Part 12

The monastery having been thus founded, its power was augmented by various other “pious and bountiful gifts;” among the rest, in the time of Henry II., the Earl of Leicester became so liberal a patron, “that the monks allowed the said earl to be reputed the principal founder,” and agreed to “perform for him and his heirs such duties in his life-time and death as for their chief founder.” Thus richly endowed, and pleasantly placed among fertile fields, thick woods, and beside a productive river, the monks of Combe continued to enjoy life until the “killing frost” of the dissolution not only nipped the shoots, but destroyed the root, of the flourishing tree.

The abbey with its estates then became the property of the Earl of Warwick, to whom it was granted by Edward VI.; and after his attainder, a lease of “the site, and divers lands belonging thereto,” was granted to Robert Keylway, who dying (23d Elizabeth), left a sole daughter and heir, who married John Harrington, Esq., afterwards Lord Harrington,[63] whose daughter inheriting, became the wife of Edward Earl of Bedford; from her, “in consequence of the profuse expenditure in which she indulged,” Combe Abbey passed by purchase into the family of Craven, in whose possession it has since remained.

The family of Craven was, at a very early period, seated at Appletreewick, at Craven in Yorkshire. In 1611, Sir William Craven, knight and alderman, was Lord Mayor of London; his son, William, having served in the army with distinction, was knighted in 1626; soon afterwards elevated to the peerage as Baron Craven of Hampstead Marshall, Berks; and in 1663 created Earl of Craven. This heroic ancestor of the family is immortal in romance as the leading champion of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, the eldest daughter of James I., who, having married Frederic, the Elector Palatine, became for a short time a queen, when the revolted states, in their attempt to shake off the yoke of the Emperor Ferdinand II., advanced her husband to the regal dignity. The battle of Prague was fatal to their fortunes, the result having been to deprive the elector of his hereditary rank as well as his crown, and to send him forth an outcast and a wanderer, asking the aid of such cavaliers as sympathised with fallen greatness. The appeal was answered by many brave knights, called around the banner of the dethroned monarch chiefly by the charms and virtues of his British wife; and foremost among them was the Lord Craven. They were foiled in their hopes, however; the unhappy king died, and his widow returned to England, where, it is said, she privately married her gallant champion, and to whom she bequeathed a fine collection of paintings, chiefly portraits, which still adorn the long gallery at Combe Abbey.

The earldom became extinct in 1690, but the barony continued in the family; to which succeeded, in 1769, the sixth baron, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Augustus Earl of Berkeley, afterwards the Margravine of Anspach. William, his son, the seventh baron, was, on the 13th of June, 1801, created Viscount Uffington and Earl Craven; in 1807 he married Louisa, daughter of John Brunton, Esq. of Norwich--a lady who had previously “graced the British stage,” whose talents and virtues gave additional lustre to the position to which her marriage raised her, and whose name was not more honoured and respected when elevated to high rank than it had been when fulfilling the duties of a comparatively humble station. This estimable lady became a widow in 1825; when, the Earl of Craven dying, he was succeeded by his son, the present earl, who in 1835 married the Lady Emily Grimston, the second daughter of the Earl of Verulam.

The Abbey is, as we have stated, distant from Coventry about five miles; a plain but neat stone erection forms the entrance lodge. For a short distance the road winds through pleasant and truly English park scenery, interspersed with clumps of trees of various sizes and forms; while herds of deer sweeping across the path, give life and animation to the scene. Adjacent to a large sheet of water stands the house, which forms three sides of a quadrangle, originally the cloisters of the Abbey of Combe.

