This morning we started,--unluckily in bad rainy weather. Ten miles from
London we commenced operations with the inspection of two villas and a
large park, near the pretty little village of Stanmore. The first villa
was thoroughly in the rural Gothic style, with ornamented pointed
gables; a 'genre' in which English architects are peculiarly happy. The
interior was also most prettily fitted up in the same style, and at the
same time extremely comfortable and inviting. Even the doors in the
walls surrounding the kitchen-garden were adorned with windows of
coloured glass at the top, which had a singular and beautiful brilliancy
among the foliage. The little flower-garden, too, was laid out in beds
of Gothic forms surrounded by gravel walks, and the fancy had not a bad
effect.
Very different was the aspect of the other villa, in the Italian taste,
with large vases before it, filled not with flowers but with green and
yellow gourds and pumpkins. A superabundance of wooden statues, painted
white, decorated, or rather deformed, the gardens. Among them a roaring
rampant lion vainly sought to inspire terror, and a Cupid hanging in a
bush threatened, as abortively, the passengers with his darts.
The Priory, formerly a religious house, now the seat of Lord Aberdeen,
has many beauties. The number of magnificent firs and pines in the park
give it a singularly foreign air. The simple beautiful house is almost
concealed amid trees of every size and form, so that one catches only
glimpses of it glancing between the shrubs, or overtopping the high
trees. This is always very advantageous to buildings, especially those
of an antique character. One seldom sees here those unbroken views over
a long and narrow strip of level grass, but which have no other effect
than that of making distance appear less than it really is. We walked
about the grounds for a considerable time, while a bevy of young ladies
and gentlemen of the family came around us, mounted on small Scotch
poneys; and one of the latter, a pretty boy, attached himself to us as
guide, and showed us the interior of the house, whose dark walls were
most luxuriantly clothed, up to the very roof, with ivy, pomegranate and
China-rose. It was twilight before we quitted the park, and in half an
hour we reached the little town of Watford, where I am now reposing in a
good inn. R---- takes this opportunity of commending himself most
respectfully to you, and is writing very busily in his journal, which
makes me laugh.
I must just remark, that at Stanmore Priory we saw (I steal it out of
the fore-named journal) a single rhododendron standing abroad, fifteen
feet high, and covering a circumference of at least twenty-five feet
with its thick branches. Such vegetation is more inviting to
'parkomanie' than ours.
_Woburn, December 26th._
We have made a calculation, dear Julia, that if you were with us (a wish
ever present to the minds of your faithful servants) you could not, with
your aversion to foot-exercise, see above a quarter of a park a-day; and
that it would take you at least four hundred and twenty years to see all
the parks in England, of which there are doubtless at least a hundred
thousand, for they swarm whichever way you turn your steps. Of course we
visit only the great ones, or look, 'en passant,' at any little villa
that particularly strikes and pleases us. Notwithstanding this, we have
seen so many proud and magnificent seats to-day, that we are still in
perfect rapture at them. For I, you know, never could subscribe to the
rule of the 'nil admirari,' which cramps and destroys our best
enjoyments.
Before I begin my description, I must, however, give the excellent inns
their meed of praise. In the country, even in small villages, you find
them equally neat and well attended. Cleanliness, great convenience, and
even elegance, are always combined in them; and a stranger is never
invited to eat, sit and sleep in the same room, as in the German inns,
in which there are generally only ball-rooms and bed-chambers.
The table-service generally consists of silver and porcelain: the
furniture is well contrived; the beds always excellent; and the
friendly, flickering fire never fails to greet you.
A detailed description of this morning's breakfast will give you the
best idea of the wants and the comfortable living of English travellers.
N. B. I had ordered nothing but tea. The following is what I found set
out when I quitted my bed-room,--in a little town scarcely so extensive
as one of our villages. In the middle of the table smoked a large
tea-urn, prettily surrounded by silver tea-canisters, a slop-basin, and
a milk-jug. There were three small Wedgwood plates, with as many knives
and forks, and two large cups of beautiful porcelain: by them stood an
inviting plate of boiled eggs, another 'ditto' of broiled 'oreilles de
cochon à la Sainte Ménéhould;' a plate of muffins, kept warm by a hot
water-plate; another with cold ham; flaky white bread, 'dry and buttered
toast,' the best fresh butter in an elegant glass vessel; convenient
receptacles for salt and pepper, English mustard and 'moutarde de
maille;' lastly, a silver tea-caddy, with very good green and black tea.
