Part 8

[Illustration: B]RAMSHILL HOUSE is one of the most perfect of the remaining mansions of the time of James the First. It is said to have been erected for the excellent Prince Henry--by whom it was never inhabited, his death having occurred before the building was completely finished. It became the property of the Lords Zouch, from whom it subsequently passed to the family of Cope--the present proprietor being Sir John Cope, Bart. The wings are comparatively plain, constructed of brick, with stone dressings; but the centre is elaborately built of stone, finely carved and profusely decorated. It supplies a striking example of the peculiar architecture of the period, when “Italian improvements” were earliest introduced into, and mixed up with, our “old Gothic manner.” This central portion of the structure is carried up in rich compartments, with pilasters, from story to story, surmounted

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by a pediment of the same character, which bears the coronet of the Prince for whom the building is said to have been designed.

The interior is even more primitive and unimpaired than the exterior. The old Hall is floored and wainscotted with oak; the ceiling is enriched, and the walls are hung with family portraits in antique frames, in admirable keeping with the staid and solemn aspect of the venerable structure. The apartments throughout the mansion are of the same interesting class. In the principal drawing-room, the needle rivals the pencil upon the tapestried walls; every chamber retains unaltered its ancient character: the furniture and “garnishings” are of other days; the massive fire-places still afford space for the hospitable yule log; and in the chairs and couches that throng the several apartments, we see the quaint and elaborate carvings and embroidered coverings which exhibit the skill and industry of gone-by times. All things within the mansion are in harmony with the impressive grandeur it derives from age. Circumstances have happily existed to prevent the coarse assaults of the modern Renovator; and Bramshill House remains--and, we hope, will long continue--a fine example of the period of its erection.

Such “Houses” are rarely encountered now-a-days--a mansion so little altered, within and without, that Imagination may readily recal its ancient occupants, peopling the long galleries, shadowed recesses, and spacious Hall, with the formal and stately Dames and Knights of the period when it was erected. There are, indeed, few places that are so easily associated with the past; one might almost fancy that the very chairs and tables have been unmoved during two whole centuries.

The House is auspiciously situated: it stands on rising ground, and commands extensive prospects of the surrounding country. It has recently obtained augmented importance in consequence of the visit of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, who, while a guest of his Grace the Duke of Wellington, examined the old mansion of Bramshill, which is distant about six miles from Strathfieldsaye.

[Illustration:

F. W. Hulme, Delt. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.

HATFIELD HOUSE, HERTFORDSHIRE.]

HATFIELD HOUSE,

HERTFORDSHIRE.

[Illustration: H]ATFIELD HOUSE is finely placed on the summit of a gently swelling hill, close to the little town of Hatfield. Few old English mansions have a more general or varied interest. Whether we consider its architectural merits, its historical associations, or the picturesque attractions by which it is surrounded, its claims to our regard are neither few nor small. Seven centuries have passed away since Hatfield became a place of note; and the crown, the mitre, and the coronet, have successively held sway over its destinies. Of the architectural glories of Hatfield, little now remains of a date anterior to the time of James I., in whose reign the present noble house was built by John Thorp. A part, however, of the previous _palace_ of Hatfield still exists, interesting as the place of residence of the Princess Elizabeth, afterwards queen, during the reign of her sister, Mary. Nor was her residence here, though compulsory, a state of imprisonment and oppression, as some have said; for it has been proved, from various records, that she met with considerate treatment, and lived in a state befitting her high rank and queenly prospects. On the death of Mary, Elizabeth proceeded hence to take possession of the throne.[31]

Since the reign of James I., Hatfield has been the property and principal residence of the family of Cecil. William Cecil, afterwards Lord Treasurer Burleigh, laid the

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foundation of the greatness of this family. “This distinguished statesman,” says Sir Robert Naunton, “was the son of a younger brother of the Cecills of Hertfordshire, a family of my own knowledge, though now private, yet of no mean antiquity, who, being exposed and sent to the city, as poor gentlemen used to do their sons, became to be a rich man on London Bridge, and purchased (estates) in Lincolnshire, where this man was born.” First he became Secretary to the Protector Somerset, and afterwards, on the accession of Elizabeth, he was appointed Secretary of State. In 1561 he was made President of the Court of Wards. His great talent and assiduity won for him much regard at court, where he was treated with great favour. In 1571 he was created Lord Burleigh, and continued to maintain his distinguished position in the State till his death, in 1598. He resided chiefly at Theobald’s, where he often had the honour of entertaining his sovereign, who was “sene in as great royalty, and served as bountifully and magnificently, as at anie other tyme or place, all at his lordship’s chardg,” &c.