On the east side of these cloisters five highly

enriched arches still remain of the later Roman character, the most northern being of the transition period. The openings towards the court (now glazed) are of later date, probably about the fourteenth century. After the Reformation, on the property falling into the hands of the first Lord Harrington, he built the Elizabethan portion of the mansion, preserving, no doubt, the cloisters as a means of communication with the several apartments; and, on the whole, with the manors of Combe, Smite, and Binley, being transferred by sale from his daughter and heiress, Lucy Countess of Bedford to Dame Elizabeth Craven, widow of Sir John Craven (which transfer bears date 24th October, 1622); it fell in due time into the hands of the famous William Earl Craven, her son, who made considerable additions to the building, his architect, it is said, being the no less famous Inigo Jones.[64]

To attempt a formal description of the rooms would far exceed our purpose and limits; we shall, therefore, content ourselves with pointing out a few of the more remarkable objects, commencing with the north parlour, a very handsome room, in which are the fire-dogs, forming the subject of the annexed vignette. This room contains very fine whole-length

portraits of the King and Queen of Bohemia, by C. Honthorst; and of Charles I. and the Princes Maurice and Rupert, by Vandyck. There is also a very fine bust of the present earl, by Behnes. Adjoining this room is the grand staircase, the ceiling of which is enriched by an oval garland of fruit and flowers, modelled with the most exquisite taste and delicacy of execution. Around the walls of the landing are suspended whole-lengths of William the first Earl Craven, Charles II., James I. and II., and others. From thence we enter the Elizabethan room, the subject of our illustration. It is said to have been fitted up for the reception of Queen Elizabeth, and is well worthy of such repute. The fire-place, of most elaborate design and execution, contains on each side the initials E. R. The ceiling is richly ornamented, and on the walls are hung five very fine landscapes, by J. Lootens, with other pictures of considerable merit. In the window is the bust of the Princess Elizabeth, with the following inscription:--

“Ælis Reg. Boh Fil Jac Rex Mag Brit 1641.”

And also another bust, on the base of which is carved,--

“La Sereniss Princ Sophia Pal. Fig: Di: Fred. A D 1643 Re Di Boenia Æ S 17.”

From thence, passing a small ante-room, which contains a most curious picture of the “Decollation of John the Baptist,”

said to be by Albert Durer, the long gallery is entered--one of those apartments so judiciously attached to the houses of the wealthy of this period, for the purposes of recreation and exercise during inclement weather. It is about one hundred feet in length and sixteen in width, lighted from the court-yard side, and filled with portraits of the early part of the sixteenth century. M. Mirèveldt and G. Honthorst are the principal contributors, and in the historical series here presented to view are subjects for much reflection. The Queen of Bohemia, whose destiny seems so closely interwoven

with the house of Craven, appears more than once.[65] The gallant and chivalrous William Earl Craven--the wise Chancellor Oxenstern--Charles XII. of Sweden, grim, stern, and forbidding--Archbishop Laud,--all are here; and last, not least, are the painters; besides many others, whose names are registered in the pages of history. Connected with this apartment is the elegant porch which forms the subject of our vignette, and was, no doubt, a garden-approach to the principal apartments. “It is constructed of very friable stone, the same apparently as that used in the principal buildings at Coventry. Some of its enrichments can no longer be made out.”

Descending to the opposite wing we find the dining-room, which is fitted up in panelled compartments of oak, and contains some beautiful carving in the sideboard, &c. Fine portraits of the Craven family, the Duke of Richmond, and Prince Henry (son of James I.), adorn the apartment, which also contains two transcendent pictures by Rembrandt. Adjacent to this room is a very handsome

apartment, ornamented by columns, and containing two pictures by Canaletti, which may be classed with the finest examples of that master.

There are numerous other rooms particularly rich in old carved fire-places, bedsteads (of which we give a specimen), tapestry, antique furniture, and all things which correct taste and refined judgment could accumulate.

We may recur to the almost romantic interest which attaches itself to this house, from the chivalrous exertions of one of its early possessors in behalf of the illustrious but unfortunate princess, who is frequently recalled to memory within its walls. At each step we are reminded of the fact; and it is a melancholy, yet most pleasant reflection, in looking back through the vista of two centuries, to find the youthful and early devotion of Earl Craven not merely a transient and evanescent impulse, but enduring to the end, and manifesting itself in studious care to protect and soothe that royal lady in the decline of her fortunes and the close of her life. Well did he establish the truth of his family motto,--

VIRTUS IN ACTIONE CONSISTIT.

