278 



Notes of a Tour in Oct, 1825. 



with three burners ; two looking along the road before and be- 

 hind, and one looking across for the purpose of illuminating the 

 gate and gate-posts. [The tower on this toll-house has been since 

 taken down, the lamp at night having been found to frighten 

 horses, when brilliantly illuminated. Such, at least, was the 

 €xcuse made to us, in 1834, for its disappearance,] 



CanJions Park. — Near the middle of Edgware is the principal 

 entrance to Cannons, a place of extraordinary interest, both in a 

 moral and gardening point of view, though it can nowouly be consi- 

 dered as the wreck of what it once was. ( '^QQEncyc.of Gard.^ 2d ed. 

 § 7520.) It is impossible not to reflect on the wonderfully sump- 

 tuous and yet regulated magnificence of the Duke of Chandos. The 

 circumstance of his employing, at first, calculators, to ascertain 

 exactly to what extent he might carry his expenditure ; and then 

 adjusting his daily expenses accordingly; the magnificence of his 

 house, the principal staircase of which consisted of blocks of 

 Italian marble, 20 ft. long, and the handrailing of silver ; his 

 painted chapel at Little Stanmore ; and the complete band kept 

 on purpose for it ; the vault underneath, where his remains and 

 those of his family lie in coffins, which, in 1814, were in a dilapi- 

 dated state, and liable to have pieces of their rich coverings torn 

 oif as memoranda, by strangers ; his horse patrol, which day and 

 night perambulated the park ; his body guard ; and, above all, his 

 grand idea (which he had in great part carried into execution 

 and which, it is said, if he had lived, he would have been able to 

 accomplish), of making purchases of land from Little Stanmore to 

 Chandos House, in London, (then surrounded by fields, but now 

 forming part of Cavendish Square,) so as to have an uninterrupted 

 private avenue in a direct line, and which would have been nine 

 miles in length, from his country to his town residence. 



That the establishment at Cannons should have been broken up 

 at his death is generally looked upon, by the vulgar, as a visitation 



