beautiful prospects, it has been termed "the Windsor of the North." Having at one time belonged to a family named Bird, the country people, with some attempt at a jeu d'esprit, called it Bird's Nest. Mrs. Radcliffe indeed says that a bird was formerly painted on the front. The pleasure grounds and shrubberies are of considerable extent, and tastefully laid out. The principal entrance is made from the east, through a strong and ancient gateway, into a beautiful grassy court, with ivied walls running on each side. The entrance-hall is hung round with numerous family portraits, and lighted by curiously painted windows, which, from the device of the twoheaded eagle, and the German epigrammata scattered up and down, appear to be of Prussian manufacture. The "Book-room" is a handsome apartment, recently constructed. In a recess of the court before mentioned are several altars, brought from the Roman station at Brougham Castle, as a Latin inscription, in modern characters, informs us-BROVAGI ROMANORUM RELIQUIÆ. Some of the inscriptions can be made out well enough, but others are so much defaced that it is impossible for any eyes but those of a speculative antiquary to decipher them. The most legible reads thus : The family of Brougham (or Burgham, as it was formerly spelt), is ancient and respectable. The manor, which bears the same name, after having been long alienated, was re-acquired, and still belongs to the Broughams. EDEN HALL, the seat of the chief of the famous Border clan Musgrave, is a large and handsome edifice, on the west bank of the river Eden, which, being bordered with trees, forms an elegant feature in the pleasuregrounds. There is here preserved with scrupulous care * an old and anciently-painted glass goblet, called the Luck of Eden Hall, which would appear, from the following traditionary legend, to be wedded to the fortunes of its present possessors. The butler, in going to procure water at a well in the neighbourhood (rather an unusual employment for a butler), came suddenly upon a company of fairies, who were feasting and making merry on the green sward. In their flight they left behind this glass, and one of them returning for it, found it in the hands of the butler. Seeing that its recovery was hopeless, she flew away, singing aloud "If that glass should break or fall, The letters I. H. S. which are marked upon the case, sufficiently show the sacred uses to which it was originally appropriated. Mr. J. H. Wiffen wrote a short poem upon the luck of Eden Hall, and the German poet Uhland has a ballad upon the same subject. The Musgraves came to England with the Conqueror, and settled first at Musgrave in Westmorland, then at Hartley Castle in the same county, and finally at their present residence. Sir Philip Musgrave, who was commander-inchief of the King's troops for Cumberland and Westmorland, in the Parliamentary War, just walks across the stage in Scott's Legend of Montrose; but by mistake the novelist calls him Sir Miles. LOWTHER CASTLE, the seat of the Earl of Lonsdale, is seated in a noble park of 600 acres, on the east side of the woody vale of Lowther. It was erected by the late Earl, after the designs of Sir Robert Smirke, upon *The connexion of the prosperity of a family with the integrity of an inanimate object, has frequently been one of the playthings of tradition, and traces of the superstition are found in ancient fable. There is a legend of this kind attached to a pear, preserved in a silver box, at Coalstoun, the seat of the Earl of Dalhousie, near Haddington; and there is, or was, a glass cup at Muncaster Castle, given by Henry VI. to Sir John Pennington, which, from the general opinion of the king's sanctity, and that he entailed with the gift a blessing on the family, was called "the Luck of Muncaster." The the site of the old hall, which had been nearly destroyed "Lowther! in thy majestic pile are seen And charters won, and guarded with the sword Surmounting the whole is a lofty tower, from the summit of which the prospect is extremely fine-the mountains of Helvellyn, Seat Sandal, Saddleback, and Skiddaw, with a large interspace of champaign and swelling country, are distinctly visible. The fitting up of the interior, which is shown with the utmost liberality to strangers, is in a style of splendour corresponding with the external appearance. Heart of oak and birch occupy in a great measure the place of foreign woods, in the furniture and