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HOLLAND HOUSE,

The approach to Holland House is by an avenue of venerable elms; the entrance-gates are examples of wrought iron, remarkably elegant in design and fine in execution. Within the demesne, small although it be, all sense is lost of proximity to a great city: the close foliage completely shuts out the view of surrounding houses, and the birds are singing among the branches, as if enjoying the freedom of the forest. Yet Holland House is now enclosed on all sides--north, south, east, and west--by brick houses of all sorts and sizes, upon which it seems to look down, from its elevated position, with supreme contempt for the convenient "whimsies" of modern architects.

During the lifetime of the late peer, Holland House obtained a certain degree of fame as the occasional rendezvous of the wits of the age; and the f?tes at which they were assembled furnished brilliant themes for the exercise of poetical talent; but the records of genius there fostered and encouraged are singularly few. The historian, the poet, the artist, and the man of science, became guests in the mansion when they had acquired fame, but those who were achieving greatness, and stood in need of "patronage," were not permitted to share its enjoyments and advantages.

The grounds and gardens of Holland House have been skilfully and tastefully laid out; the trees are remarkably fine, and give a character of delicious solitude to the place, keeping away all thought of the vast city, the distant hum of which is at all times audible; and, although "prospects fresh and fair" are in a great degree shut out, imagination may easily follow the steps of Addison into this calm retreat, and quote the lines of Tickell on the poet's death, as applicable to the present day as they were to a century back:--

"Thou hill, whose brow the antique structures grace, Rear'd by bold chiefs of Warwick's noble race; Why, scene so lov'd! where'er thy bower appears, O'er my dim eyeballs glance the sudden tears? How sweet were once thy prospects fresh and fair, Thy sloping walks, and unpolluted air! How sweet the gloom beneath thy aged trees, Thy noontide shadow, and thy evening breeze; His image thy forsaken bowers restore, Thy walks and airy prospects charm no more. No more the summer in thy glooms allay'd, Thy evening breezes and thy noon-day shade!"

The prospect, however, notwithstanding the multiplicity of houses by which the grounds are surrounded, is not all destroyed; vistas are here and there formed between the trees, which command extensive views; and garden-seats still exist, to wile the visitor into "shady places," where the hill of Harrow and other striking objects are seen in the distance, while the surrounding shadow enhances the value of the bright scene beyond:--

"For loftie trees, y'clad with summer's pride, Did spread so broad, that heaven's light did hide, Not pierceable with power of any starre; And all within are paths and alleies wide, With footinge worne, and leading inward farre."

But judgment, tastefully exercised, has made many openings among those thick woods; and those who wander among them enjoy the feelings of entire solitude--a feeling augmented if the time be evening; for, as we have intimated, although scarcely two miles distant from the heart of London, here the nightingale

"Supplies the night with mournful strains, And melancholy music fills the plains."

"Here Rogers sat, and here for ever dwell To me those pleasures that he sings so well."

Some lines, scarcely better, have been appended by Henry Luttrell, Esq.; but the genius of the place has essayed a flight no higher than that which might grace a school-girl's album. Nature has done more for the domain than art; from various points, fine views are obtained of the country that surrounds London; and although, of late years, they have been sadly narrowed by "endless piles of brick," when Tickell wrote his lines on the death of Addison, no doubt they were "Fresh and Fair."

Considerable alterations internally were made to the building by Inigo Jones. The entrance-hall, the two staircases, and the parlour leading out of the principal staircase, are the only parts of the mansion on the ground-floor that still retain their original character. On the first floor, beside the Gilt Room, is a noble long gallery, now the library, and the late Lady Holland's drawing-room or boudoir. All these rooms preserve their ancient decorations, and are in the purest taste and the most costly style of execution.

This cut represents some of Cleyn's painting in the soffite of one of the arches in the gilt-room; it is roughly painted--although in a free and masterly style--in umber, on a white ground; the drapery, dress, and hair of the figures, are gilt.

