HENRY SHAW
END OF DRAWING-ROOM OF A HOUSE AT GREAT YARMOUTH, NORFOLK
could be provided by money or friendship. The preliminaries were carried out on a magnificent scale. “The yeomen and grooms of the wardrobes were busied in hanging of the chambers with costly hangings, and furnishing the same with beds of silk, and other furniture apt for the same in every degree. Then the carpenters, the joiners, the masons, the painters, and all other artificers necessary to glorify the house and feast were set to work. There was carriage and re-carriage of plate, stuff, and other rich implements; so that there was nothing lacking or to be imagined or devised for the purpose. There were also fourteen score beds provided and furnished with all manner of furniture to them belonging.” When the feast began the arrangements were perfect and we are able to imagine the scene. “Anon came up the second course, with so many dishes, subtleties, and curious devices, which were above a hundred in number, of so goodly proportion and costly that I suppose the Frenchmen never saw the like. The wonder was no less than it was worthy in deed. There were castles with images in the same: Paul’s Church and steeple, in proportion for the quantity as well counterfeited as the painter should have painted it upon a cloth or wall. There were beasts, birds, fowls of divers kinds, and personages, most lively made and counterfeit in dishes, some fighting as it were with swords, some with guns and crossbows, some vaulting and leaping, some dancing with ladies, some in complete harness, jousting with spears and with many more devices than I am able with my wit to describe. Among all, one I noted: there was a chess board subtilely made of spiced plate, with men to the same.” Cavendish goes on to mention the arrangements made for the guests at night, and the whole account reads like an Arabian Nights’ Entertainment.
Although the above festivities at Hampton Court were or exceptional grandeur, they were typical of the kind common throughout the land in Tudor times. The fine houses having been built, it was only natural that they should be filled with guests who would contribute to the gaieties of the place. The scenes of pomp and splendour which were enacted at many of the mansions illustrated in this book were duly recorded, and royal personages as often as not appeared in the pageants. It requires little effort of imagination to restore the glories of the past and to people these ancient buildings with those for whose glorification they were erected. The majority of the mansions themselves are but shadows of their former selves, but the illustrations by which such artists as Nash, Richardson, and Fairholt recorded their beauties enable us to conjure up the ghosts of the departed Englishmen who gave life to the structures. The remains of the buildings themselves are a heritage of which we should be and are proud, and no efforts should be spared to keep them from decay or destruction, whatever the difficulties. Illustrations made in different periods are useful and entertaining, but they are nothing compared with the pleasure given by the mansions themselves. It would be a calamity indeed if these objects of antiquity were to be swept away.
When Crewe Hall (illustrated here in Plates LIV, LV, and LVI) was burned to the ground in 1866, the late S. C. Hall recorded that since he had published his “Baronial Halls and Picturesque Edifices of England” no fewer than thirteen of those he had described had been destroyed by fire. Without attempting to complete these statistics it is certain that the list could be considerably extended, and as time goes on other accidents will rob the country of many more of its architectural attractions. The romance which is enshrined in these old buildings will never be forgotten, however, for the story of each structure has been told many times, and events of the day often cause us to refresh our memories. In 1913, for instance, the famous old Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire ([Plate XIV]), came into the market, as Quenby Hall, Leicestershire, had done also; and we were reminded then of their long histories. A nobleman sells one of his pictures for a large sum, and our thoughts immediately revert to the home which the painting has graced, perhaps for centuries. Then there are all kinds of incidents connected with the descendants of notable families, which bring forward once again the architectural background of social life. Even though in some cases these relics of the past have been razed to the ground, history has been made in them which can never be obliterated. It is the personal and sentimental interest which helps us to appreciate the work of the men who built or decorated the houses where family histories began. These architects, master-masons, and other workers skilled in invention and execution contributed in the most permanent and satisfying way to the distinction gained by their employers. If they themselves are unknown to fame, or are forgotten by all but students of building, their genius is imperishable. Later generations of architects and craftsmen have supplied the best of all epitaphs, that of emulation. Whether John Thorpe built this or that house, whether Inigo Jones did or did not design portions of famous buildings, the questions afford pleasant exercises in deduction and attribution. But the sum total of achievement is the main thing to be considered. So far as domestic architecture is concerned the lessons of the past have been put to good use in England.
One of the most ancient buildings illustrated in the present volume is Haddon Hall ([Plate I]), which dates from Plantagenet times, or earlier. Alterations and additions were made subsequently, and the building affords an almost unrivalled opportunity to study the ideals of various periods. It is of the castellated type and was evidently built for defence, but the later work is of equal importance. Sir George Vernon, known as the “King of the Peak” on account of his magnificent style of living, was responsible for considerable additions in the sixteenth century, while the Long Gallery and parts of the garden are to the credit of his daughter, Dorothy Vernon, who married Sir John Manners, second son of the first Earl of Rutland. This old house, situated so picturesquely on sloping ground, is associated with many legends, including the supposed courtship and elopement of the celebrated Dorothy, a pleasant fiction which is too generally believed to be exposed. Haddon would lose some of its attractions if the “Walk,” the “Door,” and other features associated with the popular heiress were removed, but even without them the building would be of romantic interest. Mr. Henry James, in one of his refreshing essays, has recognised “the inevitability of a Dorothy Vernon and a Lord John,” which sums up the prevailing sentiment of the place. It seems made for an elopement, and if in reality one did not take place, then it was the fault of the people and not of the house, which lent itself so admirably to such a purpose. Cattcrmole, like many other artists, loved to paint here and to conjure up delightful visions. Haddon was for a long time a favourite place or residence of the Earls of Rutland, but towards the end of the eighteenth century much of the movable furniture was taken to Belvoir. Since the days of general travel the tread of visitors, often on their way to Chatsworth, has been incessant, and if the chief interest has been popular and sentimental rather than architectural, it is not surprising under the circumstances.
To think of Haddon Hall without Hardwick Hall is impossible, for the two are among the greatest of many attractions in Derbyshire. Hardwick Hall ([Plate XXV]) dates from the year 1590 and adjoins the site of an even more princely structure. It owes its origin to the famous Elizabeth Hardwick, whose building activities were abnormal, partly because, so runs the legend, it was predicted that she would never die until she ceased to build; which prophecy was fulfilled, for her last day came at the time of a frost so severe that her labourers had to suspend operations. Bess of Hardwick survived four husbands—Robert Barley, Sir William Cavendish, Sir William St. Loe, and the Earl of Shrewsbury, who was custodian of Mary Queen of Scots. The history of her descendants is even longer than her own. She accumulated vast wealth and spent on building much of her annual income of £60,000, possibly for the reason that she believed in the prophecy concerning herself. A woman of extraordinary energy and accomplishments, she was responsible for the erection of Hardwick, Chatsworth, Oldcotes, and other places. Everyone knows the old saying,