carvings. The staircase, sixty feet square, which climbs the great central tower, with the ceiling, ninety feet from the ground, is highly imposing. The Library, forty-five feet by thirty, decorated entirely with oak, is plentifully stored with books, and hung round with family portraits. A Lady Lowther, by Lely, is a favourable specimen of his pencil. The saloon is a splendid apartment on the south front, sixty feet by thirty, having the dining-room on one side and the drawing-room on the other. The corridors and rooms are adorned with busts from the chisels of Chantrey, Westmacott, and other sculptors. Amongst these the bust of our liege Lady, Queen Victoria, taken when a chubby little prattler of three or four, will be viewed with more than ordinary interest. Upon the walls of the various apartments are hung many paintings by the ancient and modern masters, of great excellence and value. Amongst them we would point out the following as deserving of the visitor's especial attention :— BREAKFAST ROOM. Village Wake, Village Feast, and Fete Champetre, three pictures by Teniers-first rate compositions. A Hawking Party, and a Halt of Cavalry, by Wouvermans. Charity, an allegorical picture by Vandyke. A duplicate is at Dulwich. Madonna and Child. Sasso Ferrato. Dutch Officer. F. Hals. Holy Family. Rubens? Two Infants Embracing. An old Italian composition, attributed to Leon. da Vinci. There is a repetition of this subject, without the landscape, at Hampton Court. Head. Rembrandt. DINING ROOM. The Duke of Wellington. Jackson. A full length of his Grace standing at the cannon's mouth. Sir James Lowther (the first Earl of Lonsdale), in a masquerade dress. In this room is a cast from Flaxman's celebrated model of the Shield of Achilles.* NORTH DRAWING ROOM. The late Earl of Lonsdale. Lawrence. One of the painter's most successful efforts. * This magnificent piece of art, which is of silver gilt, cost two thousand guineas. The artist has followed, with the utmost possible nicety, Homer's description of Vulcan's marvellous handiwork :"Round the border of the shield he first wrought the sea, in breadth about three fingers; wave follows wave in quiet undulation. He knew that a boisterous ocean would disturb the harmony of the rest of his work. On the central boss he has represented Apollo or the Sun in his chariot; the horses seem starting forward, and the god bursting out in beauty to give light to the universe around. On the Landscape. Poussin. Adoration of the Shepherds. Bassano. Two pictures, morning and evening. Marine View. Vandervelde. SMALL SITTING ROOM. Lieut.-Col. Lowther (the Earl's brother), as Major in the 10th Hussars. Lawrence. St. John Preaching in the Wilderness. Salvator Rosa. Landscape. Poussin. The Poet Wordsworth. A Drawing. LORD LONSDALE'S STUDY. Boors Playing at Cards. Teniers. Alehouse Interior. Brouwer. Old Man Mending a Pen by Candlelight. Gerard Dow. Boys eating Fruit. Murillo. Head of a Martyr. Titian. Soldiers Quarrelling. The Tribute Money. Valentini. Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, in Weeds. Christ and the Woman of Samaria. Vanderwerf. Female Head. Holbein. Crucifixion. Breughel. Singular for the number of figures. Faun and Dancing Nymphs. Vanderwerf. Exquisitely painted. River Scene. Farrier's Shop. Wouvermans. Two Crones. Ostade. Boors Revelling. Ostade. Female Reading. Gerard Dow. Dancing Children. Bacchanalian Revellers. Le Nain. GALLERY ROUND STAIR-CASE. St. Francis, as a Monk, praying. Guido. "One of those heads which Guido has often painted." St. Sebastian suffering Martyrdom. Guido. Not so fine as the Dulwich picture. St. Jerome. Guido. A Magdalen. Tintoretto. A Gentleman. Tintor. A full-length, finely painted. Another full-length, in the Dutch manner, but attributed to Titian; "Utinam" in one corner. twelve celebrated scenes which fill that space in the shield between the ocean border and the central representation of the universe, he exhausted all his learning, and expended all his strength. We have the labours of commerce and agriculture, hunting, war, marriage, religious rites-all, in short, that makes up the circle of social existence. The figures are generally about six inches in height, and vary in relief from the smallest perceptible swell to half an inch. There is a convexity of six inches from the plane, and the whole contains not less than a hundred figures.”—ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. |