WARWICK CASTLE,

WARWICKSHIRE.

The early history of the town of Warwick is involved in the mists of past ages, and carries us back to the period prior to the invasion of Britain by the Romans; if Rous and other old historians of the county be correct, who declare it to have been a British town of considerable importance before that great event. Dugdale says, “as it hath been the chieftest town of these parts, and whereof the whole county, upon its division into shires, took its name, so may it justly glory in its situation beyond any other, standing upon a rocky ascent, from every side, and in a dry and fertile soil, having the benefit of rich and pleasant meadows on the south part, with the lofty groves and spacious thickets of the woodland on the north: wherefore, were there nothing else to argue its great antiquity, these commodities, which so surround it, might easily satisfy us, that the Britons made an early plantation here to participate of them.” The reader will not be expected to place implicit reliance on the statements of Dugdale concerning its foundation by Cymbeline, by whom it was termed Caerleon, and its destruction by the Picts and Scots, “till Caractacus, the famous British Prince, rebuilt it, making a mansion-house therein for himself.” After the defeat of Caractacus in A.D. 50, the Romans, in order to secure their conquests in Britain, erected several fortresses on the banks of the Severn and Avon, and Warwick is said to have been one of these, but this is not very clearly proved. During the Saxon period the town was included in the kingdom of Mercia, and fell under the dominion of Warremund, who rebuilt it and called it Warrewyke, after his own name. Warwick was subsequently destroyed by the Danes, and, according to Dugdale, “so rested until the renowned Lady Ethelfled, daughter to King Alfred, who had the whole Earldom of Mercia given her by her father to the noble Etheldred in marriage, repaired its ruins, and in the year of Christ DCCCCXV, made a strong fortification here, called the doungeon, for resistance of the enemy, upon a hill of earth artificially raised near the river side;” and this forms the most ancient part of the present building. But the most important reparations of the castle were the work of the famous Guy, Earl of Warwick, although Dugdale tells us that the great tower at the north-east corner, called Guy’s Tower, the walls whereof are ten feet thick, was built by Thomas, Earl of Warwick, about the 17th of Richard the Second, on whose banishment the custody of it was granted to John de Clinton, and in a short time after to Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent. In the reign of Henry the Third, the extraordinary strength of this building was alleged as a reason for particularly prohibiting the widowed Countess of Warwick from re-marrying with any other than a person approved by the King; but in the furious contests which occurred in the latter years of this reign, William Mauduit, the then Earl, neglecting to keep proper guard, the fortress was surprised, and all the building, except the towers, levelled with the ground, while himself and his Countess were carried prisoners to Kenilworth. The family of Beauchamp shortly succeeded to the Earldom, and by Thomas Beauchamp, in the reign of Edward the Third, the castle was repaired, strong gates were added, and the gateways fortified with embattled towers. Thomas de Beauchamp, his son and successor, passed a great portion of his time here, during his exile from Court; he had, thus, leisure to repair and strengthen the castle; and he it was who built the tower as stated above, on which he bestowed the name of Guy’s Tower; it is a fine relic of early castellated building, and is represented in our initial letter.[66]

