Queen Elizabeth’s Bed-room is one of the most interesting apartments in the mansion, “and presents almost the same appearance as on the day when the great virgin queen first reposed therein—the very bed on which her royal form reclined, the same rich ancient tapestry which then decorated the walls, and the same chairs which then furnished the room, and upon some of which Elizabeth herself was once seated. The bed is hung with dark green velvet, embroidered with gold tissue, and the walls are hung with tapestry representing Bacchus and Ariadne, Acis and Galatea, and Diana and Actæon.” Queen Elizabeth’s Dining-room, or the Pagoda Room, looks out upon the lawn, in the centre of which is a majestic and venerable tree planted by the “Virgin Queen,” the “Good Queen Bess,” herself. In this room are a Chinese pagoda and many interesting portraits and other paintings. Among these are Shee’s portrait of the late marquis; Cranach’s head of Luther; Holbein’s Henry VIII., Thomas Cromwell, Edward VI., Queen Mary, Duke of Newcastle, and Queen Elizabeth; Mark Gerard’s Queen Elizabeth and the Lord Treasurer Burleigh; Zucchero’s Robert Devereux; Rembrandt’s Countess of Desmond; and admirable examples of Van Eyck, Annibale Carracci, Velasquez, Titian, Cranach, Paul Veronese, Cornelius Jansen, Dobsone, Vandyke, old Stone, Dance, Romney, and others. The Purple Satin Rooms are also hung with valuable paintings, and the furniture is of superb character.
The George Rooms, as a magnificent suite of five apartments, occupying the south side of the mansion, are called, have the whole of their ceilings painted with allegorical and mythological subjects by Verrio. These are the apartments specially set aside for royalty, and have been repeatedly so occupied. The first George Room has its floor of oak inlaid with walnut, and the carvings over the doors are among the best existing examples of Gibbons. The Jewel Closet has a similar floor and equally good carvings; and in the centre, in a large glass case, are preserved numerous jewels and curiosities of great separate and collective value. “Here are a plate of gold, a basin, and spoons, used by Queen Elizabeth at her coronation; a curiously ornamented busk, also used by Queen Elizabeth, and a jewelled crystal salt-cellar, supposed to have belonged to that great queen; a minute jewelled trinket sword, once belonging to the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots; a handkerchief of William III.; Cæsar’s head carved in onyx (a choice antique, 2½ inches oval, and set in diamonds); Henry VIII. and his children cut in sardonyx; the head of the Lord Treasurer Burleigh on the back of an antique intaglio of Caracalla, depending from which is a small head of Elizabeth, both cameo on onyx. There are, besides, a multitude of enamelled trinkets, miniature vases in gold filigree, amber, diamonds, precious stones, &c., &c. To this collection have been added, of late years, a chrysanthemum wreath worn by Queen Victoria at the baptism of the Lady Victoria Cecil, youngest daughter of the second marquis, and a pair of white kid gloves worn by her Majesty at the same time: the wreath has been incrusted with metal by a process of electro-gilding, but in effecting this it was broken into several pieces. There is also a very elaborately ornamented trowel, used by Prince Albert, in 1842, in the ceremony of laying the first stone of the present building of the Royal Exchange, London, and presented by him to the Marquis of Exeter, who attended his Royal Highness at the time as Groom of the Stole. There are also here a magnificent jewelled crucifix, several feet in height, and of great value, some rare china, and other articles. One other object remains to be noticed in this apartment: this is a beautiful specimen of carving in white wood of a bird, nearly the colour and about the size of a canary: it is represented as dead, hanging by one leg from a nail, and so exquisitely is it worked, that looking upon it it is difficult to believe it merely the resemblance of reality.”
The State Bed-room, or second George Room, is the bed-room set apart for the repose of royalty, and its furniture and decorations are of great richness. A magnificent bed was here erected by the then marquis, in preparation for a visit from George IV. when Prince of Wales, and was subsequently several times used by various members of the royal family; but when Queen Victoria visited Burleigh in 1844, a bed even more rich and costly was substituted, in which her Majesty and her royal consort, Prince Albert, reposed during their stay. The hangings are of crimson velvet lined with white satin. The walls are hung with rare tapestry.
The State Dining-room, and the Great Drawing-room, or fourth George Room, are gorgeous in the extreme, and filled to repletion with choice works of Art and antiquity; while the fifth of these George apartments, named the Heaven, from the subjects of Verrio’s paintings, which cover alike the ceiling and walls, contains cabinets, paintings, and busts of great value. The whole of this suite of rooms is hung with choice pictures, of which, of course, space prevents our giving an account. The Grand Staircase, leading to the Great Hall, completes this suite; its ceiling is by Verrio, and the staircase and landings are adorned with sculpture and paintings.
We regret that we cannot find space to describe the numerous other admirably constructed and beautifully furnished apartments of this noble mansion, one of the most interesting of the many glorious baronial halls of the kingdom.
The burial-place of the family of Cecil is St. Martin’s Church, Stamford, where many monuments exist; and the visitor will find much to interest him in this and the other churches of that town.
HEVER CASTLE.
