of the old house, has recently been ex- 
 tended, and several, what may be, perhaps, not improperly described 
 as ante-rooms, have been added. The new fireplaces are of nickel 
 silver, beautifully white, and highly polished, the mantelpieces being of 
 white marble. Here there are more pictures. There is one of 
 the second Duke of Portland, of that distinguished patriot and 
 statesman. Lord George Bentinck, painted when a boy, and that 
 bright pretty girl, in the pale blue dress, with silver embroidery, 
 is Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, who, in 1734, married the 
 second Duke of Portland. There is here a portrait of that very 
 plucky woman, Jane Cavendish, who kept garrison for her father 
 at Welbeck against the Parliament army. There are also in these 
 rooms portraits of the two Charleses, that of Charles the First, 
 showing what the monarch was like in his boyhood. At the north 
 entrance to the house there stretches for some distance a lovely 
 little conservatory, which, on this chill November day, is 
 bright with flowers — chrysanthemums and primulas. In what is 
 known as Lady Oxford's wing at the south front, another story, with 
 a magnificent suite of rooms, has been added to the house by the 
 late Duke. The rooms are very expensively fitted. Most of the 
 walls are of salmon colour, with chastely gilded mouldings, or 
 panels, each panel large enough to contain a life-size portrait, and 
 much of the furniture is in the Louis XVI. style. A finer suite of 
 rooms than this could not be seen anywhere, with their tall 
 mahogany doors, oak floors, elegantly guilded cornices, and matitel- 
 pieces of pure white marble. If I remember rightly, the late Duke 
 
164 
 
 added fourteen new rooms to the Oxford wing, and all these are 
 
 decorated and finished with the utmost purity of taste. Occasion- 
 ally in this wing one comes upon some choice imitations of Gib- 
 bon's carving, the work of an Edwinstowe artist. The carving of 
 the marble mantelpieces, it should be stated, has been executed by 
 workmen employed at Welbeck. In the sitting room of the late 
 Duchess, which is in the old part of this wing, there is a fine 
 chimneypiece of marble, inlaid with Wedgewood's sage green plaques, 
 In order that furniture and other heavy things may be conveni 
 ently moved, the mansion is supplied with hydraulic lifts, which 
 are constructed to work from top to bottom of the house, and in this 
 way furniture is removed from one story to another. There was an 
 hydraulic shaft connected with the kitchens, and the dining room can 
 be supplied by means of a small waggon, which, lowered by the 
 shaft, ran upon rails along one of the underground passages. These 
 rails — which are something like the rails of a tramway, terminate at 
 a kind of iron cupboard, which is heated by steam, and in this the 
 viands can be placed, and kept hot until they are required for con- 
 sumption in the adjoining room. An underground passage is con- 
 nected with the old riding school, which is entered by a trap door, 
 opened by means of a crank. Only the few who have seen 
 this great room can form any conception of its proportions, or of its 
 magnificence. In the Duke of Newcastle's time it was used as a rid- 
 ing school — now it is put to a nobler use. It is used as a museum 
 of art, containing long rows of choice paintings. There must 
 have been several hundred pictures in this room — portraits and 
 landscapes by famous artists long since passed away. You walked 
 between avenues of pictures and of books, for there are several 
 thousand volumes there, piled up in stacks upon the floor. The 
 floor of this magnificent art gallery is of polished oak, and the 
 inner portion of the roof, which is in the style of Westminster Hall, 
 is painted to represent a glorious sky. The tall doors are wholly, 
 and the walls partly, covered with looking-glass, which gives effect 
 to what would make one of the finest banqueting halls in the king- 
 dom. The glass alone in this room must have cost an almost 
 fabulous sum. Four cut-glass chandeliers, each weighing nearly a 
 ton, are suspended in a line from the roof ; from the hammer beams 
 are twenty-eight smaller cut-glass chandeliers, and on the walls are 
 fastened sixty-four cut-glass brackets or side lights. There are in 
 all 2,000 gas lights in this grand apartment. What must be the 
 effect when all these are lighted ? The roof outside is covered with 
 copper, and two turrets have been erected. In them are placed a set 
 of clocks, which have been very fittingly described as marvels of 
 constructive skill. Mr. Benson, of London, speaks of them thus : — 
 "In a set of clock calendars which I some time since provided for his 
 Grace the Duke of Portland, the clock showed the time on four dials, 
 
165 
 
 five feet nine inches in diameter, quarters, hours, &c. (the well- 
 known Cambridge chimes), on bells of 12 cwt., repeating the hour 
 after the first, second, and third quarters. The two sides of an ad- 
 joining tower show a calendar, which indicates on special circles of a 
 large dial, by means of separate hands, the month of the year, the 
 day of the month, and the day of the week." This building, like the 
 others, which have been erected by the Duke of Portland, is con- 
 nected with the house by underground passages. There are some 
 miles of these passages at Welbeck. They lead in all directions, 
 and are very pleasant to walk in. One of them, which leads from the 
 house to the works, diverging to the riding school, was used only by 
 the late Duke. There is a passage leading from the house half 
 way to Worksop, and you can walk underground in that direction 
 for fully twenty minutes ; there is another which takes one some 
 distance into the park, and others leading to the library and cellars. 
 These passages are constructed on a uniform principle, and they are 
 wide enough to allow three people to walk abreast. They are lighted 
 both by natural light and by gas. The light is admitted from above 
 through circles of plate glass, which are placed in round frames. 
 Appearing at intervals of about every ten yards amongst the grass of 
 the park, these circular arrangements would puzzle any person who 
 was not in the secret. In the passages gas is always burning. The 
 tunnels are built of brick with a covering of hard plaster, and are 
 perfectly free from damp. The floor is composed of some kind of 
 pulverised stone, very pleasant to wall upon. Where the tunnel 
 crosses a road, light is most ingeniously admitted from the side. The 
 library at Welbeck, to which the finishing touches are now being 
 given, is underground. It is a magnificent building, the work of 
 long years. It is parellel with the picture gallery, and is divided 
 into five large rooms, the ceilings of which are level with the surface 
 of the park. The doors open one into another, so that the rooms 
 can be made to form one great whole. The mahogany windows open 
 into a long corridor covered with glass, and the whole building ia 
 effectively heated by steam pipes. Down below the earth's surface 
 there is not a sound to be heard in any one of the rooms, and a 
 soft and subdued light is admitted through the large octagonal plate- 
 glass arrangements in the ceiling. The library comprises reading 
 rooms, and a room for periodicals. The cornices and ceilings are 
 very handsome. The total length of the library is 236 feet, and there 
 are ample facilities for lighting the rooms with gas, there being in 
 all about 1,100 burners here. Closely adjoining the library is a sub- 
 terranean apartment of magnificent proportions, into which the 
 light of heaven is admitted by about forty large octagonal sunlights 
 placed in rows in the vast ceiling. It was suggested that the 
 Duke meant this for a church, but there is nothing ecclesiastical in 
 its appearance. No, it is not a church. It looks more like the ver^ 
 
166 
 
 antithesis of a church — a ball room, and what a ball room it would 
 make ! Its floor is of oak, and it massive roof supported by iron 
 girders. At one end it is entered from above by means of a spiral 
 staircase ; at the other it is approached by subterranean passages. 
 Its flat ceiling is beautifully ornamented, and the eight iron girders 
 which support it are of massive proportions. The room has been, 
 as it were, dug out of the solid clay ; it was commenced five years 
 ago, and to-day workmen are very busy within its spacious walls. 
 This underground building, of which there is such a quantity at 
 Welbeck, strange though it may seem to those who read about it, has 
 certain special advantages. There is not the slightest suspicion of 
 draught in these rooms, they are thoroughly heated by steam pipes, 
 are perfectly free from damp, and the means of lighting employed is 
 most successful. 
 
 Foremost amongst the outbuildings connected with Welbeck 
 Abbey is the new riding school, a building of extraordinary beauty, 
 and of gigantic proportions. It vast floor is fresh-covered with 
 soft tan, which is never allowed to get into disorder. Here, most 
 days, the horses were exercised, generally in the presence of their 
 owner, who had the reputation of being a keen judge of horse flesh. 
 The riding house measures about 380 feet in length, 112 wide, and 
 50 feet high. Its roof is of glass and iron, semi-circular in shape, 
 and richly ornamented. The walls are of stone, and the interior 
 contains some fifty cast-iron columns. There are upwards of eight 
 thousand gas jets, these being placed in circles round the capitals of 
 each of the fifty columns. The roof is divided into three compartments, 
 the centre one being of glass and iron, and the two side ones of 
 pitch pine, covered with copper tiling. There is an underground 
 passage from the abbey to the riding house ; his grace entered the 
 latter building at one of the corners, and from this point he witnessed 
 the performances of his horses. In another part of the grounds 
 there is a " tan gallop " for the exercise of horses. The whole length 
 of this — 1,270 feet, is covered with glass. The Welbeck stables are 
 as large as a small village. The hunting stables stand on a square 
 acre of ground, and are arranged in the form of a quadrangle. There 
 is accommodation here for some fifty or sixty horses. The late 
 Duke took a great interest in his horses ; he knew them all by name, 
 and would sometimes feed them with his own hands. His grace's 
 stud consisted of more than a hundred horses. This number included 
 carriage horses, and they were most carefully tended by a large staff" of 
 grooms and stablemen. There is stabling for about a dozen 
 " strangers," so that tradesmen, and others, who drive to Welbeck on 
 business are allowed to put up their horses. In the coach house 
 were carriages of every variety — landau, brougham, and State 
 carriage. These were seldom, or never, used, though they were 
 always in readiness. The Duke's favourite carriage was a sort 
 
167 
 
 of waggonette, completely covered with a thick curtain arranged in 
 the form of a cube, with flat top. Cut in the curtain, are some 
 half-dozen " eye-holes," containing oval glasses, so that a person sit- 
 ting in the carriage could see what was going on about him without the 
 slightest difl5.culty. Inside, the soft cushions had a covering of dark 
 green, and the carriage was old-fashioned, and exceedingly comfortable. 
 The harness room contains a large collection of harness of all kinds, 
 which is hung in glass cases, and is always ready for use. In one of 
 these upright cases is a set of State harness, which belonged to the late 
 Duke of Portland. I have just time to take a run through the cow 
 houses and dairy. The Duke of Portland had some famous Alder- 
 neys, and they were housed in most comfortable quarters. The 
 cow house, which is of great size, is divided into stalls, each stall 
 being of galvanised metal and slate. The roof is of pitch pine, 
 and the house is supplied with revolving iron shutters, so that the 
 part which is open in good weather, can be closed in days of cold. 
 There is a second cow house, of similar proportions to this one, to which 
 the animals are transferred when the place requires cleaning. The 
 doors by which all these outhouses are entered are large and beauti- 
 fully grained, and supplied with brass handles, kept in a perfect state 
 of polish. The graining work, I am told, was done by a tramp, 
 who, coming to Welbeck, and applying for work, was at once " set 
 on " by the clerk of the works, and he turned out to be a 
 thoroughly competent workman. The dairy is a pretty little stone 
 building. It has a flooring of Minton's encaustic tiles, from the 
 centre of which springs a crystal fountain, set in a marble basin. The 
 china milk dishes are placed on marble benches, and the cream jars, 
 higher up in niches let into the walls. The workpeople employed 
 on the estate can have the very best milk and butter from this dairy, 
 at something under the market value. 
 
