The house is of the Elizabethan period and is one of the best preserved specimens of that style,but of its vast extent and magnificence I can give you no idea.We arrived about five o'clock,and were ushered through an immense hall of carved oak hung with banners up a fine staircase to the grand saloon,where we were received by the host and hostess.Now of this grand saloon I must try to give you a conception.It was,I should think,from seventy-five to one hundred feet in length.The ceiling overhead was very rich with hanging corbels,like stalactites,and the entire walls were panelled,with a full-length family portrait in each panel,which was arched at the top,so that the whole wall was composed of these round-topped pictures with rich gilding between.
Notwithstanding its vast size,the sofas and tables were so disposed all over the apartment as to give it the most friendly,warm,and social aspect.
Lady Braybrooke herself ushered me to my apartments,which were the state rooms.First came Mr.Bancroft's dressing-room,where was a blazing fire.Then came the bedroom,with the state bed of blue and gold,covered with embroidery,and with the arms and coronet of Howard de Walden.The walls were hung with crimson and white damask,and the sofas and chairs also,and it was surrounded by pictures,among others a full length of Queen Charlotte,just opposite the foot of the bed,always saluted me every morning when Iawoke,with her fan,her hoop,and her deep ruffles.
My dressing-room,which was on the opposite side from Mr.
Bancroft's,was a perfect gem.It was painted by the famous Rebecco who came over from Italy to ornament so many of the great English houses at one time.The whole ceiling and walls were covered with beautiful designs and with gilding,and a beautiful recess for a couch was supported by fluted gilded columns;the architraves and mouldings of the doors were gilt,and the panels of the doors were filled with Rebecco's beautiful designs.The chairs were of light blue embroidered with thick,heavy gold,and all this bearing the stamp of antiquity was a thousand times more interesting than mere modern splendor.In the centre of the room was a toilet of white muslin (universal here),and on it a gilt dressing-glass,which gave pretty effect to the whole.
I sat at dinner between Lord Braybrooke and Sir John Boileau,and found them both very agreeable.The dining-room is as magnificent as the other apartments.The ceiling is in the Elizabethan style,covered with figures,and the walls white and gold panelling hung with full-length family portraits not set into the wall like the saloon,but in frames.In the evening the young people had a round game at cards and the elder ones seemed to prefer talking to a game at whist.The ladies brought down their embroidery or netting.At eleven a tray with wine and water is brought in and a quantity of bed candlesticks,and everybody retires when they like.The next morning the guests assembled at half-past nine in the great gallery which leads to the chapel to go in together to prayers.The chapel is really a beautiful little piece of architecture,with a vaulted roof and windows of painted glass.On one side is the original cast of the large monument to Lord Cornwallis (our lord)which is in Westminster Abbey.After breakfast we passed a couple of hours in going all over the house,which is in perfect keeping in every part.
We returned to the library,a room as splendid as the saloon,only instead of pictured panels it was surrounded by books in beautiful gilt bindings.In the immense bay window was a large Louis Quatorze table,round which the ladies all placed themselves at their embroidery,though I preferred looking over curious illuminated missals,etc.,etc.
The next day was the meeting of the County Agricultural Society....At the hour appointed we all repaired to the ground where the prizes were to be given out....Lord Braybrooke made first a most paternal and interesting address,which showed me in the most favorable view the relation between the noble and the lower class in England,a relation which must depend much on the personal character of the lord of the manor....First came prizes to ploughmen,then the plough boys,then the shepherds,then to such peasants as had reared many children without aid,then to women who had been many years in the same farmer's service,etc.,etc.A clock was awarded to a poor man and his wife who had reared six children and buried seven without aid from the parish.The rapture with which Mr.and Mrs.Flitton and the whole six children gazed on this clock,an immense treasure for a peasant's cottage,was both comic and affecting....The next morning we made our adieus to our kind host and hostess,and set off for London,accompanied by Sir John Tyrrell,Major Beresford,and young Mr.Boileau.