The decorative panelling of the Gilt Room is continued round the four sides, and in the large recess in the centre ; the interior of each panel has a small raised fillet, about an eighth of an inch in thickness, forming an ornamental border: this is gilt. In the centre of the panels are painted alternately cross-crosslets and fleur-de-lis, charges in the arms of Cope and Rich; they are surmounted by an earl's coronet, with palm or oak branches, in gold, shaded with bistre. The figures over the fireplaces have the flesh painted, the rest is gold shaded; the lower columns of the fireplaces are painted black, the upper being of Sienna marble: both have gilt ornaments at the lower part of the shaft, and their caps and bases gilt: for the rest, all the prominent mouldings, the flutes, caps, and bases of the pilasters are gilt; the cima recta of the great entablature has a painted leaf enrichment, with acorns between, the latter of which are gilt. The groundwork of the whole is white. The busts in the room were placed there by his late lordship: over the fireplaces are those of King William the Fourth, and George the Fourth when Prince Regent. Arranged on pedestals round the room are busts of the late Lord Holland, Francis Duke of Bedford, Henry first Lord Holland, the late Duke of Sussex, John Hookham Frere, the Duke of Cumberland , Napoleon, Henry the Fourth of France, the Right Hon. Charles James Fox, by Nollekens, a duplicate made for the Empress Catharine of Russia. In the bow-recess are models of Henry Earl of Pembroke, and Thomas Winnington, Esq. The painted shields in the corner of the room bear the arms of Rich of Warwick, and Cope and Rich. Of the ancient furniture of the

Gilt Room two chairs alone remain; these are mentioned by Horace Walpole as being the work of Francesco Cleyn: they are painted white, and partly gilt. A large bench, formed by three of these chairs placed together, with one arm only at each end, was discovered by the artist some years ago, in a lumber-place over the stable, where, probably, it still remains. The Gilt Room, during the lifetime of his late lordship, was used as the state dining-room: the state drawing-room, lined with silk, and hung with paintings, led out of it by the door on the right--seen in the print. Parallel to these rooms, at the back of the

building, is another line of drawing-rooms, modernised, but which contain a valuable collection of paintings. Among them is a celebrated one by Hogarth--the amateur performance, by children of the nobility, of "The Beggar's Opera." This painting is very large: the whole of the figures are portraits. Another painting by Hogarth is in the collection, which has never been engraved. It is a view of the entrance to Ranelagh Gardens, Chelsea. The collection contains a few very fine Sir Joshua's. Among them is his portrait of Joseph Baretti, well known from the engraving. There are likewise a few first-rate pictures of the old masters. The library contains a series of portraits of political and literary friends of his late lordship; and, in the boudoir, are the series of the late J. Stothard's most exquisite compositions to illustrate Moore's poems. These drawings are very highly finished, and are twice the size of the engravings which were made from them.

In "Lady Holland's Boudoir," among other curiosities, are two candlesticks formerly belonging to Mary Queen of Scots; they are of brass, each of eleven and a half inches in height. They are of French manufacture; the sunk parts are filled up with an inlay of blue, green, and white enamel, very similar to that done at Limoge. These candlesticks are extremely elegant; one of them is represented in the above woodcut.

The accompanying woodcut represents the fireplace in "the ancient parlour;" leaving the principal staircase in the ground floor; the door on the left leads into this room. It is supposed to have been painted in a similar style to the great chamber above-stairs. The fireplace in this room is of the most excellent design and capital execution. A portion of the framing of the room is shewn by the side of the fireplace: this is likewise very elegant. One of the ancient windows of this apartment is blocked up, and an ornamental arch placed in front of it by Inigo Jones. It was in this room that plays were performed by the direction of the first Lady Holland, when the theatres in London were shut up by the Puritans: it is commonly called "The Theatre Room."

The other rooms will require but a brief notice. "The Journal Room" is so named because a complete set of the journals of the Houses of Lords and Commons are there preserved: it contains several portraits, among which are three or four by Sir Joshua Reynolds. This is on the ground-floor. Underneath the hall is the ancient kitchen, not long ago fitted up as a servants' hall. In the north-east wing is a large apartment, formerly the chapel of the mansion: it has been disused for half a century, having been converted into a bath-room.