 The workshops at Welbeck are much too vast to admit of 
 anything but a casual mention. There are great sheds, in which 
 every kind of work is done by skilled workmen, aided by the very 
 best machinery. In one room circular saws are whirring, and doing 
 their speedy work ; in another blacksmiths' fires are burning, and 
 men are striking sparks from large pieces of hot iron ; in another 
 gigantic shed men are repairing carts and implements belonging to 
 the estate ; in another a huge slab of stone is succumbing to the 
 fell movement of a frame-saw, whilst another piece is being 
 smoothed by a " rubber," which is kept in perpetual motion 
 by a small vertical engine. The waste steam from the boilers has 
 been put to an excellent use ; by it the whole of the workshops 
 and buildings connected with them are heated, the steam passing 
 through iron pipes — an admirable arrangement. There are joiners' 
 shops, painters' shops, and plumbers' shops, which help to form a 
 Bet pf workshops, such as none but the largest contractors possess, 
 
168 
 
 In another part of these very extensive work yards are stacks of 
 timber — giant slices of oak, sound and hard as adamant, and close 
 by there are great boles of trees, which have been brought from 
 the forest by one or other of the five monster traction engines that are 
 housed in sheds by themselves. Other great sheds are filled with iron 
 rods of all thicknesses, and iron piping of every dimension, for all 
 manner of work is done in these shops. A new set of offices, the 
 walls of stone, and the interior fitted in the very best style, with 
 stone staircases, clerk's rooms, private rooms, postman's rooms, lava- 
 tories, and heated by piping, through which passes the " exhaust " 
 steam from the adjoining works, have recently been completed, or 
 nearly so, and opposite a new house for the house steward, with 
 spacious and expensively-fitted rooms, in which pitch pine has been 
 largely employed, has just been erected. Near to, and connected 
 with the works, the late Duke caused to be built an immense fire-proof 
 store, which is divided into three compartments, the roof 
 of each compartment being of iron, and the inner slid- 
 ing doors of the same metal, the floor being of asphalte. A 
 great block of stabling, with stalls of iron and pitch pine, have here 
 been built, and a new fire engine house, with special stabling accom- 
 modation, was, at the time alluded to, scarcely out of the builder's 
 hands. I ought to have stated that in the house, and about the 
 works, are ample appliances for suppressing an outbreak of fire. In 
 the midst of the workshops there is an engine shed,with a fire engine, 
 capable of throwing a heavy stream of water some seventy feet 
 high, with hose reels, salvage waggons, and all the necessary 
 appliances. 
 
 The gardens and pleasure grounds of Welbeck are so ex- 
 tensive that it would be impossible to see them thoroughly in a day. 
 There are fifty acres of pleasure ground, composed of rare young 
 shrubs, firs from Mexico and India, of grassy lawns, smooth and soft 
 as velvet, intersected by a broad and continuous gravel walk, flagged 
 in the centre. In one part of the pleasure grounds the late Duke 
 caused to be made a large out-door skating rink, surrounded by 
 graceful shrubs, which preserve their freshness through the cold 
 weather. There is a large circular arrangement of iron near the 
 foot of the lake, — a boathouse, and I am told that the top of this has 
 been filled in with asphalte, so that it too could be used as a skating 
 rink. The kitchen gardens cover an immense area of ground, and 
 produce every kind of fruit and vegetable. They are surrounded by 
 high walls, and are now being made more extensive. There are 
 long lengths of standard rose trees, which, in the summer time, 
 furnish lines of colour and fill the air with a delicious perfume ; 
 there are vast ranges of glass, where delicious fruits are forced — 
 nectarines and grapes, in unheard of quantities. The kitchen 
 gardens are formed in separate compartments, and they extend as far 
 
169 
 
 as the Mansfield turnpike road, near to the Welbeck Gas Works. 
 To hasten the ripening of the apricots, which occupy a wall one 
 thousand feet in length, Rendle's patent lean-to glass has been em- 
 ployed. This is a moveable arrangement, covering the whole 
 length of the wall, and it is also used to protect the strawberry beds, 
 on the opposite side of the path, which are exactly as long as 
 the wall. At one end of the kitchen gardens a broad high 
 wall of stone, with a carriage entrance, has just been built. The 
 Duke made most lavish presents of game and fruit, and he supplied 
 some of his friends with horses and ponies. 
 
 And now a word concerning the late owner of this magnificent 
 domain. His Grace William John Cavendish Scott-Bentinck, fifth 
 Duke of Portland, Marquis of Tichfield, Earl of Portland, 
 Viscount Woodstock, Baron of Cirencester, and co-heir to the 
 Barony of Ogle, of Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire ; Fullarton 
 House, Ayrshire ; Langwell Goldspie, Caithness ; Bothal Castle, 
 Northumberland, and Harcourt House, Cavendish-square, London, 
 succeeded his father, in 1854, having previously represented the 
 borough of Lymn in the House of Commons. Though his 
 grace took no active part in politics, he exhibited, amid the mag- 
 nificent solitude of Welbeck, a very keen interest in matters of 
 national importance, and current literature found its way into his 
 hands. The late Duke of Portland lived amongst his people, by 
 whom he was held in the highest esteem, and it may be said that he 
 spent the last twenty years of his life in doiujjj good, inasmuch 
 as he gave employment in prosperous times, and in times when the 
 labour market has been in a most unhappy condition, to thousands of 
 workpeople. The present Duke has enjoyed the title long enough 
 to win the esteem of all classes. 
 
WINKBURN. 
 
 ^^^SlNKBURN Hall, the seat of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward 
 ^IHffl Strelly Pegge-Burnell, of the Coldstream Guards, a justice 
 ^^^^ of the peace for the county, who is also possessed of an 
 estate in Yorkshire, to which is attached a charming old place called 
 Beauchief Abbey, better known to Sheffield people than to us, is one 
 of the oldest and one of the most interesting houses in Nottingham- 
 shire. Perhaps but few persons are familiar with its proportions, 
 and only those who have made researches among local records are 
 acquainted with its early history. The house enjoys a seclusion 
 •which is as complete as it is charming. It is not more than four 
 miles distant from Southwell, in a northerly direction, but that 
 slender distance is sufficient to remove it from all contact with what 
 little life there is in the quiet town just named. The roads which 
 skirt its park are but little used, the clean and pretty village over 
 which it predominates is as quiet as an empty church, and great 
 trees surround its venerable walls, still firm and substantial, without 
 a trace of decay. In fact, its situation and natural surroundings give 
 it most complete and absolute privacy. Several generations of 
 Burnells, the representatives of an old and influential county family, 
 which at different times has furnished four High Sheriffs of Notting- 
 hamshire since 1702, have lived there. Before they became 
 possessed of the Manor it was the seat of a religious order, of whom, 
 after the lapse of centuries, there are some slight traces yet remaining. 
 This order or society was of great antiquity ; it members were 
 knights hospitallers or Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and when 
 they became established of course it was necessary to find them 
 accommodation. So one Adam Tyson generously came to their aid 
 and granted them the Manor of Winkburn, where they continued to 
 reside for a considerable period. A streamlet named the Wink, 
 which to this day threads its way through the green and flowery 
 pastures of the park, may reasonably be supposed to have provided 
 them with fish, and probably in order the more readily to secure their 
 favourite diet, they broadened the stream in places. About a mile 
 from the house is to be seen a holy well, a place of interest, Avhich is 
 undoubtedly connected with the past history of the place. The order 
 to which this brotherhood belonged originally existed for the protec- 
 tion of pilgrims travelling on their way to the holy city, and they are 
 said to have become very wealthy. How this wealth was accumu- 
 
171 
 
 lated does not transpire, and the- searcher after knowledge fails to 
 find out whether it came out of the pockets of protected pilgrims or 
 out of successful demands upon the Winkburn tenantry, such as 
 those that were imposed by the priors of the neighbouring house at 
 Thurgarton. In the silence of history it must be taken for granted 
 that the followers of St. John of Jerusalem were above the mean 
 exactions that were practised in the name of St. Augustine, and that 
 the wealth of this Winkburn brotherhood was the result of successive 
 grants made to them. That they were thought much of in high 
 quarters is certain, for they had granted to them a house in London, 
 and it is said that a member of their order was the first made baron 
 in England, and had his seat among the Lords of Parliament. These 
 knights hospitallers held the Manor of Winkburn until the reign of 
 Edward the Sixth, when it was conveyed, together with the 
 monastery, to William Burnell, a London merchant, and to Constance 
 his wife, in exchange for certain lands in one of the southern counties. 
 The Manor was possessed by the Burnells until the death of Darcy 
 Burnell, in 1772. This gentleman left the estate by will to his 
 heir-at-law, a procedure which seems to have occasioned some litiga- 
 tion, for a jury was called upon to give an opinion in the matter, and 
 they awarded the estate to two persons descended from the female 
 branch of the family of Burnell. So that the Burnells have been 
 settled at Winkburn for nearly three centuries and a half. 
 
