Part 56

Henry Lowther, as third Earl of Lonsdale and Viscount and Baron Lowther of Whitehaven, of the second creation, who was the son of Colonel the Hon. Henry Cecil Lowther (second son of the first earl, by Lady Lucy, daughter of the fifth Earl of Harborough). He was born on the 27th of March, 1818, and succeeded his uncle at his death in 1872. His lordship was educated at Westminster and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of M.A. in 1838. He was appointed cornet and sub-lieutenant in the 1st Life Guards in 1841, became lieutenant in 1843, captain in 1849, and retired in 1854. For twenty-four years he retained the confidence of the electors of West Cumberland, sitting uninterruptedly for this division from 1847 to 1872, when he succeeded his uncle in the title and estates. The seat thus vacant by the late earl’s accession to the House of Lords was obtained without a contest by Lord Muncaster. His lordship was Lord-Lieutenant and _Custos Rotulorum_ of Cumberland and Westmoreland, a magistrate for Rutland, Hon. Colonel of the Royal Cumberland Militia and of the Cumberland Rifle Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Westmoreland and Cumberland Yeomanry Cavalry, and a member of the Carlton, Boodle’s, Jockey, and Turf Clubs. Lord Lonsdale married, in 1852, Emily Susan, daughter of St. George Francis Caulfield, Esq., of Dunamon Castle, county Roscommon, by whom he left issue living four sons and two daughters. These are—St. George Henry Lowther, the present Earl of Lonsdale; the Hon. Hugh Cecil Lowther, born in 1857; the Hon. Charles Edwin Lowther, born in 1859; the Hon. Lancelot Edward Lowther, born in 1867; the Lady Sybil Emily Lowther; and the Lady Verena Maud Lowther. His lordship died somewhat suddenly on the 15th of August, 1876, and was buried the Saturday following in Lowther Church.

The present noble head of the House of Lowther, St. George Henry, fourth Earl of Lonsdale and Viscount and Baron Lowther of Whitehaven, and a baronet, was born on the 4th of October, 1855, and therefore succeeded to the titles and estates a few weeks before attaining his majority. His lordship was, in 1875, appointed Sub-Lieutenant of the Royal Cumberland Militia, and shortly afterwards transferred to the Nottingham Royal Sherwood Rangers. He is patron of forty-three livings—viz. Aikton, Armathwaite, Bootle, Bolton, Bowness, Brigham, Buttermere, Cockermouth, Cleator, Corney, Distingdon, Embleton, Gosforth, Hensingham, Haile, Kirkandrews-upon-Eden, Kirkbride, Lorton, Loweswater, Moresby, Mosser, St. Bees, Threlkeld, Whicham, Whitbeck, St. James, Christchurch, St. Nicholas, and Holy Trinity, Whitehaven; Askham, Bampton, Barton, Kirkby Stephen, Lowther, Patterdale, Clifton, Ravenstonedale, Shap, Startforth (Yorkshire), Bampton Kirk, Orton, St. John’s-in-the-Vale, and Crosthwaite.

The arms of the Earl of Lonsdale are—_or_, six annulets, three, two, and one, _sable_. Crest, a dragon, _argent_. Supporters, two horses, _argent_, gorged with wreaths of laurel, _vert_. His seats are Lowther Castle, Westmoreland; Whitehaven Castle, Cumberland; Barleythorpe, near Oakham, Rutland; and Carlton House Terrace, London.

Lowther Castle is entered by a massive porch in the centre of its north front, the door, which is garnished with magnificent bronze knockers, giving access to the grand Entrance Hall. This is a noble Gothic apartment, some sixty feet long by thirty feet in width, ceiled with panelled oak. The entrance doorway is in the centre of the north side, and immediately in front is the Grand Staircase, across the landing of which is a noble arcade of three lofty pointed archways rising from clustered columns. From the angled corners of the Hall doorways open to passages leading to the domestic offices. At each end of this fine apartment, and again in front of each pillar between and adjoining the flights of stairs, are suits of ancient armour standing on lofty pedestals, ranges of the old “Black Bess” guns of the old Cumberland Militia and other trophies of arms decorating the walls.

