From the hall you proceed into the ante-room; here I admired two paintings by Van Dyk; one represents a lady as large as life, belonging to the Brooke family, with her son; the other is the portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria, the consort of Charles the first. In the same room is to be seen, the extremely handsome portrait of Queen Johanna of Naples, by Raphael; also the portrait of the Marquis Spinola, armed cap-à-pied, a painting of Rubens; the portrait of count Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, near the court of James I., a production of Don Diego Velasquez de Silva; and two very charming landscapes, by Poussin, which however, require to be retouched. In the same room there is a table inlaid in Florentine mosaic, two vases of lava, several Etruscan vases and lances, which are to be seen in almost all the rooms, a marble bust of the present Lord Warwick, by Nollekens, and a book-case of tortoise shell inlaid with brass.
Adjoining this chamber is the cedar drawing-room, so called, because the walls are wainscoted with cedar wood, which, notwithstanding its antiquity, sends forth a charming odour. There is likewise in this room a handsome fire-place, and a marble table, inlaid with lava. Among the paintings are five by Van Dyk, viz. the Countess of Carlisle, Charles I., the Duke of Alba, the Marquis of Montrose and the landscape painter, Martin Ryckaerds. Beside these there is a Circe of Guido, a very beautiful piece, and two paintings of less value, one by Romney, representing the celebrated E. W. Montague in a Turkish costume, and the other by Patoun, representing a muse.
Adjoining this hall there is a room, which, owing to the heavy gildings on its walls, is called the gilt-room. Here are two paintings by Rubens, the one of Lord Arundel, the collector of the celebrated antiquities at Oxford, known by the name of the Arundelian marbles, and the other representing St. Ignatius. This piece was painted by Rubens, for the Jesuits College at Antwerp, and was transported hither from that city. There is also a well painted portrait of Prince Rupert, by an unknown artist, another of the Prince of Orange, by Holbein; the portrait of a lady, by Sir Peter Lely; several of Vandyk’s productions, one representing Admiral Russell, and another a Spanish General; by the same master hand, the portraits of Charles I., Lord Northumberland, Queen Henrietta Maria, two portraits of the celebrated Lord Stafford, one of them representing this unfortunate statesman in his earlier, and the other in his latter years, the portrait of Lord Warwick, a full-size portrait of Prince Rupert, and another of the Marquis of Huntley. Those portraits are altogether executed in a masterly manner. The portrait of a lady, by Sir Peter Lely; two small Murillos, one representing a girl with a pen, and the other a child, blowing soap-bubbles; moreover, a portrait of Lord Lindsay of Charles 1st’s time, by Cornelius Janssen, and a Tintoretto, representing the Italian sage Davila. It it a pity that several of these pictures hung in the shade, and that in the usually clouded atmosphere of England, they cannot be properly seen. In this as well as in the ante-room, were several vessels by Majolica, ornamented with handsome paintings copied from drawings of Raphael.
You next proceed to the state bed-room, hung with old tapestry, representing French gardens. The richly ornamented bed is said to have been fitted up by the order of Queen Ann. It contains a bust of the Black Prince in full armour by Wildon, and three paintings, a full-size portrait of the Duchess Margaret of Parma, by Titian, a family portrait by Sir Peter Lely, and a profile of the unhappy Earl of Essex, done by Zucchero, an Italian painter, whom political causes had driven from his native land to England, where he received protection, patronage, and a friendly reception from Queen Elizabeth.
Next to this room is the small state dressing-room, from the windows of which there is an extensive and fine prospect. It contains a precious collection of paintings; one by Paul Veronese; a very grand sketch by Rubens, of the four evangelists; two old men’s heads by the same master; two landscapes by Salvator Rosa; four Vandyk’s, consisting of the second Earl of Bedford; tritons and sea-horses; a study; a sketch of St. Sebastian, and a bacchanalian scene; two by Gerard Douw, one an excellent portrait of a Mrs. Digby, abbess of a convent, and the other an effect of light, representing an old woman eating; two by Teniers, scenes of witches and the interior of a watch-house, hung with armour; three Holbeins, the first a portrait of Luther, the second the unfortunate Ann Boleyn, and the third her sister Catharine Boleyn, aunt and tutress of Queen Elizabeth, and in the midst of these portraits, that of Henry VIII. in his childhood. There are two pieces by Steenwyck, one representing St. Peter in prison, and the other his liberation therefrom. Portraits of two of Charles the second’s mistresses are likewise to be seen here, as also a copy of a portrait of Henry IV. of France, by Patoun.
A small cabinet, called the Compass Window, adjoins the just mentioned apartment; it takes its name from a painted window. Among the paintings in this room are a battle piece by Schut, a sea-storm by Vandervelde, and several invaluable pieces.
From this cabinet you enter the chapel by a gallery which runs in the rear of the before-mentioned room. I remarked in it a full-length portrait of Charles I. on horseback, by Vandyk, and a half-length portrait of Oliver Cromwell, by R. Walker. The chapel is rather small, contains the arms of the Warwick family, and over the altar Gothic ornaments, carved in wood.
On returning to the large hall, you reach the dining-room through it. It is a splendid, large hall, containing an ancient marble table, and three large portraits of the Prince of Wales, grandfather of the present king, his consort a princess of Gotha, holding George III. in baby-clothes on her lap; a Lord Brook, a copy by Patoun, who, as preceptor to Lord Warwick, was more of an amateur than a painter. These paintings are devoid of taste, and the best things about them are their heavy gilt and ornamented frames. Over the portrait of the princess are the arms of Saxony.
Adjoining the large hall is likewise the breakfast-room. In this room are the following most excellently executed paintings: Charles 1st’s children, by Vandyk, and a portrait of a female, by the same artist; two lions, by Rubens; and a full-length portrait of Admiral Tromp, by Rembrandt. Three paintings by an unknown master; the unfortunate Mary Stuart, with her son as a child; a Lord Brooke, and Sir Philip Sydney.
After I had inspected the castle, I passed out through a private gate in the lofty wall of the castle-yard, and proceeded to the park over a stone bridge that crosses the dry castle moat. Groves are beautifully interspersed with bowling greens in this park; a solid pebbled path takes you round the park in about half an hour. There are several fine prospects, and the place is well stocked with evergreens, which during the last winter, I had many opportunities of admiring in a state of nature. Three years ago, while journeying for the first time through Great Britain, I could not help admiring in the English parks, the luxurious abundance of evergreens and their lovely growth; but after beholding these plants in their native land, growing in their full vigour, the most splendid English gardens dwindled into insignificance, when compared with the beauties of nature in America. I observed a number of fine lofty cedars of Lebanon, which are to be found in most of the extensive English gardens. In this park there is also a very large hot-house, the plants raised in which are now elegantly distributed throughout the garden. In this hot-house I perceived the celebrated antique vase, the copy of which, in bronze, I had seen at Mr. Thomason’s in Birmingham. This remarkable antique was found not far from Hadrian’s Villa in the vicinity of Tivoli. It was first purchased by Sir William Hamilton, then English ambassador at Naples, who sold it to the late Lord Warwick. It is of white marble, round in form, and will hold one hundred and sixty-three gallons. It has two handles of entwined vine branches, which with their elegant leaves and heavy clusters of grapes, wind themselves round the upper part of the vase. On the under part is seen the panther’s skin, and on it several well finished heads of satyrs, as well as several thyrsus and augur staves. The vase is in a state of high preservation, and only one satyr’s head is replaced; the remaining ornaments are not in the least injured.