Part 46

“1844. John Somerset Pakington, Esq., created Bart. 1846, wedyd 2ndly, Augusta, dau. of Geo. Murray, Bp. of Rochester.”

Among the portraits in this fine old room are the present Lord Hampton; the Earl of Strafford; Hester Perrott, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Herbert Perrott, of Haroldstone, and second wife of Sir John Pakington, Bart.; Sir John Perrott, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1583; Margaret Pakington (afterwards Mrs. Dowdeswell), daughter of Sir John Pakington of Hampton Lovett, the celebrated Recorder of Worcester; Sir John Pakington, M.P. for Worcester from 1690 to 1727; Ursula, Lady Scudamore, daughter of Sir John Pakington; and many others.

The Dining-room, which occupies the lower story of the north-east radiating wing, has an effective geometrical ceiling, and its walls are hung with family portraits. The Library similarly occupies the lower story of the corresponding or south-east wing. It is a noble room, lined with a large and valuable assemblage of books, and fitted and furnished in an appropriate manner. The ceiling, whose geometric panelling and other decorations are in high relief, bears among its other devices the mullet of the family arms. In the Library are, among many other Art treasures, two important historical pictures—contemporary portraits of Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and Mary, his wife, daughter of Henry VII., King of England, and widow of Louis XII. of France—on panel.

The view from these rooms is truly magnificent. Immediately in front is the enclosed space already spoken of, with its grass lawns, its broad carriage drives, its luxuriant shrubberies; the ivy-grown and picturesque towers, one on either side; the grand old Gatehouse, with its central open-work tower, and picturesque boundary railings cutting it off from the park. Beyond this is seen the park, with its herds of deer, its forest trees of centuries of growth dotted about the landscape; its noble sheet of water, on which swans and wild fowl abound; and beyond, again, the thickly wooded confines of the grounds and the distant heights. Thus a view of imposing loveliness and of vast extent is gained from the windows of this side of the mansion. But, indeed, one of the main characteristics of Westwood is that, from whatever point the mansion is seen, it forms a striking and a pleasing object; and that, from whatever window one looks, a scene of surpassing beauty is presented to the eye.

The Grand Staircase, of which we give an engraving, is a marked feature of the interior of the house, and differs in general character from any other with which we are acquainted. It is of four landings, and at each angle, as well as in the intermediate spaces, standing clear to a considerable height above the banisters, rises a Corinthian pillar with richly carved capital, supporting a ball. The whole is of dark oak, and has a rich and singular appearance. The series of these pillars and balls numbers thirteen. The Staircase has a panelled oak ceiling, which forms the floor of the upper gallery, from which the bed-rooms are gained. The walls of the Staircase are hung with fine old portraits, and others of more modern date: among them are the “Du^{sse} Dou^e de la Tremouille, née Princesse d’Orange,” 1626; General Monk; Master Herbert and Miss Cecilia Pakington; and the late Bishop Murray, of Rochester, full length, by Falconer. At the foot of the Staircase is the Baron Marochetti’s admirable bust of Lord Hampton, before that well-deserved title was conferred upon him. It bears the following inscription:—“Presented to Lady Pakington by the Medical Officers of the Royal Navy, in grateful acknowledgment of the benefits conferred upon that department of H.M. service during the administration of the Right Hon. Sir John S. Pakington, Bart., G.C.B., &c., 1858-9.”

From the landing at the head of the Grand Staircase access is gained, on the one hand, to the Saloon and the apartments connected with it; and, on the other, to Lady Hampton’s private rooms, the sleeping apartments on the same floor, and to the staircase to the upper story.

The Private Chapel, approached from the foot of the Staircase, occupies the wing at the opposite angle from the Library. Its ceiling is of oak, and it is fitted with open seats, also of oak, with fleur-de-lis poppy-heads. The stained-glass window, representing the Adoration and the Ascension, is remarkably good in design and pure in colouring. On a bracket on the wall is a splendid piece of sculpture, representing Mary Magdalene supporting the dead Christ.