The Grand Staircase, sixty feet square and ninety feet in height, leads up from the Entrance Hall to the various suites of apartments. It is entirely of stone, and has a richly groined ceiling rising from clustered columns. Facing the entrance, on the first landing, is a magnificent vase, and in canopied niches in the wall are exquisitely sculptured figures, the arms of Lowther and the alliances of the family also appropriately decorating the walls. The Staircase is of four heights, the upper forming a triforium passage, over which are windows filled with rich Gothic tracery and stained glass. The centre of the elaborately groined ceiling is panelled, and bears the inscription: “+ Edif^t. Cul^s. Com. de Lonsdale an^o. Regni L^o. R^s. Geo^i. III. A^o. D^i. MDCCCX: cur^e. Rob^o. Smirke.” Arms and banners decorate the walls, and plants and flowers, arranged to line the staircases in every direction, add immeasurably to the beauty and the comfort as well as to the stateliness of this fine portion of the edifice.

It will not be necessary to enter fully into a description of the various apartments of this noble residence; they are all sumptuous in their furnishing, admirable in their appointments, and replete with everything that can make a “home of taste” enjoyable. Some of the apartments, however, require special notice, and to each of these we proceed to devote a few lines—not taking them in any given order, but as we saw them on our recent visit.

Passing to the second landing through an “ante-room to the sleeping apartments,” in which are preserved a valuable and extensive collection of Ceramics arranged in glass cases, and also a number of antiquities, are the State Bed-room and its suite of dressing-rooms. These are all hung with remarkably fine Gobelins tapestry. These noble apartments occupy the space in the centre of the south front, and from the windows are lovely views of the Grounds and Deer Park. The state bed, which is hung with white satin richly embroidered, is of black and gold, the massive cornice, solidly gilt, being surrounded by angels, five on each side and four at the foot, and reminding one of the charming nursery rhyme of our childish days:—

“Four corners to my bed, Four angels round me spread; One to sing, and one to pray, And two to carry my soul away!”

The appointments of the room are of the most sumptuous character, the toilet service of silver gilt adding much to its magnificence.

On the landing of the Grand Staircase, among other Art treasures are Lawrence’s full-length portrait of George IV., Greenhill’s Walpole, Kneller’s Duke of Marlborough, Addison, and other paintings; and in the east ante-room leading to the sleeping apartments in that part of the castle are various objects of note.

On the first or ground floor landing of the Grand Staircase, to the right, between the private apartments, is a corridor leading to various rooms, and to the left a similar corridor, from which open the Library and other apartments, leads to the Gallery of Worthies, and gives access to the Sculpture Gallery; it has a groined ceiling, and contains a large and powerful organ, wall-cases of books, and some valuable paintings and busts.

The Library is in the north front, and is a noble and well-appointed room, fitted in a style of quiet sumptuousness that is in full accord with the rich collection of rare literary treasures with which the walls are lined. The ceiling is of panelled oak of suitable Gothic character, heightened with gold, and the presses for books are also of oak richly adorned with cinquefoil cusps. Besides its literary treasures, the Library is hung with a fine collection of family portraits of surpassing interest. These are (beginning at the north-east corner of the apartment)—Sir John Lowther, of Lowther, Bart., 1657; Sir John Lowther, _fils_, 1675; James, Earl of Lonsdale, known as “the eccentric earl;” Sir Christopher Lowther, Bart.; Eleanor, wife of Sir John Lowther; Henry, third Viscount Lonsdale; Richard, second Viscount Lonsdale; Sir John Lowther, Bart.; Hon. Anthony Lowther; Jane, wife of Sir John Lowther; Rev. Sir William Lowther, Bart.; Sir James Lowther, Bart.; Robert Lowther, Esq.; Sir John Lowther, Bart.; and William, Earl of Lonsdale, K.G. Among other objects of interest preserved in this room is a table formed of the wood of one of the piles of old London Bridge, with a small portion of the “Abdication Tree” of Napoleon inserted. It bears this inscription, “Made out of one of the piles supporting the chapel arch of London Bridge. Supposed date, 1176. The gift of John Rennie, architect, 1829.” “Le cinq d’avril dix-huit cent quatorze Napoleon Bonaparte signa son abdication sur cette table dans le cabinet de travail du Roi, le 2^{me} après la chambre à coucher à Fontainebleau.” “Wilkinson & Sons, 14, Ludgate Hill, 6881.”