The Libraries are spacious and "well stocked;" the principal, which forms the west wing of the house, is styled the Long Gallery; it is, in length, one hundred and two feet, and, in breadth, seventeen feet four inches. According to Mr. Faulkner , whose account was written under the superintendence of the late Lord Holland, in the year 1746, this fine apartment was entirely out of repair, and even "unfloored:" it was, however, at that period completely restored, and converted from its ancient use, as the gallery for exercise, into a receptacle for books, of which it contains a rare selection. The first Lord Holland had fitted it up for pictures; blocking up many of the windows, and opening in lieu of them a large bow-window on the west side. The "West Library" and the "East Library"--two rooms of moderate extent--contain also several valuable folios--curious treasures of antiquity. Mr. Faulkner enumerates some of the more remarkable of the contents of the eastern library, which cannot fail to interest the reader:--

"A curious copy of Camoens, to which the praises of Mr. De Souza, the patriotic editor of the late splendid edition of that poet, have given extraordinary celebrity. It is a copy of one of the earliest editions, and Mr. De Souza alleges that it must have been in the hands of the poet himself. At the bottom of the title-page the following curious and melancholy testimony of his unfortunate death is written in an old Spanish hand, which states that the writer saw him die in an hospital at Lisbon, without even a blanket to cover him.

"Specimens of all the types in the Vatican Library, printed in the Propaganda press, A.D. 1640, on silk.

"The music of the 'Olimpiade,' an opera of Metastasio, well authenticated to have been transcribed by J. J. Rousseau, when that extraordinary man procured his livelihood by copies of this kind. The hand-writing is so beautiful that it resembles copper-plate engraving.

"Four volumes of MS. Plays of Lope de Vega, the first containing three plays in his own hand-writing, with the original license of the censor.

"The original copy, in MS., of the 'Mogigata,' a favourite play of the celebrated Moratin, the first writer of Spanish comedy now living, but who has been proscribed and exiled by Ferdinand the Seventh.

"There are several others of nearly equal interest, and among the MSS. there are many curious autographs of Philip the Second, Prince Eugene, Pontanus, Sannazarius, and others, and three original letters of Petrarch.

"Also a voluminous MS. collection of the proceedings in Cortes, from the earliest period, copied from the archives of the King of Spain. The original correspondence of Don Pedro Ronquillo, the Spanish ambassador, resident in London at the time of our Revolution; part in cypher, with the translation by the side, with several others of equal value and curiosity."

We may not take leave of this fine old mansion without expressing a fervent hope that the interesting work of two centuries may endure for many centuries to come; that modern improvements--although they may place the suburb of which it is the crowning gem in the centre of the Metropolis--will not displace it to make room for petty structures of a day, but that the tale of the Olden Time may be there told to our descendants as it has been there told to our ancestors.

BLICKLING HALL,

NORFOLK.

"Blickling 2 monarchs and 2 queens has seen; One king fetch'd thence, another brought, a queen."

Mr. Harding's print of this fine old mansion affords an accurate idea of its elegance and grandeur. Its form is quadrangular--having a square turret at each angle. Viewed from any point it is highly picturesque. The Park, which surrounds it on three sides, contains above 1000 acres. Its trees are celebrated for their exceeding beauty and prodigious growth. A remarkably fine piece of water, shaped like a crescent, adjoins the house, extending nearly a mile in length. Nature and Art have both contributed to adorn this artificial Lake; gentle acclivities rise from its sides, here and there fringed with evergreens infinitely varied, while gigantic oaks, and elms, and beeches, rising at intervals, seem the guardians of its banks.

We may sum up our account of Blickling Hall in the words of old Blomefield:--"The building is a curious brick fabric, four-square, with a turret at each corner; there are two good Courts, with a fine Library, elegant Wilderness, good Lake, Gardens, and Park; it is a pleasant, beautiful seat, worthy the observation of such as make the Norfolk Tour."

The erection of the existing structure was commenced by Sir Henry Hobart, Bart., during the reign of James the First, but was not finished until the year 1628, when "the Domestic Chapel was consecrated." The building, however, retained its original character, varying very little, in external appearance and internal arrangements, from the old Mansion in which Queen Anne Boleyne was born, and which had been famous for centuries.

