534 LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



one hundred and forty feet long, filled with fine sculpture (among 

 other things the original group of the three graces, by Canova), 

 and a sort of wide corridor running all around the quadrangle, 

 filled with cabinets of natural history, works of art, &c., and form- 

 ing the most interesting in-door walk in dull weather. Pictures by 

 the great masters, especially portraits, these rooms are very rich in, 

 and among other things I noticed casts in plaster, of all the cele- 

 brated animals that were reared here by the late Duke. 



Now, imagine the quadrangle continued in the rear on one side 

 next the sculpture gallery, through a colonnade-like side series 

 of buildings, including riding-house, tennis court, etc., a quarter of 

 a mile, to the stables, which are of themselves larger than most 

 country houses ; imagine hot-houses and conservatories almost with- 

 out number, connected with the house by covered passages, so as to 

 combine the utmost comfort and beauty ; imagine an aviary con- 

 sisting of a cottage and the grounds about it fenced in and filled 

 with all manner of birds of brilliant and beautiful plumage ; ima- 

 gine a large dairy, fitted up in the Chinese style with a fountain in 

 the middle, and the richest porcelain vessels for milk and butter ; 

 imagine a private garden of bowers and trellis work, embosomed in 

 creepers, which belongs especially to the Duchess, and you have a 

 kind of sketchy outline of the immediate accessories of Woburn 

 Abbey. They occupy the space of a little village in themselves ; 

 but you would gather no idea of the luxury and comfort they afford, 

 did you for a moment forget that the whole is managed with that 

 order and system which are nowhere to be found so perfect as in 

 England. I must add, to give you another idea of the establish- 

 ment, that a hundred beds are made up daily for the family and 

 household alone, exclusive of guests. The pleasure-grounds, which 

 surround three sides of the house, and upon which these rooms open, 

 are so beautiful and complete that you must allow me to dwell upon 

 them a little. They consist of a series of different gardens merging 

 one into the other, so as to produce a delightful variety, and cover- 

 ing a space of many acres about which I walked in so bewildered 

 a state of delight that I am quite unable to say how large they are. 

 I know, however, that they contain an avenue of araucarias backed 

 by another of Deodar cedars in the most luxuriant growth each 