The Billiard-room, not on account of any architectural features or of the use to which it is assigned, but from the remarkably interesting character of the collection of pictures contained within its walls, is one of the most important features of the castle. Its walls are hung with portraits of “Westmoreland Worthies,” forming a gallery of celebrities of which not only the county, but the nation may indeed well be proud, and the founding of which is a lasting honour to the House of Lowther. Well indeed would it be if the example of forming local Galleries of Worthies, so nobly set by the second Earl of Lonsdale, were followed by the Lords-Lieutenant of other counties whose high functions and important positions point them out especially as the right parties to honour native worth, and their mansions as the right and proper and only place in which such a gallery should be enshrined. The collection of “Westmoreland Worthies” at Lowther Castle is a noble beginning in the right direction, and it is to be hoped the spirit and feeling that caused its foundation by one of the noble heads of the House of Lowther may still actuate his successors, and cause what is now a glorious nucleus to become a full and complete collection. The portraits at present contained in this gallery are—Queen Catherine Parr, wife of Henry VIII., born at Kendal Castle; Christopher Baynbrigg, Cardinal of St. Praxede, Legate to the Court of Rome, Archbishop of York, Master of the Rolls, &c.; George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland; Sir Gerard Lowther, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, Ireland; the Marquis of Wharton; the Right Hon. Joseph Addison; John, First Viscount Lonsdale; the Hon. Justice Wilson; Sir Alan Chambre; Dr. Burn, LL.D., the historian of Westmoreland and Cumberland, and author of the “Justice of the Peace;” Lord Langdale; Alderman Thompson, Lord Mayor of London; Sir George Fleming, Bishop of Carlisle; Gibson, Bishop of London; John Bell, Chancery barrister; Richard Braithwaite, author of the “English Gentleman,” &c.; Dean Addison; Dr. Shaw; Waugh, Bishop of Carlisle; Duke of Wharton; Admiral Sir Charles Richardson; John Langhorne, D.D.; Watson, Bishop of Llandaff; Bernard Gilpin; General Bowser; Thomas Barlow; William Hogarth, whose ancestors belonged to the county; Dr. Fothergill; the Countess of Pembroke, who once wrote, when pressed to put in a court candidate for the borough of Appleby, “Sir, I have been bullied by an usurper, I have been neglected by a court, but I will not be dictated to by a subject. Your man shan’t stand;” Admiral Pearson, famous for his engagement with Paul Jones; John Robinson, Surveyor-General of Woods and Forests, who is represented holding in his hand a “Report of Acorns planted in and about Windsor Great Park,” &c.[49]

It may be named _en passant_ that in various parts of the castle are a number of paintings—supposed to be veritable Hogarths—which were brought from the old Vauxhall Gardens.

The Drawing-room, opposite the Library, is a lovely apartment—the walls hung with costly figured satin, the ceiling richly groined in elaborate fan-tracery, and the furniture as sumptuous and elegant as the most exquisite and fastidious taste could desire, or the most lavish expenditure procure. Among the furniture is a magnificent suite of couch, chairs, and stools, which are of historic interest; they belonged to Tippoo Sahib, and are marvels of Indian Art workmanship in ivory and gold. It is not, however, our province to speak in detail of any of the appointments or furnishing of the rooms; all we can say is that the Drawing-room and other apartments are rich storehouses of exquisite gems of loveliness, such as one might naturally expect would characterize a home presided over by a lady of such pure taste and such high accomplishments as the present Countess of Lonsdale. We must, however, casually allude to one literary treasure which is kept in the Drawing-room—an album in which have been written by their own hands, at various times when visiting Lowther, poetical or prose contributions by Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, Robert Southey (13th October, 1824), Samuel Rogers (January 23rd, 1826), the Duke of Wellington (January 2nd, 1829), Sir Humphry Davy (Sept. 11th, 1826), Hon. G. O’Callagan, Amelia Opie, and others; while it is also graced by original drawings made on its pages by Dewint, Page, Sir George Beaumont, Lady Anne Beckett, Lady Delamere, Lady Farnborough, Lady F. Bentinck, the Marchioness of Stafford, &c.

The Saloon, in the centre of the south front, has a Gothic panelled ceiling, and contains many fine paintings by Zuccarelli, Guido, Elisabetta Sirani, &c., and (as well as other parts of the house) some grand old china. The Dining-room has two fine paintings—Pitt, by Hoppner, and Wellington, by Jackson; and in the centre of the gorgeous display of gold plate on the buffet is a full-sized silver-gilt copy of Flaxman’s _chef-d’œuvre_, the Shield of Achilles.