Robert, the youngest son of Lord Burleigh, became possessor of Hatfield by exchange with the king, James I. He inherited much of his father’s talent and wisdom, “with a more subtle policy and a superior capacity for state intrigue.” For certain secret services to James, during the life of Elizabeth, he was raised by the king to the peerage. Afterwards he was created Viscount Cranbourn, and, in the year following, he was made Earl of Salisbury. After filling the office of sole Secretary of State, he succeeded, on the death of the Earl of Dorset, to the high post of Lord Treasurer. “Shrewd, subtle, and penetrating,” he discharged his duties with great ability, and while attending to the interests of his country forgot not his own, having, “by various methods,” increased his inheritance to a very ample extent. He died in 1612. The title and estates then descended to his only son, William, who died in 1668, and was succeeded by James, the third earl. The fourth earl, also named James, died in 1694; his great-grandson, the seventh earl, was created Marquis of Salisbury by George III., in 1789. He was the father of the present noble representative of the family of Cecil.

Hatfield House is of vast extent; it is of brick, with stone dressings. It was built between the years 1605 and 1611, by Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury. After being suffered to fall into decay, it was restored and beautified by the sixth earl, about the middle of the last century. In 1835, a great part of the west wing was destroyed by fire, little being left of that part of the house besides the outer walls. On this mischief occurring, occasion was taken to effect a general reparation, which was brought to a close last year (1846). The house is in the form of an half H, comprising a centre and two wings, the hollow part being towards the south. The centre is a magnificent example of the Palladian style, and, although of mixed architecture, presents, in its totality, a design of great richness and beauty.

The basement-story contains an arcade, with eight arches, divided externally by pilasters, whereof the upper parts are fluted, and the lower parts enriched with Elizabethan arabesques. The lower pilasters are Doric, the upper Ionic. The wings are massive, and comparatively plain, supported at each corner by square turrets, seventy feet high to the gilded vanes; the space between, comprising three stories, is relieved by a fine oriel window, of two stories. The centre tower, over the grand entrance, is also seventy feet high; it has three stories, with coupled columns at the corners, the whole having an agreeable pyramidal effect. The third story of the tower contains a clock, and also the armorial bearings of the founder, with the date 1611, in which year the present house was finished. The length of the southern front is 300 feet, the centre being 140 feet, and each wing 80 feet wide, with a projection from the centre of 100 feet.

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The northern front is plain--a severe simplicity, nearly allied to grandeur, being its chief characteristic; the centre compartment, with its entrance-doorway below and noble clock-tower above, being the only elaboration it contains. Of this front we give a view, as seen from the avenue of trees which marks the approach on this side.

The south front contains the principal entrance, and, from its symmetry and ornate character, is, architecturally at least, the principal one. The east front has, however, certain advantages, which go far towards making it the most interesting, as it is certainly the most picturesque. The view in that direction, whether _from_ the house or _of_ it, is by far the most pleasing, as the founder well knew when he caused the principal apartments to be placed on this side. The view from these rooms is of remarkable interest and variety: first there is a noble terrace-walk, with an enriched parapet, over which the eye wanders at will among the clustering flowers of the Elizabethan garden, and from them to the Maze; beyond which is the Park, with its fine sheet of water, surrounded by noble old trees, their deep green reflexions broken ever and anon by the splash of leaping fish, or the sedate movements of the stately swans.

The interior well sustains the rich promise of the exterior. Convenience of arrangement and sumptuousness of decoration are every where united. Two grand staircases, one in the corner of each wing, lead to the principal apartments. These staircases are of oak, richly carved. That in the north-west angle was formerly called the Adam and Eve staircase: much of it is of recent date, having been redecorated since the late calamitous fire. The north-east staircase is all old, and exquisitely carved. This staircase leads almost direct to King James’s Room, one of the noblest apartments of the house, the extreme magnificence of which no words can describe: in truth it is too rich, and the eye turns involuntarily towards the grand oriel windows for relief. The ceiling is of exquisite design, and was, till recently, plain white; now it is all gold and colour. The chimneypiece is massive, of white marble; and a central niche over the fire contains a life-size statue of James I. in dark stone. The fire-dogs are of silver; the furniture and the six chandeliers are gilt; the curtains are of white satin; the chair and sofa coverings are crimson velvet; and the carpet, “patent Axminster,” is of Elizabethan design, worked in brown, gold, scarlet, and blue. This room contains some of the most important pictures. The Gallery extends the whole length of the south front: it is about 160 feet long, and 20 feet wide. The ceiling is of remarkable beauty, one of the finest examples of a period that was most prolific in such designs. The walls are panelled with oak, and covered with a profusion of carving and other embellishment. Our further remarks on the interior must be brief; many interesting matters we must altogether omit. We hasten, therefore, through the Winter Dining-Room, and pass into the Library, in which, among other treasures, there are some rare old documents. From the Library we may pass into the gallery of the Chapel, which contains a curious old organ, a large window of richly painted glass, and some good pictures. On the north side of the house is the Great Hall; it is 50 feet by 30, and is lighted by three bay-windows, rising the whole height of the hall. At the eastern end is a massive screen, supporting a gallery above, the whole covered with carvings of heraldic badges and other decorations.

