Part 44

“They by parks and lodges going, See the lordly castles stand; Summer woods about them blowing, Made a murmur in the land.

“From deep thought himself he rouses, Says to her that loves him well— ‘Let us see these handsome houses, Where the wealthy nobles dwell.’

“So she goes by him attended, Hears him lovingly converse, Sees whatever fair and splendid Lay betwixt his home and hers.

“Parks with oak and chestnut shady, Parks and order’d gardens great, Ancient homes of lord and lady, Built for pleasure and for state.

“All he shows her makes him dearer; Evermore she seems to gaze On that cottage growing nearer, Where they twain will spend their days.

“Oh, but she will love him truly, He shall have a cheerful home; She will order all things duly, When beneath his roof they come.

“Thus her heart rejoices greatly, Till a gateway she discerns, With armorial bearings stately, And beneath the gate she turns;

“Sees a mansion more majestic Than all those she saw before; Many a gallant gay domestic Bows before him at the door.

“And they speak in gentle murmur, When they answer to his call, While he treads with footstep firmer, Leading on from hall to hall.

“And, while now she wonders blindly, Nor the meaning can divine, Proudly turns he round and kindly, ‘All of this is mine and thine.’

“Here he lives in state and bounty, Lord of Burleigh, fair and free, Not a lord in all the county, Is so great a lord as he.

“All at once the colour flushes Her sweet face from brow to chin; As it were with shame she blushes, And her spirit changed within.

“Then her countenance all over, Pale again as death doth prove; But he clasp’d her like a lover, And he cheer’d her soul with love.

“So she strove against her weakness, Tho’ at times her spirits sank, Shaped her heart with woman’s meekness To all duties of her rank.

“And a gentle consort made he, And her gentle mind was such, That she grew a noble lady, And the people loved her much.

“But a trouble weigh’d upon her, And perplex’d her night and morn, With the burthen of an honour Unto which she was not born.

“Faint she grew, and even fainter, As she murmur’d, ‘Oh, that he Were once more that landscape painter, Which did win my heart from me.’

“So she droop’d and droop’d before him, Fading slowly from his side; Three fair children first she bore him, Then before her time she died.

“Weeping, weeping late and early, Walking up and pacing down, Deeply mourn’d the Lord of Burleigh, Burleigh House by Stamford town.

“And he came to look upon her. And he look’d at her and said, ‘Bring the dress and put it on her That she wore when she was wed.’

“Then her people, softly treading, Bore to earth her body, drest In the dress that she was wed in, That her spirit might have rest.”

The Countess, whose story is thus so plaintively told, died on the 18th of January, 1797, at the early age of twenty-four, and her portrait, preserved in the house, cannot but interest every visitor. The Earl, her husband, was in February, 1801, advanced to the dignity of Marquis of Exeter, and in May, 1804, he died, and was succeeded by his son by this romantic and happy, though brief, espousal.

This son, Brownlow Cecil, second Marquis and eleventh Earl of Exeter, and twelfth Baron Burleigh, was only nine years of age when, on the death of his father in 1804, he succeeded to the titles and estates. In 1824 his lordship married Isabella, daughter of William Stephen Poyntz, Esq., by whom he had issue eleven children—viz. William Alleyne, Lord Burleigh, the present Marquis of Exeter; a daughter, born in 1826; Lord Brownlow Thomas Montague Cecil; Lady Isabella Mary Cecil, who died in infancy; Lady Mary Frances Cecil, married to Viscount Sandon, M.P., heir to the earldom of Harrowby; Lord Edward Henry Cecil; Lady Dorothy Anne Cecil, who died in infancy; Lord Henry Poyntz Cecil; a son, who died as soon as born; Lord Adelbert Percy Cecil, to whom Queen Adelaide stood as sponsor; and Lady Victoria Cecil, to whom her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort were sponsors, married to the Hon. William Charles Evans-Freke, brother of Lord Carbery. His lordship died in 1867, and was succeeded by his son—

