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/^ A O TM7 TVTC NEWST AD ABBEY, 

 OAlYUJlJN O NOTTINGHAM, 



X^ T% O ^T-TAr 



OLD-&NEW 



M R W. F. WEBB. 



of 



O long as English 

 literature lasts 

 shall the fame 

 Newstead Abbey 



enJure. Deeply loved for its charm of the eld, Its hoary walls, 

 the deep solitude of its presence, the mystery of its tangled 

 brakes, the legends it cherished, and the dreams of dim romance 

 and high emprise it could evoke, it was t're home of the 

 most brilliant poet, and most meteoric genius, perhaps, of 

 modern days. 



And Byron never saw its full fruition. Neither the 

 character of his stormy life, nor the means of which he 

 disposed, enabled him to renovate its mouldering walls. His 

 predecessor had left it desolate. The ruined Augustinian 

 house of Newstead, which the Byrons had made their home, 

 had stood a siege in the Civil War, when they fought well 

 for the King. 



When Evelyn was at Newstead in 1654, the place 

 reminded him of Fontainebleau. It might be made a 

 noble seat, he said, for it was "accommodated" with 

 brave woods and streams. The oaks of Sherwood were its 

 reverend counsellors, the jewelled banks its adornments, the 

 kine browsing in the meadows and the squirrels leaping in 

 the woods the denizens of its " most living landscape," and 



the legends of Robin Hooc' its romance. But much was needed 

 to make it a Fontainebleau much more even than "the 

 old Lord's devils," as the country-side called the leaden 

 Fauns which leered at the nymphs and dryads of the 

 grove. 



And, looking at Newstead, we ask ourselves whether 

 we should like to see it a Fontainebleau, indeed, whether, 

 for an English country home, those radiant gardens, 

 terraces, landscapes, and varied picturesque features are 

 not on the whole much better ? 



Horace Walpole visited Newstead in his time. He 

 found "the hall entire, the refectory entire, the cloister 

 untouched, with the ancient cistern of the convent and 

 their arms on it; a private chapel quite perfect." "The 

 park, which is still charming," he wrote, "has not 

 been so much profaned ; the present Lord IKH lost large 

 sums, and paid part in old oaks, .5,000 of which have 

 been cut near the house. In recompense he has built two 

 baby forts, to pay his country in castles for the damage 

 done to the navy, and planted a handful of Scotch 

 firs, that look like ploughboys dressed in family liveries 

 for a public day." 



The old lord, returned from his conflicts with the 

 French, had, in fact, raised mimic forts along the margin 



Copyright. 



THE EAST FRONT. 



" Country Life," 