This most luxurious meal,--which I hope you will think I have described
as picturesquely as a landscape,--is, moreover, in proportion very
cheap; for it was charged in the bill only two shillings (16 Gr.).
Travelling is however, on the whole, very expensive,--especially the
posting (which is exactly four times as much as with us,) and the fees
which you are expected to be giving all day long, in all directions, to
every species of servant and attendant.
At ten o'clock we reached Cashiobury Park, the seat of the Earl of
Essex. I sent in my name to him; upon which his son-in-law, Mr. F----,
(whom I had formerly known in Dresden, and with whom I was happy to
renew my acquaintance,) came to conduct me about. The house is modern
Gothic, and magnificently furnished. You enter a hall with coloured
windows, which afford a view into an inner court laid out as a
flower-garden: leaving the hall, you go through a long gallery on the
side, hung with armour, to the rich carved oak staircase leading to the
library, which here generally serves as principal drawing-room. The
library has two small cabinets looking on the garden, and filled with
rarities. Among these I was particularly pleased with two numerous
sketches by Denon, representing the levée of Cardinal Bernis at Rome,
and a dinner at Voltaire's, with the Abbé Maury, Diderot, Helvetius,
d'Alembert, and other philosophers,--all portraits.
I was much interested too by a complete toilet of Marie Antoinette's, on
which the portraits of her husband and of Henry the Fourth were painted
in several places. From the library you go into an equally rich second
drawing-room; and from thence into the dining-room. Near to both these
rooms was a green-house, in the form of a chapel; and in every apartment
windows down to the ground afforded a view of the noble park and the
river flowing through it. On a distant rising ground you look along a
very broad avenue of limes, exactly at the end of which, during a part
of the summer, the sun sets: its horizontal rays passing along the whole
length of the green-house must afford the most splendid natural
decoration, heightened by the reflection of its beams from a large
mirror at the end. The walls of the dining-room are covered with oaken
'boiserie,' with beautiful cornices and carving; the furniture is of
rose-wood, silk and velvet; and valuable pictures in antique gilded
frames adorn the walls. The proportions of the room may be called
hall-like, and the whole is regularly heated to a temperature of
fourteen degrees of Reaumur.
The somewhat remote stables and all the domestic offices, &c., are on
the left, connected with the house by an embattled wall; so that the
building extends along an uninterrupted length of a thousand feet.
The flower-gardens occupy a very considerable space. Part of them are
laid out in the usual style; that is, a long green-house at the bottom,
in front of which are several 'berceaux' and shady walks around a large
grass-plat, which is broken with beds of all forms, and dotted with rare
trees and shrubs. But here was also something new;--a deep secluded
valley of oval form, around which is a thick belt of evergreens, and
rock-plants planted impenetrably thick on artificial rockeries; a
background of lofty fir-trees and oak, with their tops waving in the
wind; and, at one end of the grass-plat, a single magnificent lime-tree
surrounded by a bench. From this point the whole of the little valley
was covered with an embroidered parterre of the prettiest forms,
although perfectly regular. The egress from this enclosure lay through a
grotto overgrown with ivy, and lined with beautiful stones and shells,
into a square rose-garden surrounded with laurel hedges, in the centre
of which is a temple, and opposite to the entrance a conservatory for
aquatic plants. The rose-beds are cut in various figures, which
intersect each other. A walk, overarched with thick beeches neatly
trimmed with the shears, winds in a sinuous line from this point to the
Chinese garden, which is likewise enclosed by high trees and walls, and
contains a number of vases, benches, fountains, and a third
green-house,--all in the genuine Chinese style. Here were beds
surrounded by circles of white, blue, and red sand, fantastic dwarf
plants, and many dozens of large China vases placed on pedestals,
thickly overgrown with trailing evergreens and exotics. The windows of
the house were painted like Chinese hangings, and convex mirrors placed
in the interior, which reflected us as in a 'camera obscura.' I say
nothing of the endless rows of rich hot-houses and forcing-beds, nor of
the kitchen-gardens. You may estimate the thing for yourself, when I
repeat to you Mr. F----'s assurance that the park, gardens, and house
cost ten thousand a-year to keep up. The Earl has his own workmen in
every department; masons, carpenters, cabinet-makers, &c., each of whom
has his prescribed province. One has, for instance, only to keep the
fences in order, another the rooms, a third the furniture, &c.; a plan
well worthy of imitation in the country.