The present noble peer, William Alleyne Cecil, third Marquis and twelfth Earl of Exeter, and thirteenth Baron Burleigh of Burleigh, a Privy Councillor, and Hereditary Grand Almoner of England, who was born on the 30th of April, 1825, and was educated at Eton and St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he graduated as M.A. in 1847. He sat as M.P. for South Lincolnshire from 1847 to 1857, and for North Northamptonshire from 1857 to 1867, in which year he succeeded to the titles, and took his seat in the Upper House. In 1856 he was appointed Militia Aide-de-camp to the Queen, and in 1866 was made Treasurer of her Majesty’s Household. In 1867 and 1868 he was Captain of her Majesty’s Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, and he holds many local and other appointments. His lordship married, in 1848, Lady Georgiana Sophia Pakenham, second daughter of the second Earl of Longford, and has issue living—Brownlow Henry George Cecil, Lord Burleigh, born in 1849, and married to Isabella, daughter of Sir Thomas Whichcote, Bart.; Lord Francis Horace Pierrepoint Cecil, born 1851, married to Edith, youngest daughter of W. Cunliffe-Brooks, Esq., M.P.; Lord William Cecil, born 1854; Lord John Pakenham Cecil, born 1867; Lady Isabella Georgiana Katharine Cecil, born 1853; Lady Mary Louisa Wellesley Cecil, born 1857; Lady Catherine Sarah Cecil, born 1861; Lady Frances Emily Cecil, born 1862; and Lady Louisa Alexandrina Cecil, born 1864.

His lordship is patron of seventeen livings, five being in Rutland, one in London, and eleven in Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire.

The arms of the Marquis of Exeter, engraved on our initial letter, are—barry of ten, _argent_ and _azure_; six escutcheons, three, two, and one, _sable_, each charged with a lion rampant, _argent_. Crest—on a chapeau, _gules_, turned up, _ermine_, a garb, _or_, supported by two lions rampant, the dexter _argent_, the sinister _azure_. Supporters—two lions, _ermine_. Motto—“Cor unum via una.” His seats are Burleigh, near Stamford, and Brookfield House, Ryde, in the Isle of Wight.

The visitor to Burleigh House is admitted by the Porter’s Lodge into the Outer Court, which is a quadrangle surrounded by the domestic and business offices of the establishment. He then passes into the Corridor, decorated with bas-reliefs by Nollekens, and so reaches the Great Hall, or Queen Victoria’s Hall, a banqueting-room of magnificent size and of matchless beauty, with open-work timber roof, stained-glass windows, richly carved gallery, and royal and other portraits. This noble apartment, shown in the accompanying engraving, which, with others of our series, is taken from a photograph by F. Robinson, is 68 feet long, 60 feet in height, and 30 feet in width, with, in addition, a deeply recessed bay window.

It has a magnificent open timber-work roof of carved oak, and the lower portions of the walls are wainscoted; and at one end is a music gallery, the cornice of the panelling and the gallery being supported on a number of richly carved spiral Corinthian columns. The fire-place is remarkably fine, and the window is filled with stained glass. Among the pictures in the Hall are a portrait of the Prince Consort in his Garter robes, presented to the Marquis by the Prince; Dahl’s full-length portraits of George I., George II., and the Queen of George II.; and portraits of Viscount and Viscountess Montague, Earl of Peterborough, Sir Walter Raleigh, &c. From the Hall, passing through Vestibule and Corridor, which contain busts of the Cæsars and other examples of sculpture, and the Ancient Stone Staircase—a part of the original building, shown in the opposite engraving—the Chapel is reached. The Chapel contains, among its other attractions, a fine assemblage of carving, said to be by Grinling Gibbons, and among the best of his productions; an altar-piece by Paul Veronese, the subject being the “Wife of Zebedee;” the seat used by Queen Elizabeth when she worshipped here, and used also for the same purpose by Queen Victoria; and many good paintings. The communion-table and altar-rails are of cedar-wood, and the pulpit and reading-desk of mahogany. The magnificent chimney-piece of various marbles was brought from a convent near Lisbon. The Ante-chapel is also an interesting room. The Chapel-room contains many paintings by Carlo Dolce, Domenichino, Lanfranco, Albert Dürer, Guercino, Andrea Sacchi, Parmigiano, the Carracci, Guido, Teniers, Bassan, Rubens, Carlo Maratti, Bolognese, Giulio Romano, Le Brun, and others.

