218 



MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



and set in its appropriate frame-work of trees 

 and shrubbery, — making an ensemble such as 

 I saw nowhere else in England. There are 

 dwellings in the Italian, Gothic, Norman, 

 Swiss, and two or three more styles ; each as 

 capital a study as you Mill find in any of 

 the architectural works, with the advantage 

 which the reality always has over its counter- 

 feit. 



From this little village to Chatsworth 

 house, or palace, is about two miles, through 

 a park which is a broad valley, say a couple 

 of miles wide by half a dozen long. It is in- 

 deed just one of those valleys which our own 

 DuRAND loves to paint in his ideal land- 

 scapes, backed by wooded hills and sylvan 

 slopes, some 300 or 400 feet high, with a 

 lovely English river — the Derwent — running 

 like a silver cord through the emerald park, 

 and grouped with noble drooping limes, oaks, 

 and elms, that are scattered over its broad 

 surface. After driving about a mile, the 

 palace bursts upon your view — the broad val- 

 ley park spread out below and before it — the 

 richly wooded hill rising behind it — tlie su- 

 perb Italian gardens lyiug around it — the 

 whole, a palace in Arcadia. On the crest of 

 the hill, from the top of a picturesf|ue tower, 

 floats the flag which apprises you that the 

 owner of all that you see on every side — the 

 park of twelve miles' circuit, (filled with herds 

 of the largest and most beautiful deer I have 

 yet seen,) valley, hills, and the little world 

 which the horizon shuts in — is at home in his 

 castle. 



The palace is a superb pile, extending in 

 all some 800 feet. It is designed in the 

 classical style, and is built of the finest mate- 

 rial, — a stone of a rich golden brown tint, 

 which harmonizes well with the rich setting 

 of foliage, out of which it rises. 



Cavendish, is the family name of the 

 Duke op Devonshire, and this estate be- 

 came the property of Sir W. Cavendish, 



in the time of Elizabeth. The main build- 

 ing was erected by the first Duke in 1702, 

 and the stately wings, containing the picture 

 and sculpture galleries, by the present Duke. 

 Every portion, however, is in the finest possi- 

 ble order and preservation ; and it would be 

 difficult for the stranger to point out which 

 part of the palace belongs to the eighteenth, 

 and which to the nineteenth centuries. 



You enter the gilded gates at the fine por- 

 tal at one end of the range, and drive along 

 a court some distance, till you are set down 

 at the main entrance door of the palace. The 

 middle of the court is occupied by a marble 

 statue of Orion, seated on the back of a dol- 

 phin, al)out which the waters of a fountain are 

 constantly playing. From the chaste and beau- 

 tiful entrance hall rises a broad flight of 

 stairs, which leads to the suite of state rooms, 

 sculpture gallery, collection of pictures, etc. 



The state rooms — a magnificent suite of 

 apartments, with windows composed each of 

 one single plate of glass, and commanding the 

 most exquisite views — are hung with tapestry, 

 or the walls are covered with stamped leather, 

 enriched with gilding. In these rooms are 

 the matchless carvings in wood, by Gibbons, 

 of which, like everybody else curious in such 

 matters, I had heard much, but which fairly 

 beggar all praise. No one can conceive car- 

 ving so wonderfully beautiful and true as 

 this. The groups of dead game hang from 

 the walls with the death flutter in the wings 

 of the birds, and a bit of lace ribbon, which 

 ties one of the festoons, is — more delicate than 

 lace itself. The finest pictures of Raphael 

 could not have astonished me so much as 

 these matchless artistic carvings in wood. 



A very noble library, a fine collection of 

 pictures, and the choicest sculpture gallery in 

 England, (over 100 feet long, especially rich 

 in the works of Canova, Thorwalsden, 

 and Ciiantrey,) a long corridor, completely 

 lined with origmal sketches by the great mas- 



