[31] In 1863 Penshurst was visited by the Kent and Sussex Archæological Society, when Mr. Parker, of Oxford (to whom archæology owes a large debt of gratitude), read a paper descriptive of the seat of the Sidneys. From that paper we shall quote:—“Mr. Parker said that in the time of William the Conqueror there was a house of importance in that place, occupied by a family named after it, Penchester (the castle on the hill), which showed that the house was fortified at that time, doubtless according to the fashion of the age, with deep trenches and mounds and wooden palisades, as represented in the Bayeux tapestry; and the house within the fortifications must have been a timber house, because if a Norman keep had been there built, there would certainly be some remains of it.”
[32] To the park and to the several state rooms the public are on fixed days freely, graciously, and most generously admitted; and the history of the several leading attractions is related by attentive and intelligent custodians.
[33] Dr. Waagen writes thus of this marvellous work of the great master:—“There is in these features a brutal egotism, an obstinacy, and a harshness of feeling such as I have never yet seen in any human countenance. In the eyes, too, there is the suspicious watchfulness of a wild beast, so that I became quite uncomfortable from looking at it for a long time; for the picture, a masterpiece of Holbein, is as true in the smallest details as if the king himself stood before you.”
[34] It is a pretty legend—and one to which we direct the attention of artists—that while Guy was doing penance as a hermit, his lady was mourning his absence, and praying for his return at the castle. It was her daily custom to bestow alms upon the suffering, sorrowful, and needy; and dole was, among others, frequently given to the husband by the unconscious wife. He was dying at length, and then made himself known to her by the transmission of a ring. So she watched, and prayed, and comforted, beside his death-bed, surviving him but fourteen days; and they were both buried in the cave where the poor penitent had lived and died.
[35] For an account of this stained glass see the “Archæological Journal,” No. 84.
[36] The bridge was erected at the commencement of the present century by George Greville, Earl of Warwick. It is a single arch, forming the segment of a circle, 105 feet in span.
[37] A very pretty little book, entitled “The Peacock at Rowsley,” by John Joseph Briggs. Esq., deserves a friendly recognition. As the journal of a naturalist, an angler, and a lover of nature, it is so sweetly written as to place its author, as a worthy associate, side by side with dear “Old Izaak” or “White of Selborne.”
[38] The old palace is now the stables; its roof of arches, supported by corbels, is intact, and singularly beautiful. Immediately underneath one of the windows is a stone with the inscription, “The last charger of Arthur, Duke of Wellington (descended from his Waterloo charger, Copenhagen), was presented by the second duke to Mary, Marchioness of Salisbury, June 18, 1852, and was buried near this spot Feb. 24, 1861.”
[39] Some highly interesting information upon this subject will be found in Mr. Jewitt’s “Chatsworth.”
[40] For the loan of the engravings of the Church, the Children’s Cottage, the Statue of Sir R. Leveson, and the View from Tittensor we are indebted to Messrs. Albut and Daniel, to whom we desire to express our best thanks.