The venerable Church of Blickling adjoins the mansion. It is built--in the style of nearly all the Norfolk Churches--of flint, a material that essentially impairs the solemn dignity of the structure. Many of the Brasses and Tombs are of high interest; the one of which we append an engraving is to the memory of Edward Clere. It is described by Blomefield as "a most curious Altar Tomb, placed between the Chancel and Boleyne's Chapel. The Effigy which laid upon it is now gone; but there remain the Arms and Matches of his family, from the Conquest to the time that his son and heir, Sir Edward Clere, erected this tomb." As a work of art, the Tomb possesses considerable excellence. The carved Armorial Bearings retain much of the original brilliancy of their colouring. Among the Brasses is one for Anne Boleyne, aunt of the unfortunate Queen, and another of Isabella Cheyne, remarkable as exhibiting the earliest authentic example of the necklace. An elaborately-wrought Oak Chest, of great size, strongly banded with iron, and secured by five curiously formed locks and keys, is preserved in Blickling Church; but a relic still more curious and unique is a Poor-box, of very primitive character, heart-shaped, and painted blue, the letters, "Pray remember the Pore," being gilt. We give engravings of both these peculiar and very interesting antiquities.

BURGHLEY HOUSE,

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

Burleigh, or Burghley House, the princely seat of the Marquis of Exeter, is one of the most magnificent mansions of its period; it has come down to us intact, and is perhaps more interesting--from its associations with the "glorious days"--than any other edifice now remaining in the kingdom. The halls are still standing where the famous Lord Treasurer entertained his Sovereign and her dazzling court; while Nonsuch, Theobalds, and Cannons have vanished--their sites are ploughed over; and Kenilworth has become a venerable antiquity, a moss-covered ruin.

Thomas, Lord Burghley, the Lord Treasurer's eldest son, was created Earl of Exeter in 1605; and Henry, tenth Earl of Exeter and eleventh Lord Burghley, his lineal descendant, was created Marquis of Exeter in 1801. His son, Brownlow Cecil, the second Marquis, who succeeded his father in 1804, is the present possessor of the princely mansion and estates.

On arriving opposite the mansion, the eye is bewildered at its unusual extent: its numerous turrets, and the spire of the Chapel rising above the parapets, give it the aspect of a town comprised in comparatively diminished area, rather than a single abode. The appended engraving exhibits a portion of the west front. The mansion stands in an extensive lawn. Mr. Gilpin, in his "Tour to the Highlands," thus describes it:--"Burghley House is one of the noblest monuments of British architecture of the time of Queen Elizabeth, when the great outlines of magnificence were rudely drawn, but unimproved by taste. It is an immense pile, forming the four sides of a large court, and although decorated with a variety of fantastic ornaments, according to the fashion of the time, before Grecian architecture had introduced symmetry, proportion, and elegance into the plans of private houses, it has still an august appearance. The interior court is particularly striking: the spire of the Chapel is neither, I think, in itself an ornament, nor has it any effect, except at a distance; when it contributes to give this immense pile the consequence of a town." Horace Walpole says, John Thorpe was the architect; and that he superintended the erection of the greater part of this stupendous building. This assertion is corroborated by the plans, still extant, in this celebrated architect's collection of designs, now in the Soane Museum. It is built of freestone and forms a massive parallelogram, enclosing a court 110 feet long and 70 feet wide. The principal entrance is on the north side,

and offers a frontage of nearly 200 feet, pierced with three ranges of large square-headed windows, divided by stone mullions and transoms. The outline is varied by towers at the angles surmounted by turrets with cupolas; the frontage is varied by advancing bays between the towers; a pierced parapet, occasionally embellished with ornaments that mark the Elizabethan era, crowns the walls. The chimneys are constructed in the hollows of Doric columns, which are in groups, connected by a frieze and cornice of the order; as they are very numerous, and of fine proportions--rising loftily in the air--they combine with the turrets, &c. to give a great variety of forms to the superior portion of the main design. In the arched roof under the passage to the interior court, which was in the first instance intended to be the chief entrance, are escutcheons of the family arms, on one of which is inscribed "W. DOM de Burghley, 1577," being the year when that part of the house was built. On the opposite side of the court, over the dial and under the spire, is carved the date 1585, which indicates when that part was erected; and on the present entrance, on the northern side, stands the date 1587 between the windows. The house has been much adorned by various successive possessors, and at the present time few seats, either in England or on the Continent, can vie with Burghley House.