The Billiard-room, panelled with Norway oak and enriched with a decorated ceiling, is hung with family and other portraits. Among them are Lawrence’s full-length group portraits of the tenth Earl and Countess—Sarah the “village maiden”—and their daughter, the Lady Sophia; several other Earls and Countesses of Exeter, and others of their families; the first Duke and Duchess of Devonshire; Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland; Duchess of Montrose, &c.

We will not, however, go through the various rooms in the order in which they are visited, but select, here and there, an apartment for notice, our object being, not to furnish a guide for the visitor’s use, but to give a general sketch of the mansion and its surroundings.

The Ball-room has its walls and ceiling painted by Laguerre in his best style, the subject of the latter being described as the “History of the Planetary System.” On the east side of the walls is painted “The Battle of Cannæ,” and on the west “The Continence of Scipio;” the others being “The Loves of Antony and Cleopatra,” &c. The Brown Drawing-room, lined with oak, contains many valuable paintings as well as some exquisite examples of Gibbons’s carvings, as also do the Black and Yellow Bed-rooms. In this latter room is the ancient state bed from which it takes its name. This is hung with black satin, ornamented with fine old needlework, and lined with yellow silk. In the windows is some good stained glass, and over the chimney-piece a fine example of Gibbons’s carving. Among the paintings in this and the West and North-west Dining-rooms are pictures by Guercino, old Franck, Libri, Angelica Kauffmann, Rubens, Scilla, Cimabue, Giordano, the Carracci, Elsheimer, Van Balen, Salvator Rosa, Castiglione, G. Bolognese, Van Eyck, Murillo, Claude Lorraine, Domenichino, Mola, Jordaens, and others.

In the China Closet, besides several good paintings, a case of ceramic treasures is preserved.

Queen Elizabeth’s Bed-room is one of the most interesting apartments in the mansion, “and presents almost the same appearance as on the day when the great virgin queen first reposed therein—the very bed on which her royal form reclined, the same rich ancient tapestry which then decorated the walls, and the same chairs which then furnished the room, and upon some of which Elizabeth herself was once seated. The bed is hung with dark green velvet, embroidered with gold tissue, and the walls are hung with tapestry representing Bacchus and Ariadne, Acis and Galatea, and Diana and Actæon.” Queen Elizabeth’s Dining-room, or the Pagoda Room, looks out upon the lawn, in the centre of which is a majestic and venerable tree planted by the “Virgin Queen,” the “Good Queen Bess,” herself. In this room are a Chinese pagoda and many interesting portraits and other paintings. Among these are Shee’s portrait of the late marquis; Cranach’s head of Luther; Holbein’s Henry VIII., Thomas Cromwell, Edward VI., Queen Mary, Duke of Newcastle, and Queen Elizabeth; Mark Gerard’s Queen Elizabeth and the Lord Treasurer Burleigh; Zucchero’s Robert Devereux; Rembrandt’s Countess of Desmond; and admirable examples of Van Eyck, Annibale Carracci, Velasquez, Titian, Cranach, Paul Veronese, Cornelius Jansen, Dobsone, Vandyke, old Stone, Dance, Romney, and others. The Purple Satin Rooms are also hung with valuable paintings, and the furniture is of superb character.

