Gorhambury and Verulamium

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ABOUT a mile and a half from St. Albans I turned out of the road to the right, to visit Gorhambury, the venerable seat of that glory of our country Sir Francis Bacon Viscount Verulam. His matchless talents, his deplorable weaknesses, and his merited fall, have been the subjects of so many able pens, that it would be a presumption in me to enter into a detail either of his life or works. I shall prefer giving an account of the place, and perhaps touch incidentally on what may relate to one whom Mr. Walpole justly stiles "The Prophet of the Arts, which NEWTON was sent afterwards to reveal."

THIS manor was, from very antient times, part of the lands of the abbey of St. Albans: the original name is not delivered to us; that which it has at present was derived from Robert de Gorham, erected abbot of the house in 1151. Mr. Salmon conjectures, that he might have built here a villa:¹ a luxury not unfrequent with the abbots of the richer houses. In 1540, Henry VIII. made a grant of it to Ralph, afterwards Sir Ralph Rowlet, who sold it to Sir Nicholas Bacon, the worthy and able lord keeper, and father of the great Lord Verulam. The elegance of his taste was apparent in his buildings, which confirm the observation of Lloyd ,² that "his use of learned artists was continual." To him we are indebted for Redgrave ,³ in Suffolk, and the seat in question. In both he adhered to his rational motto, Mediocria Firma. He is said to have departed a little from it in the instance of Redgrave, but not till after his royal mistress, who honored him with a visit there, told him, "You have made your house too little for your lordship." 'No, madam,' replied he; 'but your highness has made me too big for the house.' But after this, he added the wings.⁴

THE building consists of two parts, discordant in their manner, yet in various respects of a classical taste. On the outside of the portion which forms the approach is the piazza, or porticus, with a range of pillars of the Tuscan order in front, where the philosophic inhabitants walked and held their learned discourse; and withinside is a court with another piazza; the one being intended for enjoying the shade, the other to catch, during winter, the comfortable warmth of the sun. The walls of the piazzas are painted al fresco, with the adventures of Ulysses, by Van Koepen. In one is a statue of Henry VIII; in the other a bust of the founder, Sir Nicholas Bacon, and another of his lady. Over the entrance from the court into the hall, are these plain verses; which prove the date of the building to have been 1571.

Haec cum perfecit Nicholaus tecta Baconus
Elizabeth regni lustra fuere duo.
Factus eques magni custos fuit ipse sigilli.
Gloria sit soli tota tributa Deo.

                MEDIOCEIA. FIRMA.

Somes lines over the statue of Orpheus, that once stood on the entrance into the orchard, shew what a waste the place was before it was possessed by this great man.

Horrida nuper eram aspectu latebrasque ferarum;
    Ruricolis tantum numinibusque locus.
Edomitor fausto hic dum forte supervenit Orpheus,
    Ulterius qui me non sinit esse rudem:
Convocat avulsis virgulta yirentia truncis,
    Et sedem quae vel diis placuisse potest.
Sicque mei cultor, sic est mihi cultus et Orpheus;
    Floreat o noster cultus amorque diu.

IN the orchard was built an elegant summerhouse (no longer existing) not dedicated to Bacchanalian festivities,⁵ but to refined converse on the liberal arts; which were decyphered on the walls, with the heads of Cicero, Aristotle, Donatus, Copernicus, and other illustrious antients and moderns, who had excelled in each.⁶ This room seemed to have answered to the Diaeta, or favorite summer-room of the younger Pliny, at his beloved Laurentinum, built for the enjoyment of an elegant privacy, apart from the noise of his house.⁷ Methinks I discover many similitudes between the villa of the Roman orator and that of our great countryman. This building, the porticos suited for both seasons,⁸ a crypto porticus, or noble gallery, over⁹ the other, and finally, towers placed at different parts recall to mind the disposition of the villa, so fully described by its philosophic owner.¹⁰

THE hall is large and lofty, with a gallery above; in the lower part are various full-length portraits.