 An almost complete history of this ancient family is to be 
 obtained from the memorials in the church. This venerable structure 
 would be an interesting study for the archajologist. It is full of 
 antiquity, if one may use that description ; smothered with ivy, and 
 surrounded by sunken gravestones. Not long ago these humble 
 out-door memorials were ivy-grown. The fond plant had extended 
 its embrace to almost every tombstone in the churchyard, and it 
 required considerable effort to clear it away. In the church there 
 are a number of memorials to the Burnells, dating from the middle of 
 the sixteenth century down to 1878, when the late Mr. Burnell died, 
 leaving his son, Colonel Burnell, as his successor, and three other 
 sons, two of whem have followed their brother's lead, and adopted 
 the profession of arms. One of them is Colonel of the 7th Hussars ; 
 the other holds a commission in the Rifle Brigade. The original 
 name of the family seems to have been Steade, and they appear to 
 have held lands in Yorkshire long before they came to Winkburn, 
 some mention of the family being made in certain old writings in the 
 reign of Edward the Third. In 1768 Thomas Steade married a 
 daughter of Strelly Pegge, of Beauchieff" Abbey, and sister of Peter 
 Pegge, of Winkburn Hall, who devised his estates to his nephew, 
 Mr. Pegge-Burnell. Broughton Benjamin Steade, born in 1774, 
 was High Sheriff" of Derbyshire in 1839, and he succeeded to the 
 estates in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire of his maternal uncle, 
 
172 
 
 Peter Pegge-Burnell, Esquire, of Winkburn, and in compliance with 
 an injunction contained in the will, he took by Royal authority the 
 name of Pegge-Burnell. BeauchiefF Abbey formerly belonged to the 
 Strellys, but by marriage it passed into the Pegge-Burnell family, 
 whose property and residence it now is. 
 
 Winkburn Hall is a compact building of brick, with white 
 stone facings, which cause it to stand out conspicuously to one who 
 has passed through the park, and finds himself in front of the 
 mansion. Its exterior bears evidences of antiquity but not of decay. 
 The precise date of its erection I was not able to ascertain from any 
 member of the family, but that it was built in an age when good 
 work was put into English houses is certain, if the testimony of 
 brickwork which has borne the test of centuries, apparently without 
 making the slightest concession to time, may be taken into account. 
 In the upper part of the house there are some oak staircases, which 
 have been in existence for many generations, and which to-day do 
 not seem very much worn, by the trial they have undergone. The 
 lower and principal rooms are not large, but they are extremely 
 comfortable and well arranged. Several of them contain most 
 interesting specimens of carving. These are to be seen over the 
 close-fitting massive oak doors, and they illustrate, for the most part, 
 well-known fables. There are six of these doors, and they were 
 formerly in one room ; they are now judiciously distributed in the 
 principal rooms in the lower part of the house. The mantelpiece in 
 the dining room is also a very fine piece of woodwork by no means 
 modern. For a centrepiece it has a head of Apollo — the features of 
 the god being admirably carved. In a house of such antiquity, and 
 the ancestral home of an old country family, one would expect to 
 find a collection of portraits. At Winkburn there are a number of 
 these, and a very interesting sprinkling of paintings of another order. 
 It is easy to distinguish the art of Sir Peter Lely in the two large 
 portraits of William and Elizabeth Burnell. The hands with their 
 blue veins are as delicate as the petals of a lily ; the flesh tints are 
 soft and fresh, rendered as only that master could render them. In 
 the costumes of the different periods of which they lived, are Darcy 
 Burnell, Acton Burnell, and a number of other members of the family, 
 and Lord Essex, the favourite of Elizabeth. Among the portraits on 
 the principal staircase are those of the late Mr. Edward Valentine 
 Burnell, and of the Mrs. Burnell, his widow ; of Mrs. Savile, and 
 further up of Lady Oust, and of that William Burnell, who had a 
 grant of Winkburn made to him so long ago as the reign of Edward 
 the Sixth. Then the features of Mr. Gabriel Savile, and of another 
 Mr. Acton Burnell, occupy other frames, and family portraits 
 have become so numerous that for want of space they have been 
 placed in out-of-the-way places. Besides the portraits, there are at 
 Winkburn, some fine paintings^ which perhaps hare not been seen by 
 
173 
 
 many beyond the circle of the family's friends, to say nothing of the 
 few remarkably beautiful engravings which hang in different parts 
 of the house. In the hall are two examples of Rosa da Tivoli's art, 
 two interesting paintings by Valetti, one giving an exciting aspect of 
 a boar hunt, the other showing the perfectly drawn proportions of a 
 cow and calf. They have evidently been in the family for some 
 considerable time, and so, in all probability have many of the others 
 — a lovely landscape by Buhlman, a characteristic head — that of a 
 boy, by Schalken, a collection of game by Cuyp, and a winter scene, 
 looking like a snowed-up Swiss village, by Fidenza. Amongst the 
 hall pictures there are some of Sidney Cooper's famous sheep, as well 
 as a painting bearing the signature of Lukx, and in the library, over 
 the mantelpiece, there is a very fine rendering of poultry which, 
 without any authentic information on the subject, I venture to ascribe 
 to Hondekoeter, whose works were all of this class, and showed a 
 marked similarity. A companion picture to this I saw at Watnall 
 Hall, and about its authorship there is no doubt whatever. There is 
 a very fine chimneypiece of carved oak in the library, upon which 
 an artist, centuries ago, by the look of the wood, successfully illus- 
 trated the process of cutting down a particular kind of tree for the 
 purpose of extracting the oil which exuded from its wounded parts. 
 In the dining room are some horses and dogs by J. F. 
 Herring, upon whose works so much store is set, and two excellent 
 copies of Murrillo and Guido, the latter of some stirring allegory 
 which inspired the pencil of the master. In two, if not more of the 
 rooms at Winkburn, there are some very striking drawings of 
 animals — tigers chiefly, in different attitudes, which, though executed 
 by an amateur hand, bear evident traces of artistic power of a very 
 high order. These were done by the late Mr. Burnell during his 
 confinement to the house, and the drawing is so firm and true, the 
 perspective so good, and the conception of animal dignity so marked, 
 that they are worthy to take a conspicuous place in any collection of 
 pictures. There is a delightful tranquility about this old house and 
 about its shady shrubberies, which have been grievously ill-used 
 during the severe winters. Many an ugly gap has the cruel frost left 
 in the Winkburn pleasure grounds, and the injury is not one that 
 admits of speedy remedy. In one part of the pleasure grounds is the 
 grandest copper beech I ever saw — and for wealth of foliage and 
 symmetry I do not think it has its equal in the county. It could not 
 be in a better place to be seen, and when it is at its best no prettier 
 sight could be desired. An immense retriever dog, appeared to have 
 permission to make himself at home in the hall, and, lying at full 
 length on the paved floor, looked capable of disputing the right 
 of entrance with any unauthorised visitor, 
 
WISETON. 
 
 T Wiseton Hall I met a worthy old man, not " myriad 
 wrinkled," like the dumb servitor in Mr. Tennyson's 
 charming idyll, but keen-eyed, clear-visaged, and garrulous, 
 who remembered the late Lord Althorpe, Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer under the Administration of Lord Grey. Wiseton was for 
 some generations the residence and property of the Ackloms, a family 
 of some considerable consequence in the county, whose representa- 
 tives took a pride in their estate, and spent much time in working 
 improvements thereon. From them, it passed into the hands of Earl 
 Spencer, who gave an Acklom heiress a title in exchange for her 
 wealth. On the death of Lord Spencer, the estate was sold to Mr. 
 Nevile, of Thorney ; then it became the residence of Mr. Robert 
 Manners- Sutton, who, like his predecessor, was a clergyman, and,until 
 lately, it was the residence of the late Mr. Robert Laycock, M.P., 
 whose father, a wealthy north of England magnate, purchased it 
 some fifteen years ago. Lord Althorpe spent at Wiseton much of 
 the time that was not occupied with the cares and anxieties of office. 
 It was isolated, quiet, and out of the reach of official despatches ; not 
 a sound to be heard but the music of wind-stirred leaves or the low- 
 ing of distant cattle. But the privacy of this Sabine retreat was 
 constantly invaded by the disturbing influences of political life. 
 Here at Wiseton the Minister would gather round him some of the 
 chief officers of State, and the leading movement of the time — the 
 Reform Bill — was discussed in that big dining room, where we 
 lunched to-day. Lord Brougham was a constant visitor at Wiseton, 
 and it is more than probable that Lord Melbourne, and Lord Palmer- 
 ston himself, partook of the Nottinghamshire hospitality of the genial 
 and cultivated holder of the national purse strings. At any rate, 
 hither came the Lord Chancellor at this great epoch in the political 
 history of the country, and it is more than likely that under this very 
 roof, the outline of the first Reform Bill was conceived. When- 
 ever Lord Brougham visited his estate in the north, he made a point 
 of calling upon his distinguished colleague at Wiseton. Those were 
 times of great excitement, and Lord Brougham, warmed with enthusi- 
 asm, would rise from the table, so my venerable informant told me 
 he had heard, and strike his noble host on the shoulder when moved 
 by any happy thought connected with the great and absorbing ques- 
 tion of that day. The house was always full of company in those 
 