The daughter of this Richard Beauchamp married Richard Nevil, son and heir of the Earl of Salisbury, and in consequence of this marriage the Earldom of Warwick came into the possession of the Nevils. This powerful Earl played a conspicuous part in the wars of the Roses, and has been immortalised by Shakspeare, in his drama of King Henry VI.; and, after a life of strange vicissitude and high excitement, he was killed in the battle of Barnet, A.D. 1471. His estates were forfeited, his widow was deprived of all power, “as if she had been naturally dead,” and her vast inheritances were settled upon her daughters, Isabel and Anne, the latter of whom was married to George Duke of Clarence, created Earl of Warwick by his brother, King Edward the Fourth. He chiefly resided at Warwick Castle, and added much to the strength and beauty of its works. On the accession of Henry the Seventh, the jealousy of that monarch to his son Edward, the last of the male Plantagenets, induced him to compass his death, by holding out to him fair promises and a hope of liberty (for he had been imprisoned in the Tower on a groundless charge, to keep him secure), to confess a connection with Perkin Warbeck, after which confession he was beheaded on Tower-hill. From this time until the 1st of Edward the Sixth there was no Earl of Warwick; until John Dudley having been advanced to the dignity of Viscount L’Isle, was so created through the favour of the Duke of Somerset, the powerful Protector; and on the failure of that line, the title was revived by James the First, in the person of Robert Lord Rich, in whose posterity it continued till the year 1759, when it passed into the family of the Grevilles, who now hold the title of Earl Brooke and Earl of Warwick, their seats being Warwick Castle and Brooke House, Dorset.

The Castle occupies the summit of a steep hill, which greatly aided its artificial defences in “the olden time.” The present approach is

by a narrow passage, cut through the solid rock, and extending to the main entrance from the Porter’s Lodge,--the Lodge itself, however, being a place of attraction which few will leave unvisited, for here are collected the marvellous relics of the great Earl--a rib of the dun cow, a tusk of the wild boar, with horse armour, a helmet, breast-plate, tilting-pole, and walking-staff, of such prodigious size and weight that they could have suited only a giant and his steed. Of the two famous Towers, that of Guy is to the right, while that of “Cæsar” (here represented) is to the left: they are connected by a strong embattled wall, in the centre of which is the ponderous arched Gateway, flanked by Towers, and succeeded by a second arched Gateway, with Towers and Battlements, “formerly defended by two portholes, one of which still remains; before the whole is now a disused Moat, with an arch thrown over it at the Gateway, where was once the drawbridge.”[67]

Passing the double Gateway, the court-yard is entered. Thus seen, “the castellated mansion” of the most famous of the feudal Barons has a tranquil and peaceful aspect; fronting it is a green sward, and the “frowning keep” which conceals all its gloomier features behind a screen of ivy and evergreen shrubs. It is only when viewed from the river, when the battlements of the old Castle seem literally towering in air, that a notion is obtained of its prodigious strength. The slopes, however, are now clothed with gently-growing trees; several unscathed cedars speak of long years of rest from strife; the gardens are among the fairest and most fertile of the kingdom; and in one of the conservatories of the rich Park, is deposited “the Vase,” which may be said to have given a second immortality to the name of Warwick.

The interior of Warwick Castle demands but a brief notice. “The Hall” is a restoration; and the apartments, generally, have been subjected to the deleterious influence of the fashionable upholsterer. The rooms contain, however, many rich treasures of art; the collection of pictures, although of limited extent, is of rare value, comprising, perhaps, some of the best examples to be found in England of Vandyck and Rubens; and there is a fine assemblage of costly garderobes, cabinets, encoigneurs, tables

of Buhl and Marquetrie, vases, and bronzes, with many veritable antiques. An object of much interest is pictured in the appended wood-cut. It is “the Warder’s Horn.” Its history is told by the following inscription:--

PHIL. THOMASSINUS. FEC. ET EXCUD. CUM PRIVIL. SUMMI. PONTIFICIS ET SUPERIOR. LICENTIA ROMÆ. FLORUIT 1598.

It measures two feet two inches across, and three inches and three-quarters diameter at the mouth.

In all respects Warwick Castle holds rank among the most remarkable of our existing remains of the dwellings of the Feudal Barons. Its history is deeply interesting; and from the few changes it has undergone, we require little aid from fancy to read there a full and perfect record of the leading incidents of by-gone ages.

WROXHALL ABBEY,

WARWICKSHIRE.

