“Four corners to my bed,
Four angels round me spread;
One to sing, and one to pray,
And two to carry my soul away!”
The appointments of the room are of the most sumptuous character, the toilet service of silver gilt adding much to its magnificence.
On the landing of the Grand Staircase, among other Art treasures are Lawrence’s full-length portrait of George IV., Greenhill’s Walpole, Kneller’s Duke of Marlborough, Addison, and other paintings; and in the east ante-room leading to the sleeping apartments in that part of the castle are various objects of note.
On the first or ground floor landing of the Grand Staircase, to the right, between the private apartments, is a corridor leading to various rooms, and to the left a similar corridor, from which open the Library and other apartments, leads to the Gallery of Worthies, and gives access to the Sculpture Gallery; it has a groined ceiling, and contains a large and powerful organ, wall-cases of books, and some valuable paintings and busts.
The Library is in the north front, and is a noble and well-appointed room, fitted in a style of quiet sumptuousness that is in full accord with the rich collection of rare literary treasures with which the walls are lined. The ceiling is of panelled oak of suitable Gothic character, heightened with gold, and the presses for books are also of oak richly adorned with cinquefoil cusps. Besides its literary treasures, the Library is hung with a fine collection of family portraits of surpassing interest. These are (beginning at the north-east corner of the apartment)—Sir John Lowther, of Lowther, Bart., 1657; Sir John Lowther, fils, 1675; James, Earl of Lonsdale, known as “the eccentric earl;” Sir Christopher Lowther, Bart.; Eleanor, wife of Sir John Lowther; Henry, third Viscount Lonsdale; Richard, second Viscount Lonsdale; Sir John Lowther, Bart.; Hon. Anthony Lowther; Jane, wife of Sir John Lowther; Rev. Sir William Lowther, Bart.; Sir James Lowther, Bart.; Robert Lowther, Esq.; Sir John Lowther, Bart.; and William, Earl of Lonsdale, K.G. Among other objects of interest preserved in this room is a table formed of the wood of one of the piles of old London Bridge, with a small portion of the “Abdication Tree” of Napoleon inserted. It bears this inscription, “Made out of one of the piles supporting the chapel arch of London Bridge. Supposed date, 1176. The gift of John Rennie, architect, 1829.” “Le cinq d’avril dix-huit cent quatorze Napoleon Bonaparte signa son abdication sur cette table dans le cabinet de travail du Roi, le 2me après la chambre à coucher à Fontainebleau.” “Wilkinson & Sons, 14, Ludgate Hill, 6881.”
The Billiard-room, not on account of any architectural features or of the use to which it is assigned, but from the remarkably interesting character of the collection of pictures contained within its walls, is one of the most important features of the castle. Its walls are hung with portraits of “Westmoreland Worthies,” forming a gallery of celebrities of which not only the county, but the nation may indeed well be proud, and the founding of which is a lasting honour to the House of Lowther. Well indeed would it be if the example of forming local Galleries of Worthies, so nobly set by the second Earl of Lonsdale, were followed by the Lords-Lieutenant of other counties whose high functions and important positions point them out especially as the right parties to honour native worth, and their mansions as the right and proper and only place in which such a gallery should be enshrined. The collection of “Westmoreland Worthies” at Lowther Castle is a noble beginning in the right direction, and it is to be hoped the spirit and feeling that caused its foundation by one of the noble heads of the House of Lowther may still actuate his successors, and cause what is now a glorious nucleus to become a full and complete collection. The portraits at present contained in this gallery are—Queen Catherine Parr, wife of Henry VIII., born at Kendal Castle; Christopher Baynbrigg, Cardinal of St. Praxede, Legate to the Court of Rome, Archbishop of York, Master of the Rolls, &c.; George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland; Sir Gerard Lowther, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, Ireland; the Marquis of Wharton; the Right Hon. Joseph Addison; John, First Viscount Lonsdale; the Hon. Justice Wilson; Sir Alan Chambre; Dr. Burn, LL.D., the historian of Westmoreland and Cumberland, and author of the “Justice of the Peace;” Lord Langdale; Alderman Thompson, Lord Mayor of London; Sir George Fleming, Bishop of Carlisle; Gibson, Bishop of London; John Bell, Chancery barrister; Richard Braithwaite, author of the “English Gentleman,” &c.; Dean Addison; Dr. Shaw; Waugh, Bishop of Carlisle; Duke of Wharton; Admiral Sir Charles Richardson; John Langhorne, D.D.; Watson, Bishop of Llandaff; Bernard Gilpin; General Bowser; Thomas Barlow; William Hogarth, whose ancestors belonged to the county; Dr. Fothergill; the Countess of Pembroke, who once wrote, when pressed to put in a court candidate for the borough of Appleby, “Sir, I have been bullied by an usurper, I have been neglected by a court, but I will not be dictated to by a subject. Your man shan’t stand;” Admiral Pearson, famous for his engagement with Paul Jones; John Robinson, Surveyor-General of Woods and Forests, who is represented holding in his hand a “Report of Acorns planted in and about Windsor Great Park,” &c.[49]
It may be named en passant that in various parts of the castle are a number of paintings—supposed to be veritable Hogarths—which were brought from the old Vauxhall Gardens.
The Drawing-room, opposite the Library, is a lovely apartment—the walls hung with costly figured satin, the ceiling richly groined in elaborate fan-tracery, and the furniture as sumptuous and elegant as the most exquisite and fastidious taste could desire, or the most lavish expenditure procure. Among the furniture is a magnificent suite of couch, chairs, and stools, which are of historic interest; they belonged to Tippoo Sahib, and are marvels of Indian Art workmanship in ivory and gold. It is not, however, our province to speak in detail of any of the appointments or furnishing of the rooms; all we can say is that the Drawing-room and other apartments are rich storehouses of exquisite gems of loveliness, such as one might naturally expect would characterize a home presided over by a lady of such pure taste and such high accomplishments as the present Countess of Lonsdale. We must, however, casually allude to one literary treasure which is kept in the Drawing-room—an album in which have been written by their own hands, at various times when visiting Lowther, poetical or prose contributions by Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, Robert Southey (13th October, 1824), Samuel Rogers (January 23rd, 1826), the Duke of Wellington (January 2nd, 1829), Sir Humphry Davy (Sept. 11th, 1826), Hon. G. O’Callagan, Amelia Opie, and others; while it is also graced by original drawings made on its pages by Dewint, Page, Sir George Beaumont, Lady Anne Beckett, Lady Delamere, Lady Farnborough, Lady F. Bentinck, the Marchioness of Stafford, &c.
The Saloon, in the centre of the south front, has a Gothic panelled ceiling, and contains many fine paintings by Zuccarelli, Guido, Elisabetta Sirani, &c., and (as well as other parts of the house) some grand old china. The Dining-room has two fine paintings—Pitt, by Hoppner, and Wellington, by Jackson; and in the centre of the gorgeous display of gold plate on the buffet is a full-sized silver-gilt copy of Flaxman’s chef-d’œuvre, the Shield of Achilles.
The Countess’s or Breakfast Room contains some of the richest treasures of Art in the castle. Among them are the Wakes, the Feast, and the Fête Champêtre of Teniers; a Holy Family of Rubens; and marvellously fine examples of Vandyke, Fyt, Wouvermans, Leonardo da Vinci, Gerard Douw, FrankHals, Ruysdael, Borgognone, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Bischey, Sassoferrato, Titian, and others.