175 
 
 ilays. It was a pretty retreat, and its lord was a man of refined 
 intellect and rare social qualities. Lord Exeter, the Duke of Bed- 
 ford, Lord Tavistock, Lord Normanby, Lord Ducie, and a host of 
 other notabilities at times made it their home. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be taken as a characteristic of English life, 
 that beautiful, as many of these country houses undoubtedly are, it is 
 only during a few months of the year that they are occupied. If 
 the head of the house has Parliamentary duties to attend to, it may 
 be taken for granted that he only enjoys the sweet air which blows 
 across his park for a very short time, and his fine house is left for 
 many months to the care of servants. It is closed during the best 
 part of the year, and the master is away when the rhododendrons are 
 at their best, and when laburnums are raining their showers of gold. 
 The late Mr. Laycock did not spend much time at Wiseton, and he 
 pleaded guilty to absenteeism, but, he added, his absence was attri- 
 butable to causes, different from those which operate upon Irish land- 
 lords. Indeed, he was popular enough amongst his tenants and 
 neighbours, as he was amongst all who knew him. To the restora- 
 tion at Clayworth Church, a work which was entrusted to Sir 
 Gilbert Scott, the late Mr. Laycock contributed largely. He now 
 lies buried within its quiet precincts. There are some fine stained- 
 glass windows here, which Bishop Trollope has pronounced to be 
 amongst the best in the county, and under the hand of the great 
 architect, whose name I have mentioned, the building has been 
 beautified, to an extent which has given it the deserved reputation 
 of being one of the handsomest churches in the county. Through 
 the stained-glass comes a subdued and mellow light, which falls 
 upon a bright altar, covered with a handsome cloth, the gift of 
 Mrs. Laycock. I merely mention Clayworth Church incidentally,but, 
 as the family, residing at Wiseton Hall for the time being, must be 
 considered, as in some manner, associated with the church, its ap- 
 pearance in this article cannot be considered out of place. And 
 while here, one cannot avoid noticing the curious arches, which 
 span one side of the aisle, and a very fine specimen of plaster- 
 work, which appears in the form of a handsome tomb to certain 
 of the Fitzwilliam family. A Roman road divides Wiseton Park 
 from the farm lands, and makes a break in an admirable expanse 
 of scenery, which is further diversified by the temperate course of 
 the Chesterfield Canal, with its sedgy banks, and the most impetu- 
 ous current of the river Idle, which makes its progress in graceful 
 curves. On the estate are the few grey stones that are left of 
 Mattersey Abbey, and half-a-dozen pleasant views, if one has time 
 to enjoy them sufficiently. Mr. Laycock farmed some 400 acres of 
 land on the best of principles, and, judging from the very pros- 
 perous and thriving condition of the horned occupants of a lon^ 
 ranpe of stalls, he w as a successful breeder of stock, 
 
176 
 
 It may have been the genial qualities of Lord Spencer, and 
 the amiable disposition of his lady, that brought so many distinguished 
 persons to his lordship's hospitable board. It may have been the 
 beautiful situation of the house, with the amusements and diver- 
 sions it afforded, that caused Wiseton in this out-of-the-way part of 
 the world, to be a popular house of call. But whatever the attraction 
 may have been, certain it is that Wiseton Hall was never dull, 
 and it was generally full of company. There was the park to 
 range in, there was the game to shoot, there were the pleasant gardens 
 stocked with fine trees and shrubs, ranging in pretension from a magni- 
 ficient specimen of the fern-leaved beech of most elegant proportions, 
 to the humble laurel and bay ; there was the library with its choice 
 collection of books, there was the social dinner table where politics 
 were not excluded, and where the Reform Bill and the condition of the 
 coverts were alike acceptable as questions of debate and controversy. 
 The mansion has not materially altered since those days. The 
 handsome paper which adorns the wall of the billiard room with a 
 bright expanse of mural art, was brought by Lady Althorpe from 
 Switzerland. The electioneering canard in the late Mr. Laycock's 
 room, representing Lord Spencer and two other distinguished 
 political figures of that day, has caused many a hearty laugh, and the 
 queer-looking vane, which marks the wind's variation at the top- 
 most part of the house, has been the subject of many a well- 
 timed joke. This represents a favourite dog, to which Lord 
 Spencer was so fondly attached, that when it died he had its 
 exact shape cut out in tin, to be placed on the top of the 
 house. 
 
 The dining room at Wiseton is a spacious apartment ; square 
 and roomy, and evidently designed to suit the taste of a man who 
 appreciated the fitness of things. Four massive pillars give it a 
 hall-like appearance ; its looks over the park, commands a pretty 
 bit of pleasure garden, and is abundantly lighted. On its walls 
 there are some old portraits, which were in the house when Mr. 
 Laycock came to it. Two of them, of Sir Thomas and Lady 
 Whichcote are attributing to Lely, and they certainly bear some of 
 the distinguishing characteristics of that great artist ; and there is 
 another of Lord Eustace Cecil, a member of the Burleigh House 
 family. The drawing room is almost as good a room as that in 
 which the family take their principal meals ; indeed, they are two 
 of the best rooms that are to be seenin the county. The drawing room 
 is furnished with taste and elegance, and a vast and glittering 
 chandelier of Venetian glass, which Mr. Laycock purchased in 
 Venice during his travels, is not out of harmony with the character 
 of the other furniture. Here, amongst articles of virtu, and a 
 variety of pretty things, distributed about the room, are some 
 pictures that one knows something about. There is a fine water- 
 
177 
 
 colour of a Scotch deer forest by T. M. Richardson, a careful and 
 breezy study of a special type of Highland scenery ; a water-colour 
 sketch of the Forum, executed, on commission for Mr. Laycock ; an 
 admirable pen and ink sketch, presenting all the firmness and truth 
 of a modern engraving, by a local lady, representing a well-known 
 scene in " The Two Gentlemen of Verona " ; and a study of 
 game, by Richardson, a friend of Mr. Laycock's, whose paintings 
 have found their way into many collections, from which in- 
 different work is carefully excluded. Among other works of art 
 that ornament this beautiful room, is a splendid figure in bronze, 
 bought in Rome, and representing Narcissus, who was over en- 
 amoured of his own water-reflected image. In the library there are 
 plenty of books, plenty of luxurious seats, and a plentiful supply of 
 agreeable light. Some of these books belonged to Lord Spencer, 
 and are chiefly political treatises. Others have been added by Mr. 
 Laycock, who made politics his special study. Mr. Laycock 
 commenced life as a barrister, and went the Northern circuit. Like 
 other sons of the wealthy, who do not adopt the legal profession for 
 the sake of making a living, Mr. Laycock soon left the bar, and 
 settled down as a country gentleman, turning his attention chiefly 
 to politics. He tried to get into Parliament for North Notts., in 1872, 
 but failed ; he tried for Nottingham at the general election of 1874, 
 and failed a second time. But he was not the man to be downcast 
 by defeat, and at the general election of 1880, he came 
 forward at the eleventh hour to contest a division of an 
 adjoining county. He pursued his canvass with an amount of 
 pluck and zeal, not always manifested by county gentlemen of large 
 fortune, and he turned out a man, whose family has long been con- 
 nected with North Lincolnshire by territorial ties. Mr. Laycock was 
 not a student though he did well at Trinity College ; but he was 
 a shrewd, well-informed man, who was well up in those matters which 
 ordinarily come under the notice of Parliament, and the interests of 
 North Lincolnshire, to some extent, an agricultural constituency, did 
 not suffer in his hands. A man of less ability, who had fought two 
 hard and expensive battles for the Liberal party, would deserve to 
 be rewarded and congratulated. After Mr. Laycock had ob- 
 tained a seat in Parliament, he spent less time than ever at Wiseton. 
 He attended assiduously to his Parliamentary duties, and his death, 
 in August, 1881, was a matter of regret, not only in the constituency 
 which he so faithfully represented during the short time he was per- 
 mitted to enjoy the honour he had won so well, but amongst a large 
 circle of friends and acquaintances. 
 
 There are some good engravings in this cheerful library, and 
 a very fine medallion of the late Lord Spencer, whose distinguished 
 descendant, now holding the seals of office, has been lifted to his pony, 
 when a boy, by that very fine example of the " oldest inhabitant," 
 
 J. 
 
178 
 
 to whom attention was drawn at the commencement of this article. 
 There is an admirable print of Lord Brougham, and a fine engraving 
 of Salvator Rosa's picture " St. John preaching in the wilderness." 
 These I had an opportunity of looking at whilst my kind host was 
 searching for a piece of information in a book, which he had reached 
 from the well-stocked shelves of the library. 
 
WOLLATON HALL 
 
 OLLATON Hall, one of the stateliest mansions in England, 
 has been without an occupant for long intervals during the 
 later years of its dignified existence. It is one of five seats 
 belonging to Lord Middleton, the head of the Willoughbys, and as 
 his lordship cannot well be in several places at one and the same 
 time, he is driven either to the necessity of letting certain of his 
 houses, or of leaving them to the care of servants during most, if not 
 all, of the year. The late peer seems to have preferred one of his 
 Yorkshire seats to any of the four others in Nottinghamshire, 
 Warwickshire, or Ross-shire in the North. Probably he was 
 influenced in this choice of residence by sporting considerations ; 
 possibly he deserted this county because WoUaton may have been, 
 to his thinking, too near the smoke and busy activity of a large 
 manufacturing town. For this splendid house is now only removed 
 from the borough by a narrow slip of country, and from its topmost 
 places you may almost see what is going on in the heart of the town. 
 But in spite of the near approach of the municipal boundary, 
 Wollaton Hall preserves its county identity and its baronial individ- 
 uality. Within its beautiful park, full of noble trees and grassy 
 undulations, the deer roams in as perfect security as do his fellows 
 in the unfrequented recesses of Sherwood Forest ; timid wild animals 
 feed within the shade of its massive masonry, and the cry of the 
 pheasant issuing from one of the little plantations in the park, or the 
 whirr of a covey of partridges returning from neighbouring stubbles, 
 are sounds and appearances more suggestive of complete rustic 
 retirement and security than of the near proximity of a busy centre 
 of commerce. Few places that I know, have, or appear to have, 
 advantages equal to those possessed by Wollatou. Here is a house 
 of superb proportions, displaying in its imposing outline all the 
 architectural beauty of a celebrated period, of which but few really 
 noble specimens remain ; provided internally with splendid suites of 
 rooms and magnificent staircases, which have been decorated with 
 forms of beauty by the trained and skilful hand of a Verrio ; spacious 
 park and extensive pleasaunces, quiet and private ; and the life and 
 attractions of a fine town within easy walking distance. But 
 Wollaton Hall was unoccupied at the time of my visit, except by the 
 family portraits, representing, in voiceless array, a long and illustrious 
 ancestral line. For a considerable number of years during the 
 
180 
 
 lifetime of the late Lord Middleton, Wollaton Hall was occupied by 
 Mr. Henry Ackroyd, one of a wealthy Yorkshire family, and 
 afterwards by Mr. Douglas Lane, whose tenancy was of short 
 duration. Then again the mansion was empty, it halls silent, and its 
 park unfrequented — 
 
 Deserted rooms of luxury and state, 
 That old magnificence had richly furnish'd 
 
 With pictures, cabinets of ancient date, 
 And carvings gilt and burnish'd. 
 