The Saloon—the principal internal feature of Westwood—occupies the entire space, in the central block of building, over the Front Hall. It is a noble and lofty apartment, lit by two deeply recessed large mullioned and transomed windows to the front, and one, of equally large size, at each end. The ceiling, although of a somewhat later period, is a marvellously fine example of modelled plaster-work, the wreaths and festoons of flowers standing out clear from the surface, and modelled true to Nature. It is divided into ornamental panels, enclosing wreaths and festoons, and round the room is a boldly moulded and richly decorated oak frieze. In the centre of the side opposite the windows is a massive and elaborately designed oak chimney-piece, reaching up to the ceiling. The pillars, and mouldings, and panels, and, indeed, every part of this fine example of ancient Art, are elaborately carved with arabesques and foliage; the mouldings and cornices being likewise richly carved with grotesque figures and other characteristic ornaments. In the centre panel, over the fire-place, is a fine contemporary half-length portrait of King Henry VIII.

The walls are hung with grand old tapestry, and this, at three of the corners, conceals the doors leading respectively to the Drawing-room, the Staircase, and another apartment. The subjects of the tapestry, commencing at the doorway from the Staircase, are—First, “Isaac, blind; Rebecca sends Jacob for two kids.” Second, “Laban overtakes Jacob at Mount Gilead; kisses his daughter.” Third, “Jacob kisses Rachel at the well, and removes the stone from its mouth.” Fourth, “Jacob brings home the kids.” Fifth, “Jacob meets his brother Esau, and bows at his feet.” Sixth, “Jacob divides his flocks.”

The Drawing-room opens from the Saloon, and is over the Library: it is an elegant room, with a ceiling of moulded pargetting in scrolls and foliage, and is of great elegance in all its appointments. At the opposite end of the Saloon a doorway opens into an apartment over the Dining-room. It is now disused, but, with its panelled frescoed walls and beautifully decorated ceiling, is an apartment of much interest.

The remainder of the rooms of this grand old mansion do not require special notice; it is enough to say they are all full of interest, and that they contain many pictures of value.

OF the many families of note upon which we have treated in these pages, few are of greater antiquity or possessed of more historic interest than that of Pakington, of which the Right Hon. Lord Hampton is the head. It dates from Norman times, and presents a long succession of notables, whose history is that of the various ages in which they lived, and moved, and had their being. It is clear, from the foundation of Kenilworth Monastery, that the family flourished in the reign of Henry I., and from that time down to the present moment its members have been among the most celebrated men of the country. In the reign of Henry IV. Robert Pakington died, and was succeeded by his son John, who in turn was succeeded by his son of the same name, who married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Thomas Washbourne, of Stanford, and thus the family became connected with the county of Worcester. By this lady he had issue three sons—John, Robert, and Humphrey. The eldest of these, John Pakington, was of the Inner Temple, and was constituted Chirographer of the Common Pleas in the reign of Henry VII., and in the next reign was made Lent Reader and Treasurer of the Inner Temple; and in the same year (20 Henry VIII.) had a grant from the King “that he, the said John Pakington, for the time to come shall have full liberty during his life to wear his hat in his presence, and his successors, or any other person whatsoever; and not to be uncovered on any occasion or cause whatsoever, against his will and good liking; also that he shall not be appointed, called, or compelled to take the order of knighthood, or degree, state, or order of a baron of the Exchequer, serjent-at-law, or any office or encumbrance thereto relating.”

In 1532, however, he was appointed serjeant-at-law, and received a discharge so as to enable him to accept that office. Having been appointed a justice of North Wales, he was, in 1535, commissioned to conclude and compound all forfeitures, offences, fines, and sums of money due to the King or to his late father, Henry VII. He received many other appointsovereign ments and honours, and was ultimately knighted. He received from the a grant of all the manors belonging to the dissolved monastery of Westwood, and thus that fine property came to the Pakingtons. At the time of his death, in 1560, Sir John was seized of thirty-one manors, and of much other land which he had purchased from seventy different persons. Leland says that he resided “at a goodly new house of brick, called Hampton Court, six miles from Worcester.” Sir John is variously stated to have married Anne Rolle (widow of Tychebourne) and Anne Dacres. Whichever of these is correct, he died without male issue, leaving his estates divided amongst his two daughters—Ursula and Bridget—and his two brothers, Robert and Humphrey.

