SESSION 1895-96. xxxili 



First exchanged it, witli the Manor of Hatfield, for Theobalds, the 

 Hortfordsliire mansion of Sir llobert Cecil. The Palace of Bishops 

 and Kings was not, however, good enough for Sir Robert, and ho 

 pulled most of it down in the year 1607, and completed the 

 building of a new mansion in 1611, at a cost, including the chapel, 

 of a little more than £9,000. ^or was the park in which the 

 house was situated large enough for him, so he enclosed two parks, 

 Hattield and Milwards. The whole of the present structure was 

 not then erected, the west wing having been built so recently 

 as 18o5. 



The house is in the form of a parallelogram, 280 feet long and 

 70 feet wide, with a wing at either end 100 feet long and 80 feet 

 wide, a clock-tower 70 feet high in the centre of the main building, 

 and turrets at the four projecting corners of the two wings. 



Ascending the steps in fi-ont of the clock-tower the Marble Hall 

 was entered. Here are pictures of Queen Mary, of Queen Elizabeth, 

 and of Mary Queen of Scots, etc., and fine Gobelins tapestry 

 representing the Garden of the Hesperides. Passing through the 

 Cloisters, used as an armoury, the Chapel was entered, and its 

 windows of Flemish glass attracted attention. Above the Cloisters 

 runs the Long Gallery or Winter Drawing Room, 160 feet long 

 and 20 feet wide. In the Library, which was next entered, are 

 the valuable historic manuscripts known as the Cecil Papers, com- 

 prising some 13,0(10 letters from the reign of Henry the Eighth to 

 that of James the First. King James' Drawing Room is quite 

 a museum of curiosities of much historic interest but far too 

 numerous to mention, and with many historic paintings, with 

 which, indeed, Hatfield House abounds. The room of most interest 

 to a scientific society was not seen. This is Lord Salisbury's 

 laboratory, his "den" as he calls it. Here are the physical, 

 chemical, and photographic apparatus with which his Lordship 

 works at practical science, and it was here that he planned the 

 electric lighting of the house by means of the water-power of the 

 River Lea, which flows through his park, and also the present 

 water-supply of Hatfield. Lord Salisbury's clear elucidation of 

 what is known of the laws and what we still have to learn of the 

 mysteries of science in his Address as President of the British 

 Association at Oxford in 1894, which came as a surprise to many 

 of his hearers, is thus seen to have been in great part derived from 

 practical knowledge of the physics of Nature. 



After inspecting the gardens and ornamental grounds, the old oak- 

 tree under which it is said that Elizabeth was sitting when she 

 was informed that she was Queen of England, was visited, and 

 then the members proceeded to the " Vineyard," to view which 

 Lord Salisbury had granted a special permit, which is a privilege 

 now seldom allowed, and his Lordship's kindness was greatly 

 appreciated. Here Sir Robert Cecil endeavoured to introduce the 

 cultivation of the grape, and it is said that he planted about 20,000 

 vines, but the experiment was not a successful one. The principal 

 features of the Vineyard are now the avenues of clipped and 