Wroxhall Abbey. Of Wroxhall there is no particular mention in the Conqueror’s survey--a circumstance for which Dugdale accounts by “the barrennesse of the soil,” which now vies in fertility and beauty with the choicest districts of England. “A monastery of nuns” was founded here so early as “King Stephen’s time.”[68] The founder endowed it with “totam terram loci de Wrocheshale--with large proportions of lands and woods thereabouts: together with the church of Hatton and whatsoever belonged thereto, and so much of his royalty in Hatton as lay betwixt the two little brooks there.” It also received large benefactions from other parties, and sundry immunities and privileges. At the dissolution its value extended to 72_l._ 12_s._ 6_d._ “above all reprises;” the then prioress received a pension of 7_l._ 10_s._ per annum; and the site thereof, “with church, belfrey, and all the lands thereunto belonging,” were given to Robert Burgoyn and John Scudamore, and their heirs.

The present structure is on the original site, the southern and eastern sides having been adapted as offices, and the western front was rebuilt by Robert Burgoyn, and has been subjected to alterations of a later date, as will be seen in our view. The mansion was purchased from the Burgoyn family, in 1713, by the famous Sir Christopher Wren. It is, however, doubtful whether he resided here, as he was at that period actively employed in his official capacity. His son, Christopher Wren, died in 1747. He was buried here, and most probably on this spot he compiled with so much care and diligence the papers of the “Parentalia,” afterwards published under this title in 1750 by his son Stephen.

The mansion, as will be perceived, has a picturesque appearance, and some of the old wainscotting remains in the principal rooms, with some good carving round the chimney-pieces. The Chapel seems to have been formed from part of the cloisters: it is on the north side of the house, and contains some monuments of the Wren family and some good stained glass. It is at present in the possession of Mrs. Wren, a lady who derives her position as well as her property from marriage with the latest male descendant of the great architect. She resolutely closes the doors, not only of the mansion but of the adjacent chapel, against the entrance of all applicants for admission to examine either; and her discourtesy is consequently a proverb in the neighbourhood. We may add to this imperfect description an expression of satisfaction at the probable reversion of the estate into the hands of Chandos Wren Hoskyns, Esq., a gentleman whose acquirements are such as to render him a worthy successor of the great man whose name has imparted interest to this mansion.

BROUGHAM HALL,

WESTMORLAND.

Brougham Hall--the seat of Henry, Lord Brougham and Vaux--is situated about a mile south of Penrith, on the high-road from Lancaster to Carlisle. It is a structure of mixed character--half castle and half mansion--of which there are many examples in the northern districts of the Kingdom. Its origin dates from a remote period; and it has, no doubt, largely participated in the perils that arose from close proximity to “the Border.” The remains of a castle still more ancient than the greater part of the building, and, apparently, of far greater strength, stand at a short distance from the Hall, in the midst of “pleasant scenery”--fruitful fields and a gentle and generous river, the river Eamont. The earliest mention we find of Brougham occurs in the “Itinerary” of Antoninus, and in the “Notitiæ,” from which we gather that it was a Roman station of considerable importance. The remains of the camp may still be traced near the present house, and a field close by appears to have been the burial-place (as usual, without the walls), many tombs and altars having been, from time to time, discovered there.

“Although,” according to Camden, “time hath consumed its buildings and its splendour, the name remains almost entire, for at this day we call it Brougham.” And this so clearly resembles the Roman Brovocum or Brocovum (for it is spelt both ways) that the etymology may be considered settled, although for many centuries both the place and the family were called Burgham--a name considered by Horsley (in his “Roman Antiquities of Britain”) as of Saxon derivation, compounded of _Burgh_, castle, and _Ham_, town. Stukeley in his “Itinerary,” (1725) says,--“The trace of the Roman city is very easily discovered, where the ditch went between the Roman road and the river. I saw many fragments of altars and inscriptions at the Hall near the bridge, all exposed in the court-yard to weather and injuries of every sort.”