Part 5

In 1723 he was created Viscount Darnley of Athboy, and in 1725 Earl of Darnley, both in the peerage of Ireland. He also succeeded to the title of Baron Clifton of Leighton Bromswold, in the peerage of the United Kingdom, by which title he and his successors sit in the House of Lords. His lordship was succeeded, as second Earl of Darnley, by his son, who was again, on his death, succeeded by his son John, as third earl. This nobleman, who was born in 1719, married in 1766 Mary, daughter and heiress of John Stoyt, of Street, co. Westmeath, and by her, who died in 1803, had issue John, afterwards fourth earl; Lady Mary, married to Sir Lawrence Palk, Bart.; the Hon. Edward Bligh, a general in the army; Lady Theodosia, married to her cousin, Thomas Cherbourgh Bligh; Lady Catherine, married to Hon. Charles William Stewart, afterwards Marquis of Londonderry; and the Hon. William, a colonel in the army. The Earl died in 1781, and was succeeded by his son John, as fourth earl. He married, in 1791, Elizabeth, daughter of the Right Hon. William Brownlow of Lurgan, and by her had issue Edward, fifth earl; Lady Mary, married to Charles Brownlow, Esq.; Hon. John Duncan Bligh, Secretary of Legation at St. Petersburgh; and the Lady Elizabeth, married to the Rev. J. Brownlow. His lordship died in 1831, and was succeeded by his son Edward, fifth earl, who (born in 1795), married in 1825 Emma Jane, third daughter of Sir Henry Brooke Parnell, Bart., M.P.,—who, having held office as Secretary at War, Paymaster-General of the Forces, and Treasurer of the Navy and Ordnance, was created Baron Congleton in 1841,—and sister to the present Lord Congleton. By this lady, who is still living, his lordship had issue, John Stuart Bligh, sixth and present earl of Darnley; the Hon. and Rev. Edward Vesey Bligh; the Hon. and Rev. Henry Bligh; the Lady Elizabeth Caroline, and the Lady Emma Bess, both of whom are married and bear the name of Cust—the first being the wife of Reginald Cust, Esq., and the latter the wife of the Rev. Arthur Perceval Purey-Cust. His lordship died in 1835, and was succeeded by his eldest son, John Stuart Bligh, as sixth earl.

The present peer, John Stuart Bligh, sixth Earl of Darnley, Viscount Darnley of Athboy, Baron Clifton of Leighton Bromswold, and Baron Clifton of Rathmore, was born in 1827, and was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, being B.A. in 1848, and M.A. in 1851. He married in 1850 the Lady Harriet Mary Pelham, eldest daughter of the third Earl of Chichester, and has by her issue, living, the Hon. Edward Henry Stuart Bligh, Lord Clifton, who was born in 1851; the Hon. Ivo Francis Walter Bligh, born 1859; the Hon. Arthur Frederick Pelham Bligh, born 1865; the Lady Edith Louisa Mary, born 1853; the Lady Kathleen Susan Emma, born 1854; the Lady Alice Isabella Harriet, born 1860; the Lady Mary Rose Florence, born 1868; and the Lady Constance Violet Lucy, born in 1869. His lordship is a Deputy Lieutenant of the county of Kent; Hereditary High Steward of Gravesend with Milton; and Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the West Kent Yeomanry Cavalry. He is patron of the living of Cobham. He has, besides Cobham Hall, a seat in Ireland, Clifton Lodge, Athboy, co. Meath, and a town residence.

The arms of the Earl of Darnley are:—_Azure_, a griffin segreant, _or_, between three crescents, _argent_. Crest:—A griffin’s head, erased, _or_, Supporters:—Two griffins, wings elevated, _or_, ducally collared and chained, _azure_. Motto:—“_Finem Respice_.”

Such is a brief history of the several noble families through whom the mansion, demesne, and estates of Cobham have passed.

