Part 41

Sir Nathaniel Curzon, Bart., succeeded his father in 1686. He married Sarah, daughter of William Penn, of Penn, in the county of Bucks, by whom he had issue five sons and four daughters, and died in 1718. His sons were—Sir John, who succeeded him; Sir Nathaniel, who also succeeded to the title and estates; Francis, who was a Turkey merchant, and died at Aleppo unmarried; William, who represented Clitheroe in Parliament; and Charles, LL.D. Sir John Curzon, Bart., who represented the county of Derby in Parliament during the whole of the reign of Queen Anne, died unmarried in 1727, when the baronetcy and estates passed to his brother, Sir Nathaniel Curzon, who also represented, till his death in 1758, the county of Derby in Parliament. He married Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Ralph Assheton, Bart., of Middleton, county Lancaster, by whom he had issue three sons—-John, who died in infancy; Nathaniel, first Baron Scarsdale; and Assheton, first Viscount Curzon, and father of the first Earl Howe. This Assheton Curzon, created Baron and Viscount Curzon of Penn, was member of Parliament for Clitheroe. He married, first, Esther, daughter of William Hanmer, Esq., by whom he had issue the Hon. Penn Assheton Curzon; secondly, Dorothy, sister of the first Earl of Grosvenor, by whom, with other issue, he had a son, Robert, who married the Baroness Zouche; and, thirdly, Anna Margaretta Meredith, by whom he had no issue. The Hon. Penn Assheton Curzon, just alluded to, eldest son of Viscount Curzon, married Charlotte Sophia, Baroness Howe, by whom he had issue seven sons and three daughters, the eldest of whom was Richard William Penn Curzon-Howe, created Earl Howe, who married twice—first, the Lady Harriet Georgiana Brudenell, daughter of the Earl of Cardigan, by whom, with others, he had issue the late Earl Howe; and, secondly, Ann Gore, maid of honour to Queen Adelaide, by whom also he had issue. The Earl died in 1870, and was succeeded by his eldest son, George Augustus Frederick Louis Curzon-Howe, as second Earl Howe, Viscount Curzon, Baron Curzon of Penn, and Baron Howe of Langar, who was born in 1821, and was M.P. for South Leicestershire from 1857 to the time of his accession to the peerage. His lordship married, in 1846, Harriet Mary, daughter of the late Henry Charles Sturt, Esq., M.P., by whom, however, he had no issue. He died in 1876, and was succeeded by his brother, the Hon. Richard William Penn Curzon-Howe. The present peer, who is third Earl Howe, Viscount Curzon, Baron Curzon of Penn, and Baron Howe of Langar, was born in 1822, and, having entered the army, became Captain in 1844, Major 1853, Lieut.-Colonel 1854, Colonel 1857, and Major-General 1868. Having served in the Kaffir war as Aide-de-camp to Sir George Cathcart, and at the siege of Delhi, at which time he was Acting Assistant Quartermaster-General, he became Military Secretary to the Commander-in-chief in India, and was also an Aide-de-camp to H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge. His lordship married, in 1858, Isabella Katherine, daughter of Major-General the Hon. George Anson, and has issue, besides other children, a son, the Hon. George Richard Penn Curzon-Howe, who is heir to the titles and estates.

Sir Nathaniel Curzon died in 1758, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Nathaniel Curzon, who, in 1761, was raised to the peerage by the style and title of Baron Scarsdale of Scarsdale, in the county of Derby—the title being derived from the hundred of Scarsdale in that county. His lordship had previously married the Lady Catherine Colyear, daughter of the Earl of Portmore, by whom he had issue five sons and one daughter. He died in 1804, and was succeeded in his title and estates by his eldest son, the Hon. Nathaniel Curzon, as second Lord Scarsdale. This nobleman married, first, the Hon. Sophia Susannah Noel, sister and co-heiress of Thomas, Viscount Wentworth, by whom (who died in 1782) he had issue the Hon. Nathaniel, who succeeded him, and the Hon. Sophia Caroline, who married Robert Viscount Tamworth, son of Earl Ferrars. Lord Scarsdale married, secondly, a Roman Catholic lady, Félicité Anne de Wattines, of Tournay, in Belgium, by whom (who died in 1850) he had, with other issue, the Hon. and Rev. Alfred Curzon; the Hon. Francis James Curzon, barrister-at-law; the Hon. Mary Elizabeth, married to John Beaumont, Esq., of Barrow; and the Hon. Caroline Esther, married to William Drury Holden, Esq., of Locko Park, in Derbyshire, who assumed the surname of Lowe instead of that of Holden, and is well known as William Drury Lowe, Esq.