His brother, Robert Pakington, was M.P. for the City of London in the time of Henry VIII., and was murdered in the streets of that city in 1537. By his wife, Catherine, daughter of Sir John Baldwin, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (by his wife, a daughter of Dormer of Wycombe, through whom the manor of Ailsbury came to the family), he had issue one son—Sir Thomas—and three daughters.

Sir Thomas Pakington, who was knighted by Queen Mary, succeeded to the estates of the Pakingtons and Baldwins. He was sheriff of Worcestershire in the 3rd of Elizabeth, and, dying in 1571, at Bath Place, Holborn, was conveyed in great pomp to Ailsbury, the officers of the College of Arms attending, and buried there in state. By his wife (who survived him, and married, secondly, Sir Thomas Kitson, of Hargrave), Sir Thomas had, with other issue, a son—Sir John, by whom he was succeeded—and three daughters.

Sir John Pakington, the “Lusty Pakington” of Queen Elizabeth’s Court, was an especial favourite of the “Virgin Queen,” and a man of rank in his day and generation. It is said that “Good Queen Bess” “first took notice of Sir John in her progress to Worcester, where she invited him to attend her Court, where he lived at his own expense in great splendour and reputation, with an equipage not inferior to some of the highest officers, although he had no greater honour than Knight of the Bath, which was conferred upon him in the lifetime of his father. He was remarkable for his stature and comely person, and had distinguished himself so much by his manly exercises that he was called ‘Lusty Pakington.’”

“Having by his expensive life contracted great debts, he took the wise resolution of retiring into the country, and said he would feed on bread and verjuice until he had made up for his extravagances; which coming to the royal ear, the queen gave him a grant of a gentleman’s estate in Suffolk, worth eight or nine hundred pounds a year, besides goods and chattels, which had been escheated to the Crown; but after he had been in the country to take possession, he could not behold the miseries of the distressed family without remorse and compassion; and the melancholy spectacle of the unhappy mother and her children wrought so effectually upon his fine feelings, that he repaired to court immediately, and humbly besought the queen to excuse him from enriching himself by such means, and did not leave the presence until he had obtained his request, which involved the restoration of the property to the rightful owner. Soon after this he left the court, but not before he had liquidated all his debts, and then, with great reputation and honour, he commenced his journey into the country, being handsomely attended by servants and tenants to the number of sixty, well mounted and appointed, who came purposely from his estates to pay him this compliment, and waited at the court gates while he was taking leave of the queen. After settlement in the country, Elizabeth granted him for sixty years (in the 25th of her reign), for his good and faithful services, several lordships, manors, and lands which had fallen to the Crown, in no less than seventeen counties. He was also constituted lieutenant and _Custos Rotulorum_ of Worcestershire, and appointed bowbearer of Malvern Chase, one of the best in England, which he retained until he had finished his noble park at Hampton Lovet; and then, that chase being at too great a distance from his dwelling, he obtained the queen’s leave to dispose of it. He was in Elizabeth’s favour to the end, as appears as well from other evidence as from a grant she made him for eight years (in the 40th year of her reign, he paying into the Exchequer £40 per annum) that no one should import into the kingdom, or make any starch, but by his permission. By his affability and obliging deportment he acquired the good opinion of his equals and inferiors, and by his courage and resolution on occasions requiring the exercise of those attributes, he became formidable to persons in power. A memorable instance of this occurred when he executed the office of sheriff for his county. The Lord Chief Baron Periam having committed a gentleman at the assizes, Sir John, sitting in his sheriff’s seat, called to him to stay, telling the judge he would answer for his forthcoming; neither could he be dissuaded by all the menaces he received, boldly alleging in his defence that the gentleman was his prisoner, and he as sheriff was accountable for him. Sir John is said on one occasion to have betted with three courtiers to swim against them from Westminster, _i.e._ Whitehall Stairs, to Greenwich for a stake of £3,000; but Queen Elizabeth, out of her special regard for him, and her fear for his life or health, by her imperative command prevented it.” “The good queen,” it is said, “who had particular tenderness for ‘handsome fellows,’ would not permit Sir John to run the hazard of the trial.”

