as the Burial-place of the family. It is of small structure, built of
the materials common to sacred edifices in the counties of Norfolk and
Suffolk--rough flint, with cement and free-stone in the battlements,
parapets, groins, buttresses, windows, and arches. The round Tower,
indicated in the accompanying print, is curious, and of remote
antiquity. Its external aspect is peculiarly venerable, covered with
Ivy-trees, the growth of centuries. The interior where, it is said, no
religious service has been performed since the Reformation, the family
having adhered, through all changes, to the old faith, is without pews,
and contains many richly-sculptured Monuments. Among them is a superb
Tomb of marble and coloured free-stone, to the memory of Margaret,
Countess of Bath, and her three husbands; the first of whom was Sir
Thomas Kytson--the citizen-founder of Hengrave--who died September 13th,
1545, aged 55 years. The other principal Tombs are in memory of Sir
Thomas Kytson, the younger; Sir Thomas Darcy; the Bourchiers, Earls of
Bath; the Cornwallys; and the Gages.
Altogether, there are few of the Baronial Mansions of England so little
spoiled by time--so comparatively uninjured by modern taste and
injudicious improvement. Hengrave Hall is “a fair and, in some respects,
a unique example of the domestic architecture of the period of its
erection.”
[Illustration:
From a drawing by W. Müller. Day & Son, Lithʳˢ. to The Queen.
WEST-STOW HALL, SUFFOLK.]
WEST STOW HALL,
SUFFOLK.
Within four miles--north-west--of the venerable town of Bury St.
Edmunds, the traveller may notice, not far from the road-side, the
turrets of an ancient House, now decayed, but which, in the palmy age of
England, was classed among the stateliest of its “stately Homes.” Unless
attention is directed to it, however, it will attract no passers-by; for
very humble are now the pretensions of the Palace-Hall, in which resided
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his Royal wife, the youngest
daughter of Henry VII., sister to Henry VIII, and widow of Louis XII.,
King of France.
The Old Hall is situated in the very centre of a host of picturesque
antiquities; in all directions around it exist objects of exceeding
interest,--as relics of the olden time and imperishable illustrations of
British History. It would be difficult to find in the kingdom so many
remains of architectural splendour within a circuit of four or five
miles. Bury contains the most interesting of our monastic ruins. Among
them are those of the famous “Norman Tower” (still comparatively
unimpaired), erected in the reign of the Conqueror, as the Grand Portal
to the magnificent church of Abbot Baldwin;--the Charnel Chapel, in
which Lidgate wrote,--the Church which for centuries enshrined the
miracle-working bones of St. Edmund,--and the walls of the Chamber
where, on the 20th of November, 1215, “the Barons” pledged “the repose
of their souls” to extort the Charter of Freedom from the tyrant John.
The road to West Stow is scarcely less rich in historic sites than the
town of Bury. Without the north-gate are the remains of the Gateway to
St. Saviour’s Hospital, where,--during the Parliament of 1446, assembled
at Bury, by Henry VI.,--the “good Duke Humphrey” was murdered by
Cardinal Beaufort and De la Pole; half a mile beyond, we cross the Old
Toll-gate Bridge of the mitred Abbots of St. Edmunsbury; at a short
distance, an ivy-clad Tower is all that remains of the Church of Fornham
St. Genevieve; but tumuli still endure to indicate where the ten
thousand Flemings were buried by “sloven-hands,” after the bloody battle
which gave to the second Henry peaceable possession of the crown. By
other roads we pass objects equally fertile of history. The Round Towers
of Saxham are within ken; Risby and Hengrave Churches are close at hand;
and very near us are some of the grandest and most beautiful of the
Baronial Halls of England--Coldham, Rushbrooke, and Hengrave among the
rest.
All who visit the ancient mansion of West Stow, will first enter the
venerable Church, to which a footway leads through a field from off the
main road. It is a fine example of a very early age. The Tower is square
and embattled; the Chancel, apparently of a more recent date than the
Nave, contains an enriched Piscina, of the fifteenth century, and many
mural monuments and grave-stones of the once illustrious family of
Crofts--a family now known in Suffolk only by history and these cold
records of their fame. The Nave has an open roof; the brackets that
support the principals are ornamented with armorial bearings of “many
ancient Lords of this Manor, with their alliances.”