AMONG them three of the Stuart line; James I. Charles II. and James II. The first is dressed in black, barred with gold. Typical of the Stuarts, the prerogative is before his eyes, in form of the crown and sceptre.

WILLIAM III. who gave us the power of happiness, makes a fifth portrait in this royal succession.

AN equestrian portrait of George I. by Sir Godfrey Kneller .

MAURICE of Nassau, third son to Frederic, the unfortunate Elector Palatine.

SIR Samuel Grimston, by Lely, in a long wig and laced cravat. He had rendered himself so obnoxious to James II. as to be excepted out of an act of grace, when that prince meditated a descent to 1692.

His two wives, by Lely, lady Anne Tufton, and lady Elizabeth Finch, the last, daughter of lord chancellor the Earl of Nottingham.

SIR Harbottle Grimston, Baronet, in black, with a turn-over and black coif, leaning on a slab. On the picture is this motto,

Nec pudet vivere, nec piget mori.

This gentleman was one of those worthy persons who set out with a view of reforming the abuses of the arbitrary court of Charles I. but whose moderation and good sense made them oppose their own party, when it attempted measures subversive of the constitution: in consequence, he, with several others, were excluded the House. In 1656, he was elected one of Cromwell's parlement; but not being approved of by the slavish council of the usurper, was laid aside. He was active in promoting the Restoration; was chosen speaker of the parlement, was rewarded with the mastership of the Rolls, and died in great reputation, at the age of ninety, in 1683.

HIS first wife, daughter to Sir George Croke: the second, Anne the daughter of Sir Nathaniel Bacon, and widow to Sir Thomas Meautys .

DOCTOR Burnet, chaplain to Sir Harbottle Grimston, and afterwards the celebrated Bishop of Salisbury, probably painted during his residence in Sir Harbottle's family.

THE gallant fickle Earl of Holland, in a striped and very rich dress: a hat with red feather: in his hand, the blue riband across his breast.

SIR Edward Sackville, the accomplished, witty, and learned Earl of Dorset; a nobleman of quick passions and resentments, violent in his friendships and enmities. In the great national quarrel between the English and Scots at Croydon races, he alone left his countrymen and sided with the latter, out of friendship to Lord Bruce, for which, had not the affray been prevented, the English had fixed on Sir Edward as the first victim:¹¹ yet a dispute with his beloved Scot produced the famous duel, which was pursued with unheard of animosity, and terminated in the death of Bruce. ¹² He behaved in the public quarrel of his royal master with equal spirit, and survived till 1652.

SIR John Howe.

LADY Howe, with white long hair, daughter to Sir Harbottle Grimston. Both by Lely .

SIR Harbottle Luckyn, Baronet, by Sir G. Kneller, in a blue coat, long white wig, and breast-plate; a castle at a distance.

ANNA Sophia countess of Carnarvon, a copy from Vandyck .

A HALF-LENGTH of Sir George Croke, one of the judges of the King's Bench in the time of Charles I. in his robes; distinguished for his knowledge of the laws. He was one of; the judges who had the honor of deciding against the legality of ship-money; yet still, on account of his eminent qualities, preserved the favor of the court. When sunk in years, and petitioning for a retreat, the King granted his request, and rewarded his services with the fees and honor of chief justice during life. Mundum vicit et deseruit, says his epitaph, aet. 82. Anno R. C. I. 17. Anno Domini 1641.

His lady in black, with a lawn ruff: her portrait is dated 1626. Lady Croke should by no means be passed unnoticed; especially as Whitelock ¹³ gives her the chief merit in her husband's decision in the case of ship-money. He had it seems resolved on the contrary side, but appearing wavering, was told by his wife,

that she hoped he would do nothing against his conscience, for fear of any danger or prejudice to him or his family; and that she would be contented to suffer want or any misery with him, rather than be an occasion for him to do or say any thing against his judgment or conscience.

HALF-LENGTH of a beautiful woman reading, called the Melancholy Cook.¹⁴

SIR Francis Bacon, a three-quarter length.