 In 1580, in the twenty-second year of the reign of Elizabeth, 
 Sir Francis Willoughby determined to spend some portion of his 
 wealth in building a mansion which should not only serve himself 
 and his immediate successors, but which should remain a magnifi- 
 cent ornament to the landscape, and a great house of the county after 
 the lapse of centuries. In those days the erection of a solid stone 
 mansion suited to the requirements of a man of large estate and of 
 exalted position, was a gigantic undertaking, and the building of 
 Wollaton Hall was spread over eight years, much of the time being 
 occupied, I should imagine, by the bringing of the stone from Ancaster, 
 by means of the somewhat imperfect resources available at that period 
 in the history of locomotion. This stone was obtained in exchange 
 for coal, which the estate has always furnished. The superintendence 
 of the undertaking was entrusted to John Thorpe, a celebrated artist 
 of the time, who is said to have died during the execution of this, the 
 last of his important works. It is related that Sir Francis himself 
 was the designer of the plans. The outward features of the building 
 are familiar to many who will read this article. It has repeatedly 
 been described as square with four large towers adorned with 
 pinnacles ; and in the centre the body of the house rises higher, with 
 projecting coped turrets at the corners. The front and sides are 
 adorned with square projecting Ionic pilasters, and at intervals appear 
 niches filled with busts of philosophers and other distinguished 
 personages. Upon what information Camden stated that the building 
 of this magnificent house sunk three lordships it would perhaps be 
 impossible to discover, but it is pretty certain that the immense cost 
 of the mansion must have proved a rather heavy drain upon the 
 large resources of Sir Francis Willoughby, during the eight years 
 over which its erection extended. The work, three centuries ago, 
 was done with such completeness and with so adequate a view to the 
 requirements of successive generations of a distinguished family, that 
 very little in the way of alteration has been effected during that long 
 period of time. The great hall has been altered to suit the taste of 
 one of the Willoughbys, but in its general aspects the building is 
 pretty much what it was when, on its completion in 1558, Sir Francis 
 Willoughby went out into the park to get an advantageous view of 
 its imposing proportions. 
 
181 
 
 The great hall is celebrated throughout the county no less 
 for the beauty of its architecture and ornamentation, than for the 
 masterpieces of art which are ranged upon its walls. I am informed 
 that the pictures at Wollaton only represent a portion of Lord 
 Middleton's collection, though they are probably not the least valu- 
 able. Let us glance at a few of those in the great hall, and then 
 take a hurried look at some of the pictures which adorn the walls of 
 other apartments in this unoccupied mansion. In the great hall, 
 with its beautiful screen supported by Doric pillars, and rich in 
 ornamentation, the masters are represented. On these spacious walls 
 which are so liberally lighted that none of the painter's art is lost to 
 view, are three of Snyders' masterly compositions, representing 
 various stages of the boar hunt, and showing all the life and spirit 
 which that great artist put into his animal creations. At the end of 
 the hall opposite the gallery and organ, flanking a large painting of 
 Diana and her nymphs, which has been recently introduced, hang 
 Neptune and Amphitrite, and Jupiter and Europa, the work of Luca 
 Giordano, the disciple of Spagnoletto, who deceived the ablest 
 connoisseurs by his unrivalled powers of imitation. This clever 
 Neapolitan had a weakness for mythology, and these two pictures are 
 perhaps as good examples of his surprising freedom of hand and 
 agreeable tone of colour, as is his rendering of the contest between 
 Perseus and Demetrius which once adorned a Genoese pelazzo. The 
 Boar Hunt, by Abraham Hondius, which has a place in this part of 
 the collection, illustrates the universality of this painter's art, land- 
 scape or animal life being equally easy to him, and is worthy of the 
 great Snyders himself. Here, too, are three admirable examples of 
 the genius of Philip Roos, better known in the world of art as Rosa 
 da Tivoli, who once painted a picture of sheep and goats in less than 
 an hour to win a wager for his patron, an Imperial Ambassador, and 
 received a considerable portion of the proceeds as a reward for his 
 rapidity of manipulation. These three pictures are a herdsman and 
 his flock, showing that skilful grouping for which the artist was 
 noted ; horses and cattle, and the well-stocked interior of an Italian 
 kitchen. A large and very fine picture in another part of the hall, 
 of lions disputing the possession of prey, is attributed in the catalogue 
 to Rubens. Three of the great hall pictures, two pastoral scenes, 
 and one named " Hunting the Wolf," are evidently the work of a 
 master brush. They were purchased by the fifth Lord Middleton, 
 and are supposed to have been brought from Italy by a person of 
 distinction and judgment. The large picture of Charles the First is 
 not by Vandyck, but it is a copy of that master and a striking 
 portrait. Several of the pictures in the great hall possess a local 
 interest. There is an excellent picture of Lord Howe's action, pre- 
 sented to the seventh Lord Middleton, who was first-lieutenant on 
 board the " CuUoden " in the celebrated action off Ushant j there ia 
 
182 
 
 another bearing date 1695 depicting the beautiful landscape about 
 Wollaton and signed bj Sibrects, and over the fireplace is a portrait 
 of Sir Francis Willoughby who built the house, and whose portrait 
 by Zucchero hangs in the adjoining saloon. In this smaller saloon 
 one gets an introduction to some of the earlier members of this old 
 family, and is able to learn something of its lineage. Among this 
 goodly company is Bridget, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Sir 
 Francis Willoughby, who married Sir Percival Willoughby of the 
 house of D'Ersby, and brought to him the greater part of her 
 father's large estates. I do not know whether this is the same Sir 
 Percival whose portrait looks at one from these walls and is backed 
 by a strip of paper stating that its subject was " Lost by words, not 
 winds or waves," a pictorial epitaph, if one may call it by that name, 
 which is supposed to refer to his having been ruined by law-suits, as 
 many another has been ruined both before and since. There was a 
 Sir Percival Willoughby who represented the county of Nottingham 
 in the first Parliament of James the First. The portrait of 
 Thomas, the first Lord Middleton, is by Sir Godfrey Kneller. 
 This gentleman served in six several Parliaments during the reigns 
 of William and Anne and was ennobled in 1711, from which year 
 the peerage dates. The portrait is associated with that of Cassandra, 
 who was sister to the first peer and married the Duke of Chandos. 
 Among the other portraits in this saloon are those of the fourth Lord 
 Middleton, Prince William of Orange, and Letitia, daughter of Sir 
 Francis Willoughby, who married Sir Thomas Wendy, a lady 
 possessing not only many virtues and good qualities, but also con- 
 siderable learning and attainments, and the subject of a dedicatory 
 poem by one of the songsters of the time. There are, with these, 
 other family portraits, and one of the young Prince of Bavaria. In 
 company with these portraits hang Rubens' picture of Achilles, 
 discovered in the Court of Lycomedes, whither he had been sent by 
 Thetis in the disguise of a female, in order that he might escape 
 being pressed into the Trojan War, in which he was afterwards to 
 display so much bravery. This incident in the history of the 
 Grecian hero was a fit subject for such a master as Rubens ; — 
 Ulysses in the guise of a merchant offering jewels and arms to the 
 disguised hero, and discovering his sex from the choice he made. 
 The feminine gauds, brilliant and glittering, were contemptuously 
 rejected by the warrior who was to slay Hector, and himself to die 
 of a wound inflicted in the only vulnerable part of his person. In 
 the dining room there is a wonderful picture of dead game, 
 with lobsters, oysters, and other delicacies of the table, and a large 
 and somewhat singular composition by Sibrects, who has contributed 
 largely to this collection. Into this the figure of a girl with a basket 
 of freshly cut flowers is introduced. She appears suddenly to have 
 come upon this lavish display of nature's substantial gifts, and to have 
 