The Park is full of fine trees, which from many points offer beautiful little pictures, more particularly when seen in combination with the house or garden terraces. One of these “bits” we have engraved for the initial letter.

[Illustration:

F. W. Hulme, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ.

KNEBWORTH, HERTFORDSHIRE]

KNEBWORTH,

HERTFORDSHIRE.

[Illustration: K]NEBWORTH Manor and Fort were granted at the Conquest by William I. to his favourite counsellor and captain, Eudo, surnamed Dapifer. Knebworth was fortunate in the rank or fame of its successive owners during the early periods of our history. In the reign of Edward I. its ancient fort was possessed by the powerful Robert de Hoo; in that of Edward II. it had passed to Thomas de Brotherton, fifth son of Edward I. by marriage with his daughter Margaret, afterwards created Duchess of Norfolk. Its next owner was the famous Sir Walter Manny. It devolved by heritage on Anne, daughter of the Duchess of Norfolk, and wife to John de Hastings, Earl of Pembroke. In the reign of Henry IV. it became the property of John Hotoft, Knight of the Shire for Herts; an eminent man in that reign, and subsequently Treasurer to the Household of Henry IV. His daughter married Sir Robert de Lytton, of Lytton in the Peak of Derbyshire, Governor of Bolsover Castle, and Grand Agister of the Forests in the Peak. His grandson (also named Robert), early in the reign of Henry VII., purchased the property of his maternal ancestry, and thus became Lord of Knebworth. This second Sir Robert de Lytton was of great note and power in his time: his family had always espoused the cause of the House of Lancaster; he fought with Henry VII. at the battle of Bosworth, and was by that king made Keeper of the Great Wardrobe, Under-Treasurer of the Court of Exchequer, one of the Privy Council, and Knight of the Bath. He is mentioned by Perkin Warbeck, in one of his manifestos, as exercising considerable influence in the councils of Henry VII., and was one of the most powerful of that king’s supporters, in point of possessions and descent. He held rich lordships in Derbyshire, Cheshire, Northamptonshire, Herts, and Essex. Knebworth became his principal residence. He enlarged the fortress, and changed its character into the elaborate and enriched architecture, which the part of the house now standing, and originally reconstructed by him, still retains.

The family of Lytton had been settled in Cheshire and Derbyshire from the period of the Conquest. Sir Giles de Lytton, nephew to the great Hubert de Lacy, Earl of Chester, whose arms he quartered, followed Richard III. to the Holy Land, and fought with him at Askalon. The Lyttons continued to hold offices of state or trust under successive monarchs till the reign of Elizabeth. Under Henry VIII., William de Lytton was made Governor of Bulloign Castle. Under Elizabeth, Sir Rowland de Lytton, Lord Lieutenant of Essex and Herts, commanded the forces of those counties at Tilbury Fort; and was Captain of that flower of English chivalry, the band of Gentlemen Pensioners, so renowned in the reign of the Virgin Queen.[32] Sir Rowland Lytton married Anne, daughter of Oliver, the first Lord St. John of Bletsoe, and great-granddaughter of Margaret Beauchamp by her first husband, Sir Oliver St. John. By her second marriage with the Duke of Somerset, this Margaret was the grandmother of Henry VII.; so that Anne, Lady Lytton, claimed the honour of a blood-relationship with Elizabeth, who favoured Knebworth with several visits during her reign.

In the reign of Charles I., Sir William Lytton, Knight of the Shire for Herts, adopted the popular cause, supported by Pym, Elliott, and Hampden, and was one of the commissioners sent to treat with the king at Oxford; those commissioners being chosen from the most powerful country gentlemen of the party. He seems to have been a moderate man, and a sincere patriot; for he opposed the ascendancy of Cromwell no less than the despotism of Charles, and was one of the refractory members whom Oliver confined in Hellhole. By his marriage with Ruth, daughter of Sir Thomas Barrington, of Barrington Hall, Sir William Lytton allied his house with the blood-royal of the Plantagenets; Ruth Barrington being fourth in descent, through the Countess of Salisbury and Richard de la Pole, Knight of the Garter, from George, Duke of Clarence, and Isabel, daughter of Earl Warwick the King-maker.

