SECTION X.

Edensor.- Monument to the Earl of Devonshire in the Church. Inscription to the Memory of John Beton. - Chatsworth Park and House. Cascade in the Garden. Fountain in the Court. Figure of Arion.

HAVING regained the course of the Derwent, after quitting it near Stoke, we returned up the valley from Rowsley to Edensor, a little village about two miles distant, which is situated upon the verge of Chatsworth Park, where we passed the night at a comfortable inn, built for the accommodation of travellers by the late Duke of Devonshire. The church at Edensor stands on the side of a hill, in the upper part of the village, and it is surrounded with a spacious burial-ground: within it is clean and neat, and its appearance altogether intimates its proximity to the residence of a noble family. In the chancel there is a very costly and splendid alabaster monument to the memory of the first earl of Devonshire, which contains several figures as large as life, sculptured in relief, and elaborately finished: this monument is divided into different compartments, the whole of which are profusely ornamented, gilt, and coloured. A tabular monument is placed at the foot of the large one, on which are two recumbent figures; one is completely draped from head to foot-the other is a fleshless skeleton. There is something strikingly impressive in this representation of a man who appears to have just passed from time into eternity, with all the habiliments of life about him, and the bare-ribbed image of death, which lies at his side, awfully intimating the transition that must soon be made. The sculptor has here" bodied forth" a lesson of mortality which is extremely simple, yet full of pathos and instruction.

Near this monument we observed a brass tablet with a long latin inscription upon it, to the memory of John Beton, a con

fidential servant of the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots; he appears to have entered into the service of his royal mistress early in life, and he was one of the principal agents in her deliverance from the castle of Loch Levin: afterwards he was employed by the Queen in an embassy to Charles the Ninth, King of France, and likewise to Elizabeth: he died at Chatsworth in the year 1570, at the age of thirty-two. Situated as Mary then was, she could ill bear the loss of such a servant; though a Queen, she was yet a prisoner, and with the exception of the little circle of domestics who attended upon her person at Chatsworth, she had none to do her homage.

"Cover your heads, and mock not flesh and blood

"With solemn reverence; throw away respect,

Poor Mary!" she both needed friends and tasted grief," and the death of one who had always served her with zeal and fidelity, was a calamity she most severely felt, and a loss she could not easily repair. To the Rev. R. Smith, the Rector of Edensor, I am indebted for a correct copy of the elaborate inscription which records the death of this faithful servant of the unfortunate and cruelly persecuted Queen of Scotland.

INSCRIPTION.

Deo. Opt. Max. et Posteritati sacrum Johanni Betonio Scoto nobilis et optimi Viri Johannis Betonii ab Anthmwty filio Davidis Betonii illustriss. S. R. E. Cardinalis Nepoti, Jacobij Betonii Reverendiss. S. Andrea Archiepiscopi et Regni Scotia Cancellarii digniss. pronepoti. ab ineunte ætate in humanioribus disciplinis et philosophiâ quo facilior ad jus Romanum (cujus ipse consultiss. fuit) aditus patet, ab optimis quibusqz præceptoribus et liberaliter et ingenué educato: omnibus morum facilitate, fide, prudentiâ et constantiâ charo: unde a Sereniss. Principe Maria Scotorum Gallorumqz Reginâ in prægustatoris primum mox Economi munus suffecto, ejusdemqz Sereniss. Reginæ unâ cum aliis e vinculis truculentiss. Tiranni apud levini lacus castrum liberatori fortiss. quem post varias legationes et ad Carolum 9 Galliarum Regem Christianiss. et ad Elizabetham sereniss. Anglorum Reginam fœliciter et non sine laude susceptas: fatis properantibus in suæ ætatis flore sors aspera immani dysenterias Morbo é numero viventium exemit. Jacobus Reverendiss. Glasguensis Archiepiscopus et Andreas Betonii ejusdem sereniss. Reginæ ille apud Regem Christianiss. legatus, hic vero œconomus in perpetuam rei memoriam ex voluntate, et pro imperio sereniss. Reginæ heræ clementiss. frs mœstiss. posuerunt.

Obiit anno salutis 1570. vixit annos 32. menses 7. et diem dni expectat apud Chathworth in Angliâ.

Near the New Inn, at Edensor, stands the Porter's Lodge, which commands one of the entrances into Chatsworth Park: it is a neat stone building, but certainly not sufficiently elegant or ornamented to be an appropriate introduction to so magnificent a mansion. From this entrance into the park the road ascends to a high point of ground, from whence Chatsworth and its surrounding scenery are first beheld. Descending from this elevated situation, and approaching the river Derwent, the house appears to great advantage, and the noble amphitheatre of wood by which this richly ornamented mansion is accompanied, has a grand and magnificent effect. The lofty foliage near the house is well connected with the remote hills by a succession of delightful woody scenery, which is terminated in distance with the barren mountains of the Peak. About a quarter of a mile from the house a stone bridge of three arches crosses the river: this elegant structure was built by Paine, and is reported to be from a design by Michael Angelo: the niches between the arches are adorned with four marble figures by Cibber, of but indifferent workmanship as ornaments to the bridge, they have a pleasing effect, but they cannot be highly commended as works of art.

