REPORT. Xxiil 
party through the hall, and explained the various objects of 
interest :— 
Ladies and Gentlemen,—In a letter from Lord Byron to the 
- Rev. Francis Hodgson, vicar of Bakewell, and afterwards Arch- 
deacon of Derby, he says :—‘*I do not think the composition of 
your poem a sufficient reason for not keeping your promise of a 
Christmas visit. Why not come? I will not disturb you in your 
moments of inspiration ; and if you wish to collect any material 
for the scenery, Hardwick is not eight miles distant, and, 
independent of the interest you must take in it as the vindicator 
of Mary Queen of Scots, is a most beautiful and venerable object 
of curiosity.” Nearly 73 years have passed since those words 
were written; but the circumstance of so large and intelli- 
gent an assembly being present here to-day, is a proof to me, 
if any were wanting, that the interest in Hardwick has not abated 
since Byron’s time; and I therefore feel encouraged to offer a 
few remarks in compliance with Mr. Cox’s wish, and they shall 
be as brief as possible, bearing on the history of the place, and 
the objects of interest contained in it. Of its early history I will 
only say that in the year 1203, King John conveyed the manor 
of Hardwick to Andrew de Beauchamp, and 55 years, after it 
passed to William de Steynesby, who held it by the annual render 
of three pounds of cinnamon and one of pepper. John de 
Steynesby, grandson of William, died possessed of it in 1330. 
Soon afterwards the family of Hardwick were established here, 
and held the estate for six generations. John Hardwick, the 
last heir male, was living in 1561, and dying without issue, the 
estate passed into the hands of his third sister and co-heiress, 
Elizabeth Hardwick, of whom Queen Elizabeth said, ‘* There ys 
_no Lady yn thys land that I better love and lyke.”” This remark- 
able woman was four times married: first to Robert Barley, 
Esq, of Barley, in the county of Derby, a young gentleman of 
large estates, all of which he settled absolutely upon his young 
wife ; secondly, to Sir William Cavendish, of Cavendish, in 
Suffolk, by whom she had six children ; thirdly, to Sir William 
St. Loe, Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth, whose large 
