As previously stated, Sir Nicholas Sherburn made considerable additions to the old home; but was prevented from carrying out to their fullest extent the plans he had prepared, through the untimely death of his only son. The work, however, which he left undone has been completed on an even more extensive scale by the present owners. A college church and other buildings have also been erected to meet the requirements of the institution; and altogether the place presents a much more imposing appearance than it could at any time have done during its occupancy by the Sherburns. The chief feature in the main façade is the entrance tower, which forms the central compartment, and is advanced slightly from the line of the main structure. It is a handsome erection, essentially Italian in character, though exhibiting some details of the late Tudor type, and is ascribed, though erroneously as we believe, to Inigo Jones. The basement is occupied by an arched portal, forming the chief entrance, and is surmounted by an ornamental cornice supported on each side by double-fluted columns, above which is a carved escutcheon, with the arms of the Sherburns quartered with those of the Bayleys—the family through whom they acquired the Stonyhurst property. The “red hand” of Ulster is also displayed—an evidence that the shield must have been placed there in the time of Sir Nicholas Sherburn, he being the only member of the house who had the baronetcy. The three upper stories are each pierced with a square window, mullioned and transomed and flanked with coupled columns, similar to those on the basement. An embattled parapet surmounts the structure, and in the rear rise two octagonal towers, covered with dome-like cupolas crowned with eagles. These latter were erected in 1712 for the modest sum of £50, as appears by the “artickles of agreement” made in that year and still preserved among the Stonyhurst muniments. From the entrance tower two wings extend, one on each side, both being similar in style and dimensions, though they are of different dates; that on the south being coeval with the tower itself, whilst the one on the north was erected so recently as 1842. From the south-west angle a corridor extends at right angles, connecting the main building with the chapel, a handsome Gothic edifice in the florid or perpendicular style of architecture, erected in 1835, from the designs of Mr. Scoles, of London, and resembling very much in external aspect that splendid monument of mediæval art—the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge.
The recollection of the doings of the order which at one time exercised such a powerful influence over the cabinets and councils of Europe, if it did not create a feeling of awe, at least induced one of curiosity to see the system pursued in what has been the alma mater of so many members of that notable fraternity. Though we had omitted to provide ourselves with that customary “open sesame,” a letter of introduction, our request to see over the establishment was at once courteously complied with.
Passing beneath the great arched portal and along a corridor on the left we were ushered into a waiting-room the walls of which are hung with a series of views, engravings, and photographs representing the hall of Stonyhurst at different periods of its history. The attendant then led the way into a paved court directly opposite the principal entrance. It is quadrangular in form, and from it you can note the general disposition of the buildings, their architectural characteristics, and the difference between the old and the new work. The additions harmonise and exhibit a striking unity with the general features of the pile, while possessing the conveniences required by the present occupants. Altogether it conveys the idea of the ancient baronial hall erected when the manor house had disengaged itself from the castle, and law having succeeded to the reign of the strong hand, beauty and ornament were considered more than strength and resistance. The south side is the more ancient, the greater part having been erected during the lifetime of Sir Nicholas Sherburn, though there are some remains of a still earlier date. There are unmistakable evidences, however, of substantial repairs having been made at the time the house was transferred to the Jesuit Fathers, and the leaden waterspouts bear the date 1694, the year they acquired possession. A handsome oriel projects from the main wall, and beneath is a doorway giving admission to the range of apartments on this side of the building; there are also indications of several other doors that formerly existed, but in the rearrangement of the interior they have been built up. The north wing, which has been added in recent times, is of corresponding form and dimensions, though much plainer in detail, its severity of character almost approaching to baldness.
Entering by the door beneath the oriel on the south side we pass into a corridor that runs the entire length of the wing. At the western end is an antiquated apartment lighted by a five-light pointed window with traceried head, the old chapel or domestic oratory of the Sherburns, but now used for school purposes. Quitting this room we are next conducted through a series of corridors, galleries, and apartments, a detailed description of which is not only beyond our purpose but would be wearying to the reader. Among them is a room deserving of especial notice—the refectory—the banquetting hall of the former lords of Stonyhurst, which, though it has been extended at one end and subjected to other alterations, still retains many of its ancient features unimpaired. It is a spacious apartment, ninety feet by twenty-seven feet, with two recessed oriels and a fireplace capacious enough to roast an ox. It is fitted up in a style harmonising with its ancient characteristics, and is very suggestive of the abundance and lavish hospitality that were here displayed in bygone days; when the “two-hooped pot” was indeed a “four-hooped pot,” and fell felony it was to drink small beer. The floor is of marble, arranged in lozenge-like patterns, and a raised daïs or platform of the same material extending across the southern end terminates in the oriel recesses before referred to. The walls have the addition of a dado of oak and an elaborately ornamented frieze in relief. Across the northern end is a gallery protected by an open balustrade, adorned in front with the head and antlers of the moose deer and other trophies of the chase, and having the following inscription carved beneath:—
Quant je Puis. Hugo Sherburn armig, me fieri fecit. Anno Domini 1523. Et sicut fuit sic fiat.
Over the fireplace is the Sherburn coat of arms, with the motto, “Quant je Puis,” and the date, MDCLXXXIX. A large number of portraits are placed against the walls, many of them those of distinguished alumni of Stonyhurst, while others are again commemorated by their heraldic shields in painted glass placed in the two oriel windows. At one end of the room is a large painting, the “Immaculate Conception,” which is said to be an original of Murillo.
Contiguous to the great dining-room is the library and museum, which may be reckoned among the chief attractions of the place. The library certainly contains a remarkably fine collection of works, including many of extreme rarity and value. There are about thirty thousand volumes in all, and the collection of ancient MSS., missals, black-letter books, and examples of early typography are especially interesting. Upon shelves reaching from floor to ceiling, in galleries and recesses, upon tables and in glass cases, and, in short, in every nook and corner, are these literary treasures displayed. A world of thought, a mighty mass of intellectual matter, is spread about, before which the haughty Aristarch himself, without any consciousness of humiliation, might have doffed “the hat which never veiled to human pride.” Every school of thought, every department of literature is represented; here are sombre-looking folios of ancient date that scholars of the old English school might well delight in, and there, dapper duodecimos of the present age to gratify the taste of the modern dilettante reader whose platonic love of literature is influenced more by the external vanities—the gold and glitter without than the solid thought within. Among these curiosities of book-craft, and especially deserving of note, is a copy of Caxton’s “Boke of Eneydos” (1490), a translation of a French novel partly based upon the Æneid of Virgil, which provoked the anger of Gavin Douglas, who savagely attacked Caxton for translating a book from the French, professing to be a translation of Virgil when it had nothing to do with it—
Clepaud et Virgil in Eneados
Quihilk that he sayes of French he did translait.