No. 9. 



Holkham Hall. 



279 



Holkham Hall, 



Benowned as the Scat of the Earl of Leicester, better 

 known as " Mr. Coke of Holkliam." 



In no part of Great Britain is to be found 

 a finer specimen, either of the style of life 

 of a country gentleman, or of the manage- 

 ment of a first-rate practical proprietor's es- 

 tate. In the year 1770, Mr. Coke moved, in 

 the English House of Commons, the discon- 

 tinuance of the American war — which was 

 carried by a majority of one — and headed a 

 committee to take up an address to the King, 

 in pursuance of the vote, in his while-top 

 boots and frock — his customary dress — and 

 ervery American must respect him for the 

 achievement : nor will they regard him the 

 less, when they are told, that every day at 

 his table, during the whole of that bar- 

 barous war, he was accustomed to drink the 

 health of the greatest man in existence — 

 General Washington ; and this liberal spi- 

 rit has always distinguished the man, who, 

 were he now in the House — which his age, 

 82, prevents — would be, by many years, 

 " tlie Father of the House of Commons." 



The extent of Holkham is about 3-500 

 acres, nearly surrounded by a high brick 

 wall, about ten miles in circuit. This com- 

 prises plantations of wood, and a beautiful 

 lake of water, and nothing can appear more 

 rural than its borders, completely oversha- 

 dowed with forest, and wild as in the depths 

 of some solitude of Michigan. All the woods 

 have been planted — the work of his own 

 hand — the whole estate being plentifully 

 sprinkled with various species of trees, ar- 

 ranged in coppices, in acres of forests, and 

 long avenues; so that, instead of a vast park 

 in one body, it is everywhere an ornament 

 and a shelter, over hill and dale, nowhere in 

 excess or in the way of the farmer. Imme- 

 diately around the mansion are gardens, de- 

 lightful walks, and a wide extent of velvet 

 l.iwns on every side ; but these are marked 

 by their own schemes of practical utility, for 

 here may be seen the stately pheasant and 

 the graceful deer, that feed and browse and 

 bound about on these soft lawns, and enjoy 

 tiie seclusion of the cool shades in perfect 

 security. Tiiese are charms to the eye, and 

 exhibit the tasteful elegance of the noble 

 proprietor. Here are woods, too, and while 

 riding through their long winding lanes, one 

 is charmed with the perfume of forest flow- 

 ers of most exquisite fragrance, and the 

 chirping and fluttering of birds — the yellow- 

 hammer, whirling on his gay speckled wings; 

 the shining blue jay, glancing "like the ja- 

 velin by," and the woodpecker " tapping at 

 the hollow beech tree." 



The remoter lawns are sprinkled over 

 with flocks of sheep — of which more than 



three thousand are kept — of the famous 

 South-Down breed ; and in the pastures are 

 to be seen the fine, sleek, bright-looking 

 Devon cattle, browsing in herds, more than 

 three hundred in number, besides an im- 

 mense dairy of Scotch cows. Beyond these 

 pastures, one comes at once into the midst 

 of cultivation, and a ring of this, skirted and 

 sheltered here and there with avenues and 

 copses and trees, encircles the whole estate. 

 Here may be seen a field of one hundred 

 and thirty acres in barley, another of sixty 

 acres in wheat, with fields of peas twenty- 

 five and twenty-seven acres each ; the arable 

 lands being divided about equally between 

 these grains, and turnips and grass, which 

 crop.s, sometimes having grass for two years, 

 constitute the routine of the succession of 

 tillage on the same ground. There are in 

 cultivation at this time, about four hundred 

 and thirty acres of wheat and barley, each 

 in fine condition ; in tlie steward's estima- 

 tion, thirty bushels an acre are indifferent 

 crops — forty and fifty, more the " right 

 thing." 



It must never be forgotten, that Holkham 

 has literally been made what it is by Mr, 

 Coke. When he succeeded to the estate it 

 was a mere waste ; not a tree, nor was it be- 

 lieved that the land would grow them — the 

 only creatures that could exist upon it were 

 rabbits, and they were starving ! Now, what 

 a triumph is here ! But go into the village 

 of Holkham, which belongs virtually to the 

 estate, and subsists by it in one way or an- 

 other. Here are five hundred persons pro- 

 bably, with cottages that are a curiosity of 

 rural neatness and comfort ; delightful gar- 

 dens surrounding them, with flowers hang- 

 ing around the windows and over the door- 

 ways ! About one hundred and fifty persons 

 are employed on the Farm alone ; those in 

 the gardens, which are surrounded by a wall 

 one thousand four hundred yards long and 

 fourteen feet high, are perhaps forty more ; 

 in the brick-yard twenty ; in the smith's 

 shop ten ; — with carpenters, bricklayers, 

 wheelwrights, game-keepers — a little army 

 of servants without; while in the mansion, 

 besides male servants of every grade, twenty 

 females are employed when the family are 

 present. Women also assist in the labour 

 of the farm, in hay and grain harvest, as 

 well as in weeding and hoeing the crops, 

 which are all drilled. 



Beyond, and outside the walls of the re- 

 gular estate, is another plantation of six hun- 

 dred acres more : here all were hard at work 

 sowing turnips, all the parts of the process 

 iroing on at the same time — twenty men and 

 hoys spreading manure from five or six carts 

 drawn by three horses each (one hundred 

 being kept) ; half a dozen ploughs with two> 