Of West Stow Hall very little is known. The assertion that it was
formerly the residence of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and the
Royal widow he had married, is supported mainly by tradition and their
armorial bearings, which still exist, carved upon a stone, over the
porch. Of the once extensive pile nothing now remains, except the
Turrets we have pictured; and a long Corridor, reaching to a modern
house--the comfortable home of a substantial farmer. The former bears
ample evidence that its date is of the time of Henry VIII.; that of the
Corridor is not so remote by a century.
It is certain that, after the romantic marriage of Charles Brandon with
the beloved of his younger days, when death had freed her from her
state-contract with Louis XII., and her early lover had become a
widower, they lived for many years in comparative seclusion in Suffolk;
and, although “Mary Tudor died at the Manor of Westhorpe in this county,
in 1533,” it is more than probable that West Stow was one of their
mansions. It was evidently of great extent; there are persons still
living, who recollect a quadrangular court and extensive out-buildings;
and the wide Moat by which it was surrounded was filled up only two
years ago. The Tower is partially of a defensive character; the interior
consists of several small chambers, one of which contains some singular
paintings in distemper, the principal objects in which are these:--A boy
hawking, with an inscription in old English letters, “Thus doe I all the
day;” a young man making love to a maiden, inscribed--“Thus doe I while
I may;” a middle-aged man, looking on--the inscription, “Thus did I when
I might;” an aged man, hobbling onward--the inscription, “Good Lord,
will this world last ever?” The drawings are rude, but they are of the
age of Elizabeth. They were recently exposed to view by the removal of a
skirting of oak; and are as fresh as if painted yesterday.
[Illustration:
From a drawing by Henry Mogford. Day & Son, Lithʳˢ. to The Queen.
HAM HOUSE, SURREY.]
HAM HOUSE,
SURREY.
Ham House.--Few mansions are more pleasantly situated than this--the
dwelling of the Tollemaches, Earls of Dysart. It stands on the south
bank of the Thames; distant about twelve miles from London; the pretty
village of Twickenham is immediately opposite; to the left is “Eel-pie
Island,” famous as a holiday resort of many who “in populous city pent”
covet periodical acquaintance with clear streams and green lanes; to the
right is far-famed Richmond Hill, which, although distant a mile
perhaps, seems, from the tortuous winding of the river, to form a part
of the demesne; while the back ground is supplied by Richmond Park, with
its graceful slopes and its thick masses of rich underwood mingled among
groups of magnificent forest trees.
The House was erected early in the seventeenth century--the date, 1610,
still stands on the door of the principal entrance. It is said to have
been built for the good Prince Henry, eldest son of James the First; and
a tradition exists that the illness of which he died was the result of
bathing too freely in the adjacent river. It is, however, unlikely that
the Prince ever resided here; and it is certain that the builder was Sir
Thomas Vavasor, Knight Marshal, appointed, in 1611, together with Sir
Francis Bacon, Judge of the Marshal’s court, and to have been
“surrendered by him, together with certain customary lands, to John
(Ramsay), Earl of Holderness, who died in 1624 or 1625.” We follow the
authority of Manning, the County Historian, who states that by this
Earl, or, more probably, his heirs, the House and Lands were “sold to
William Murray--groom of the bed-chamber to James the First, and
afterwards created, in 1643, by that monarch Earl of Dysart[43]--“whose
widow, Katherine, on the 22nd May, 1651, surrendered them to the use of
Sir Lionel Tollemache and Elizabeth his wife, her daughter, who in the
year following surrendered them to the use of Sir Lionel’s will.” This
daughter, to whom the honour of the Earl--“such it was,” writes
Burnet--descended, having outlived Sir Lionel, married a second time
(being then Countess of Dysart) the Earl, afterwards Duke, of
Lauderdale.[44] The House and Estates of Ham were inherited by “her
heirs by her first husband;” in whose possession they have since
continued, being now the property of Lionel William John Tollemache, the
sixth Earl of Dysart, and the residence of his Lordship’s brother.
The Duchess of Lauderdale--famous during the reigns of four monarchs;
the First and Second James, and the First and Second Charles; and
through the Protectorship of Cromwell--refurnished the House at Ham;
where she continued to reside, until her death at a very advanced age.
