32 
CHARLES WATERTON AT WALTON HALL. 
We have been favoured with an early copy of a work by the late Mrs. Pitt 
Byrne, entitled “ Social Plours with Celebrities,” * for the purpose of noticing, 
sooner than would otherwise have been possible, a description of a visit of six 
weeks to “ Squire ” Waterton in 1861. The whole book is of interest and charm, 
and edited in an illuminating manner by the author’s sister, Miss R. H. Busk ; 
but we must here conhne our purview to the account therein of the great 
naturalist. 
Walton Hall is a stone mansion constructed over arches on a rocky foundation 
set in a lake of from thirty to forty acres. We are enabled to give here a view of 
the front with the picturesque old water gate. 
Walton Hall. 
On entering the house the visitor’s attention was soon attracted by the famous 
collection arranged on the spacious bay landings of the great staircase. Every 
specimen had been prepared and stuffed (with air) by the Squire’s own hands. 
The range was wide. There were jackals and jackdaws, bisons and butterflies, 
the latter so delicately treated that the phosphorescence of some was still visible 
by night. Waterton’s method of taxidermy was to extract the whole of the bones 
and flesh, then to soak the skin in a spirituous solution of corrosive sublimate in 
order to harden it. The skin, when removed from the solution, was placed before 
a fire and rapidly stiffened. During the stiffening process he would mould it 
into the general contour of the animal, and then hang it up to get quite dry 
and hard. So far a pupil’s task is easy. It is in the subsequent modelling that 
Waterton’s powers transcended those of his imitators. This was done with his 
fingers and with tools similar to those used in the modelling of clay, the par- 
ticular places of the skin under treatment being moistened with warm water. 
“ He was able to impart to the specimens he manipulated not merely a correct 
outline but a vivified and natural pose.” More, there was so much art in his 
labour that he could confer the graces of poetry and humour on his groups. 
The following example (rather an extreme one) is given of humorous treat- 
ment : — 
“ Under a glass bell he had assembled the most noted of the reformers. 
Martin Luther was represented under the guise of a toad, Calvin under that of a 
serpent, and the rest under various other reptile shapes, all surrounding and 
*“ Social Hours with Celebrities,” being the third and fourth volumes of 
“ Gossip of the Century.” By the late Mrs. W. l’itt Byrne, author of “ Flemish 
Interiors,” &c., edited by her sister, Miss R. II. Busk. 2 vols. (Ward and 
Downey, Ltd.) 