183 
 
 forgotten her flower mission in the contemplation of an abundance of 
 fish which has just been taken from its element, and fruit and 
 vegetables which have recently been removed from the parent stem 
 and from mother earth. Here, among drolls and conversations and 
 pieces of still-life by seventeenth century artists, is a further array 
 of portraits. There are half-lengths of the sixth and seventh Lords 
 Middleton by Barber, who was, I believe, of Nottingham origin ; of 
 Sir Nesbit Willoughby, who lost an eye whilst fighting for his 
 country ; of Sir Francis Willoughby, whose son was to become a 
 scholar and philosopher, and of Lady Cassandra, a daughter of the 
 Earl of Londonderry, who was married to Sir Francis. Among the 
 other pictures in the room is a very amusing one by Sibrects, to 
 which attaches a little story that is worth relating. It represents 
 two boys eating hasty-pudding — a compound which is not often 
 heard of in these days — and the larger boy has thrown a quantity of 
 the mess into the eyes of his lesser brother. The injured youngster 
 is crying lustily ; the other is very much pleased with his perform- 
 ance and is preparing to make a further distribution of pudding in 
 the same direction. It is said that one of the late lords of Wollaton 
 ordered this picture to be painted after he had seen the village boys 
 quarrelling over their food which happened to be hasty-pudding. 
 There is a characteristic painting of Hemskerck's — two jovial colliers, 
 playing at cards. It shows that abundance of humour and lively and 
 whimsical imagination, which Hemskerck's best known works 
 display, and was probably painted during the period of his settlement 
 in London. This is not the only painting by this whimsical 
 Dutchman, which is to be seen in the Wollaton collection. The sick 
 woman and her doctor, and a devout person saying grace before meat 
 are attributed to him, and very likely some of the other smaller 
 paintings which have been left to be taken care of here, are from his 
 brush. There are also here several valuable and interesting illustra- 
 tions of Dutch life — one a woman selling slices of salmon, for which 
 she is evidently asking an extravagant price, of a lady whose notion 
 of housekeeping is more frugal than that of David Copperfield's 
 Dora ; another, a smaller one, a Dutch vegetable market by 
 Palamedes. The great hall and the dining room claim the most 
 interesting portion of the Wollaton collection of paintings, but as 
 their position in the house is changed from time to time reference to 
 their particular whereabouts will not assist in their identification. 
 It must also be borne in mind that I am not attempting to furnish a 
 catalogue of the Wollaton pictures. To do that successfully, one 
 would need to spend more than a couple of hours in these rooms, but 
 as the house is closed to the public, it seems to me that I might 
 occupy most of the space allowed for this article with some of the 
 impressions left by a brief inspection of the rooms and galleries. 
 Among the pictures not already mentioned, ia a scripture piece by 
 
184 
 
 llubens, the Shores of Capernium, painted on panel ; a view of 
 Middleton Hall, the Warwickshire seat of the family, and a number 
 of portraits. Among these is one of Sir Hugh Willoughby, who 
 perished in the North Seas, in 1553. He went out for the purpose 
 of making discoveries in the Northern Ocean, with three ships fitted 
 out at the private expense of the Society of Merchants, who had 
 formed a company, in order to prosecute the search after a north- 
 east passage to India. At Spitsbergen, one of the ships was 
 separated from the others. Soon after the separation, Sir Hugh is 
 said to have discovered land, but was unable to examine it on account 
 of the iceflow. Sailing westward he came to a river and harbour 
 where he decided to pass the winter. Here he and his whole crew 
 perished, being unable to endure the hardships of that dreadful 
 latitude. The portrait of Sir Richard Willoughby, who was Lord 
 Chief Justice of the Common Pleas for the space of twenty-eight 
 years, is also in the collection ; as also are those of Sir Francis 
 Willoughby, the first baronet, who built the fine stables at Wollaton 
 in 1774, of Sir Francis Willoughby, the philosopher, of Lord 
 Strafford and his secretary, which, along with several other pieces of 
 the kind throughout the country, claims the mede of originality ; of 
 the second Lord Middleton in his Coronation robes, by Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds ; of Sir Thomas Wendy, who married into the family, and 
 others. 
 
 The painting of the grand staircase — the most interesting 
 portion of the house — is said to have been done by Verrio, who 
 charged enormously for the numerous works which he painted in 
 England, though few of his magnificent frescoes remain with us. 
 At Chatsworth and at Burleigh there are to be seen examples of his 
 superb art. The staircase is situated on the north of the building ; 
 on the ceiling Prometheus is represented stealing the fire from heaven 
 in the presence of the gods and goddesses, who express their 
 amazement at the sacrilege, while the walls are richly decorated with 
 incidents from mythological history, painted by the same distin- 
 guished artist. These are some of the principal pictures which are 
 to be seen by the rare visitor to Wollaton Hall, who, if his visit 
 happen on a favourable day, will be pleased with the appearance of 
 the park and grounds viewed from the windows. 
 
 In a county which possesses few really fine houses, Wollaton 
 must always be regarded as a conspicuous and handsome piece of 
 architectural ornamentation, and a splendid proof of the taste which 
 prevailed in the Elizabethan era. Perhaps if a house of that size 
 and pretention could be built in these days, the internal arrangements 
 might be somewhat different to those which exist at Wollaton to-day. 
 The principal rooms would probably be made larger, and perhaps 
 less attention would be paid to inward ornament. But, be this as it 
 
185 
 
 may, the praise which the sight of Wollaton Hall, standing bold and 
 ornate, upon a commanding eminence, drew from one who does not 
 often colour his relation of historical facts with rapturous outbursts, 
 is not ill-bestowed. " Lovely art thou, fair Wollaton, magnificent 
 are thy features ! In years now venerable thy towery-crested 
 presence eminently bold-seated, strikes the beholder with respectful 
 awe. Unlike many of the visionary building edifices of the present 
 day, designed with but little variation of style and uniform in 
 disordering architectural order, thee we must admire, chaste in thy 
 component part, and possessing an harmonious whole." 
 
WORKSOP MANOR. 
 
 R. William Isaac Cookson, who has occupied Worksop 
 Manor since 1874, belongs to a family, whose estates lie 
 in a county, which a popular novelist tells us, with pain- 
 ful iteration, has gloomy forests, bleak shores, and wild uplands. He 
 is a Northumbrian, and his connection with this county commenced 
 when he came to Worksop Manor. It has been my custom in this 
 series of articles, from such particulars as I have been able to 
 gather, to give some account of the county families, and the space 
 that, from time to time, has been devoted to these accounts, repre- 
 sents the most difficult portion of my task in connection with these 
 visits to the Great Houses of Notts., because the materials I have 
 been able to gather in the course of a brief conversation, even in 
 cases where these have been supplemented by information in black 
 and white, have been necessarily somewhat imperfect. As Mr. 
 Cookson does not represent a Nottinghamshire family, I am spared 
 much of this trouble in noticing his interesting residence. It may 
 not, however, be out of place to mention this much concerning him, 
 that he is the third son of Mr. Isaac Cookson, J.P., who was once 
 High Sheriff of Northumberland, that he is himself a magistrate for 
 this county and for Northumberland, that he formerly resided at 
 Benwell Tower, in the last-named county, and that he was born in 
 1812. Mr. Cookson has been twice married, and has a family large 
 enough, with some twenty servants, to occupy the suites of rooms, 
 which go to make up this very large house. One of his sons, 
 who is in the army, and was engaged in the Zulu campaign, has 
 contributed some very interesting things to the Manor House col- 
 lection of curiosities. In the billiard room, where some of the books 
 are kept, there is a cupboard full of articles from Zululand — assegais, 
 charms, shields, and other instruments of warfare and emblems of 
 peace. In another part of the house a large number of weapons, 
 more easy to name than those of the dusky savage, belonging to the 
 same collector. These were picked up at Sedan, and have been arranged 
 in a design on a crimson shield. Mr. Cookson has no famous pictures to 
 show his guests. The walls of staircase and gallery are not taken 
 possession of by grim and silent personages, representing the ancestry 
 of families who have been connected with the Manor, nor do the 
 rooms, with their elegant modern furniture, contain much of the 
 painter's work. In the dining room there are one or two good 
 
187 
 
 landscapes, and a figure or two, which are of Spanish or Portuguese 
 extraction ; and over the mantelpiece is a portrait of the father 
 of the present occupier of the house. A number of engravings, of 
 more than ordinary merit, adorn the walls of the billiard room, 
 and the other part of a choice collection of this class of art work 
 is displayed on the walls of a small room, which is used by Mr. 
 Cookson for business purposes. The subjects of these prints are 
 of several classes ; the original of one of them belonging to that 
 part of the collection, not on the walls of the billiard room — Bolton 
 Abbey in the olden time — is in the possession of the Duke of 
 Devonshire. In a house, which had been owned and occupied by 
 the representatives of the premier dukedom in the English peerage, 
 and had subsequently been the principal residence of the head of 
 another noble family, one would almost expect to find some traces 
 of former ownership, and a few things, either in the way of pictures, 
 furniture, or books, which would serve to identify the house with 
 those families, who had formerly made it their head-quarters. The 
 Manor House of to-day is destitute of anything of the kind. 
 There is nothing that belonged to the Howards ; and the Foleys, 
 who lived there for thirteen years, left not a wrack behind, save a 
 solid oak table in one of the kitchens, which, being unstamped with 
 coat of arms or coronet, loses its identity, and it is only guesswork 
 to say that it was formerly the property of the late Duke of Nor 
 folk, or that it was introduced into the house by the late Lord Foley. 
 The house had been empty some time when Mr. Cookson left his 
 Northumbrian home to come to this big unfurnished mansion in 
 Nottinghamshire, and the handsome furniture, with which it is filled, 
 has none of it been in the house for a longer period than that 
 which is represented by the interval between 1874 and the present 
 date. 
 