The George Rooms, as a magnificent suite of five apartments, occupying the south side of the mansion, are called, have the whole of their ceilings painted with allegorical and mythological subjects by Verrio. These are the apartments specially set aside for royalty, and have been repeatedly so occupied. The first George Room has its floor of oak inlaid with walnut, and the carvings over the doors are among the best existing examples of Gibbons. The Jewel Closet has a similar floor and equally good carvings; and in the centre, in a large glass case, are preserved numerous jewels and curiosities of great separate and collective value. “Here are a plate of gold, a basin, and spoons, used by Queen Elizabeth at her coronation; a curiously ornamented busk, also used by Queen Elizabeth, and a jewelled crystal salt-cellar, supposed to have belonged to that great queen; a minute jewelled trinket sword, once belonging to the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots; a handkerchief of William III.; Cæsar’s head carved in onyx (a choice antique, 2½ inches oval, and set in diamonds); Henry VIII. and his children cut in sardonyx; the head of the Lord Treasurer Burleigh on the back of an antique intaglio of Caracalla, depending from which is a small head of Elizabeth, both cameo on onyx. There are, besides, a multitude of enamelled trinkets, miniature vases in gold filigree, amber, diamonds, precious stones, &c., &c. To this collection have been added, of late years, a chrysanthemum wreath worn by Queen Victoria at the baptism of the Lady Victoria Cecil, youngest daughter of the second marquis, and a pair of white kid gloves worn by her Majesty at the same time: the wreath has been incrusted with metal by a process of electro-gilding, but in effecting this it was broken into several pieces. There is also a very elaborately ornamented trowel, used by Prince Albert, in 1842, in the ceremony of laying the first stone of the present building of the Royal Exchange, London, and presented by him to the Marquis of Exeter, who attended his Royal Highness at the time as Groom of the Stole. There are also here a magnificent jewelled crucifix, several feet in height, and of great value, some rare china, and other articles. One other object remains to be noticed in this apartment: this is a beautiful specimen of carving in white wood of a bird, nearly the colour and about the size of a canary: it is represented as dead, hanging by one leg from a nail, and so exquisitely is it worked, that looking upon it it is difficult to believe it merely the resemblance of reality.”

The State Bed-room, or second George Room, is the bed-room set apart for the repose of royalty, and its furniture and decorations are of great richness. A magnificent bed was here erected by the then marquis, in preparation for a visit from George IV. when Prince of Wales, and was subsequently several times used by various members of the royal family; but when Queen Victoria visited Burleigh in 1844, a bed even more rich and costly was substituted, in which her Majesty and her royal consort, Prince Albert, reposed during their stay. The hangings are of crimson velvet lined with white satin. The walls are hung with rare tapestry.

The State Dining-room, and the Great Drawing-room, or fourth George Room, are gorgeous in the extreme, and filled to repletion with choice works of Art and antiquity; while the fifth of these George apartments, named the Heaven, from the subjects of Verrio’s paintings, which cover alike the ceiling and walls, contains cabinets, paintings, and busts of great value. The whole of this suite of rooms is hung with choice pictures, of which, of course, space prevents our giving an account. The Grand Staircase, leading to the Great Hall, completes this suite; its ceiling is by Verrio, and the staircase and landings are adorned with sculpture and paintings.

We regret that we cannot find space to describe the numerous other admirably constructed and beautifully furnished apartments of this noble mansion, one of the most interesting of the many glorious baronial halls of the kingdom.

The burial-place of the family of Cecil is St. Martin’s Church, Stamford, where many monuments exist; and the visitor will find much to interest him in this and the other churches of that town.

HEVER CASTLE.

HEVER CASTLE was originally the stronghold of the family of De Hevre, said to have been of Norman extraction, one of whom, William De Hevre, is stated to have had license from King Edward III. to embattle this his manor-house. His daughters and co-heiresses inherited the estates, and through them, by marriage, they were conveyed to the families of Cobham and Brocas, the former of whom, having obtained the whole by purchase, sold it to Sir Geoffrey Bullen, or Boleyn, in which family it remained until it was seized by the Crown.

The family of Boleyn, or Bullen, traces from Sir Thomas Bullen, Knt., of Blickling and Saul, in Norfolk, and Joan, his wife, daughter and heiress of Sir John Bracton, Knt. The grandson of Sir Thomas was Sir Geoffrey Bullen, the purchaser of Hever Castle and other estates of the De Hevre family. Sir Geoffrey “was a wealthy mercer in London, as also Lord Mayor of that city in 37 Henry VI., and, having married Anne, eldest daughter and co-heiress to John, Baron Hoo and Hastings, by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Nicholas Wichingham, he had issue, Sir William Bullen, Knight of the Bath at the coronation of King Richard III.” Sir William married Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond (third brother to James, Earl of Wiltshire), and by her had, with other issue, a son, Thomas Bullen, afterwards created Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond.