The Hall is backed by a noble park, amply stocked with deer, and containing trees of great variety and immense size, some of them measuring above thirty feet in circumference. It comprises 1,800 acres, and encloses an area of about seven miles. The old approach, long disused, was through an avenue of lime trees, consisting of four rows, and extending more than half a mile in length from the dependent village. The present entrance is through a red-brick, turreted gateway, adjacent to which is the “LODGE.” On nearing the house, the eye encounters a cedar of magnificent growth, and to the left are the gardens, into which there are two terrace-walks—one from the great gate, and another, at a considerable elevation, from the suite of apartments which constitute the first floor. The view we have given is the more ancient portion of the venerable edifice—the north wing, with which the south wing mainly corresponds. They are, however, connected by a centre, built by Inigo Jones; and this centre, which consists of a façade with Corinthian pilasters, is out of keeping with the quaint gables, octagonal turrets, ornamental doorways, carved cornices, projecting mullioned windows, and elaborated chimneys, which distinguish the earlier dwelling of the Cobhams. The structure thus assumes the form of a half H, the wings being terminated by octagonal towers; a sunken wall in front encloses a quadrangular lawn, ornamented with vases and statues. The wings exhibit the dates 1582 and 1594, and retain all the characteristics of the later Tudor style; although, as we have intimated, it has been materially corrupted by the several alterations to which, from time to time, the mansion has been subjected. The ordinary entrance is through a vaulted passage, “built in the form of a Gothic cloister by James Wyatt,” which contains the arms of the Cobhams, with the date 1587. This passage leads to the grand staircase, and the several apartments on the ground-floor. The first to which strangers are conducted is the dining-hall, which contains an elaborately carved black-and-white marble chimney-piece, having quaint and curious figures and buildings, and a series of portraits of rare excellence. The Music-room, one of the suite added to the ancient building, affords a brilliant contrast to the sombre and solid character of the dining-room. It contains but one picture—full-length portraits of the Lords John and Bernard Stuart, sons of the Duke of Lennox—a _chef-d’œvre_ of Vandyke. The chimney-piece is formed of the purest white marble, sculptured in bas-relief after Guido’s “Aurora,” by the elder Westmacott, with fauns life-size, as supporters. The ceiling was designed by Inigo Jones; it is divided into several square and circular compartments, with a deep oval in the centre, “superbly gilt and enriched by appropriate ornaments, among which are twelve pendant coronets.” The apartment is in length 50 feet, in breadth 36 feet, and height 32 feet! and although superbly ornamented and richly gilt—the pillars of the Composite order, being of white marble, and the lining of scagliola—the whole is in fine harmony with the grace and chasteness of the design. There are two galleries, one of which contains an organ. The vestibule is a small chamber, decorated with valuable vases of verd-antique. The Library contains a series of portraits of eminent literary men—Bolingbroke, Sidney, Shakespere, Swift, and others; none of them, however, advance strong claims to originality. On the walls of the Great Staircase are hung several large pictures, which may bear examination before the gallery is entered.

The grand staircase conducts, first to the Portrait Gallery, and next to the Picture Gallery. The walls of the former are hung with portraits, among which are many of exceeding interest, including those of heroes, statesmen, kings and queens, church reformers, and poets, mingled without regard to date or order. At the end of this gallery are, branching to the right and left, the private apartments of the family; and in a room opening out of the west end of the Picture Gallery, Queen Elizabeth is reported to have slept when she honoured the Lord Cobham with a visit during her progress through Kent. In the centre of the ancient ceiling are still preserved her arms, with the date, 1599. The Picture Gallery is the great “show-room” of the house. It is a noble apartment, the walls of which are covered with works of Art, of rare value and unsurpassed excellence, the productions of nearly all the great masters of Italy—including admirable examples of Guido, Titian, Salvator Rosa, Rubens, Raphael, Spagnoletto, P. Veronese, Giorgione, N. Poussin, and Guercino.

Every part of the venerable edifice contains, indeed, some object of interest. The rooms, and halls, and galleries are thronged with rare and beautiful works of Art; a series of perfect vases from Herculaneum lie on the tables of the Picture Gallery; several antique busts and statues line the hall; a magnificent bath, of red Egyptian granite, is placed in the entrance passage; and the furniture and interior decorations are all of corresponding excellence and beauty.