 Worksop Manor, large as it is, only represents, as it were, 
 the shell of its founder's original idea. If that idea had been 
 carried out, it would, perhaps, have been the largest mansion in 
 England. Until the early part of the seventeenth century, Work- 
 sop Manor formed part of the ancient estates of the Talbots. 
 About that time a daughter of the seventh Earl of Shrewsbury 
 married one of the Howards, Avho was Earl Marshal of England, 
 and by this tie the Dukes of Norfolk became possessed of the 
 Manor of Worksop, together with other property belonging to the 
 Talbots. For many generations it was retained by the Norfolk 
 family, until 1839, when it was sold to the then Duke of Newcastle, 
 who took down part of the house, and divided the park, which 
 was eight miles in circumference, and contained over a thousand 
 acres. This park, which once formed part of Sherwood Forest, it 
 is said, had many unusually fine trees, one of which was 182 feet 
 from the extreme end of its opposite braiiches, covering more thaii 
 
188 
 
 half an acre of ground. In the autumn of the year 1761 the 
 
 original manor house, which contained about 500 rooms, was 
 destroj^ed by an accidental fire, and damage to the extent of 
 £100,000 was done, a large number of valuables, including paint- 
 ings, and some of the famous Arundelian treasures, being destroyed. 
 Worksop Manor, Kelham Hall, Thoresby Hall, and, lastly, 
 Clumber, in this county, have all been destroyed by fire at 
 different times. The fire at Worksop occurred at a time when the 
 house was undergoing alterations, which cost the Duke of Norfolk 
 about £22,000. The building that was designed to replace the one, 
 which the fire had destroyed, was of magnificent proportions. At 
 the Manor I saw a volume of the plans of Mr. Paine, the celebrated 
 architect, with letterpress description of the many noblemen's resi- 
 dences, for which he had made designs, and among them are the 
 engraved drawings from which Worksop Manor was to be built. It 
 would be difficult to imagine anything more gigantic or elaborate, in 
 the way of house building, than the structure which, according to 
 the plans, was contemplated, and, if death had not interfered, Not- 
 tinghamshire would probably have been able to boast the largest 
 nobleman's residence in the kingdom. Even when a fourth part of 
 the design had been completed, the house was one of the largest in 
 the county, and in this condition it was inhabited. It had a stone 
 fa9ade 303 feet long, in the centre of which was a Corinthian portico, 
 supported by six columns. Some idea of its beauty will be gathered 
 from the following description, which I take from an excellent 
 guide to Worksop and the neighbourhood : — " A light and elegant 
 balustrade surrounded the edifice from the tympanum to the project- 
 ing part of the ends, which marked the terminations in the style of 
 wings, upon this were placed a series of beautiful vases, executed 
 with great taste. In the centre was a sculptured pediment, on the 
 three points of which were statues ' Virtue,' ' Peace,' and ' Plenty.' 
 The sculpture has been described thus : * The three animals denoted 
 some of the well-known ancient alliances of the Norfolk family. They 
 were emblematical : the lion is an emblem of strength and courage, 
 the horse of generous ardour, and the dog of fidelity and vigilance. 
 On the west side of the principal group was a distant view of the old 
 Manor House, which, with all the furniture, and the rest of its con- 
 tents, was consumed by fire, in October, 1761. The evening sun, 
 the broken columns, and the shattered trees, were expressive of the 
 devastation occasioned by the calamitous accident. On the east side, 
 the whole appeared to be unhurt, or restored to its former beauty, 
 which is expressed by the fiourishing oaks, the sheep feeding, and 
 the ploughman pursuing his labours. In the foreground of this part 
 was represented the plan of the subsequent building, and some of 
 the instruments employed in erecting the edifice.' " The sculptured 
 pediment here referred to, which is of gigantic proportions, stands at 
 
189 
 
 the present time in the farmyard attached to the Manor House. It 
 is still in a fairly good state of preservation, and the carved figures 
 are clear and well defined. Something less artistic would have 
 served to keep the poultry within the bounds of the farmyard ; but 
 it would be a difficult matter to suggest what should be done with such 
 an unwieldly piece of masonry. The three huge statues, which 
 were formerly placed on the three points of this pediment, now stand 
 in the pleasure grounds in a not altogether perfect state of " repair." 
 Even in its unfinished state the Manor must have been a masterpiece 
 of house architecture, and it is said that some of the finest points 
 were suggested by a celebrated Duchess of Norfolk, under whose 
 superintendence the building was erected. In these days high-born 
 ladies have other ways of spending their time, and architectural 
 enthusiasm can hardly be catalogued amongst their weaknesses. 
 The building has been described as one not unfit for a royal residence, 
 although it has only one side of an intended triangle, which with two 
 interior courts would have completed the plan. The apartments are 
 numerous, elegantly furnished, and many of them very spacious. 
 The furniture and other decorations v/ere all in the ancient style of 
 magnificence, with hangings and beds of crimson damask and sky- 
 blue velvet, and there was a rare collection of tapestry. 
 
 The Manor of to-day, though it does not convey any adequate 
 idea of the proportions and design of the Nottinghamshire seat of the 
 Howards, is a building of considerable magnitude, and a con- 
 venient residence for a country gentleman who has an income 
 sufficiently large to enable him to keep it up, and a family 
 sufficiently numerous to occupy the many and excellent rooms 
 which it contains. When the Duke of Newcastle purchased the 
 property some forty years ago he caused, as I have said, the greater 
 part of the house to be pulled down. After the lapse of some con- 
 siderable time it was rebuilt, such portions of the old building that 
 remained being converted into a good residence. For fourteen years 
 the Manor was occupied by Lord Foley, formerly captain of the corps 
 of Gentleman-at-Arms. This nobleman and his amiable lady are 
 still remembered in the neighbourhood of Worksop, and there was a 
 general feeling of regret when they left the county. In front of the 
 house at the present time there is a piece of ornamental gardening 
 which was planned by Lady Foley. It is designed in the form of 
 the Prince of Wales's feathers, and it is an accurate and elegant bit 
 of model gardening, which is best seen from the windows of one of 
 boudoirs on the second storey. On the removal of Lord Foley from 
 the neighbourhood, the house remained unoccupied for about four 
 years, and then Mr. Cookson became its tenant, introducing bright 
 furniture and a variety of pretty things into the rooms, so that 
 Worksop Manor continues to hold its place among the great houses of 
 this county. 
 
190 
 
 The grounds of the present Manor House are certainly very fine, 
 and no doubt they preserve some of the characteristics which charm- 
 ed the eye of those who were fortunate enough to have access to 
 them in the Duke of Norfolk's time, when the house was a centre of 
 princely hospitality and refined festivity. There are some noble trees 
 in the park, and on the lawn in front of the house there is a cedar of 
 right royal dimensions, the diameter of its bole being fully five feet. 
 The lawns are large enough to accommodate half-a-ecore sets of 
 tennis, and they are kept in splendid order. In the gardens there is 
 always plenty of colour, and from an abundant range of stove houses 
 the Manor is kept constantly supplied with excellent fruit. The 
 vanilla is here grown in as great perfection as, perhaps, it can be 
 grown in England. The pods are of large size and of perfect shape. 
 The kitchen gardens, too, are extensive, and their maintenance re- 
 quires no small amount of labour and attention. Among the objects 
 of interest to be noticed outside the Manor are four large and beauti- 
 ful owls — one pair of the snowy variety, and a pair of great eagle owls, 
 beautiful-eyed, large, and ferocious, such as haunt the gloomy pine 
 forests of Norway. They are in excellent condition, their plumage 
 being bright and closely set, and they took perfectly happy in their 
 prison, which is attached to one of the wings of the house. Though they 
 breed here, Mr. Cookson tells me they invariable destroy their young. 
 The stables, coach-houses, and other conveniences connected with this 
 department are built in the form of a quadrangle. A blank wall, 
 about a hundred yards in length, embattled at the top, extends from 
 the house to the gardens, and from the distance looks like a terrace. 
 It is part of the old building, and viewed from the park, its effect is 
 to make the house look larger than it really is. With regard to the 
 mansion itself one is, perhaps, impressed with the idea that with its 
 long corridors, into which so many rooms open, its ample range of 
 offices, which do not represent part of the restoration, and its extensive 
 ground floor, it would be desolate indeed in an unfurnished state. 
 But filled as it is with handsome furniture, and occupied by an Eng- 
 lish county family, there is no room for such an impression. Per- 
 haps the two brighest rooms in the house are the drawing room, 
 which is furnished in the best of taste, where the effect of a singularly 
 handsome mantelpiece of sculptured marble has not been spoiled by 
 the character of its moveable surroundings, and a boudoir upstairs, 
 which is appropriated by the lady of the house. This room is full of 
 pretty things and on its walls are a number of excellent water-colours, 
 several of which are Mrs. Cookson's own work. 
 
List of Subscribers. 
 
 St. Albans His Grace the Duke of. 
 
 Helper The Right Hon. Lord. 
 Bromley Sir H., Bart. 
 Bridgeman-Simpson Mrs., Babworth. 
 Boddam-Whetham Mrs., Kirklington 
 Hall. 
 
 Burnell Colonel, Winkburn Hall. 
 Birkin Mr. T. I., Ruddington Grange. 
 Beaumont Mr. G., East Bridgford. 
 Bowers Mr. Aid., J.P., Nottingham. 
 Burton Mr. Aid., Nottingham. 
 Brown Mr. J., J.P., „ 
 Butler Mr. S., J.P., 
 Bradshaw Mr. C, „ 
 Bramley Mr., Edinburgh. 
 Baines Mr. G., Hoveringhara. 
 Bayne Mr., Kingston, 
 Brown Mr. J. H,, Nottingham. 
 Brown Mr. R., „ 
 Brown Mr. E. P., „ 
 Brown Mr. J. S., „ 
 Brown Mr. J., „ 
 Brown-Sim Dr., „ 
 Booker Mr. W. H., „ 
 Billyeald Mr. J., „ 
 Berry Mr. Newham, „ 
 Beecroft Mr. T., „ 
 Briscoe Mr. J. P., „ 
 Bates Mr. A., „ 
 
 Carnarvon The Right Hon. the Earl of. 
 
 Clinton The Right Hon. Lord Edward. 
 
 Chambers Mr. J. E. F., Norwood Park. 
 
 Cropper Mr. H. S., Nottingham. 
 
 Cruft Rev. W. J., Edwalton. 
 
 Crisp Mr. T., Nottingham. 
 
 Carver Mr. J., „ 
 
 Cowen Mr. G. R., „ 
 
 Clark Mr. R. C, „ 
 
 Clark Mr. R., 
 
 Cockayne Mr. B. H., „ 
 
 Collinson Mr. S., „ 
 
 Collishaw Mr. A., „ 
 
 Carter Mr. W. B., 
 
 Qorbridge Mr., „ 
 
 Daft Mr. R., Ratcliffe-on-Trent. 
 Dennett Mr. R., Nottingham. 
 Dickinson Mr. T., „ 
 Davis Mr. L, „ 
 Dexter Mr., „ 
 Dent Mr. T. W., „ 
 
 Eyre Lieut.-Colonel,Rampton Manor. 
 Eyre Mr. J., Nottingham. 
 English Mr. Chancellor, Philadelphia. 
 Enfield Mr, H., Nottingham. 
 Edmondstone Mr. R., „ 
 Eking Mr., „ 
 
 Foljambe Mr. F. J. S., M.P., Osberton. 
 Forester The Hon. and Rev. Canon, 
 
 Gedling, 
 Field Mr. S., Farnsfield. 
 Ford Mr. J. P., Nottingham. 
 Farmer Mr. H., Lenton. 
 Farmer Mr. T. H., Nottingham. 
 Fuller Rev. H,, „ 
 Fry Mr. W., „ 
 Fussell Mr. J., „ 
 
 Galway The Right Hon. Viscount, 
 M.P. 
 
