33ft by 21ft which is fitted-up upon an equal scale of magnificence; the
bed which is of crimson damask, ornamented at the head with the arms of
the royal family, is placed under an alcove, supported by four fluted
pillars of white and gold, corresponding with the other parts of the
room, which is hung with white tabby, the mouldings, cornice, ceiling,
&c. richly ornamented with gilding.
Under a very splendid looking-glass stands a beautiful marble table, on a
gilt frame, and over the chimney-piece (which is unfortunately not in a
good situation) is an exceeding fine portrait of Judge Hobart, in his
robes; this, with the portrait of Sir John Hobart before mentioned, I
think carries every appearance of having been executed by Holbein.
From these two truly beautiful apartments, you are carried to the
library, which does not in my opinion answer the ideas which we are led
to form from its general character. Its length, which is 125ft, when
compared with its breadth, which is only 22ft, renders it merely a strip;
it is, however, well calculated for a dancing-room, to which purpose, I
believe, it has been chiefly applied. The ceiling is stucco, divided
into five compartments, which are relieved with emblematical figures of
the five senses.
Having particularized the principal things within, you proceed to the
park, which is very extensive and profusely adorned with wood. It has
the advantage, also, of a fine piece of water, nearly a mile in length
and in its broadest part four hundred yards; the northern bank is richly
fringed with wood, from which you view the opposite side of the lawn,
which rises gradually for a considerable space, broken at intervals by
large plantations of oak and beach. A banqueting room, to which is
attached a tower commanding an extensive prospect, terminates the view
very agreeably.
About a mile from the house stands the mausoleum, a freestone building in
the form of a pyramid, in which are deposited the remains of the late
Lord Buckingham and his first lady. Its situation is very happily chosen
in the midst of a large and venerable wood, whose solitude appears only
to be broken by the prying curiosity of the stranger or the foot-steps of
the nimble deer.
In the church, which stands very near the house and contiguous to the
public road from Aylsham to Holt, are many inscriptions and effigies in
brass, some few monuments and a handsome tomb of the Clere's and the
Boleyn's. In a vault, under the north aisle, are deposited nineteen of
the relations and ancestors of the late Earl of Buckingham, amongst whom
are his father and mother, with the Honourable Henry Hobart before
mentioned; the coffins are placed in upright positions and most of them
covered with black or crimson velvet. The late Lady Buckingham was
interred in a vault in the chancel, but upon the death of her lord her
remains were taken up and conveyed to the mausoleum.
Blickling is distant but a mile and a half from Aylsham, a neat
market-town, with an excellent neighbourhood; it is situated on the river
Bure, which is navigable to Yarmouth, for boats of thirteen tons burthen;
its distance from Norwich, over a turnpike road, is, eleven miles, and
the same from Cromer and Holt.
The road from Aylsham to Cromer is very pleasing, the country all the way
rich, woody and fertile. In Erpingham field the views are extremely
pleasing, and within a mile of Cromer the road is highly picturesque, it
winds through a hollow way well ornamented with trees, whose long arms
meeting across the road frequently form themselves into arches, through
which the sea breaks in at intervals with the finest effect.
A lane often presents the painter with admirable studies for foregrounds,
they are, more generally than any other parts of nature, set off with
rugged old pollards, stretching their long arms athwart the road, their
furrowed trunks and twilled branches being enriched with stains and
mosses of all hues, from the light grey and brilliant yellow to the dark
green approaching to black. The bank it shelters at the same time,
affording a cool retreat to the cow, the sheep and the ass, any of which
are highly picturesque; and the relief given to them, particularly if the
bank is rather steep and broken, by the richness of the soil, which is,
also, sometimes hollowed into little recesses overhung with moss, roots
and trailing plants, is beyond conception. With materials as simple as
these does Morland produce the most enchanting effect; indeed, we are
always inclined to be pleased with a performance in proportion as it
approaches nature, provided the objects are well selected. Morland's
pictures are her very counterpart, they possess so much character and are
handled with such spirit, that it is impossible for the spectator, fond
of rural scenes, to examine them without feeling the most lively interest
in the subject.