I paid my visit to the venerable Earl, who kept his chamber with the
gout, and received from the kind friendly old man the best information,
and some (highly necessary) cards of admittance for my further journey.
Our road lay for a long time through the park, till we reached one of
the principal features in it, called the Swiss Cottage, which stands in
a lovely secluded spot in the midst of a grove on the bank of the river.
We drove over the turf; for, as I have told you, many parks here are
quite like free uncultivated ground, and have often only one road, which
leads up to the house and out on the other side. Having regained the
high road, we drove along twenty miles of country, all equally
beautiful, equally luxuriant in fertility and vegetation, and at five
o'clock reached Ashridge Park, the seat of the Earl of Bridgewater. Here
you can follow me better, dear Julia, if you open Repton's book, in
which you will find several views, and the ground-plan of this charming
garden, which old Repton himself laid out. Remember the 'Rosary,' and
you will immediately know where to look for it. This park is one of the
largest in England, for it is nearly three German miles in
circumference; and the house which, like Cashiobury, is modern Gothic,
is almost endless, with all its walls, towers, and courts. I must,
however, frankly confess, that this modern Gothic ('castellated') style,
which looks so fairy-like on paper, in reality often strikes one not
only as tasteless, but even somewhat absurd, from its overloaded and
incongruous air.
If in the midst of the most cultivated, peaceful fields, amid the
mingled beauties of countless flowers, you see a sort of fortress, with
turrets, loopholes, and battlements, not one of which has the slightest
purpose or utility, and, moreover, many of them standing on no firmer
basis than glass walls (the green-houses and conservatories connected
with the apartments,)--it is just as ridiculous and incongruous, as if
you were to meet the possessor of these pretty flower-gardens walking
about in them in helm and harness. The antique, the old Italian, or
merely romantic[34] style, adapted to our times, harmonizes infinitely
better with such surrounding objects, has a more cheerful character, and
even, with smaller masses, a much grander and more majestic air.
The interior of this house has certainly the most striking effect, and
may truly be called princely. The possessor has very wisely limited
himself to few, but large, entertaining-rooms. You enter the hall, which
is hung with armour and adorned with antique furniture. You then come to
the staircase, the most magnificent in its kind that can be imagined.
Running up three lofty stories, with the same number of galleries, it
almost equals the tower of a church in height and size: the walls are of
polished stone, the railings of bright brass, the ceiling of wood
beautifully carved in panels and adorned with paintings, and around each
landing-place or gallery are niches with statues of the Kings of England
in stone. Ascending this staircase we reached a drawing-room decorated
with crimson velvet and gilded furniture, lighted in front by enormous
windows which occupy nearly the whole side of the room, and disclose the
view of the 'pleasure-ground' and park. Sidewards, on the left, is
another room as large, in which are a billiard-table and the library. On
the other side, in the same suite, is the dining-room; and behind it a
noble green-house and orangery, through which you pass into the chapel,
which is adorned with ten windows of genuine antique painted glass, and
with admirable carvings in wood. All the benches are of walnut-tree,
covered with crimson velvet.
