OBJECTS OF INTEREST. 55 



barren spot." The splendid mansion built by Sir 

 Josiah's son in 17 15 was the work of Colin 

 Campbell, the celebrated architect, and author of 

 Vitriiviits Britamiicus. Horace ^^^llpole speaks 

 of him and the place in a letter to Richard Bent- 

 ley, dated 17th June 1755 : — "I dined yesterday 

 at Wanstead : many years have passed since I saw 

 it. The disposition of the house and prospect are 

 better than I expected, and very fine. The garden, 

 which, they tell you, cost as much as the house, 

 that is ;^i 00,000, is wretched; the furniture fine 

 but without taste. . . . The present Earl is the 

 most generous creature in the world. In the first 

 chamber I entered he offered me four marble 

 tables that lay in cases about the room. I com- 

 pounded, after forty refusals of everything I com- 

 mended, to bring away only a haunch of venison. 

 I believe he has not had so cheap a visit a good 

 while. I commend myself as I ought ; for, to be 

 sure, there were twenty ebony chairs and a couch 

 and a table and a glass that would have tried the 

 virtue of a philosopher of double my size." In 

 1775 Harrison visited the house and thus describes 

 it : — " Before the front of the house is a long vista 

 that reaches to the great road at Leighton Stone ; 

 and from the back front facing the gardens is an 

 easy descent that leads to the terrace, and affords 

 a most beautiful prospect of the river, which is 

 formed into canals ; and beyond it the walks and 

 wildernesses extend to a great distance, rising up 

 a hill, on the top of which the sight is lost by the 

 woods, and the whole country, as far as the eye 

 can reach, appears one continued garden. What 

 a pity it is so fine an edifice, in so beautiful a 

 situation, should be discarded by its possessor I 