The Hon. Nathaniel Curzon succeeded his father as third Lord Scarsdale in 1837, but died unmarried in 1856, when the title and estates passed to his nephew, the present peer, the Rev. Alfred Nathaniel Holden Curzon, second son of the Hon. and Rev. Alfred Curzon, already mentioned.

The Hon. and Rev. Alfred Curzon, eldest son, by his second marriage, of the second Lord Scarsdale, was born in 1801, and married in 1825 Sophia, daughter of Robert Holden, Esq., of Nuttall Temple, by whom he had issue two sons—George Nathaniel Curzon, Esq., who was accidentally killed by being thrown from his horse, and the Rev. Alfred Nathaniel Holden Curzon, the present Lord Scarsdale—and two daughters, Sophia Félicité Curzon and Mary Curzon, the elder being married to W. H. De Rodes, Esq., of Barlborough Hall, and the younger to Lord Arthur Edwin Hill-Trevor, son of the Marquis of Downshire. He died in January, 1850.

The present peer, the Rev. Alfred Nathaniel Holden Curzon, succeeded his uncle in the title and estates as fourth Baron Scarsdale, and as a baronet, in 1856. His lordship, who was born in 1831, was educated at Rugby, and at Merton College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1852, and M.A. in 1865. In 1856 he became Rector of Kedleston, and in the same year married Blanche, second daughter of Joseph Pocklington Senhouse, Esq., of Nether Hall, Cumberland, by whom he has issue living—the Hon. George Nathaniel, heir-apparent, born 1859; the Hon. Alfred Nathaniel, born 1860; the Hon. Francis Nathaniel, born 1865; the Hon. Assheton Nathaniel, born 1867; the Hon. Sophia Caroline, born 1857; the Hon. Blanche Felicia, born 1861; the Hon. Eveline Mary, born 1864; the Hon. Elinor Florence, born 1869; the Hon. Geraldine Emily, born 1871; and the Hon. Margaret Georgiana, born 1874. Lady Scarsdale died in 1875. His lordship is patron of five livings (viz. Kedleston, Quarndon, Mickleover, and Littleover, in Derbyshire, and Worthington, in Leicestershire), and is a magistrate for the county of Derby.

The arms of Lord Scarsdale are—_argent_, on a bend, _sable_, three popinjays, _or_, collared, _gules_. Crest—a popinjay rising, wings displayed and inverted, _or_, collared, _gules_. Supporters—dexter, a female figure representing Prudence, habited, _argent_, mantled, _azure_, holding in her sinister hand a javelin, entwined with a remora, _proper_; sinister, a female figure representing Liberality, habited, _argent_, mantled, _purpure_, holding in both hands a cornucopia, resting against her shoulder, _proper_. Motto—“Recte et suaviter.”

The title of “Scarsdale” had previously been held by the family of Leake, but had become extinct. The Leakes were descended from Adam de Leca, of Leak, in Nottinghamshire, who was living in 1141. William Leake, or Leke, who settled at Sutton-in-the-Dale, or, as it is frequently called, Sutton-Scarsdale, in Derbyshire, early in the fifteenth century, was a younger son of Sir John Leake, of Gotham. One of his descendants, Sir Francis Leke, Knt., married one of the co-heiresses of Swift, of Rotherham, and by her had issue a son, Francis Leke, who, on the institution of the order of baronetcy, was created a baronet in 1611. In 1624 he was created Baron Deincourt of Sutton, and, having taken an active part for the King during the civil wars, was in 1645 raised to the dignity of Earl of Scarsdale. He married Anne, daughter of Sir Edward Carey, Knt., and had issue by her—Nicholas, his successor; Francis, Edward, and Charles, slain in battle; and six daughters, one of whom was married to Viscount Gormanston, and another to Charles, Lord Lucas. His lordship felt the execution of his royal master, Charles I., so acutely, that he clothed himself in sackcloth, and, causing his grave to be dug some years before his death, laid himself in it every Friday for divine meditation and prayer. He died in 1665, and was succeeded by his son Nicholas as second Earl of Scarsdale and Baron Deincourt. This nobleman married Lady Frances Rich, daughter of the Earl of Warwick, and died in 1680. His eldest son, Robert, succeeded to the titles and estates, and having married Mary, one of the co-heiresses of Sir John Lewis, was made Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Colonel of Horse, and Groom of the Stole to Prince George of Denmark. Dying in 1707, he was succeeded, as fourth Earl of Scarsdale and Baron Deincourt, by his nephew, Sir Nicholas Leke, who, dying unmarried in 1736, the titles, including the baronetcy, became extinct.