The gorgeous Ball-room succeeds, fifty feet in length, twenty-eight in width, and twenty-six in height. The walls are painted with historical and other subjects by Laguerre. The candelabra, which are placed on pedestals of japan gilt about two feet high, are truly splendid. Two of them, placed by the sides of the lofty bow-window, are the figures of Negroes kneeling, and supporting the lights on their heads. The Brown Drawing-room, filled with pictures and a carved chimneypiece by Gibbons, leads to the Black Bedchamber, so called from the hangings of the bed, which are of black satin lined with yellow; the chimneypiece here is also by Gibbons. The west Dressing-room has in the window recess a toilette-table, set out with richly gilt dressing-plate. The north-west Dressing-room is hung with pictures; indeed every one of the principal rooms boasts of pictorial decoration, and among the profusion are many fine examples of ancient art. In a small apartment called the China Closet is an extensive gathering of varied specimens of antique Chinese, and Indian porcelain. Queen Elizabeth's Bed-room is hung with tapestry, and contains an ancient state bed with hangings of green embossed velvet, on a ground of gold tissue; with chairs to correspond. The toilette-table is set out with richly chased dressing-plate. A number of other apartments in this range follow, similarly furnished and adorned. On the south side of the house there is another suite of grand apartments called the George Rooms, which were decorated in 1789, under the express direction and control of Brownlow, earl of Exeter, who selected the whole of the ornaments from publications of ancient architecture in the library at Burghley. His lordship directed the whole, without the assistance of any professional person. The rooms are wainscoted with the finest Dutch oak, of a natural colour; the ceilings are mostly painted by Verrio, in mythological subjects; carving, gilding, and tapestry, are profusely employed; the furniture is of corresponding magnificence; and pictures, sculptures, and antiquities are dispersed, to add to the general embellishment. The Dining-room contains two superb sideboards laden with massive silver-gilt plate; a silver cistern weighs 3400 ounces, and a lesser one 656 ounces: there are also coronation dishes, ewers, &c. Two apartments are Libraries; they are filled with many MSS., fine and rare books, antiquities, and an extensive collection of ancient coins.

The new State Bed-room, in the suite of George Rooms, contains a state bed, which has the reputation of being the most splendid in Europe. It stands on a base or platform, ascended by a couple of steps. A canopy, richly carved and entirely gilt, is supported at the angles by clusters of columns rising from elaborate tripods, which support the canopy or dome. The height of this construction, which resembles a temple, is twenty feet from the ground; 250 yards of striped silk coral velvet and 900 yards of white satin are employed in the hangings. The bed is a couch, which stands under the temple. The fifth George Room is called "Heaven," from the multitude of Pagan deities with which Verrio has covered it; and the grand staircase is usually called "Hell," in consequence of the painted ceiling representing the poetic Tartarus.

It would be vain to attempt a minute description of all that interests the learned or accomplished visitor; a volume has already been published, which in itself is but an abridged account. Every faculty of rational enjoyment is gratified to repletion in viewing the gorgeous halls of Burghley House.

CASTLE ASHBY,

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

Castle Ashby, the venerable and deeply interesting seat of the Most Noble the Marquess of Northampton, is situate about eight miles from the town of Northampton.

Castle Ashby is about two miles from the White-Mill Station, on the Northampton and Peterborough Railway, from which a convenient road offers facilities to vehicles, while pedestrian visitors may shorten the distance, and enjoy extensive prospects of scenery, by taking a footpath over the hills--thus at once saving time and augmenting enjoyment. On ascending the first of these hills, he sees before him an extensive valley; on the opposite hill is placed the castle, of which, however, as yet he can obtain no glimpse, being hidden from his view by a dense mass of noble trees, which protect it from the northern winds.

