298 



IMPRESSIONS OF CHATSWORTII. 



taste. Chatsworth is not less remarlcable 

 for the treasures of art collected within its 

 walls. Its picture galleries, its library, its 

 hail of sculpture, its Ei^yptian antiquities, 

 its stores of plate, each is so remarkable in 

 its way, that it would make a reputation for 

 any place of less note. In his equipage, 

 though often simple enough, the Duke has 

 an individuality of his own, and we re- 

 member reading a description by that e.x- 

 cellent judge of such matters. Prince Puck- 

 LER MusKAU, of the Duke's turn-out at 

 Doncaster races — a coach with six horses 

 and twelve outriders, which in point of taste 

 and effect, eclipsed all competitors, even 

 there. 



But this is of little moment to our readers, 

 most of whom, doubtless, relish more their 

 May dukes, than anecdotes of even the Royal 

 Dukes themselves. But there is a certain 

 satisfaction, even to the humble cultivator 

 of a dozen trees or plants, or a little plot of 

 ground, in feeling that his dearest hobby — 

 gardening, is also the favorite resource of 

 one of the wealthiest and most cultivated 

 English nobles. It is, perhaps, doubtful 

 whether the former does not gather with a 

 stronger satisfaction, the few fruits and flow- 

 ers so carefully watched and reared by his 

 own hands, than the latter experiences in 

 beholding the superb desserts of hot-house 

 growth, which every day adorn his table, 

 but which he does not know individually, 

 and by heart — which others have reared 

 for him — thinned, watered, and shaded — 

 watched the sunny cheek redden, and the 

 bloom deepen — without any of that strong 

 personal interest which glads the heart of the 

 possessor of a small, dearly-prized garden. 

 He gains by the possession of the mighty 

 whole, but he loses as much by losing the 

 familiar interest in the inexhaustible little. 

 Such is the divine nature of the principle 

 of compensation ! 



But we must not moralize while our read- 

 ers are impatient for the notes themselves. 



Notes taken at Chatsworth. — I know very 

 well, that you will be glad to have my im- 

 pressions of Chatsworth, and this, not chief- 

 I}'^ because it is one of the most magnificent 

 private residences in Europe, but because 

 the Duke, who is its possessor, is, as you 

 very well know, quite at the head of all 

 the people who are garden-mad. In other 

 words, horticulture is his hobby, and as his 

 estate is a princely one, and as I think the 

 days of such estates are numbered, even in 

 the old world — even in aristocratic EnglancI, 

 I am glad to have seen this capital example 

 of what great individual wealth and taste 

 can do, and does do, before it is too late. 

 This is, I am pretty well convinced, the last 

 century in which such a place as Chatsworth 

 can be maintained. 



The situation of the house at Chatsworth 

 did not strike me as pleasantly as it might. 

 This is because it is placed in a valley, and 

 its magnitude and noble character would 

 have been more becomingly displayed on a 

 height, like Belvoir Castle. But the main 

 part of the house was built by the first Duke 

 in 1702, the days when snugness and shel- 

 ter and warmth were ideas that too strongly 

 had possession of both the clergj' and nobles 

 to allow them to think for a moment of any 

 prospect, in comparison with them. For 

 England, possibly they were right. 



The style of the mansion, (I might very 

 well call it palace,) is Palladian. It has 

 been exceedingly enlarged and improved 

 by the present Duke, chiefly in a very ex- 

 cellent Italian style. 



In England, as you know, almost every 

 thing is done in the most solid and sub- 

 stantial manner — as if, indeed, it were to 

 last till doomsday. But even here, in this 

 respect, Chatsworth is very remarkable. 