The Interior, with its gorgeous, yet remarkably tasteful “furnishing,”
has been scarcely altered since the aged dame occupied the Mansion. Time
has dimmed the splendour of the “hangings,” and tarnished the costly
draperies of the rich looms of France; but they remain--in some places
tattered and torn--to supply indubitable evidence that the “woman of
great beauty, but of far greater parts,” had at all events a refined
taste, and that at least a portion of the money she was “wanting in
[Illustration]
no means to obtain,” was judiciously expended in the adornment of her
House. Among other untouched relics of gone-by days, is a small
Antechamber, where, it is said, she not only condescended to receive the
Second Charles, but, if tradition is to be credited, where she “cajoled”
Oliver Cromwell. There still remain the chair in which she used to sit,
her small walking-cane, and a variety of objects she was wont to value
and cherish as memorials of her active life and the successful issues of
a hundred political intrigues.[45]
The Exterior of the Mansion derives singularity chiefly from the
adornment the outer walls receive from a collection of Roman busts;
some of which, however, having been removed by time, have been replaced
by those of Poets of the age of Anne. Immediately in front stands the
statue
[Illustration]
of “Father Thames”--copied from the well-known work of the elder Bacon
in the Courtyard of Somerset House. The Hall-door (which supplies our
initial letter) is of very elegant and elaborate workmanship. The Hall
is surrounded by an open gallery; the rooms on the ground floor contain
little to interest, except the Chamber and Dressing-room of the famous
Duchess--the room in which her descendant, the late venerable Countess
of Dysart, also died. Passing a small Chapel, the Chambers on the upper
floor are reached by a staircase of peculiar character and very
considerable beauty. The balustrades are of walnut-tree, richly carved
into representations of armour and military trophies of various
countries and epochs. The State Apartments are, as we have intimated,
little changed. On either side of the Landing are the State
[Illustration]
Bed-rooms--one of which, containing copies in tapestry of some of the
Cartoons, the young Prince Henry is said to have occupied; the bed and
furniture are certainly of the period. The several Drawing-rooms contain
valuable and interesting relics of antiquity; and a small closet is
amazingly rich in the choicest and rarest objects of virtù--Miniature
Paintings by Philip Wouvermans, carved Frames by Grindling Gibbons,
carved Cupids by Fiamingo, Conversation Scenes by Watteau, Miniatures by
Cooper--in short, the assemblage here is of immense value and of
surpassing interest. Among its other treasures may be mentioned a Lock
of Hair of the unhappy Devereux, Earl of Essex--the authenticity of
which admits of no dispute; a Prayer book, the gift of Charles the
First; and, in the Library, no fewer than sixteen uninjured Caxtons.
The “Long Gallery”--ninety-two feet in length--is hung with Portraits,
the majority of which are original works of the great Masters who
conferred honour and glory on the Courts of the First and the Second
Charles. Leading from the Long Gallery is the famous “Cabal
Chamber,”[46] the chairs and tables and other furniture in which have
been untouched since the notorious “five” here met in secret to arrange
and carry out their plans.
So unchanged is the character of the Mansion, that little effort of
imagination will be required to people it with the gay courtiers and
light dames of the reign of the second Charles, when the “House at Ham”
was in its glory. Every object it contains is in keeping with the
period; of modern furniture there is nothing; but all the tables,
chairs, footstools, fire-dogs,--from things of curious and rare value
down to the minutest matters of daily use,--are of an age gone by. This
advantage is mainly attributable to the fact that since the Restoration
the venerable dwelling has had but few occupants--two of them, the
Duchess of Lauderdale and the late Countess of Dysart, having died there
when their years numbered upwards of fourscore. According to Hume, James
the Second was “ordered to retire to this house,” on the arrival of the
Prince of Orange in London, but “thinking himself unsafe so near the
Metropolis, he fled privately to France.” Subsequently the “Manor House
at Ham” ceased to possess any public interest; fortunately there has
been no wish on the part of its noble owners to effect “restorations” of
any kind; it has been consequently suffered to retain its solemn aspect
and somewhat gloomy character; and remains a striking and impressive
monument of the period of its erection.
[Illustration:
From a drawing by F. W. Hulme. Day & Son, Lithʳˢ. to The Queen.
LOSELY HOUSE, SURREY.]
LOSELEY HOUSE,
SURREY.