PHILIP Earl of Pembroke an half length: a complete contrast to his brother William, was rude, reprobate, boisterous, and devoted to his dogs and horses: so mean as to receive tamely a horse-whipping from one Ramsay, a Scotchman, at a public horse-race, and for his civility in not resenting the insult, was rewarded by the peaceful James, by being made a knight, baron, viscount, and earl, on the same day. His mother,

Sydney's sister, Pembroke's mother,

tore her hair when she heard of her son's disgrace. He was likewise lord chamberlain to Charles I. and, as Osborn observes, in that office broke with his white rod many wiser heads than his own; but his fear always secured him by a quick and ample submission. Notwithstanding the profundity of his ignorance he became, on the king's imprisonment, chancellor of the university of Oxford, a fit instrument for the eradication of royalty. A noble statue of him stands in the picture-gallery. On the Usurpation, he had the meanness to sit in Cromwell's mock parlement as knight of the shire for Berkshire; and concluded his despicable life on January, the 23d, 1649-50.

GEORGE Carew Earl of Totness in a white flowered jacket; hand on his sword; white beard; and short hair: a nobleman celebrated as a warrior, scholar, and author. He was son of a dean of Exeter; received his education at Oxford. His active spirit led him from his studies into the army; but in 1589, he was created master of arts. The scene of his military exploits was Ireland, where, in the year 1599, he was president of Munster. With a small force he reduced a great part of the province to her Majesty's government, took the titular Earl of Desmond prisoner, and brought numbers of the rebellious Septs to obedience.¹⁵ The queen honored him with a letter of thanks under her own hand.¹⁶ He left his province in general peace in 1603, and arrived in England three days before the death of his royal mistress. Her successor rewarded his service, by making him governor of Guernsey, creating him Lord Carew, of Clapton, and appointing him master of the ordnance for life. Charles I. on his accession, created him Earl of Totness .¹⁷ He died in March 1629, aged seventy-three, and was interred beneath a magnificent monument at Stratford upon Avon. He was not less distinguished by his pen than his sword. In his book Pacata Hibernia, he wrote his own commentaries; of which his modesty prevented the publication during life. He collected four volumes of Antiquities relating to Ireland, at this time preserved unheeded in the Bodleian library: he collected materials for the life of Henry V.¹⁸ digested by Speed, into his Chronicle. To conclude, he merited entirely the encomium given him by Wood, of being "a faithful subject, valiant and prudent commander, an honest counsellor, a gentle scholar, a lover of antiquities, and great patron of learning."¹⁹

A BEAUTIFUL picture of Lady Margaret Russel, daughter to Francis Earl of Bedford, and wife to George Earl of Cumberland, and mother to the celebrated Anne Clifford: a lady happier in the filial affections of her daughter than the conjugal tenderness of her husband; who, taken up with military glory, and the pomps of tilts and tournaments, paid little attention to domestic duties. In her diary, which is preserved in manuscript, I find she suffered even to poverty, and complains of her ill usage in a most suppliant and pathetic manner. Her lord felt heavy compunction on his death-bed. I cannot help relating two of the minutiae of her journal. She relates that "Anne Clifford was begot on her the first of May 1589, in Channel-row house, hard by the river Thames; and in Skipton Castle on Bardon tower, she felt a child stir in her belly." She survived her lord. The dress of the portrait is very elegant. Her hair is turned up before, and backed with chains of pearl. Over her head is a black feather: a beautiful ruff and pearl necklace surround her neck. Her gown is black, hung with chains, and set with ornaments of pearl.

IN the gallery over the hall are the portraits of CHARLES Howard Earl of Nottingham, lord high admiral, drest in robes, with a view of a fleet and storm; the conqueror of the Spanish armada.

HENRY Duke of Gloucester, in a buff coat, breast-plate, long black hair, the Garter, and a truncheon. A prince whose eminent virtues made his early end universally deplored. He died in 1660, in his twenty-first year, feelingly lamented by his brother Charles, who was never observed to shew a sensibility equal to what he did on this occasion.

A HEAD of Mr. Chiffinch .

SIR Capel Luckyn, who, by his marriage with Mary the eldest daughter of Sir Harbottle Grimston, brought the Gorhambury estate into the family; which exchanged its name for that of his lady.