The Countess’s or Breakfast Room contains some of the richest treasures of Art in the castle. Among them are the Wakes, the Feast, and the Fête Champêtre of Teniers; a Holy Family of Rubens; and marvellously fine examples of Vandyke, Fyt, Wouvermans, Leonardo da Vinci, Gerard Douw, FrankHals, Ruysdael, Borgognone, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Bischey, Sassoferrato, Titian, and others.

The Picture Gallery, with its glass ceiling, is a noble room, filled with pictures of high merit, many being _chefs-d’œuvre_ of the various artists. It will be sufficient to say that it contains, among others, no less than ten Snyders of large size and of almost unmatched excellence (the only others we know of equal or more excellence being those at Welbeck), and admirable examples of Tintoretti, Titian (a remarkably fine picture), Guido, Paolo Veronese, Paris Bordone, Luca Giordano, Backhuysen, Zuccarelli, Hogarth, Bernardo Canaletto, Poussin, Carlo Cignani, Salvator Rosa, Bordenone, Lely (a nude Nell Gwynne, which contrasts very unfavourably with the Titian on the same walls), Paul Bril, Bronzino, Bassano, Fyt, Delia Nottie, Murillo, Zucchero, &c.

The other apartments, beautiful as they all undoubtedly are, and filled as they are with choice works of Art, are not necessary to be named. There are, however, two of the most important features of Lowther yet to be noticed. These are the two Sculpture Galleries and the passages and corridors leading to them. To these we proceed to direct brief attention.

In one part of the Gallery is a marvellously extensive and highly important assemblage of Roman inscribed stones—altars, monumental stones, inscriptions of cohorts, &c.—from the Roman wall and from the old stations in the three counties; mediæval sculptures from the neighbourhood; and a number of Celtic and Roman urns and other antiquities of more than passing interest: to these, however, we cannot find space to direct attention.[50] Among the Roman sculptured stones at Lowther Castle are the following:—From Drumburgh a fragment, bearing the words—

PEDATVRA VINDO MORVCI

Vindomora being a station in the first Iter of Antonine; another with the words COH VII (cohors septima); and a stone bearing a female helmeted figure, holding a wreath in her right, and a distaff in her left, hand. From Kirkby Thore the upper part of an altar, inscribed IOVI SERAPI L ALFENVS PATE[RNVS] (Iovi Serapi Lucius Alfenus Pate[rnus]); a singular sculptured stone bearing a representation of a death-bed scene, the sufferer partaking of her last meal preparatory to her departure, the only inscription left being FILIA CRESC IMAG NIER (Filia Crescentis imag[i]nif[e]r[i]); a stone representing a mounted warrior with uplifted sword, trampling on a foe; a fragment of another, where the mounted warrior is in full career, spearing his prostrate foe; another stone, bearing much the same design as the last, but in a more complete state; a fir-cone; a female head; and a lion overpowering a ram. From Plumpton, or Old Penrith, a remarkably fine sepulchral inscribed stone, bearing a figure, probably intended to represent a deceased child. He is dressed in a tunic, and holds in his left hand a whip, and in his right a kind of toy. The inscription is—

DIS MANIB M COCCEI NONNI ANNOR V HIC SITVS EST

(Diis Manibus Marci Cocceii Nonni annorum quinque his situs est); and another bearing the inscription—

D M YLAE ALVM NI KARIS SIMI VIXI[T] [A]N XIII CL S[E] VERVS INL ...

(Diis Manibus Ylæ alumni carissimi. Vixit annos tredecim. Claudius Severus....)

Among the antique sculpture contained in the galleries is the Venus from the temple to that goddess at Cnidus. The exquisite torso, the remainder of the figure being restored, was from the Stowe collection; and it is undoubtedly an example of the purest Greek, of an age “when Art was a religion.”

It has with reason been attributed to Praxiteles; and it is believed to be the work alluded to by Lucian and Pliny as one of the triumphs of Greek Art—a belief which obtains force with all Art-lovers by whom it has been seen. There are also a statue of Diana, of exceeding grace and beauty; a Statue of Julius Caesar, half life-size, seated in a consular chair, and of fine conception; the upper half of a seated female figure, draped, brought to England by Lord Guildford, and the only specimen brought home by him—a great work, certainly a production of the best era of Greece, and a majestic, yet tender creation; a statue of Agrippina, of rare excellence, from the Stowe collection; a torso of a Venus, from the Marquis of Hertford’s collection—a work of refined delicacy, yet exhibiting intense power; a statue of Bacchus, a relic of great worth; a beautiful statue of Hygeia, from the Besborough collection—a work of pure Art, originally from the Capitol; a Roman sarcophagus, from the same collection, with Cupids hunting in relief; a monument from the Besborough collection, inscribed “Honos est præmium virtutis,” and several other sarcophagi and monuments; a rich example of moulding from the Palace of the Cæsars; a figure of Mars; some vases; statues of Marcus Aurelius, Bacchus, Agrippina, and Diana; busts of Livia, Trajan, Janus, Cato, Vitellius, Nero, Sylla, Seneca, Plato, Marcus Pompeius, Galba, Agrippina, Faustina, Matidia, Homer, Nerva, the Cæsars, and Æsculapius; and a bronze statue of Hercules.