The opposition between the foliage of young and old trees, the colouring
of their barks and the ramification of their boughs, are circumstances of
great picturesque effect. A beautiful young ash, for instance, never
appears to greater advantage than when, tinged with the autumnal frosts,
it is opposed to the dark green foliage of the venerable oak, from whose
robust form it seems to implore protection; heightened by contrast, the
beauties of each are set forth in the strongest point of view, and afford
an instance where the greatest opposition, both in form and colour, are
exhibited in nature, and may be equally so in a picture, without in the
smallest degree violating the principles of harmony.
Figures in a road are another great source of amusement, and whether in
motion or at rest, are equally pleasing; they create an interest in the
mind by being strongly contrasted with inanimate objects. If at some
distance, we are naturally led to enquire who they may be or what their
employment; and if a single figure happens to be reclining upon the bank
or leaning upon his staff, we probably form in our imagination the
subject of his thoughts.
The devious and irregular windings of a lane, well stored with such
picturesque appendages, keep up a continual expectation; something new
opens at every step, the form of every object is varied, the lights and
shadows, also, are varied in the same proportion; sometimes through a
fortunate opening in the fence a cottage displays its humble roof; at
other times a rich distance bursts upon the view, receiving a double
charm from its unexpected appearance.
Such accidental circumstances give the lane a considerable advantage over
the more extended prospect, to obtain which it is perhaps necessary to
travel over many miles of uninteresting country.
_Section the Ninth_.
WOOLTERTON, the seat of the Right Honourable Lord Walpole, is an elegant,
modern built, mansion, situated in a large park, well ornamented with
wood and water, but too flat to be possessed of very great beauty. At a
short distance from the house, is a ruin highly picturesque, the tower of
a church, of which no part else remains; it is a beautiful small
fragment, but appears to be too much skreened by the ordinary fir trees
with which it is encompassed, and which seem worse than they really are,
by being every where surrounded with fine timber.
The house is said to be ornamented with a considerable quantity of
tapestry, of superior excellence, particularly some chairs, upon the
seats of which are exhibited the fables of AEsop.
I have never seen the inside of Woolterton, and, indeed, of the park I am
qualified to say but little, having surveyed it in a very casual way; but
from what I have seen and from the report of others, it appears to be a
residence worthy of its noble owner, who generally resides on the spot,
and whose private character is highly estimable.
_Section the Tenth_.
IN returning from Holt to Cromer, the traveller is merely brought through
Upper Sherringham, which is distanced something more than a mile from
that which is denominated Lower Sherringham, situated upon the edge of
the cliff.
So miserable are both these places in themselves, that they could hardly
be supposed to contain any thing worth the attention, but as it
frequently happens that those things which at first so much disgusted,
afterwards upon a familiar acquaintance, put on a more favourable
appearance, and in the end become objects of delight, I flatter myself
that if the villages of Upper and Lower Sherringham are so unfortunate as
to be incapable of claiming attention, their environs, in point of
scenery, will amply make up the deficiency.
Passing through Upper Sherringham from Cromer, leaving the Holt road on
the left, the traveller is carried past the house of Cooke Flower, Esq.
the proprietor of the beautiful estate which affords the materials that
serve to compose this section. The situation of which is by no means a
letter of recommendation to the scenes he is approaching. It is not the
house but the grounds about it that demand attention, therefore it is to
be hoped that his disappointment, if symptoms of that kind are excited,
will vanish as he proceeds.
This estate, properly speaking, comes under the denomination of an
adorned farm, by which declaration, I have to request that my readers
will not be alarmed by the fear of being led through a succession of
scenes too frequently disgusting, by an ostentatious display of trifling
puerilities; the nicest taste will not be offended, yet it is adorned,
but it is adorned after nature's model.
Like the rest of this part of the Norfolk coast, it consists of uneven
ground rising into bold swells, which by the assiduity and perseverance
of the late Mr. Flower are now richly clothed with wood from their
summits to their base, and united by the most elegant slopes to the rich
vallies that divide them.
Some of these woods appear thick and impenetrable, while others more open
discover through their foliage the most luxuriant and inviting turf,
tempting the traveller oppressed with the heat of a summer's sultry sun,
to exclaim in the language of THOMPSON
"Still let me pierce into the midnight depth
Of yonder grove, of wildest largest growth;
That, forming high in air a wood land quire,
Nods o'er the mount beneath. At every step,
Solemn and flow, the shadows blacker fall,
And all is awful listening gloom around."