Although necessarily limited in our description of Cobham Hall, we have sufficiently shown the rare treat a visit to it will afford those who, “in populous city pent,” desire to convert occasional holidays into contributions to intellectual enjoyment. The Hall and its contents will amply repay examination; and the noble park is full of natural treasures—thronged with deer, singularly abundant in singing birds, and containing trees unsurpassed in magnificent size and graceful proportions. A group of these trees, known as “the Three Sisters” (why we cannot say), we have engraved. One of the walks conducts to a hillock, from the summit of which there is a splendid prospect of the adjacent country, commanding views of the Thames and Medway, and taking in the venerable castle, cathedral, and town of Rochester, the dockyards at Sheerness, and the whole course of the great English river to its mouth at the Nore. The pedestrian, pursuing this route, will pass the Mausoleum, an elegant structure, built conformably with the will of the third Earl of Darnley, and designed for the sepulture of his family. It was never consecrated.

But Cobham has other objects of interest: the venerable Church, and no less venerable “College.” The “CHURCH,” dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, stands upon elevated ground at the entrance of the village. It consists of a nave, aisles, and chancel, with an embattled tower, entered by an antique porch. The tower is obviously of a more recent date than the chancel; the former is very ancient. As in many of the Kentish churches, the walls were formerly painted in fresco, of which evidence may be easily obtained by those who examine them narrowly; the steps of the altar are paved with encaustic tiles, of about the period of Edward III., of various patterns, but most of them containing the _fleur-de-lis_. The whole aspect of the place indeed supplies indubitable proof of very remote antiquity. It has been recently restored, but with sound judgment and skill, by the accomplished architect, Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A.

The roof of huge oak rafters, the Gothic arches, the brasses, broken and entire, which cover the floor, the quaint monuments let into the walls, the delicately-sculptured piscina, the sedilia of carved stone, the singular font, the rude vestry-room with its massive oak chest, the Scripture passages painted on the walls, all bespeak the antiquity of the building.

“Nearly in the centre is the still beautiful tomb of Sir Thomas Broke, the Lady Joan, and their ten sons and four daughters. It is of white marble, over which, upon a black slab, lie the effigies of the knight and dame. On either side are those of five of their sons, kneeling, and wearing tabards, with their swords girded on. The figures of the four daughters are carved on the east and west ends of the superb monument. It bears the date 1561, under the arms of the Brokes quartered with those of the Cobhams.

“On the floor of the chancel are the famous ‘Cobham Brasses,’ the most perfect and most numerous assemblage now existing in the kingdom. The series consists of thirteen, recording the memory of the Cobhams and Brokes, ‘lords and barons of this manor of Cobham, with many of their kindred, who for many descents did flourish in honourable reputation.’ Of the thirteen, eight are in honour of the knights, and five are memorials of the dames. These brasses, one and all, deserve the most careful examination and notice. The earliest is to the memory of _John de Cobham_, the first Knight Banneret, and Constable of Rochester; he is dressed in a shirt of mail: round his waist is a rich girdle, sustaining a long sword. Eight lines of Norman French are inscribed round the verge of the slab. The others are to _Maude, Lady Cobham_ (1370), probably wife of Baron Cobham, who was Warden of the Cinque Ports in the time of Edward III., who is represented with a dog at her feet. Over her head are the words ‘Icy gist dame Maude de Cobham.’ _Maude, Lady Cobham_ (c. 1385) supposed to have been the wife of Thomas de Cobham. She has a flounce of fur at the bottom of her dress. There are the remains of a mutilated canopy over her, and a fragment of inscription says, ‘Icy gist dame Maude de Cobehm qe....’ _Margaret, Lady Cobham_ (1385), wife of John de Cobham, the founder of Cobham College. This is a remarkably beautiful canopied brass; the finial of the canopy bearing a figure of the Virgin and Child. Around the brass is the inscription, ‘Isy gist dame Margarete de Cobeham, iadiis fille a noble en le Comte de Deuenischire; feme le sire de Cobeham, foundour de ... morust le secounde in dimoys D’agust lan de grace, MCCCLXXXV., lalme de qy deux eut mercy. Amen.’ _Joan, Lady Cobham_ (c. 1320), who was daughter of John, Lord Beauchamp of Stoke-under-Hamden, and first wife of Sir John de Cobham. The inscription, in Longobardic capitals, is:—

“‘Dame Jone de Kobeham gist isi Deus de sa alme eit merci Kike pur le Alme Priera Quaraunte jours de pardoun avera.’”

