48 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



ranges of buildings round the courts being then in existence, 

 though the Long Gallery belongs to a later age. It was 

 Richard de Vernon, a man of might in his time, who died in 

 1377, who added the porch to the Great Hall. Two Sir 

 Richards followed in succession, the last of whom was Speaker 

 in the Parliament o. Leicester in 1426, as well as 1 reasurer of 

 Calais and Captain of Rouen, the builder of the chancel of 

 the chapel. His successor, Sir William Vernon, married an 

 heiress, and gained great possessions in Shropshire, where he 

 is buried ; but, nevertheless, like his fathers, he went on 

 building at Haddon, particularly in improving the chapel. His 

 son, Henry Vernon, followed him, and was a soldier in whom 

 the King-maker had trust. " Henry, I pray you fail not now, 



Knight of the Bath and Comptroller of Prince Arthur's 

 Household. The knight carried on the work at Haddon, and 

 completed the buildings overlooking the Wye, besides 

 embellishing the drawing-room. 



We must now pass on to the famous Sir George Vernon, 

 the bluff " King of the Peak," who was his grandson or great- 

 grandson. Sir George was a man of much wealth, and his 

 vast hospitality became proverbial, and made him one of the 

 most popular men of his time. He raised the north-western 

 tower, completed the dining-room, and did a great deal of 

 other work at Haddon, and doubtless formed the garden on the 

 south side. 



Dorothy Vernon, whose romance has contributed no little 



THE ANCIENT AVENUE. 



as ever I may do for you," wrote Warwick to him in March, 

 1471, and he added: " Yonder man Edward," lately landed in 

 the North, was fast making his way South " with Flemings, 

 Easterlings, and Danes" ; and Henry Vernon of Haddon was 

 to march to Coventry "in all haste possible, as my very 

 singu'ar trust is in you, and as I may do things to your weal 

 or worship hereafter." But Henry Vernon, with the discretion 

 which is the better part of valour, appears to have stayed at 

 home instead of putting all to the test at Barnet, and seems to 

 have pursued the policy of masterly inactivity which was 

 so safe in the Wars of the Roses. His diplomacy was 

 successful, and he was in the confidence of both parties, 

 for no sooner had Margaret been defeated at Tewkesbury 

 than the Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV., wrote 

 to inform him that " Edward, late called Prince," had 

 been " slain in plain battle." Richard 111. also put trust 

 in Henry Vernon, and summoned him with troops he 

 had promised before the battle of Bosworth ; but Vernon 

 must have acted with singular discretion, for he was 

 presently in high favour with Henry VII., who made him a 



to the fame of Haddon Hall, was his daughter, and ultimately 

 sole heiress. We are left to imagination in regard to many 

 of the circumstances of her love match with John Manners, 

 the second son of Sir Thomas Manners, first Earl of Rutland. 

 We do not know whether Sir George Vernon objected to 

 Manners on personal grounds, or on grounds of religion for 

 Manners was a bitter enemy of the old faith, and was instru- 

 mental at Padley, in Derbyshire, in securing the arrest of 

 missionary priests, who were afterwards hanged, drawn, and 

 quartered or whether, again, he had formed other views as 

 to his daughter's future. Whatever may have been the 

 case, it is asserted by tradition that the attachment between 

 John Manners and Dorothy Vernon was a secret one, or at 

 least that their meeting was under her father's ban. The 

 story goes that the ardent lover haunted the neighbouring 

 woods disguised as a forester or hunter, in the hope of gaining 

 a sight of his lady, or a stolen interview, or a note dropped 

 from a window. According to tradition, the famous elopement 

 took place on an occasion of some festivity at the Hall, held, 

 as some aver, in honour of the marriage of Dorothy's elder 