In the rooms are some fine and interesting pictures, but most of them by
modern artists. The pleasure-grounds and gardens are still larger than
those at Cashiobury. You will find a part of them in Repton, viz. the
American garden, the Monk's garden, and the Rosary; to which I must add,
first, the very elegant French garden, with a covered gallery, on one
side; a porcelain-like ornament with flower-pots in the centre; and a
large parterre, every bed of which is filled with a different sort of
flower: secondly, the Rockery, in which are to be found every kind of
rock and creeping plant. Nothing but the long habit of great luxury
could enable people even to conceive a whole so manifold, so equally
exemplary in all its parts, and in such perfect order and condition; for
we must confess that even our sovereigns possess only fragments of what
is here found united. Some thousand head of deer, and countless groups
of giant trees, animate and adorn the park, which with the exception of
the road leading through it, is left wholly to nature, and to its
numerous grazing herds.
Accept it as a small sacrifice, dear Julia, that I send you all these
minute details. They may not be useless in our own plans and buildings,
and are at least more tedious to write than to read.[35]
For better illustration, I take sketches of everything interesting,
which will stand us in good stead, as furnishing new ideas. In the
morning we are going to see Woburn Abbey, the seat of the Duke of
Bedford, one of the richest peers of England, which is said to exceed
Ashbridge in extent and grandeur, as much as that does Cashiobury; a
very agreeable climax.
The inn whence I write is again very good, and I purpose, after all my
fatigues, to do as much honour to my principal meal as I did to my
breakfast; though the former is here far more simple, and consists of
the same dishes day after day. The eternal 'mutton chops' and a roast
fowl with 'bread sauce,' with vegetables boiled in water, and the
national sauce, melted butter with flour, always play the principal
part.
_Leamington, Dec. 21st._
I am now in a large watering-place, of which, however, I have as yet
seen but little, as I only arrived at eleven o'clock last night. The
greater part of the day was spent in seeing Woburn Abbey. This beautiful
palace is in the Italian taste; the design simple and noble, and
infinitely more satisfactory than the colossal would-be-Gothic
'nonsense.'
Its stables, riding-school, ball-rooms, statue and picture galleries,
conservatories and gardens, form a little town. For three centuries this
estate has been transmitted in a direct line in this family,--even in
England a rare instance;--so that it is not to be wondered at, if, with
an income of a million of our money, an accumulation of luxury and
magnificence has been formed here, far exceeding the powers of any
private person in our country: and indeed even were money here and there
forthcoming in like profusion, yet the state of society adapted for
centuries to the providing of the materials for a luxury so refined, and
so complete in all its parts, exists not among us.
The house, properly speaking, is a regular quadrangle; and the 'bel
étage,' which is always 'de plein pied' in country-houses, forms an
unbroken suite of rooms, occupying the whole superficial extent. These
rooms are hung with valuable pictures, and richly furnished with massive
and magnificent stuffs; the ceilings and the 'embrasures' of the doors
are of white plaster with gold ornaments, or of rare carved wood,--all
equally simple and massy. In one room was a remarkable collection of
miniature portraits of the family, from the first Russell (the name of
the Dukes of Bedford) to the present Duke, in an unbroken line. Under
such circumstances, a man may be permitted to be a little proud of his
family and his noble blood.[36] These miniatures were arranged in a
very tasteful manner on crimson velvet, in a long narrow gold frame, and
set like medallions. The stoves are mostly of gilt metal, with high
marble chimney-pieces; the chandeliers of bronze, richly-gilded;
everywhere the same magnificence, yet nowhere overloaded. The library is
at the end, divided into two rooms, and opening immediately on the
delightful garden with wide glass doors.
The gardens appear to me peculiarly charming, so admirably interwoven
with the buildings and so varied that it is difficult to describe them
adequately.