Loseley House. This ancient Mansion--the residence of James More
Molyneux, Esq., the lineal representative of two families, famous in old
times--although sadly impaired by time and neglect--cannot fail, while
one stone remains above another, to retain the interest that arises from
venerable antiquity, in association with renowned names. It is situated
about two miles south-west of Guildford. A long Avenue, perfectly bare
of trees, leads from the public road to the House. The old Hall has been
shorn of its proud and graceful proportions; repairs have been made by
sloven hands; parts of the Moat have been filled up, but so coarsely, as
to seem the result of accident rather than design. The principal
approach is over a bridge between clumsy stables and storehouses. The
odious face of a modern clock covers the antique Horologe, of which many
of its old admirers make honourable mention; the Porch, which bears the
date of 1812, over which is still inscribed, in Roman capital letters,
the sentence--
“INVIDIÆ, CLAUDOR, PATEO SED SEMPER AMICO,”
is of a nondescript character, utterly out of keeping with the
structure; a deformity which--following absurdities of outhouses and
unseemly patches--carries conviction that
“Something ails the place.”
Nor is the impression removed upon entering the venerable
Hall--venerable only from its age--for bad taste appears to have studied
how most effectually to deface it. A patent stove, of Birmingham
manufacture, stands a few feet from the embayed window, illuminated with
the “Household Coats of the Family, emblazoned in the gorgeous tinctures
of Heraldry on the glass;” a “thin” Gallery, which the gauntleted hand
of one of the grim Knights of old times might shiver into fragments at a
single blow, leads to some upper chambers; above the sturdy arched
Doorway hang some double-handed swords, glaives, partisans, and rusty
helmets, relics of the once heroic masters of the place,--
“The treasures of a soldier, bought with blood,
And kept at life’s expense,”--
mingled with the bugles of a brass band, and the drumsticks of a corps
of Yeomanry.
These unequivocal signs of neglect and tokens of indifference towards
ancient honours and long-ago renown are mournful indications--grieving
the heart of the antiquary, and nullifying the belief that a proud name
is a noble heritage because a stimulus to rivalry in honour and in fame.
It has been our bounden duty thus to notice this modern vandalism--for
the humblest writer may contribute somewhat to increase a love for what
is excellent by aiding to censure what is evil.
Of its internal decorations there are some interesting and valuable
remains, which have neither been removed nor defaced. Mr. Shaw, in his
“Details of Elizabethan Architecture,” publishes an engraving of the
beautiful and elaborately-carved Chimneypiece of the Dining Room. “The
compartment above the mantel is entirely devoted to a very full display
of heraldic insignia, recording the descent and alliances of the family
[Illustration]
of More; the rich effect of which is increased by the spirited carvings
of the styles, and of the six variously-formed panels in which the
several shields are inserted. These ornaments are all executed in fine
stone, and skilfully wrought.” The ceilings at Loseley are also of
remarkable character. That of the Drawing Room is especially fine. It is
adorned with “Gothic tracery and pendant corbels.” In one of the
cornices is inserted a mulberry-tree, on one side of which is inscribed
“Morus tarde Moriens;” on the other, “Morum cito Moriturum”--being a
rebus on the name of the family. The ceiling of the Bed Room, of which a
portion is shown in the wood-cut annexed, is also very beautiful. In
several of the compartments are introduced the Moor-cock and
Moor-hen--badges of the race of More.
“The Manor of Loseley,” according to Mr. Kempe, in his introduction to
“The Loseley Manuscripts,”[47] “bore its present appellation from the
Saxon times.” Osmond gave it to King Edward the Confessor; the
Conqueror gave it to Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel and
Shrewsbury, a stout leader of the Normans at Hastings fight; and after
passing into the possession of various persons by inheritance or
purchase, it was, early in the reign of the Eighth Henry, bought by
Christopher More, Esq., whose grandfather was Thomas More, of Norton, in
the County of Derby, Gent., with whom the pedigree of More of Loseley,
in the Books of the Heralds’ College, begins. His son and successor,
William, who was knighted by the Earl of Leicester--“the Queen being
present at the ceremony”--built the Mansion at Loseley, commencing the
work in 1562--it is conjectured “to the north of an older edifice.” It
was evidently intended to form three squares of a quadrangle, if not a
complete square. The centre of the building, which remains to this day,
was completed in 1568. The Gallery and Chapel were added subsequently,
but these have been “of late years demolished.” The accompanying
wood-cut is of the South front; and, fortunately for the picturesque
effect of the subject, a group of trees on the
[Illustration]
lawn conceals from view the ungainly modern porch, and some other
monstrous additions to the venerable building of the sixteenth century.
