278 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



THE GATEHOUSE AND THE OLD HALL. 



which seems in a manner consecrated to the glorification 

 of "Bess of Hardwick." W;ilpole was displeased with 

 the house, and found the chambers uncomfortably grand. 

 " Pictures, had they had good ones, would be lost 

 in chambers of such houses. Tapestry, their chief 

 movable, was not commonly perfect enough to be real 

 magnificence. Fretted ceilings, graceful mouldings, and 

 painted glass, the ornaments of the preceding age, 

 were fallen into disuse. Immense lights, composed of 

 bad glass, in diamond panes, cast an air of poverty 

 on their costly apartments." 



But we are 

 is more to say 

 story runs that 

 belief that when 



" Country Li't." 



anticipating. I'lace a~ix (tames! Tli^re 

 about the builder of Hardwick. The 

 her restless activity grew out of the 

 her masons laid down the chisel and 



Co ft right. 



THE ENTRANCE LOGGIA. 



the hammer Time would exact his due. Certain it is 

 that she went on building up to the end of her life, in 1607, 

 and it is believed that she died when frost stayed the 

 work of the mason's haul. When quite a girl, Elizabeth 

 Hardwick had married a Derbyshire squire Robert Barlow 

 of Barlow. To him succeeded Sir William Cavendish, who, 

 through her persuasion, if not through lu-r actual initiative, 



began the building of old 

 Chatsworth. Presently Sir 

 William died, and his widow 

 married Sir William St. Lo, 

 Captain of Elizabeth's Guard ; 

 but the good captain, in his 

 turn, departed, an.l then the 

 wit and beauty of Elizabeth 

 sufficed to captivate the 

 fancy of that great nobleman, 

 George, Earl of Shrewsbury. 

 It is a matter of history that 

 Mary, Queen of S-'ots was for 

 some seventeen years in his 

 charge, being mostly detained 

 at Sheffield Castle and at 

 Chatsworth, which the Earl 

 occupied in right of his wife, 

 but there can be little doubt 

 that she also visited Hard- 

 wick, where her room is still 

 shown, looking over the wood* 

 and garden at the rear of 

 the house. The Countess 

 was continually bickering with 

 her last husband, and it is said 

 that jealousy of the fair captive 

 was at the root of the quarrel. 



Country Life.' 1 