Among these truly sylvan scenes the sea unfolds its ample bosom; under
every circumstance of variation it is an object of awful grandeur; but,
perhaps, in its more peaceful moments, when its surface is unruffled by
the wind, it is best adapted to scenes like these, where all is harmony
and repose.
Here too, at certain seasons of the year, the flock roams at large; the
wood, the hill, and the valley, are alike subject to the impression of
its wandering feet, and scattered in groupes over the landscape add
greatly to its beauty.
The picturesque figure of the shepherd attended by his dog, the faithful
companion of his solitary hours, in whatever situation we find him,
whether collecting his scattered flock or indolently stretched at ease
upon the verdant turf, are circumstances of the most pleasing kind.
"Amid his subjects safe,
Slumbers the monarch-swain, his careless arm
Thrown round his head, on downy moss sustain'd;
Here laid his scrip, with wholesome viands fill'd;
There, lift'ning every noise, his watchful dog."
Neither must we forget the rural situation of the shepherd's cottage;
this subject has often been the theme of authors, both in fiction and
reality; here happily it has in reality the very situation we should wish
it to enjoy, sunk in the bosom of its wood crowned hills, it appears
though a lowly cot, the very mansion of peace.
By this description, I do not mean the cottage placed by the hand of art,
and made merely to suit the situation, but the real residence of humble
industry, solely for use, not ornamented, and which time has naturalized
to the soil it occupies. This gives it double value; its moss-grown
thatch and time-stained walls are both in colour and form in perfect
harmony with the objects that surround it, and, the knowledge that it is
really the habitation of the peasant, though we see not its inhabitants
is congenial with our feelings, and aid the delusions which such scenes
impress upon the senses. Connexion of objects which ought to be the
prevailing principle in every kind of decoration, is too often the last
circumstance that is attended to; by connexion I mean that objects ought
to be adapted to the situation they are intended to occupy, both in form
and colour; and this principle holds good almost in an equal degree in
the internal parts of a house, as in those decorations which are employed
about the pleasure grounds.
In painting it is a general rule that no invention, drawing or execution,
can make amends for want of harmony; a single predominant colour out of
place destroys the effect of a picture. It is the same in a real
landscape, any object out of place, or that does not connect with the
scene, or even admitting that it is well situated if its construction be
disagreeable, or what is worse its colour, it becomes offensive, it fixes
the attention to the spot and disgusts in proportion as it has the power
of obtruding itself on the view.
The approach from hence to Weybourn, another village upon the sea coast,
is highly picturesque. An ancient ruin of part of the monastic church,
adjoining the parish church, from its peculiar stile of building may be
worth the attention of the curious in the researches of antiquity, though
it is capable of affording but little to the sketch book of the artist.
From Weybourn instead of returning to Cromer by the same road, the
traveller will keep along the edge of the sea coast, having on his right
hand the woods which he had before passed between.
By this route he is carried to Lower Sherringham, where there is a good
house of entertainment, with rooms so delightfully situated, that at high
water you may actually conceive yourself at sea; indeed, there is
scarcely a foot path left between the house and the cliff, and no little
care has been taken to exclude it from the rude embrace of that
boisterous element.
Hither parties are frequently formed for the purpose of eating lobsters,
where they are to be had in the same perfection as at Cromer. A small
share of that variety is also furnished for which human nature pants so
eagerly.
The beach spreads before its wanderers the same inviting surface and the
sea as noble an expanse as at Cromer. Here, too, they may either invoke
the Nereides or admire the sublime and splendid beauties of a summer's
sun, setting in the ocean, a circumstance which Thompson has noticed with
exquisite accuracy and equal elegance.
"Low walks the sun, and broadens by degrees
Just o'er the verge of day; the shifting clouds
Assembled gay, a richly gorgeous train,
In all their pomp attend his setting throne.
Air, earth, and ocean, smile immense. And now,
As if his weary chariot fought the bowers
Of Amphitrite and her tending nymphs;
(So Grecian fable sung) he dips his orbs;
Now half immersed; and now a golden curve
Gives one bright glance, then total disappears."
[Picture: Decorative graphic of a tree and tombstone with Finis on it]