This Thomas Bullen, or Boleyn, whose career, and that of his unfortunate daughter, Queen Anne Boleyn, are so intimately woven into the history of our country, was, in 1496, in arms with his father for suppressing the Cornish rebellion; and, under Henry VIII., “being one of the knights of the king’s body, was, jointly with Sir Henry Wyat, Knt., constituted governor of the Castle of Norwich. In the following year he was one of the ambassadors to the Emperor Maximilian, touching a war with France, and soon after was sole governor of Norwich Castle.”

In the eleventh year of this sovereign’s reign “he arranged the famous interview of King Henry VIII. and Francis I. between Guisnes and Ardres, and in the thirteenth year was accredited ambassador to the latter. The next year, being treasurer of the King’s household, he was sent ambassador to Spain, to advise with King Charles upon some proceedings in order to the war with France.” In 1525, with a view to further the suit of the monarch to his daughter Anne, Sir Thomas Bullen was created Baron and Viscount Rochfort, and afterwards successively Earl of Wiltshire and Earl of Ormond, a Knight of the Garter, and Lord Privy Seal. “He subscribed the articles against Cardinal Wolsey in 21 Henry VIII., and soon after was sent again ambassador to the Emperor Charles V.”

This Sir Thomas Bullen, afterwards, as we have shown, created Baron Rochfort, Viscount Rochfort, Earl of Ormond, and Earl of Wiltshire, married Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and by her had issue one son—George, commonly called Viscount Rochfort, but summoned as Baron Rochfort during the lifetime of his father—and two daughters, Anne and Mary. Lord Rochfort married Jane, daughter of Henry Parker, Earl of Morley. He was beheaded during the lifetime of his father, and left no issue. Of the daughters, the Lady Anne Bullen, who was created Marchioness of Pembroke, became second queen to King Henry VIII.; and the Lady Mary Bullen, married, first, William Cary, Esquire of the Body to King Henry VIII., and brother of Sir John Cary of Plashley, one of the gentlemen of the bed-chamber to the same monarch; and, secondly, Sir William Stafford, Knt. The husband of this lady, William Cary, was the son of Thomas Cary, of Chilton Foliat, in Wiltshire (son of Sir William Cary, of Cockington, Devon, Knt.—who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury—by his second wife, Alice, daughter of Sir Baldwin Fulford), by his wife, Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Robert Spencer, of Spencer Combe, by the Lady Eleanor Beaufort, daughter of Edmund, and sister and co-heiress of Henry, Duke of Somerset. Lady Mary Bullen had, by her first husband, William Cary, a daughter, Catherine, married to Sir Francis Knollys, K.G.; and a son, Sir Henry Cary, Knt., who was created Baron Hunsdon at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, and from whom descended the Barons Hunsdon and Earls of Dover and Monmouth; while from his brother, Sir John Cary, of Plashley, Knt., by his wife, Joyce, sister of Sir Anthony Denny, king’s remembrancer, are descended the Viscounts Falkland.

Anne Boleyn, or Bullen, was born at Hever in or about the year 1507; and in 1514, when only seven years of age, was appointed one of the maids of honour to the King’s sister—who had then just been married to Louis XII. of France—and was allowed to remain with her when her other English attendants were unceremoniously sent out of the country. On the Queen’s second marriage with Brandon, Anne Boleyn was left under the powerful protection of the new queen, Claude, wife of Francis I. She was thus brought up at the French Court. When war was declared against France in 1522, at which time her father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, was ambassador to that country, it is thought she was brought back to England by him, and, shortly afterwards, was appointed one of the maids of honour to Queen Catherine, wife of Henry VIII., and was thus brought under the notice of that detestable and profligate monarch. She had not been long at Court when, it is said by Cavendish, a strong and mutual attachment sprang up between her and the young Lord Percy, son and heir of the Earl of Northumberland, who made her an offer of marriage, and was accepted. At this time she was only sixteen years of age. The match, however, was not destined to be made, for the King “had already turned his admiring eyes in the same direction, and, jealous of the rivalry of a subject, he caused the lovers to be parted through the agency of Cardinal Wolsey, in whose household Percy had been educated; and that young nobleman, probably under compulsion, married, in 1523, a daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury.” Anne, on being thus compulsorily separated from her young and fond lover, was removed to Hever. Here, within a few weeks, she heard of the marriage of her accepted lover, and, with feelings which can well be imagined, kept herself secluded.