From this worthy member of a worthy family the popular tune of “Pakington’s Pound,” or “Paggington’s Pound,” which has held its own for three centuries, takes its origin. This tune, which in Queen Elizabeth’s Virginal Book is named “Packington’s Pound,” is called by Ben Jonson “Paggington’s Pound,” as also in an ancient MS. “A Fancy of Sir John Paginton” appears in many of the early books of tunes, and numberless ballads were written to it. Even Shakspere’s ballad (supposed to have been written by him) on Sir Thomas Lucy is written to this tune. It has been stated by some writers that, besides the tune of “Pakington’s Pound,” that of “Sir Roger de Coverley” took its origin from this worthy; but this is surely a mistake, as the latter tune takes its origin from one of the Calverleys of Yorkshire.

Sir John Pakington married the daughter of Mr. Humphrey South, Queen Elizabeth’s silkman, of Cheapside, London, the representative of an ancient family in Leicestershire. She was the widow of Alderman Barnham, “who left her very rich; and that consideration, together with her youth and beauty, made it impossible for her to escape the addresses even of the greatest persons about the court; but Sir John was the only happy man who knew how to gain her, being recommended by his worthy friend, Mr. William Seabright, town clerk of London, who had purchased the manor of Besford, in Worcestershire.” This lady, by her first husband, had four daughters; and by Sir John one son—John, his successor—and two daughters: Anne, married, first, to Sir Humphrey Ferrars, Knt., of Tamworth, and, secondly, to Philip, Earl of Chesterfield; and Mary, who married Sir Robert Brooke, of Nacton, Master of the Ceremonies to James I. Sir John died in 1625, aged seventy-seven, and his widow married, thirdly, Lord Kilmurry; and, fourthly, Thomas, Earl of Kelly.

By this great Sir John Pakington the house at Westwood was erected. “After he had finished his stately structure at Westwood,” it is recorded, “Sir John invited the Earl of Northampton, Lord President, and his countess to a housewarming; and as his lordship was a jovial companion, a train of above one hundred knights and gentlemen accompanied him, who staid for some time, and at their departure acknowledged they had met with so kind a reception _that they did not know whether they had possessed the place or the place them_. The delightful situation of his mansion was what they had never before seen, the house standing in the middle of a wood cut into twelve large ridings, and at a good distance one riding through all of them: the whole surrounded by a park of six or seven miles, with, at the further end facing the house, an artificial lake of one hundred and twenty-two acres. His most splendid entertainment was given, however, to James I. and his queen at Ailsbury, when his majesty honoured him with a visit after his arrival from Scotland, before his coronation. Upon this occasion he set no bounds to expense, thinking it a disparagement to be outdone by any fellow-subject when such an opportunity offered; and the king and court declared that they had never met with a more noble reception.”

Lloyd, in his “Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of England since the Reformation,” thus speaks of Sir John Pakington:—“His handsome features look the most, and his neat parts the wisest at court. He could smile ladies to his service, and argue statesmen to his design with equal ease. His reason was powerful, his beauty more. Never was a brave soul more bravely seated; nature bestowed great parts on him, education polished him to an admirable frame of prudence and virtue; Queen Elizabeth called him her Temperance, and Leicester his Modesty. It is a question to this day whether his resolution took the soldiers, his prudence the politicians, his compliance the favourites, his complaisance the courtiers, his piety the clergy, his integrity and condescension the people, or his knowledge the learned, most. This new court star was a nine days’ wonder, engaging all eyes until it set, satisfied with its own glory. He came to court, he said, as Solomon did, to see its vanity, and retired, as he did, to repent it. It was he who said first, what Bishop Sanderson urged afterwards, _that a sound faith was the best divinity, a good conscience the best law, and temperance the best physic_. Sir John Pakington in Queen Elizabeth’s time was virtuous and modest, and Sir John Pakington in King Charles’s time loyal and valiant; the one did well, the other suffered so. Greenham was his favourite, Hammond his; the one had a competent estate and was contented, the other hath a large one and is noble; this suppresseth factions in the kingdom, the other composed them in the court, and was called by courtiers Moderation. Westmorland tempted his fidelity, and Norfolk his steadfastness, but he died in his bed an honest and a happy man.”

