II \ll II I 1) HOI >l 



once eight-*nd-forty of thus*.- stone lion- mist 



the sk\ al>o\e the due, cut by the same h.uul that 

 cut the open work of the roof and the head-, of the 

 pillars. Hut this t"nmt, which l<x>ks due southward, 

 has havl more than its share of the vicissitudes ot .1 

 house. Restoration after ill years of neglect has here- 

 amounted almost to rebuilding, although the work 

 follows the old lines and the south front remains the 

 E front characteristic of its age. The porch is 

 perhaps its best feature, a medley of the styles Ionic 

 pillars over the Doric pillars, and Corinthian pillars to 

 flank the great coat of arms of the Karl, with its 

 darter and supporting lions, its crest of the morion 

 above a sheaf of arrows. The chx'k-tower, with its 

 cupola and vane, may IK- later, but seems to ha\e 

 suffered little from the changes which, within the last 

 tu,. or three generations, tilled in the Doric arcade of 

 this front with a somewhat clumsy lattice-work of 

 stone. All the length of this front between the 

 wings runs the long gallery, the pride of Hatrield ; a 

 noble room, indeed, although much has been made 

 new within it, the fretted ceiling being a restoration 

 of that for which the Karl's plasterer was paid. The 

 marble hall, the chief room of the northern front, has 

 also been restored and decorated ; but it has the 

 screen entry and the gallery which, in spite ot foreign 

 influence, the Knglish builder could not bring himself 

 to surrender. Adjoining the hall is the great stair- 

 case found in all houses of this date, with dog-gates at 

 the foot of it to keep Tray, Blanche and Sweetheart 

 from coursing the upper storeys, and with monu- 

 mental newel-posts, each, like those at Blickling, a 

 base for a carved wooden figure. In the north-east 

 wing, beyond the hall, was prepared a chamber long 

 known as King James's room, the mantel-piece 

 fashioned as a shrine for a bronze figure or the 

 Solomon of Britain, the patron of the house. The 



Karl's house, as we have said, shows In-st in the mass, 

 where its red gables, puked out with stone dressings, 

 are seen over gardens and green trees. A closer 

 view asserts that the details want the domestic beauty 

 of Tudor work, witness tin- ilumsy chimneys, while 

 the pure proportions of the true Renaiss.nue have 

 not been attained. In his gardens the Karl left .1 

 better memorial. I. ike his kinsman B.uon, and like 

 most of the great builders of his age, he loved a 

 garden, and the gardens of Hattield are as I.eautiful 

 now as when Samuel 1'epys, on a iold July day, 

 with thick woollen stockings under his Loots, walked 

 through them and pronounced them " siuh as 1 never 

 saw in my life ; nor so good flowers, nor so great 

 gooseberries as big as nutmegs." On a later visit the 

 ingenuous I'cpys was less concerned with the gardens 

 than with a pretty dog of the Karl's which followed 

 at his heels. He went away sadly, for he would fain 

 have stolen that pretty dog, but safe opportunity \v.is 

 wanting. 



A garden that has been a garden for three 

 centuries and more has a quality that no new planting, 

 however skilful, can give. There are trees here 

 which foreign sovereigns sent oversea to the great 

 Secretary the old mulberries are among the most 

 aged in Kngland. The privy garden keeps its ariaded 

 hedge south, east and north for shelter, the grass 

 plots follow the lines laid down by philosophers who 

 planned gardens for their meditations. The ma/e 

 and other toys of the topiarian artist are not wanting. 

 Koond all this is the great park to give the gardens 

 their due remoteness from the world, the park with 

 its legends ot great Elizabeth's quiet days. |-or his 

 empaling Hattield Wood as a park a doggerel rhyme 

 remembers the Karl who, after building Hatrield and 

 laying out its gardens, found that a narrow chamber 

 in the parish church would serve all his need. 



A CAULK OF IHk. OL/> /.-I/..U7-. 