In the reign of Anne, the heir-male of the Lyttons dying without issue, the estate passed to his cousin, William Robinson, _ceu_ Norreys, of Guersylt, Denbighshire, and Monacdhu, in Anglesey, who, on the maternal side, descended from the Lyttons, and on his father’s, from a race still more ancient; tracing, indeed, in a direct and acknowledged line, from the heroes and princes of our earliest history,--Elystan Glodrydd, or the Glorious (godson of King Athelstan), Prince of North Wales, and Lord of all between Wye and Severn; Karadoc Vreicfras; Roderic the Great; and Cadwallader the last of the British kings. His ancestor, Sir William Norreys, married Anne, sister of Owen Tudor, and grand-aunt to Henry VII. His son, Sir Robert, married Anne, daughter of Sir W. Griffiths, Grand Chamberlain of Wales, and his name was of such eminence in the wars of the time, that his son, according to Welsh custom, took the name of Rob’s or Robin’s son, which was afterwards borne by the descendants indiscriminately with the proper patronymic of Norreys. Through later intermarriages this family claim also descent from the Norman houses of Grosvenor, Stanley of Hooton, Brereton of Malpas, and Warburton of Ardely. The great-granddaughter of this William Robinson, who took the name and arms of Lytton on succeeding to the estates of his maternal ancestry, was Elizabeth Warburton Lytton, who became sole heiress and representative of the families of Lytton and Robinson. She married William Earle Bulwer (brigadier-general), of Heydon Hall and Wood Dalling, Norfolk; lands which had been in possession of his family since the Conquest. (See Burke’s “Commoners,” and Bloomfield’s “Norfolk.”) By this marriage there were three sons: 1st, William Lytton Bulwer, the present possessor of Heydon; 2nd, the Right Hon. Henry Lytton Bulwer, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Madrid, to whom his grandmother bequeathed a considerable fortune; and Sir Edward Bulwer, Bart., who succeeded to his mother by will, in December 1843, and took the surname and arms of Lytton.

The ancient house of Knebworth is described in an early number of the “Gentleman’s Magazine.” It was a large quadrangular building, the front, or east side, being part of the early fortress, and dating as far back as the time of Edward III. Three sides of the pile were, however, removed, as both too vast and too ruinous to inhabit, by the late Mrs. Bulwer Lytton; and the fourth side, which was built in the reign of Henry VII. by Sir Robert Lytton, forms the present residence. It was repaired and restored by Mrs. Bulwer Lytton and the present possessor, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.

The house stands on what Sir Henry Chauncy calls “a dry hill in a fair large park, stocked with the best deer in the county, excellent timber and well wooded, and from whence you may behold a most lovely prospect to the east.”

The exterior consists of two wings of the purest Tudor architecture, flanked by highly ornamented turrets, surmounted with cupolas and gilded vanes. The windows are all in stone mullions with small panes, and most of them in stained glass. At the east or entrance-front is a tall square tower, with flag turret and massive projecting porch. The west or garden-front is peculiarly elaborate, and covered with the profuse heraldry of the period, in arms, rebuses, badges, &c. The centre is formed by a circular tower, squared towards the base, with projecting embayed window, and the initials R. L. (Robert Lytton), with the date 1499, over the door. On this side, a garden stretches into the park, laid out in the style favoured in the reign of James I., with stone-pierced balustrades, straight walks, statues, and elaborate parterres. The other sides of the house, viz. the north and east, are approached by stately avenues of limes and chestnuts.

On entering through the porch there is a narrow corridor, covered with armour of different dates. Over a door leading to the butteries hang a crusader’s chain-mail, and the gigantic double-handed swords of the same age. But the chief part of the armour here is of the more recent date of the Civil Wars.

On entering the park from the London road is a picturesque Lodge, which formed part

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of the ancient gateway in front of the quadrangle, and was removed by Mrs. Bulwer Lytton to the present site. The road winds through a richly wooded deer-park for about three-quarters of a mile, and, skirting the garden-front, approaches the house at the east.

The Mausoleum, a beautiful Palladian building of stone erected by Mrs. Bulwer Lytton, and the grey, venerable Church, which stands within the park, about one hundred yards from the house, partially serve to break the wide prospect to which Sir Henry Chauncy refers.