The old hall of Kedleston, the ancient residence of the Curzon family for many generations, stood nearly on the site occupied by the present magnificent mansion. It was a fine quadrangular brick building of three stories in height, the entrance being under an advanced balustraded portico of three arches. Adjoining the house were training paddocks and all the appliances for the stud which was kept up. Of this house, fortunately, a painting is preserved in the present mansion. Not so of the still older house, of which no representation appears to be remaining. It must, however, judging from the records of the armorial bearings which decorated its stained-glass windows when the survey was made in 1667, have been a building possessed of many noticeable features. In the north window of the hall of 1677 we find recorded some of the bearings of the most distinguished families of the time, which seem to throw a strong light on the connections of the Curzon family. Among the arms, either alone or quartered or impaled, were, it seems, in the north window of the hall, Curzon, Twyford, Arden, Bek or Beke, Gresley, Wasteneys, Chandos of Radborne, Talbot, Furnival, and Montgomery of Cubley; in the south windows those of Curzon and Bagot; in another window those of Curzon, Vernon, Ludlow, Poole or Pole, and the device of the House of Lancaster; at the upper end of the hall, Curzon and Pole with Pole’s quarterings, Curzon alone, Curzon and Vernon with Vernon’s quarterings, and Curzon and Sacheverell with Sacheverell’s quarterings. About the room the following coats were irregularly dispersed—viz. Sacheverell, Vernon, Pole, Bagot, Montgomery, Ireton, Minors, Curzon, Twyford, and Brailsford; and on the inside of the large chimney of the Buttery were Touchet, Lord Audley of Marston, Erm, a chevron and lion rampt, but the colours gone, and Latimer or Greville (a cross fleury), and Frecheville. On the outside of the same chimney, a saltier without colour; Montgomery as before; a border of horse-shoes, probably Ferrers; Griffith of Whichnor, &c. These were presumed to be about the date of Henry IV., and the door was supposed at that time to be at least three hundred years old.

The old hall and the venerable church are said to have stood about the centre of the then village of Kedleston, and a corn-mill was near. The whole of the village, every house and every vestige of habitation, the “small inn for the accommodation of those who came to drink of a medicinal well, which has the virtues of the Harrogate water,” the corn-mill, and the old hall itself, were removed by the first Lord Scarsdale to make room for the present mansion, which he erected in 1765: the church alone remained. The village was removed to a charming spot a short distance off; the corn-mill was taken away; the stream which turned its wheel was converted into the magnificent lake that forms so fine a feature in the present park; the turnpike-road was removed to a distance of more than half a mile; and the “small inn” was replaced by the present capacious Kedleston Inn, some three-quarters of a mile away from its original site.

The present edifice was built from the designs of Robert Adam, one of the architect brothers of the Adelphi, and is considered to be his masterpiece. It consists of a noble central pile with two advanced wings or pavilions, with which it is connected by two curved corridors. The principal or north front has a grand central portico, the entablature and pediment of which are supported by six magnificent columns, 30 feet high, and 3 feet in diameter: some of these are composed of one single stone their entire length. They are designed from those at the Pantheon at Rome. The entrance in the portico is approached by a double or reflected flight of stone steps, which again are marvellous for the size of the stones: they are 10 feet in length, and each stone forms two steps. The pediment is surmounted by figures of Venus, Bacchus, and Ceres, and the sculptured _bassi-relievi_ (by Collins) represent vintage, pasturage, harvest, ploughing, and boar-hunting; while within the porticos are statues of a Bacchante, two of the Muses, and a Vestal. The Arcade, leading to Cæsar’s Hall, and the Corridors, are designed from the Amphitheatre. The Grand Entrance is in the centre of the portico, and opens at once into the Great Hall.