To Sir William More succeeded, in 1600, Sir George More, who had been
knighted by Queen Elizabeth; and who, under James the First, was
Chancellor of the Order of the Garter, Lieutenant of the Tower, and
Receiver-General and Treasurer to Henry Prince of Wales. The last male
heir of the Mores dying in 1689, the estate devolved to Margaret his
sister, who married Sir Thomas Molyneux, Knight, the ancestor of the
present possessor of Loseley--a name even more renowned than that with
which thenceforward it became united.
It was during the Lordship of Sir George More--between the years 1600
and 1632--that the history of Loseley became deeply interesting, as
associated with some of the most remarkable events and illustrious
worthies of the epoch. The famous Dr. Donne--Poet, Scholar, and
Divine--privately married the daughter of Sir George. Donne was at that
time Secretary to the Lord Chancellor Egerton, the husband of the Lady’s
aunt. The marriage was “to Sir George so immeasurably unwelcome,” that
he successfully exerted his influence to procure the Poet’s dismissal
from his honourable and profitable service, and consigned to a gaol the
clergyman by whom the knot had been tied. His father-in-law--although
earnestly intreated in a letter, still preserved at Loseley, “so to deal
in the matter as the persuasions of nature, reason, wisdome, and
Christianity should dictate”--separated the couple, imprisoning one
“offender,” and involving the other in a tedious and ruinous law-suit,
for the recovery of his “deare life.” His friend and biographer,
exquisite Izaak Walton, has in his own simple and natural manner
recorded the story of this young affection, and of the sad trials and
pecuniary difficulties in which the Poet and his wife were for a long
period involved; presenting us with a beautiful though a mournful
picture of a high and generous mind struggling against the most galling
of all troubles; to him the more intolerable, because of her whom he had
“transplanted into a wretched fortune, which he laboured to disguise
from her by many honest inventions.” At length, however, fate was not
only borne but conquered; Dr. Donne entered into holy orders, became a
prosperous man--King’s Chaplain and Dean of St. Paul’s--and the gates of
Loseley did not for ever remain closed against him. Other names--equally
immortal--are associated with this ancient house. Sir George More was
the guardian of Lord Herbert of Cherbury--the Knight “whose chivalry was
drawn from the purest founts of the Fairy Queen”--the history of whose
life is a brilliant romance.
Queen Elizabeth paid frequent visits to Loseley during her “progresses;”
and among the “manuscripts” there exists a letter, not very
complimentary to the hospitality of the Mansion, in which Sir Anthony
Wingfield warns his friend Mr. More that he will find the visit “a very
great trouble and hinderance,” and advises him how to get himself
excused from the honour. It is certain, however, that her Majesty did
receive entertainment there, several times. There are letters from Sir
Christopher Hatton, in 1583, and from Lord Hunsdon, in 1591, ordering
Sir William More that his house be “kept sweete and cleane” to receive
her Highness--and the former intimates, that a past excuse will not
again serve a turn; “for,” writes Sir Christopher, “I have been
heretofore informed that you had some sycke of the infectione the last
yeare, and of other dangerous diseases of late in it, w’ch is now
reported here as a misinformacion and for otherwise than the brute
(bruit) declared.” The letter is addressed “from the Court at Otlands,
to the Right w’shipˡˡ my very good frende, Sʳ Will’m More, Knight.”
[Illustration:
From a drawing by S. Prout. Day & Son, Lithʳˢ. to The Queen.
ARUNDEL CHURCH, SUSSEX.]
ARUNDEL CHURCH,
SUSSEX.
The church at Arundel--of which we give a print of the interior from a
drawing by Mr. Prout--is of very ancient date. For a series of years
down to our own time, it was suffered to fall into decay; and age was
gradually removing all tokens of its former splendour. The roof had
disappeared from the chancel; and ivy had overgrown its carved pillars
and mullioned windows; the few repairs to which it had been subjected
had been carried out in bad taste; and for a long period it remained a
discreditable evidence of the apathy of successive Dukes of Norfolk,
rather than a monument to record the honours and glories of the race. It
is now, however, in progress of restoration; its
[Illustration]