There are also some fine stone chairs, an Egyptian bath, statues of Pan, Augustus, a roman Senator, Hygeia, Euterpe, Flora, Cybele, Adonis, Paris, the Water-carrier, Sphinx, Cicero, Aristides, &c.; and “the Olympian Meta, brought from Greece by the Emperor Nero, and placed in the circus at Rome.” It was purchased by the Marquis of Hertford, and was formerly in his collection. It now forms one of the more interesting features of the Lowther Gallery.

Among other interesting objects are roman sarcophagi (the form of one of which was copied for one of the Earls of Lonsdale to be interred in) bearing the inscriptions—

D M D M C MESSIO C TVTILIO RVPINO SEQVMDINO XVO VENATORI QVI VIXIT T. CAVDIVS SECVNDVS ANNIS AMICO B M; XVII MESES IIII

a curious mosaic picture of fish, bearing the following inscription:—“This mosaic, containing 20,000 siliceous pebbles, is the work of Sosus Pergami, who flourished 320 years before Christ, and is mentioned in the writings of the elder Pliny. Discovered in the ruins of the Palace of Pope Leo the 12th, at Villa Chichignola. Presented by Pope Gregory the 16th to Sir Edward Thomason, in the year 1832;” and some other mosaics. There are also exquisite marble busts of Pitt, Wellington, George III., the Duke of York, Lord Liverpool, and others, as well as Chantrey’s charming head of our present beloved Queen Victoria when a little child.

The Grounds and Gardens of Lowther Castle are among its most glorious and charming attractions. Nature has done much for it in the beauty of its situation and the majestic character of its surroundings; and the purest taste in Art, allied to the most consummate skill, has taken advantage of those natural beauties, and added charm upon charm to the place. On the west front are lawns (divided from the Deer Park by a sunk fence) laid out tastefully in beds rich in their profusion of colours. At the west end of the mansion is the Conservatory, and near, but below it, approached by a flight of steps from the Terrace, is the Countess’s Garden. The site of this exquisitely lovely spot is a natural dell, and its sloping sides are turfed and planted, while the centre is somewhat elaborately, and with faultless taste, laid out in geometrical form, and filled with the choicest and richest of flowers; the disposition of the vases, the arrangement of the beds, and the harmonious blending of the colour showing the purest taste and a high order of skill on the part of the head-gardener, to whom it owes its origin. Near this is the Yew Avenue—a walk densely covered in by the intertwined branches and foliage of the rows of yew-trees, hundreds of years old, which range along its sides. From here pathways lead on to the Terrace outside the wood.

Of the Terrace it is impossible to convey an idea. It is simply a tract of high land, thickly wooded with the finest of forest trees and the most majestic of conifers, around the outer edge of which runs a broad grassy walk or drive, commanding almost a panorama of the finest of views that even this district of marvellous scenery can produce. From here, in one direction, is Knipe Scar, rising above the village of Bampton; and behind it, again, are Swindale, Walla Crag, beneath which is the lovely lake of Haweswater, and above these, again, rise Harter Fell and High Street (over which runs the old Roman road). Then the hamlet of Helton, and further to the right Helvellyn and other mountains above Ulleswater. Again, there is Askham, with the heights of Blencathra or Saddleback, and the mountains in the Keswick district; while through the Park, far down below, runs the river Lowther, whose murmurs over its rocky bed are distinctly audible. In the wood which skirts the Terrace are some gigantic conifers and other trees which are “great among the greatest.”[51]

The Kitchen Gardens, at some distance from the mansion, are well arranged, very extensive (about seven acres), and extremely productive; and their pleasing effect is much heightened by the judicious introduction of richly arranged flower borders: the glass houses of all kinds are of great extent.