The Great Hall, a noble room, and one of the finest classical apartments in existence in the purity of its style, the beauty of its details, and the perfection of its proportions, is about 67 feet in length by 42 feet in width, and 40 feet in height. The vaulted ceiling rises to the full height of the house, and is supported on twenty fluted Corinthian columns 25 feet in height, and 2 feet 6 inches in diameter. These columns, which are “the glory of Kedleston,” are of native alabaster from Red Hill, in Leicestershire. The Hall is decorated with paintings and sculpture, the whole being classical, and in perfect keeping with the design of the building itself. The subjects of the _chiaro-oscuro_ paintings on the east side are—“Helen reproaching Paris, and silenced by Venus,” “Achilles receiving Armour from Thetis,” “Achilles delivering his Armour to Patroclus,” and “Mercury, Juno, and Neptune before Jupiter;” on the west side, “Helen and Paris,” “The Judgment of Paris,” “Hector and Andromache,” and “Juno and Minerva.” At the ends are “Apollo and the Hours,” “Night distributing her Poppies,” and “Sacrifices to Sylvanus, Diana, Apollo, and Mars.” Over the doors are four marriage subjects. The statues are Apollo Belvedere, Meleager, Idol, Venus, Faun, Apollo Vil. Med., Urania, Faun, Venus, Ganymede, Antinous, and Mercury. From the Hall the Dining-room is entered on the right, the Music-room on the left, and the Saloon at the south end.

Our account of the principal rooms must necessarily be very brief. It is enough to say that they are all fitted and finished in the most exquisite taste and in the most sumptuous manner, and are hung, or rather decorated—for the greater part of the pictures are let into the walls, as a part of the original design—with one of the best collections of paintings any house can boast.

The Music-room, a remarkably elegant apartment, contains many notable pictures, especially an “Old Man’s Head” by Rembrandt, Giordano’s “Triumph of Bacchus,” Guido’s “Bacchus and Ariadne,” Guercino’s “David’s Triumph,” and Leonardo da Vinci’s “Holy Family.” The chimney-piece contains a beautiful bas-relief by Spang. The Corridor and Corridor Staircase also contain many choice pictures.

The Drawing-room is a gorgeous apartment, hung with blue damask. It is 44 feet in length and 28 feet in width and height, and has a beautiful coved ceiling. The door-cases are finished with Corinthian columns of Derbyshire alabaster, and the chimney-piece of Italian marble is supported by two exquisitely sculptured whole-length female figures. The furniture, especially the couches, is of the most gorgeous character—the carved and gilt figures and foliage being in the very highest and purest style of Art. The paintings in this room include splendid examples by Annibale Carracci, Paul Veronese, old Francks, Breughel, Teniers, Cuyp, Mompert, Andrea del Sarto, Domenichino, Raffaelle, Swanevelt, Guido Reni, Benedetto Luti, Polemberg, Bernardo Strozzi, Claude Lorraine, Tintoretto, Parmigiano, and others of the old masters.

The Library—a noble room fitted with mahogany book-cases, a Doric entablature, and mosaic ceiling—contains among its pictures Vandyke’s “Shakspere,” Rembrandt’s “Daniel interpreting to Nebuchadnezzar,” and examples of Giordano, Carlo Loti, Drost, Michael Angelo, Salvator Rosa, Poussin, and others. It also contains busts of Homer, Sappho, Socrates, Virgil, Anacreon, Pindar, and Horace.

The Saloon is a grand circular apartment, 42 feet in diameter, and 63 feet high to the rose in the dome. It is considered, and truly, to be one of the most beautiful rooms of its kind in Europe. Its decorations are interesting from the classic taste displayed in designing them, and the elegance with which they are executed. It is divided into four recesses, or alcoves, having fire-places representing altars, with sphinxes, &c., adorned with classical figures in bas-relief; these alternate with as many doors; the whole painted and ornamented with white and gold. Over the doors are paintings of ruins by Hamilton (the frames representing the supporters of the family arms), and above the recesses are delineations in _chiaro-oscuro_ by Rebecca—the subjects from English history. The pillars, of scagliola marble, are by Bartoli. The dome is white and gold, finished in octagonal compartments with roses. The candle branches are of peculiar elegance, and beneath them is a charming series of exquisite bas-reliefs of Cupids, &c. The Saloon opens on its respective sides into the Great Hall, the Library, the Ante-chamber, and the south or garden front of the hall. From the ante-chamber, in which are Carlo Maratti’s “St. John” and many other valuable paintings, is reached—

The Principal Dressing-room, hung with blue damask, which contains, among others, life-size portraits of the first Lord and Lady Scarsdale by Hone; the second Lord Scarsdale by Reinagle, and his first wife by Hone; Charles I. by Vandyke; Prince Rupert’s daughter by Kneller; Prince Henry by Jansen; Prior by Kneller; and other paintings by Lely, Vandyke, Cimaroli, and others.

