CHATSWORTH AND EASTON NESTON 207 



Dyrham, and is far better known to the public. Indeed to many 

 persons it presents itself as the model of what a great nobleman's 

 seat should be. This is owing to its simple and dignified treat- 

 ment, and to its admirable situation and the lordly nature of its 

 lay out. When examined closely, it lacks interest and variety in 

 its detail. Some of the rooms, however, are finely proportioned 

 and are decorated with beautiful woodwork and plasterwork ; 

 and there are two or three doorways with alabaster mouldings 

 and pediments of remarkable interest. Much of the wood 

 carving, from its style and workmanship, was ascribed for many 

 years to Grinling Gibbons, but the building accounts show that 

 it was in fact executed by a Derbyshire man of the name of 

 Samuel Watson, of Heanor. This is another illustration of the 

 tendency to attribute, in the absence of definite knowledge, any 

 remarkable w r ork to the best known master of the time. 



It might have been expected that Wren's manner would 

 have been continued in the work of his assistant, Nicholas 

 Hawksmoor, and to a certain extent it was ; but Hawksmoor 

 was influenced largely by Vanbrugh, who infected him with 

 some of his own passion for the grandiose. The most notable 

 work of Hawksmoor in domestic architecture is Easton Neston, 

 in Northamptonshire, built for William, Lord Lempster, of 

 which a plan (Fig. 142) and elevation are given in " Vitruvius 

 Britannicus." The principal block, containing the state rooms, 

 is flanked on the plan by outlying wings occupied by the stables 

 and offices, and beyond them the court is widened out, and 

 eventually completed by a monumental arcade or corridor, 

 which obviously could never have been of any practical use. 

 There are no less than five important approaches to the court- 

 yard, through the wings and^the arcaded portion ; the whole 

 arrangement is designed for stateliness. It is said that the 

 wings were designed by Wren, and that Hawksmoor added 

 the house itself in 1702, some twenty years later. 1 Campbell's 

 elevation certainly does not confirm the idea that Wren's hand 

 was employed ; there is nothing of his gracious dignity about 

 the portion of the wings there shown. Campbell says that 

 the building was finished in 1713, and that he was indebted 

 to Hawksmoor himself for the original drawings of the house; 

 he does not mention Wren. The central building itself bears 



1 Bridges' "History of Northamptonshire," i. 289, repeated by Baker in 

 his history of the same county, ii. 144. 



