LETTER CVI l77 



finely disposed on improved Ground of great Extent, rush at 

 once on ye Sight. They are not without water, but they want 

 it to a Defect. The House is not quite regular : ye right wing 

 which is now finishing is to contain larger rooms than were in 

 ye old House, & therefore is wider & of a different Plan, but ye 

 whole is so magnificent & elegant at ye same Time that you 

 forget & forgive it. The Stone work is curious on the Outside ; 

 ye Views from ye House various, grand, & endless. The Hall 

 sumptuous, in Carving, Painting, Statuary most antiques, of 

 which there is a great Collection & some of it admirable. The 

 Eooms of a fine Size tho' not very large, ye Furniture very fine : 

 the Pictures beautifull in general, Some extraordinary : an Infant 

 Duke of Parma playing wth a Dwarf, & a Gregory ye Great, 

 struck me most : They are in ye Tip top order : The young Duke 

 has I think more Life in his Pace, than even Eubens's Child in 

 leading Strings at Blenheim. The Thought of ye Painting in 

 ye Cupola over ye Hall, of giddying Height, is happy ; it is the 

 Pall of Phaeton : It is done in a Sort of airy Colouring, that 

 gives it a still greater Distance : I was pleased wth it ; but as 

 my Company found Pault wth the Paintness of the Colours, I 

 held my Tongue : There are almost too many of Canaletti's 

 Views of Venice, but they are fine. Zuccherelli's best Land- 

 scapes are here. It is indeed altogether a princely Place. We 

 had Thunder and Rain several of ye Days in our Expedition, 

 but they happily came when we were housed, & as we had 

 Chaises & a Coach to attend us from Place to Place, we chose 

 our Walks only where we had Gravell : as we had more Time 

 at York than I had last Time I was there, I took a better Survey. 

 It is not so large a Town as many in England, tho' it has ye 

 Name of ye Second. The walk by the River Ouse is very pretty. 

 I did not see it before. The Cathedral is always a Novelty. 

 The Assembly Room faded on a second View ; it is in fact a 

 Grecian Temple, but it is a meer Slip. We set out on Monday 

 Ev'ning & returned to Thornhill Saturday morng. We had a^ 

 very pleasing Scheme ; I must repeat, I wished you with Us. 



You terrify me when You say that you do not find one 

 Assistant to favour your Escape to Yorkshire : I cannot bear 

 a Dissappointment of That Sort. I have had a Lr from Mr 

 Pisher at Peterborough. He desires me to urge you to take hia 

 House in your way ; I the rather desire you would, & that you 

 would give him timely Notice of your Journey, because I have 

 some Hope that he will be your Companion to Us : He might 

 safely advertise himself an agreable one : & I think you would 

 be vastly happy in that part of your Excursion. 



I have advice from my Aunt that the Bishop hopes to be at 

 Doncaster, 26 miles off, on Thursday Night. I may possibly 

 take Mrs Mulso to meet him there & escort him home. Dr 

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