The State Bed-room is hung with blue damask, and contains a remarkably fine assemblage of family portraits, landscapes, and other pictures, among which are Sir Nathaniel and Lady Curzon by Richardson; Duchess of York by Lely; and the Countess of Dorset, daughter of George Curzon, after Mytens.

The Wardrobe, which adjoins, is principally remarkable for a fine collection of thirty-six ancient enamels after Albert Dürer, representing the life of our Saviour, and for the many fine family portraits and other paintings which it contains. Among these are—Lady Curzon and her sons, by Dobbs; Countess of Dorchester, by Kneller; the wife and child of Quentin Matsys, by himself; Hon. Caroline Curzon, by Angelica Kauffmann; Hon. H. Curzon, by Hamilton; family portraits, by Hone and Barber; the “Nativity” and the “Resurrection,” by Murillo; and the first Lady Scarsdale, by Hudson.

The Dining-room is of faultless proportions, and its fittings—all precisely as originally planned by the architect—are in the best and purest taste. The ceiling is magnificently painted in compartments by Zucchi. The centre represents “Love embracing Fortune;” the oblong squares, the four Seasons; and the small circles, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. In front of the recessed sideboard is a magnificent cistern, or cooler, cut out of a solid block of Sicilian jasper; and among the pictures are examples of Snyders, Zuccarelli, Ciro Ferri, Claude Lorraine, Jean Fyt, Romanelli, Helmbrecker, and others, and bas-reliefs by Collins and Spang.

On the Great Staircase are also many choice paintings (including, among others, examples of Carlo Maratti, Hamilton, and old Stone, and some fine statues and candelabra), while in the family wing of the house—in Lady Scarsdale’s Boudoir, the Ante-room, the Breakfast-room, and the other apartments—the assemblage of works of Art is very extensive and valuable. In the Corridor, too, are some good paintings, and many articles of _virtu_; while in the chimney-piece is an extremely fine plaque of Wedgwood’s jasper-ware.

The opposite wing is occupied by the Kitchen—a noble apartment with a gallery at one end, supported on Doric columns, and having over its fire-place the admirable motto, “Waste not, want not”—and the other domestic offices.

Cæsar’s Hall is the basement story beneath the portico, and is decorated with busts of the Cæsars, and medallions of Homer, Hesiod, Horace, and Tully; and in the Tetrastyle Hall, the staircases, and other parts of the building, are numerous works of Art of one kind or other.

The Garden Front, shown in the opposite engraving, is an adaptation of an idea taken from the design of the Arch of Constantine. The statues in the niches are Flora Farnese and an antique Bacchus. Over the pillars are medallions of Apollo and Diana, and the statues above are the Pastoral and the Comic Muses, Prudence, and Diana. By the steps are the Medicean and Borghese vases.

The entrance to the noble park of Kedleston is by a lodge, designed by Adams from the Arch of Octavia. From it the drive to the house is about a mile in length, amidst the finest forest trees, beneath which hundreds of deer browse in every direction. Nearing the house, the drive is carried over the magnificent lake on a bridge of purely classical design, enriched by statuary; and from it one of the finest views of the mansion and its surroundings is obtained. Near to the drive is a charmingly picturesque fountain, whose waters are constantly flowing through a lion’s mouth.

In the park are the medicinal springs known as “Kedleston Baths,” over which a plain, but picturesque, building was erected many years ago. The waters are the best of the sulphureous springs of Derbyshire, and approach closely, on analysis, to those of Harrogate. They were formerly in much repute, and years ago it was quite a trade for the poor people of Derby to fetch these waters to the town, where they were sold at a penny per quart, and were drunk in place of malt liquor by many of the inhabitants. Kedleston, in the latter part of last century, was, indeed, a very favourite resort with the Derby people, as is evidenced by the following curious advertisement of the year 1776:—“Kedleston Fly. Twice a day during the Summer Season. Will set out on Monday next, the 20th inst., from John Campion’s, the Bell Inn, in Sadler-gate, Derby; each person to pay One Shilling and Sixpence. A good Ordinary is provided each day at Kedleston Inn. If desired, the coach may be had from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon.” At Quarn, or Quarndon, about a mile distant, is another medicinal spring—this time of chalybeate waters, which were, and yet are, with those of Kedleston, much esteemed.