His son and heir, John Pakington, was created a baronet in 1620, as Sir John Pakington of Ailsbury, where he resided. He married Frances, daughter of Sir John Ferrars, of Tamworth (who married, as her second husband, the Earl of Leven): by her he had issue one son, John, and two daughters. John died at the early age of twenty-four, during the lifetime of his father, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his infant son, who ultimately became possessed of the whole of his grandfather’s estates.

Sir John Pakington, the second baronet, who was only five years of age when he succeeded, was placed under the guardianship of the Lord Keeper Coventry, “by whose vigilant care of his education, both by travel and other advantages, he became a most accomplished gentleman.” He was elected M.P. for Worcestershire (15 Charles I.), and when the rebellion broke out was member for Ailsbury; and, having on all occasions given proofs of his fidelity to the Crown and the rights of the subject, was intrusted by the King, in 1642, with a commission for arraying men for his service in Worcestershire, on account of which he was taken prisoner, committed to the Tower, and fined £5,000; had his estate sequestered, his house in Buckinghamshire (one of the best in that county) levelled with the ground, and such great waste committed in his woods, that an estimate of the loss, still remaining, in the handwriting of his lady, amounts to £20,348. His zeal in the loyal cause never swerved, for, notwithstanding he had suffered so much for his loyalty, he had the courage to join King Charles II. with a troop of horse at the battle of Worcester, and was taken prisoner there, yet was so popular that, when afterwards tried for his life, not one witness could be produced to swear against him. He was consequently acquitted and set at liberty, but afterwards fined £7,670, and compelled, “for the said fine, to convey the market-house, the tolls, the court leet, and certain grounds called Heyden Hill, parcel of the estate at Ailsbury, to Thomas Scott (who was one of the king’s judges), and other trustees, for the use of the town, which they kept until after the Restoration, when, by a special act of parliament, the said conveyances were made void.”

Sir John married Dorothy, daughter of his guardian, the Lord Keeper Coventry, by whom he had issue one son, his successor, and two daughters. This lady, Dorothy Pakington, was a woman of remarkable talent, and possessed of every acquirement which a natural goodness of disposition and the best tutorship could give. To her gifted mind it is, with all but positive certainty, averred that the world is indebted for that admirable book—about which almost as much controversy has been evoked as over the “Letters of Junius”—“The Whole Duty of Man,” and for the several other works by the same pen. The authorship of “The Whole Duty of Man” has been variously ascribed to Lady Pakington, Archbishop Sancroft, Archbishop Frewen, Archbishop Sterne, Bishop Fell, Bishop Chapel, William Allestry, Abraham Woodhead, William Fulman, and others; but the weight of probability, and certainly the weight of evidence, goes to prove that that honour belongs to her ladyship. An almost incontrovertible evidence of Lady Pakington being its authoress “arises from the assertions of Archbishop Dolben, and Bishops Fell and Allestry, who are said to have declared this of their own knowledge, after her death, which she obliged them to keep private during her life—_that she really was the author of that best and most masculine religious book extant in the English language, ‘The Whole Duty of Man.’_” Upon a finely sculptured monument in Hampton Lovett Church she and her husband are recorded in these words:—“In the same church lyes Sir John Pakington, Kt. and Bart., and his lady, grandfather and grandmother to the said Sir John. The first, try’d for his life and spent the greatest part of his fortune in adhering to King Charles I.; and the latter justly reputed the authoress of the Whole Duty of Man, who was exemplary for her great piety and goodness.” Sir John died in 1680, and was succeeded by his son—