 Goldschmidt Mr. Aid., Mayor of 
 
 Nottingham. 
 Groom Mr. E., Hoveringham Hall, 
 Gripper Mr. Aid., Nottingham. 
 Gregory Mr. Walter, „ 
 Gardner Mr. W. J., „ 
 Gilbert Mr. S., „ 
 Gell Mr. S. H., 
 Gibbons Mr. W., „ 
 Gould Mrs, E., Mansfield. 
 Gilling Mr. J., Worksop. 
 
 Holden Rev. A. A., Nuttall Temple. 
 Hole Rev. Canon, Caunton Manor. 
 Harnett Very Rev. Provost, Notting- 
 ham. 
 
 Herbert Rev. G., Nottingham. 
 Hodson Rev. H. C, Lichfield. 
 Horncastle Mr. H., Ollerton. 
 
 *This List does not represent the 
 
 number of copies Subscribed for. 
 
193 
 
 Hine Mr. T. C, Nottingham. 
 Hardy Mr. J., „ 
 Hardy Mr. J. S., Gedling. 
 Hardy Mr. W. A., Nottingham. 
 Harrison Mr. "VV., Derby. 
 Harrison Mr. J., „ 
 Hebb Mr. H., Birmingham. 
 Heath Mr. S. E., Nottingham. 
 Heath Mr. W. H., 
 Hopcroft Mr. A., „ 
 Hubbart Mr. H. E., „ 
 Hunt Mr. H., „ 
 Hepburn Mr. D. S., 
 Harwood Mr. K., 
 Hammond Mr. T. W., Beeston. 
 Howard Mr. G. M., Nottingham. 
 Henderson Mr. J., Ecclefechan. 
 Hemsley Mr. G. G., Templestown 
 
 House, Southsea. 
 Hodgson Mr. H., Kent Lodge, Sidcup. 
 
 Ingleman Mr. R., East Bridgford. 
 
 Jacks Mr. E., London, 
 Jackson Mr. S., Nottingham. 
 Jones Mr. Evan, ,. 
 Johnson Mr. S. G., Town Clerk. 
 Johnson The Misses, Nottingham. 
 
 Knowles Mr. R. M., Colston Basset t. 
 lOrkland Mr. W., Beeston. 
 
 Lincoln The Lord Bishop of. 
 Lane Captain, Flintham Hall, 
 Lay cock Mrs., Wiseton Hall. 
 Lambert Aid. W., J.P., Mapperley 
 Hall. 
 
 Lambert Mr. J., Nottingham. 
 Lambert Mr. T., „ 
 Littlewood Mr. J., J.P., Nottingham. 
 Lindley Mr. Aid., „ 
 Liberty Mr. G., „ 
 Liberty-^ Mr. A., „ 
 Loverseed Mr. E. G., „ 
 Lymberry Mr. W., „ 
 Layton Mr. E. J. H., Rome. 
 
 Manvers The Right Hon. Earl. 
 Maltby The Ven. Archdeacon. 
 Manning Mr. Aid., J.P., Nottingham. 
 Morris Mr. C, „ 
 Massey Mr. Edward, „ 
 Mellers Mr. M., „ 
 Millington Mr. T., Gedling, Notts. 
 Mills Mr. G. B., Alvaston, Derby, 
 Marriott Mr. Joseph, Nottingham. 
 Marriott Mr. A., Long Eaton. 
 Mason Mr. W., Gainsborough. 
 
 Mosley Mr, W., Derby. 
 Morley Mr. E,, Nottingham. 
 Mosley Mr., „ 
 
 Newark Viscount. 
 
 Nottingham The Bishop Suffragan of. 
 Nixon Mr. W. B., Nottingham. 
 Nevile Mr. W., Beeston. 
 Nevile Mr. C, „ 
 
 Oldknow Sir J., Knight, Nottingham. 
 
 Paget Mr. Joseph, Stuffy n wood. 
 Paget Miss, Camlet, Herts. 
 Preston Mr. M. I., Nottingham. 
 Packer Mr. ., „ 
 Porter Mr. R., Beeston. 
 Price Mr. W., 
 
 Paradise Mr. J., Stamford. 
 Perry Mr. J., Nottingham. 
 Pendleton Mr. J., Sheffield. 
 
 Robertson Major G. G., Widmerpnol. 
 Roworth Mr. W., Nottingham. 
 Rothera Mr. G. B., „ 
 Ridge Mr. C. J., Newark. 
 Ridge Mr. T., Nottingham. 
 Renals Mr. J., „ 
 Russell Mr. J., „ 
 
 Seely Lieut.-Colonel, M.P., Sherwood 
 Lodge. 
 
 Sherbrooke Mr, H., Oxton Hall. 
 Sherwin- Gregory Mrs., Bramcote 
 Hills. 
 
 Savile Mr. Augustus, Rufford Abbey. 
 Smith Mr. F. C, Bramcote Hall. 
 Starkey Mr. L. R., Becca Hall. Leeds. 
 Sargant Rev. S. C, Chesterfield. 
 Sharp Mr. T., Long Clawson. 
 Sutton Mr. R. C, Nottingham. 
 Stephenson Mr. Appleby, „ 
 Stevenson Mr. T., „ 
 Stevenson Mr. W. H., „ 
 Smith Mr. James, „ 
 Steere Mr. Joseph, „ 
 Shepherd Mr., Newbury. 
 Saddington ISIr., Manchester. 
 Soames Mr. J. J., Hoveringliam. 
 Stroud Mr. C, Nottingham. 
 Spencer Mr. C. J., „ 
 
 Turner I^Ir. F. J., Mansfield Wood- 
 house. 
 
 Taylor Dr. C. B., Nottinijliam. 
 Turney i\Ir. Aid., „ 
 Toplis m. J., „ 
 
194 
 
 Towle Mr. R. Nevile, Nottingliam. 
 Tiinslcy Mr. W., „ 
 Thorpe Mr H. U., 
 Thornton Mr. H. E., 
 Truman Mr. P. P., „ 
 
 Vickers Mr. II., „ 
 
 Walter Mr. H. F., Papplewick Hall. 
 Webb Mr. W. F., Newstead Abbey. 
 Wright Colonel, Stapleford Hall. 
 Wright Mr. F., Lenton Hall. 
 Wright Mr. W., Wollaton. 
 Wright Mr. G. T., Derby. 
 Wright Mr. Josepli, Nottingham. 
 Wodehouse Rev. F. A., „ 
 Whitlock Mr. T. O., Loughborough. 
 Worth Mr. J. H., Retford. 
 
 Worth Mr. James, Nottingham. 
 Whittingham Mr. Coroner. 
 Whittingham Mr., Southwell. 
 Wells Mr. Arthur, Nottingham. 
 Wagstatfe Mr. G. D., „ 
 Webb Mr. E., 
 Walker Mr. S. D., „ 
 Walker Mr. M., „ 
 Ward Mr. Joseph, „ 
 Webster Mr. J., „ 
 Wallis Mr. G. H., 
 Wilson The Misses, „ 
 Weightman Mr. T. T., „ 
 White Mr. Joseph, „ 
 Whitehead Mr. W., „ 
 Wigglesworth Mr., „ 
 
 Ycung Mr. A., „ 
 
1 
 
 N D E X. 
 
 Page 
 
 Annesley ... ... ... ... ... ... 0 
 
 Babworth ... ... ... ... ... 10 
 
 Bestwood ... ... ... ... ... ... 14 
 
 Bramcote ... ... ... ... ... 21 
 
 Bunny ... ... ... ... ... ... 26 
 
 Chilwell ... ... ... ... ... 30 
 
 Clifton ... ... ... ... ... ... 36 
 
 Clumber ... ... ... ... ... 42 
 
 Colston Bassett ... ... .. ... ... 47 
 
 Flintham ... ... ... ... ... 52 
 
 Grove ... ... ... ... ... ... 57 
 
 Kelham ... ... ... ... ... 60 
 
 Kingston ... ... ... ... ... ... 65 
 
 Kirklington ... ... ... ... ... 71 
 
 Newstead Abbey ... ... ... ... ... 75 
 
 Norwood ... ... ... ... ... 80 
 
 Nuttall Temple ... ... ... ... ... 85 
 
 Osberton ... ... ... ... ... 89 
 
 Oxton ... 93 
 
 Papplewick ... ... ... ... ... 97 
 
 Rampton ... ... ... ... ... ... 102 
 
 HuFforvD ... ... 108 
 
Serlby ... ... ... ... ... ... 113 
 
 Sherwood Lodge ... ... ... ... 118 
 
 Stapleford ... ... ... ... ... 123 
 
 Stoke... ... ... ... ... ... 129 
 
 Stuffynwood ... ... ... ... ... 133 
 
 Thoresby ... ... ... ... ... 139 
 
 Thrumpton ... ... ... ... ... 144' 
 
 Thurgarton ... ... ... ... ... 148 
 
 Wallingwells ... ... ... ... ... 152 
 
 Watnall ... ... ... ... ... 157 
 
 Welbeck ... ... ... ... ... ... 161 
 
 WiNKBURN ... ... ... ... ... 170 
 
 Wiseton ... ... ... ... ... ... 174 
 
 wollaton ... ... ... ... ... 179 
 
 Worksop Manor ... ... ... ... ... 186 
 
 List of Subscribers ... ... ... ... 192 
 
GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE 
 
 3 3125 01449 7917