CHATSWORTH. 601 







flight of stairs, which leads to the suite of state rooms, sculpture 

 gallery, collection of pictures, etc. 



The state rooms a magnificent suite of apartments, with win- 

 dows composed each of one single plate of glass, and commanding 

 the most exquisite views are hung with tapestry, or the walls are 

 covered with stamped leather, enriched with gilding. In these 

 rooms are the matchless carvings in wood, by Gibbons, of which, 

 like everybody else curious in such matters, I had heard much, but 

 which fairly beggar all praise. No one can conceive carving so 

 wonderfully beautiful and true as this. The groups of dead game 

 hang from the walls with the death flutter in the wings of the birds, 

 and a bit of lace ribbon, which ties one of the festoons, is more 

 delicate than lace itself. The finest pictures of Raphael could not 

 have astonished me so much as these matchless artistic carvings in 

 wood. 



A very noble library, a fine collection of pictures, and the 

 choicest sculpture gallery in England (over one hundred feet long, 

 especially rich in the works of Canova, Thorwalsden, and Chantrey), 

 a long corridor, completely lined with original sketches by the great 

 masters, and a very richly decorated private chapel, are among the 

 show apartments of Chatsworth. 



So much of the palace as I have enumerated, along with all the 

 out-of-door treasures of the domain, is generously thrown open to 

 the public by the Duke ; and you may believe that the opportunity 

 of gratifying their curiosity is not thrown away, when I tell you 

 that upwards of 80,000 persons visited Chatsworth last year. Hav- 

 ing heard this before I went there, I fancied the annoyance which 

 all this publicity must give to the possessor and his guests. But 

 when I saw the vast size of the house, and how completely distinct 

 the rooms of the guests and the private apartments of the Duke are, 

 from the portion seen by the public, I became aware how little 

 inconvenience the proper inmates of the palace suffered by the relin- 

 quishment of the show rooms. The private suite of drawing-rooms, 

 appropriated to the guests at Chatsworth, is decorated and furnished 

 in a far more chaste and simple style than the state rooms, though 

 with the greatest refinement and elegance. Among these adornings, 

 I observed a superb clock, and some very large vases of green mala- 



