Decembor 30, IS76. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



583 



being preserved in carefully cultiyated verdnre and flowers. 

 A long pavement leads to the great ball, wherein everything is 

 in keeping with the external appearance of the bouse. It is 

 linng with tapestry ; and the dark oak waineoot throws out 

 into relief a fine statue in Maltese stone of Mary Queen of 

 Scots, on the base of which is inscribed — 



" Mary Queen of Soots, boru 1543. 

 Driven into exile by ber own subjects, 1568. 

 Put to death by her hoateas, 1587." 



A pair of elk'a horns, fonnd in a bog in Ireland, and branching 

 out to a width of 9 feet, adorn the walls. Ascending a wide 

 stone staircase you enter the chapel, where the chairs and 

 cushions are covered with ancient needlework, and the walls 

 with painted tapestry depicting subjects of Scripture history — 

 viz., the conversion of St. Paul, the punishment of Elymas 



the Sorcerer, St. Paul pleading before Agrippa, and his ship- 

 wreck at Melita. 



The dining-room is wainscotted to a considerable height, 

 and hung above with family portraits, among them being the 

 builder of the house and her second husband, and the beauti- 

 ful Duchess of Devonshire, by Sir Joshua Reynolds ; and over 

 the chimney-piece is this inscription : — " The conclusion of 

 all things is to fear God and keep his commandments. — E. S. 

 1597." The drawing-room is also wainscotted and hung with 

 ancient tapestry representing the story of Esther ajid 

 Abasuerns ; and here are many valuable pictures, especially 

 one of Arabella Stuart, who spent her early days at Hardwick 

 with the Countess of Shrewsbury. On the grand staircaEe 

 leading to the state apartments is some very fine tapestiy, 

 part of which, judging from the costume of the figures, ia 

 probably of a date anterior to 1428, the date of the tapestry 



Fig. 120.— HAEDmcK hall. 



in the long gallery. The presence chamber is of fine pro- 

 portions, the walls being partly covered with tapestry which 

 depicts scenes in the history of Ulysses, and with partly 

 plaster ornamentation peculiar to the Elizabethan period. 

 The furniture is of the same period, consisting of cabinets and 

 tables and chairs from the old house, and deserving of 

 particular attention. A door leads out of this room into the 

 library, from the windows of which a charming view is 

 obtained of the ruins of the other house and the western 

 flower garden, and further on is the Queen of Scots' apart- 

 ments, containing a bed, the hangings of which are said to 

 have been worked by the Royal captive. 



The picture gallery, which is 169 feet long, 122 feet wide, 

 and 26 feet high, is hung with ancient tapestry and covered 

 with portraits of the family of the noble owner, and of many 

 other celebrated characters. Among the most interesting are 

 those of Henry VIII., Queen Elizabeth and Mary Queen of 

 Scots, Cardinal Pole, Bishop Gardiner, the Countess of 

 Shrewsbury, her husband Sir WiUiam Cavendish, the first 

 Earl of Devonshire, and Thomas Hobbes ; which with many 

 others — as appears from an inventory of the pictures in the 

 poBsession of Lady Shrewsbury — once adorned the walls of the 

 oldur house. A flight of steps made of solid oak leads up to 

 the roof, which is covered with lead, and commands a most 

 extensive and varied view of the beautiful park and surround- 



ing neighbourhood. Far away towards the west are seen the 

 distant hUls of the Peak of DerbyBhire, and on the eastern 

 side of the house the eye wanders over a richly wooded plain 

 in the counties of Nottingham and Lincoln. 



At a stone's throw from the present house stands the ruins 

 of the old Hall, in which the Countess of Shrewsbury lived 

 and died, and where the philospher Hobbes breathed his last. 

 Unfortunately a great portion of this building was taken 

 down in the reign of William HI., and desolate are the remains 

 of this once noble pile. The giants' chamber, however, so 

 called from two colossal figures over the chimney-piece, still 

 exists, and is of such beautiful proportions as to have been 

 thought fit for the pattern of a room in the Palace of Blen- 

 heim. Other rooms there are almost entire, having ornamental 

 chimney-pieces, and the windows of which command extensive 

 views of the surrounding country ; but they are fast falling 

 into decay, and the ruins of this magnificent house once 

 occupied by the great and noble of the land are tenanted by 

 the owls and bats, which haunt the Ivy now covering in 

 great luxuriance the walls of its deserted chambers. 



The park to which we have already referred is remarkable 

 for its fine old Oaks. One we measured, and it had a bole 

 30 feet in circumference at the height of .5 feet from the ground". 

 During the last few years many improvements have been 

 made by J. G. Oottingham, Esq., agent to the Duke of Devon- 



