England, among her titled families, can point to none more illustrious
than that of Sidney. It is a name which carries with it the attestation of
its genuine nobility. Others are of older standing in the realm. It is not
one of those to be found on the roll of Battle Abbey. The first who bore
it in England is said to have come hither in the reign of Henry III. There
are others, too, which have mounted much higher in the scale of mere rank;
but it may be safely said that there is none of a truer dignity, nor more
endeared to the spirits of Englishmen.
Of this distinguished line, the most illustrious and popular was
unquestionably Sir Philip. The universal admiration that he won from his
contemporaries is one of the most curious circumstances of the history of
those times. The generous and affectionate enthusiasm with which he
inspired both his own countrymen and foreigners, has, perhaps, no
parallel....
The first view which I got of the old house of Penshurst, called formerly
both Penshurst Place and Penshurst Castle, was as I descended the hill
opposite to it. Its gray walls and turrets, and high-peaked and red roofs
rising in the midst of them; and the new buildings of fresh stone, mingled
with the ancient fabric, presented a very striking and venerable aspect.
It stands in the midst of a wide valley, on a pleasant elevation; its
woods and park stretching away beyond, northward; and the picturesque
church, parsonage, and other houses of the village, grouping in front.
From whichever side you view the house, it strikes you as a fitting abode
of the noble Sidneys. Valleys run out on every side from the main one in
which it stands; and the hills, which are everywhere at some distance,
wind about in a very pleasant and picturesque manner, covered with mingled
woods and fields, and hop-grounds.
The house now presents two principal fronts. The one facing westward,
formerly looked into a court, called the President's Court, because the
greater part of it was built by Sir Henry Sidney, the father of Sir
Philip, and Lord President of the Council established in the Marches of
Wales. The court is now thrown open, and converted into a lawn surrounded
by a sunk fence, and overlooking a quiet valley of perhaps a mile in
length, terminated by woody hills of great rural beauty.
This front, as well as the northern one, is of great length. It is of
several dates and styles of architecture. The façade is of two stories,
and battlemented. The center division, which is of recent erection, has
large windows of triple arches, with armorial shields between the upper
and lower stories. The south end of the façade is of an ancient date, with
smaller mullioned windows; the northern portion with windows of a similar
character to those in the center, but less and plainer. Over this façade
shows itself the tall gable of the ancient banqueting-hall which stands in
the inner court. At each end of this façade projects a wing, with its
various towers of various bulk and height; some square, of stone, others
octagon, of brick, with a great diversity of tall, worked chimneys, which,
with steep roofs, and the mixture of brick-work and stone-work all through
the front, give a mottled, but yet very venerable aspect to it.
The north and principal front, facing up the park, has been restored by
its noble possessor, and presents a battlemented range of stone buildings
of various projections, towers, turrets, and turreted chimneys, which,
when the windows are put in, which is not yet fully done, will have few
superiors among the castellated mansions of England....
In the center of the inner court stands the old banqueting-hall, a tall
gabled building with high red roof, surmounted with the ruins of a cupola,
erected upon it by Mr. Perry, who married the heiress of the family, but
who does not seem to have brought much taste into it. On the point of each
gable is an old stone figure--the one a tortoise, the other a lion
couchant--and upon the back of each of these old figures, so completely
accordant with the building itself, which exhibits under its eaves and at
the corners of its windows numbers of those grotesque corbels which
distinguish our buildings of an early date, both domestic and
ecclesiastical, good Mr. Perry clapped a huge leaden vase which had
probably crowned aforetime the pillars of a gateway, or the roof of a
garden-house....
The south side of the house has all the irregularity of an old castle,
consisting of various towers, projections, buttresses, and gables. Some of
the windows show tracery of a superior order, and others have huge common
sashes, introduced by the tasteful Mr. Perry aforesaid. The court on this
side is surrounded by battlemented walls, and has a massy square gatehouse
leading into the old garden, or pleasaunce, which sloped away down toward
the Medway, but is now merely a grassy lawn, with the remains of one fine
terrace running along its western side....
The old banqueting-hall is a noble specimen of the baronial hall of the
reign of Edward III., when both house and table exhibited the rudeness of
a martial age, and both gentle and simple revelled together, parted only
by the salt. The floor is of brick. The raised platform, or dais, at the
west-end, advances sixteen feet into the room. The width of the hall is
about forty feet, and the length of it about fifty-four feet. On each side
are tall Gothic windows, much of the tracery of which has been some time
knocked out, and the openings plastered up. At the east end is a fine
large window, with two smaller ones above it; but the large window is, for
the most part, hidden by the front of the music gallery.
In the center of the floor an octagon space is marked out with a rim of
stone, and within this space stands a massy old dog, or brand-iron, about
a yard and a half wide, and the two upright ends three feet six inches
high, having on their outer sides, near the top, the double broad arrow of
the Sidney arms. The smoke from the fire, which was laid on this jolly
dog, ascended and passed out through the center of the roof, which is
high, and of framed oak, and was adorned at the spring of the huge groined
spars with grotesque projecting carved figures, or corbels, which are now
taken down, being considered in danger of falling, and are laid in the
music gallery.