Few noble mansions have been more lavishly praised and indiscriminately censured than Chatsworth, which was once the pride and boast of Derbyshire, "when," as Gilpin expresses it, "trim parterres and formal water-works were in fashion;" but now, fallen from its high estate, it has become a butt for every pretender to taste to shoot an arrow at.

Chatsworth House was built by William Talman, a native of Wiltshire, who was Comptroller of the Works in the reign of William the Third, and notwithstanding the defects of its ground plan, which is certainly not unobjectionable, it will long remain a splendid monument of the architectural talent of its builder. It is composed of four nearly equal sides, with an open quadrangular court within, and the principal front is highly ornamented: it is rich without being tawdry, well proportioned and light, and elegant in appearance. The other sides, though not equally admirable in design, conspire

152

SCENERY IN CHATSWORTH PARK.

to produce an impression favourable to the abilities of Talman, who from this specimen of his skill was evidently a man of superior attainments in his profession. Denham House in Gloucestershire, and old Thoresby House, in Nottinghamshire, were by the same architect. I once heard an eminent artist remark that the principal fault in Chatsworth was an apparent want of apartments suited for the accommodation of the domestics of so princely a mansion. It is a palace to the eye, where every part seems alike fitted for the noble owner and his guests only, and on beholding it the spectator is naturally led to enquire where the servants of such an establishment are to abide.*

In Chatsworth Park many delightful views occur, which are chiefly terminated by the Moorland scenery of Derbyshire, and about half a mile below the bridge we noticed one eminently adapted to the purposes of the pencil. Immediately before us lay the river, across whose stream a stone butment or weir has been erected, which damming up the water, expands it into breadth; it is thence precipitated over this interruption to its progress, where it forms a magnificent cascade. On a gently ascending ground, about half a mile higher up the river, stands Chatsworth, finely embosomed in

"Majestic woods of every vigorous green;

Stage above stage high waving o'er the hills."

THOMSON.

A little on the left is the bridge backed with broad and ample foliage: cattle reposing in groups on the brink of the river, or cooling themselves in the stream adorned the foreground; and the middle and remote distances, which are ornamented with a palace, a bridge, and towers and temples, disclose a scene as rich and as lovely as the fancy of Claude Lorraine ever portrayed when under the influence of his happiest inspirations. Yet the foreground had more of Berghem than Claude about it: the respective features which constitute the peculiar charm and excellence of these great masters, were most harmoniously combined; every part was in character, and the whole was faithful to nature. In this view the intervention of a few trees hides the cascade in the garden, near the house, which is a very formal object. A long and narrow stripe of regular stone steps, down which the water is sometimes made to descend for the amusement of visitors without

* This objection no longer exists. Chatsworth has been greatly enlarged and improved under the direction of J. Wyatt, Esq.

THE COURT AT CHATSWORTH HOUSE.

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any winding, break, or interruption, has at any rate an unpicturesque appearance, particularly when the fountains above are not in motion. Entirely to remove this scar on the fair face of Beauty may very properly be objected to, as it would obliterate one of the distinguishing features of Chatsworth; it may nevertheless be so far improved as to become a very pleasing object. Bed the channel of the cascade with rugged and unequal stones, plant part of its brink with shrubs, and if practicable, give to its course a winding direction; thus the water will occasionally be lost and seen as it descends, and by damming up this artificial stream in its progress down the hill, narrowing its dimensions in one place and opening it in another, it will assume a more natural appearance: the cascade at Chatsworth may thus deviate into beauty, and instead of being suddenly absorbed into the earth, it may apparently retire behind the house or lose itself amongst the bushes, conveying to the spectator the pleasing idea of a continued stream, withdrawn from his sight by the intervention only of other objects.

Having leisurely surveyed the exterior of Chatsworth, we were anxious to be admitted to a contemplation of the treasures it contained, and we already dwelt with ecstasy on the rich stores of art-the legacies of genius with which im

agination had decorated this palace of the Peak. It is a trite remark, that highly-excited anticipation often ends in disappointment: the observation has been made a thousand times without abating the unreasonableness of expectation, and will be a thousand times repeated before mankind grow wiser by the use of it. The interior of Chatsworth will gratify those who do not expect too much, and if any man return from such a place either chagrined or disappointed, let him recollect that the fault is principally, if not entirely, his own.

Shortly after passing the Porter's Lodge we entered an open quadrangular court, formed by the four sides of Chatsworth, which in general style and richness of ornament corresponds with the principal fronts of the building. Two sides of this court have open balconies, guarded by stone balustrades, which are divided into different sections by twenty-two intervening parts, that form the pedestals to the same number of busts. The busts are well carved in stone, and represent some of the most distinguished personages in the reign of Queen Anne. In this court there are some military trophies, which are said to have been executed from