To give you at least a general idea of them, let me tell you, that all
along the various buildings, which sometimes project, sometimes retreat,
form now straight and now curved lines, runs an unbroken arcade clothed
with roses and climbing plants. Following this, you come to a succession
of different and beautiful gardens. Over the arcade are partly chambers,
partly the prettiest little green-houses. One of them contains nothing
but heaths, hundreds of which, in full blow, present the loveliest
picture, endlessly multiplied by walls of mirror. Immediately under
this, Erica-house was the garden for the same tribe of plants; a
glass-plat with beds of various forms, all filled with the larger and
hardier sorts of heath. In one place the bowery-walk leads quite through
a lofty Palm-house, before which lie the most beautiful embroidered
parterres, intersected with gravel walks. Adjoining this house is the
statue-gallery, the walls of which are covered with various sorts of
marble; there are also very beautiful pillars from Italy. It contains a
number of antique sculptures, and is terminated at either end by a
temple, the one dedicated to Freedom, and adorned with busts of Fox,
&c., the other to the Graces, with Canova's exquisite group of the
tutelary goddesses. From this point the arcade leads along an
interminable plantation, on a sloping bank entirely filled with azaleas
and rhododendrous, till you reach the Chinese garden, in which 'the
Dairy' is a prominent and beautiful object. It is a sort of Chinese
temple, decorated with a profusion of white marble and coloured glasses;
in the centre is a fountain, and round the walls hundreds of large
dishes and bowls of Chinese and Japan porcelain of every form and
colour, filled with new milk and cream. The 'consoles' upon which these
vessels stand are perfect models for Chinese furniture. The windows are
of ground glass, with Chinese painting, which shows fantastically enough
by the dim light.
A further pleasure-ground, with the finest trees and many beautiful
surprises,--among others pretty children's gardens, and a grass garden
in which all sorts of gramineous plants were cultivated in little beds,
forming a sort of chequer-work,--led to the Aviary. This consists of a
large place fenced in, and a cottage, with a small pond in the centre,
all dedicated to the feathered race. Here the fourth or fifth attendant
awaited us, (each of whom expects a fee, so that you cannot see such an
establishment under some pounds sterling,) and showed us first several
gay-plumed parrots and other rare birds, each of whom had his own
dwelling and little garden. These birds' houses were made of twigs
interwoven with wire, the roof also of wire, the shrubs around
evergreen, as were almost all the other plants in this enclosure. As we
walked out upon the open space which occupies the centre, our Papageno
whistled, and in an instant the air was literally darkened around us by
flights of pigeons, chickens, and heaven knows what birds. Out of every
bush started gold and silver, pied and common, pheasants; and from the
little lake a black swan galloped heavily forward, expressing his strong
desire for food in tones like those of a fretful child. This beautiful
bird, raven black with red feet and bill, was exceedingly tame, ate his
food 'chemin faisant' out of the keeper's pocket, and did not leave us
for a moment while we were sauntering about the birds' paradise, only
now and then pushing away an intrusive duck or other of the vulgar herd,
or giving a noble gold pheasant a dig in the side. A second interesting
but imprisoned inhabitant of this place was Hero, an African crane, a
creature that looks as if it were made of porcelain, and frequently
reminded me in his movements of our departed dancing Ballerino. The
incident of his history which had gained him his lofty name was unknown
to the keeper.
The park, which is four German miles in circuit, does not consist merely
of heath or meadow-land and trees, but has a fine wood, and also a very
beautiful part fenced in, called the 'Thornery,' a wild sort of copse
intersected with walks and overgrown with thorns and brushwood; in the
midst of which stands a little cottage with the loveliest flower-garden.
Here terminate the splendours of Woburn Abbey. But no--two things I must
still mention. In the house, the decorations of which I have described
to you 'en gros,' I found a very ingenious contrivance. Round all the
apartments of the great quadrangle runs an inner wide gallery, on which
several doors open; and a variety of collections, some open, some in
glass cases, and here and there interspersed with stands of flowers, are
set out. This affords a walk as instructive as it is agreeable in winter
or bad weather, and is rendered perfectly comfortable by the 'conduits
de chaleur,' which heat the whole house.--The second remarkable thing is
a picture of the Earl of Essex as large as life. He is represented as of
a fine and slender person, but not a very distinguished face; small
features without much expression, small eyes, and a large red beard with
dark hair.
But I have written off a quarter of an inch of my finger, and must
conclude. To-morrow another step in the ascending scale, for I must see
Warwick Castle, which is spoken of as England's pride. I am curious to
see if we can really mount higher; hitherto we have certainly ascended
from beautiful to more beautiful.
As the mail is just going off I enclose this to L----, who will have the
kindness to forward it to you more quickly than it would otherwise go.
Think of the wanderer in your tranquil solitude, and believe that if
fate drove him to the antipodes, his heart would ever be near you.
Your L----.