298 A Walk from 



of a committee, or corporation, often in discrepant 

 layers of taste and plan. One mind does not stand out 

 or above the whole, fashioning the tout-ensemble to the 

 symmetrical lines of one governing, all-pervading and 

 shaping thought. You see no exquisite artistry of 

 drawing-room or boudoir elegance and luxury running 

 through living apartments of home, out into the con- 

 servatories, lawns, gardens, park and all its surround- 

 ings and embellishments, making the whole like a 

 great illuminated volume of family life, which you may 

 peruse page by page, and trace the same pen and the 

 same story from beginning to end. Even the grandest 

 royal residences lack, in this quality, what you will 

 find at Chatsworth. They all show the sharp-edged 

 strata of unamliated tastes and styles of different ages 

 and artists. They lack the oneness of a single indi- 

 viduality, of one great symmetrical conception. 



This one-mindedness, this one-man power of con- 

 ception and execution gives to the Duke of Devon- 

 shire's palace at Chatsworth an interest and a value that 

 probably do not attach to any other private establishment 

 in England. In this felicitous characteristic it stands 

 out in remarkable prominence and in striking contrast 

 with nearly all the other baronial halls of the country. 

 It is the parlor pier-glass of the present century. It 

 reflects the two images in vivid apposition the brilliant 