_Reginald de Cobham_ (c. 1420), an ecclesiastic, under a triple canopy, the shaft and some other portions being lost. _Sir Thomas de Cobham_, a knight in mixed armour, 1367.

_Ralph de Cobham_, 1405, a semi-effigy in armour, holding in his hands a tablet, bearing the inscription in old English characters. _John de Cobham_, the founder of the College, bearing in his hands the model of a church. _John Broke_ and _Lady Margaret_ his wife, under a rich canopy with pendants and other ornaments, with triangular compartments, containing circles with shields, one of which bears the crown of thorns, and the other the five wounds; between the pinnacles, in the centre, is a curious representation of the Trinity, in which the Deity is delineated with a triple crown, and the Holy Spirit has a human face. The figure of the knight is gone, but that of his lady remains; and beneath are groups of eight sons and ten daughters. _Sir Reginald Braybroke_, the second husband of Joan, Lady Cobham. _Sir Nicholas Hauberk_, her third husband. _Joan de Cobham_: she died, as appears from the inscription, ‘on the day of St. Hilary the Bishop, A.D. 1433.’ At her feet are six sons and four daughters; and surrounding her, are six escutcheons of the Cobham arms and alliances. _Sir Thomas Broke_ and one of his three wives. Below them are seven sons and five daughters. Sir Thomas died 1529.”

“The COLLEGE of Cobham” is now only a collection of almshouses, to which presentations are made—of old people, without restriction to either sex—as vacancies occur, by the parish and ten other parishes adjacent. It lies immediately south of the church, and is entered by a small Gothic gateway. Its occupants are twenty aged men and women, who have each a little dwelling, with a neat garden and an allowance monthly, sufficient to secure the necessaries of life. It is a quadrangular building, of stone, measuring about 60 feet by 50; and contains a large hall, with painted windows, a roof of blackened rafters, an old oak screen, and a fire-place of cut stone. The history of the college is curious and interesting. A college or chantry was originally founded here, about the year 1362, by John de Cobham, thence called “the founder,” in the reign of Edward III. In the Church is a brass to the memory of William Tanner, Master of the College, who died in 1418. The brass consists of a half-length of the master, in clerical costume, with the inscription in black letter:—“Hic jacet Willmus Tannere qui prim obiit magister istuis Collegii xxii. die mensis Junii Anno Dni. M°CCCC°XVIII. cujus anime propicietur deus Amen.” Towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth it was rebuilt, as appears by a record—“finished in September 1598”—inscribed over the south portal, under the arms and alliances of the Brokes, Lords Cobham. The endowments of the old foundation were ample, and were, with the college itself, bestowed by Henry VIII., at the dissolution, upon George, Lord Cobham, who had the “king’s roiall assent and licence by hys grace’s word, with any manner of letters patent or other writings, to purchase and receyve to his heires for ever, of the late master and brethren, of the college or chauntry of Cobham, in the countie of Kent, now being utterly dissolved, the scite of the same colledge or chauntry, and al and singular their heridaments and possessions, as well temporall as ecclesiasticall, wheresoever they lay, or were, within the realm of England.” The walls of the ancient college may be clearly traced, and a small portion still endures, comparatively uninjured. It is a gateway, surmounted by the arms of the Cobhams, luxuriantly overgrown with ivy, forming a fine example of picturesque antiquity. The present structure was erected pursuant to the will of Sir William Broke, Lord Cobham, who devised “all those edifices, ruined buildings, soil and ground, with the appurtenances which some time belonged to the late suppressed college for the use of the ‘new’ college.” By an act of the 39th of Elizabeth, the wardens of Rochester Bridge for the time being were made a body corporate, and declared perpetual presidents of the new college, the government of which they retain to this day.

