It has with reason been attributed to Praxiteles; and it is believed to be the work alluded to by Lucian and Pliny as one of the triumphs of Greek Art—a belief which obtains force with all Art-lovers by whom it has been seen. There are also a statue of Diana, of exceeding grace and beauty; a Statue of Julius Caesar, half life-size, seated in a consular chair, and of fine conception; the upper half of a seated female figure, draped, brought to England by Lord Guildford, and the only specimen brought home by him—a great work, certainly a production of the best era of Greece, and a majestic, yet tender creation; a statue of Agrippina, of rare excellence, from the Stowe collection; a torso of a Venus, from the Marquis of Hertford’s collection—a work of refined delicacy, yet exhibiting intense power; a statue of Bacchus, a relic of great worth; a beautiful statue of Hygeia, from the Besborough collection—a work of pure Art, originally from the Capitol; a Roman sarcophagus, from the same collection, with Cupids hunting in relief; a monument from the Besborough collection, inscribed “Honos est præmium virtutis,” and several other sarcophagi and monuments; a rich example of moulding from the Palace of the Cæsars; a figure of Mars; some vases; statues of Marcus Aurelius, Bacchus, Agrippina, and Diana; busts of Livia, Trajan, Janus, Cato, Vitellius, Nero, Sylla, Seneca, Plato, Marcus Pompeius, Galba, Agrippina, Faustina, Matidia, Homer, Nerva, the Cæsars, and Æsculapius; and a bronze statue of Hercules.
There are also some fine stone chairs, an Egyptian bath, statues of Pan, Augustus, a roman Senator, Hygeia, Euterpe, Flora, Cybele, Adonis, Paris, the Water-carrier, Sphinx, Cicero, Aristides, &c.; and “the Olympian Meta, brought from Greece by the Emperor Nero, and placed in the circus at Rome.” It was purchased by the Marquis of Hertford, and was formerly in his collection. It now forms one of the more interesting features of the Lowther Gallery.
Among other interesting objects are roman sarcophagi (the form of one of which was copied for one of the Earls of Lonsdale to be interred in) bearing the inscriptions—
| D M C MESSIO SEQVMDINO QVI VIXIT ANNIS XVII MESES IIII | D M C TVTILIO RVPINO XVO VENATORI T. CAVDIVS SECVNDVS AMICO B M; |
a curious mosaic picture of fish, bearing the following inscription:—“This mosaic, containing 20,000 siliceous pebbles, is the work of Sosus Pergami, who flourished 320 years before Christ, and is mentioned in the writings of the elder Pliny. Discovered in the ruins of the Palace of Pope Leo the 12th, at Villa Chichignola. Presented by Pope Gregory the 16th to Sir Edward Thomason, in the year 1832;” and some other mosaics. There are also exquisite marble busts of Pitt, Wellington, George III., the Duke of York, Lord Liverpool, and others, as well as Chantrey’s charming head of our present beloved Queen Victoria when a little child.
In the Grounds of Lowther Castle.
The Grounds and Gardens of Lowther Castle are among its most glorious and charming attractions. Nature has done much for it in the beauty of its situation and the majestic character of its surroundings; and the purest taste in Art, allied to the most consummate skill, has taken advantage of those natural beauties, and added charm upon charm to the place. On the west front are lawns (divided from the Deer Park by a sunk fence) laid out tastefully in beds rich in their profusion of colours. At the west end of the mansion is the Conservatory, and near, but below it, approached by a flight of steps from the Terrace, is the Countess’s Garden. The site of this exquisitely lovely spot is a natural dell, and its sloping sides are turfed and planted, while the centre is somewhat elaborately, and with faultless taste, laid out in geometrical form, and filled with the choicest and richest of flowers; the disposition of the vases, the arrangement of the beds, and the harmonious blending of the colour showing the purest taste and a high order of skill on the part of the head-gardener, to whom it owes its origin. Near this is the Yew Avenue—a walk densely covered in by the intertwined branches and foliage of the rows of yew-trees, hundreds of years old, which range along its sides. From here pathways lead on to the Terrace outside the wood.
Of the Terrace it is impossible to convey an idea. It is simply a tract of high land, thickly wooded with the finest of forest trees and the most majestic of conifers, around the outer edge of which runs a broad grassy walk or drive, commanding almost a panorama of the finest of views that even this district of marvellous scenery can produce. From here, in one direction, is Knipe Scar, rising above the village of Bampton; and behind it, again, are Swindale, Walla Crag, beneath which is the lovely lake of Haweswater, and above these, again, rise Harter Fell and High Street (over which runs the old Roman road). Then the hamlet of Helton, and further to the right Helvellyn and other mountains above Ulleswater. Again, there is Askham, with the heights of Blencathra or Saddleback, and the mountains in the Keswick district; while through the Park, far down below, runs the river Lowther, whose murmurs over its rocky bed are distinctly audible. In the wood which skirts the Terrace are some gigantic conifers and other trees which are “great among the greatest.”[51]