From this point the church is an object of much beauty in the landscape, and being partially screened by fine trees, offers, as the visitor proceeds towards it, many pleasing and picturesque combinations. Emerging suddenly from under thick foliage, we tread upon an extended lawn, and the whole of the southern front of the mansion is at once in sight: its symmetrical regularity, its not unhappy marriage of English with Italian, its stately octangular towers, and the silvery grey of its time-bleached walls, all combine to produce a most agreeable impression. It is placed on the crest of the hill, the slope in its rear, a large tract of table land in front; at right angles with the front a most magnificent avenue of noble trees passes far into the distance, terminating on the northern side of Yardley Chase.

The castle buildings occupy a huge quadrangle, with a garden court in the centre. The most important apartments are on the northern and the southern sides. The north front is of pure Elizabethan architecture, plain, but of massive design, combined with a grandeur and impressiveness not often attained with such unadorned simplicity. The principal, or southern front, is remarkable for the curious anomaly it presents in the mixture of Elizabethan with Italian architecture. Pure taste, of course, rejects such experiments, but if they be at all allowed, perhaps it would hardly be possible to find an instance in which the incongruous association is less offensive than in this front; arising, no doubt, from no attempt having been made to engraft the one style upon the other, both being kept distinct. The Italian fa?ade was added to enclose the court, and complete the quadrangle: it was designed by Inigo Jones, and may be considered a good example of its peculiar character. In contrast with the plain, massive, Elizabethan wings, the work of Jones may, perhaps, justly be charged with something of a petite character; but, nevertheless, taking the whole together, it forms a composition by no means unpleasing. On entering the castle the visitor is ushered into the Great Hall, a room of noble dimensions, and which formerly possessed many claims to admiration, but, unfortunately, it has been modernised, and, therefore, after noting the fine pictures it contains,--chiefly old family portraits,--we pass on to the Dining-Room, which also contains some choice pictures; the most striking are portraits of the present noble marquess and his lady, apparently by Hoppner, and some choice gems of the Dutch school. Hence we pass into the Billiard-Room, where, after admiring the table and a few good pictures, there is nothing to detain us, and we enter the Drawing-Room, in which is an excellent large picture of landscape, with cattle and figures, the painter of which is not known. Presently we come to the Great Staircase, which may be admired for its rich old oak, carved, according to the fashion of Elizabeth's time, into a variety of geometrical forms, intermingled with wreaths of fruit and flowers, some parts of which argue no mean skill in the artisan. From hence we gain entrance to an ante-room, containing tapestry, said to have been presented by Queen Elizabeth; and on leaving this room we pass into the gallery of the Great Hall, whence we must pause awhile to examine a portrait of Mrs. Chute, by Reynolds, a most valuable picture of an excellent lady; the dress is white, the picture is in a light key, clear, broad, and harmonious, and of perfect execution. The next room is the Octagon, where are two life-size figures, in marble, of Mercury and the Venus de Medici, and also various other statues, of minor size and merit. King William's Room next engages attention: it is of large dimensions, and is chiefly remarkable for its ceiling, of which we have given one of the enrichments as our initial. There are two magnificent bay-windows in this room. The Long Gallery is contained in the upper part of Inigo Jones' fa?ade, or screen, of which it runs the entire length--ninety-one feet. It is not remarkable for any peculiar attractions. It contains a few good pictures, one of which is of interest, "The Battle of Hopton Heath," where, as we have seen, several members of the Compton family were distinguished. It will be at once understood that our remarks and enumeration of objects refer solely to matters of artistic or antiquarian interest; we therefore pass over much that might greatly interest general readers. On the whole, the interior does not sustain the rich promise of the exterior; the plan does not seem to have been carried out with the fulness and determination so marked in many of our Baronial Halls. The gardens do not present any remarkable features: the grounds are picturesque, and contain a large artificial lake, formed by the famous landscape gardener Brown, to whom so many of our nobility entrusted their estates for such aids as art can supply to nature. The grounds of Castle Ashby needed, however, but little of such help; they are naturally of a kind which art cannot create, nor do much to improve.

KIRBY HALL,

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