The dependent village of Cobham is one of the neatest and most pleasant of the fair villages of Kent. There are, no doubt, many nobler and more perfect examples of the domestic architecture of “old” England than is supplied by Cobham Hall, but it would be difficult to direct attention to any that affords so rich a recompense at so small a cost; taking into account its genuine remains of antiquity, the magnificent works of Art that decorate its walls, its easy access from the metropolis, and the primitive character and surpassing beauty of the locality in which it is situated.

MOUNT EDGCUMBE.

WE cannot say in what month these details will be read, but they are written on a morning of May, in one of the loveliest spots of the fairest of our English shires: a mild and genial day of mid-spring—

“The soote season that bud and blome forth brings;”

when the apple orchards—prides of Devon—are in full blossom; the hawthorns have donned their snow-white draperies; the gorse its garment of gold; and every hedgerow is rich in the hundred hues of flowers that herald summer: while all the hill-slopes and meadows, “in verdure clad,” seem rejoicing over the prospective abundance that Nature promises to healthy toil. We have passed through the fifty-three miles that separate Exeter from Plymouth. It would be hard to find in any part of the world, in equal space, a road so lavishly endowed with gifts of the fertile and the beautiful. Part of the way by the open sea, then by estuaries, then by the banks of broad rivers, then by narrow and rapid streams, then under the shadows of tree-clad hills, green from base to summit, with frequent views of prosperous towns and happy villages, with venerable churches continually showing their tall spires above the tree-tops—in thoroughly rural England, far from the tall chimneys and dense atmosphere that betoken manufactures and their results—the railway runs through many scenes of surpassing loveliness, any one of which might tempt the traveller who is in search of either health or pleasure, with assurance of an ample supply of both.

The GREAT WESTERN conveys us from Paddington to Exeter. We leave Exeter by the South Devon Railway (proverbially well managed, in all respects): it may take us to Penzance; but its great station is midway, at Plymouth, where has been recently erected for the especial accommodation of railway travellers and tourists, an admirable hotel (the Duke of Cornwall—there is none more comfortable in the kingdom).[11] Here we arrest the tourist, in order to visit the promontory of Mount Edgcumbe, that occupies one side of the famous harbour.

First, however, let us glance at the several points of interest that claim our attention _en route_. Leaving Exeter and its many attractions other than its renowned Cathedral, we first reach the marine village of Starcross, opposite to which are old Topsham (full of memories of our own boyhood, when “a stranger yet to pain”), and young Exmouth; stately villas and pretty cottages occupy slopes of the hill range. Then, at Dawlish, a graceful village, we front the sea, and pass some singular rocks of red sandstone, that stand like sentinels along the shore—and here, it may be well to note, some extraordinary inroads upon the sea-wall of the railway have lately been made by the ocean—Teignmouth and Shaldon come next, towns on both sides of the river Teign, connected by a narrow wooden bridge more than a quarter of a mile in length. We next arrive at Newton Junction, where a railway branch conducts to Torquay and Dartmouth; soon afterwards Totnes is reached, an old town on the Dart, one of the most beautiful of all the rivers in Devonshire, whence a steamboat issues daily to visit Dartmouth. Here we have left the sea, and have only in view rich pasture land—ever green, the hills tree-clad to their topmost heights. Passing Brent and Kingsbridge Stations, Ivy Bridge next comes in sight, a deep dell, over which a viaduct passes: a dell of singular beauty, one of the finest in all Devonshire. Soon we pass Cornwood and Plympton,—the latter famous as the birthplace of Sir Joshua Reynolds,—and, skirting the Plym, enter Plymouth.

The eye is at once arrested by a sylvan spot, running out into the sea, beyond the docks, and their manifold adjuncts; a mass of greenery, unbroken except by trees of varied foliage, that rise continually in groups, from all parts of the promontory that, thus seen, seems an island.

The admiral of the “Invincible” Armada had taste, at least, in fixing upon Mount Edgcumbe as his dwelling-place, when settled in the country he was “about” to conquer. God’s providence gave the invader a different locality; and the beautiful domain continues to be, as it was then, the home of the family of the Edgcumbes, now earls of “that ilk.”