MARY Viscountess Barrington, daughter of Henry Lovell, Esq. She first married Samuel the eldest son of William Viscount Grimston, and secondly, William Viscount Barrington .

SIR William father to Sir Capel Luckyn .

THE first Lord Cornwallis, with long hair, in black, and a turn-over: an active and valiant adherent to Charles I.; brought up from his youth in his service, and that of his brother Henry. So resolute, that he knew not fear; so chearful, that sorrow never came next his heart. Death would not try him by illness, but took him off suddenly, on January 31, 1611-2, after he had been raised to the peerage the preceding year.

WILLIAM Earl of Pembroke, in black, with the white rod and key, as lord chamberlain; George pendent, flat ruff, short hair, peaked beard: a great and amiable character, and the most universally esteemed and beloved of any man of that age; and, having a great office in the court, he, made the court itself better esteemed, and more reverenced in the country.²⁰ He was beloved in court, because he was disinterested; in the country, because he was independent. In 1630, he died universally lamented: his many fine qualities causing his abandoned sensualities to be forgotten.

WILLIAM first Viscount Grimston .

MARY Queen of Scots, richly dressed in black, with a large ruff.

VISCOUNTESS Grimston.

SIR Harbottle Grimston, father of Sir Harbottle Grimston, Master of the Rolls.

ANNE Crofts Countess of Cleveland, wife of Thomas Earl of Cleveland.

In the library;

HENEAGE Finch Earl of Nottingham, in his robes, with the seals in his hands, and long deep brown hair, by Sir Peter Lely. This nobleman was lord chancellor in the reign of Charles II. and in those dangerous times distinguished himself for his integrity and prudence, in steering clear from a. criminal compliance with the views of the court, or humoring the unbounded faction of the popular side. He brought the peerage into the family, which (rare to say) has never been sullied by those who have derived the honor from him. He received the seals in 1673; died in 1682.

LUDOVIC Duke of Richmond and Lenox, and Earl of Newcastle, by Geldrop. He is dressed in his robes, a bonnet with a white feather; the George and a white rod are other appendages: the last as lord high steward of the household. He was also high chamberlain and admiral of Scotland, and was sent ambassador to France ²¹ before the accession of his royal master to the English throne. He was a most deserved favourite, and supported himself with such true dignity, that, as Wilson expresses it, "the king, as it were, wanting one of his limbs to support the grandeur of majesty at the first meeting of parliament, in 1623, sent for him with great earnestness;" and received by the return of the messenger, the melancholy news of his being found dead in his bed, after going to rest in the fullest health.²² His majesty shewed the sincerest respect to his deceased servant by proroguing the parlement for several days, unable sooner to digest his loss.

GEORGE Monk Duke of Albemarle, the well-known instrument of the Restoration; by Kneller. He is drest in a buff coat, with an anchor by him. He entered at a very early age into the military life, and first made trial of his sword in the ill-conducted expedition to Cadiz, in 1625: but his military experience was attained by a ten years' service in the Low Countries. On the breaking out of the civil wars, his principles led him to embrace the royal party, after serving for some time against the rebels in Ireland. In his first campaign he was taken prisoner at Namptwich, and imprisoned for some years, with such severity, that he was at last induced, for the sake of obtaining liberty, to engage with the parlement. Perhaps by stipulation, he never served the remainder of the war in England. Ireland was the scene of his exploits, and afterwards Scotland, which he entirely reduced. He was justly loaded with honors by his restored prince, under whom, by indulging his spirit of frugality, he amassed a vast fortune. His great military abilities fitted him equally for sea or land. He commanded, jointly with prince Rupert, the fleet against the Dutch, in the dreadful engagement of 1666. His success was equal to his valour. He became the darling of the sailors, who called him by the familiar appellation of Honest George; for he was a plain man, of few words, but inviolable in his promises. Worn out with fatigue, he died in 1670, and received a funeral pomp, which his eminent services so well merited.

J. Caldwall sculp^t .

GEORGE CALVERT, THE FIRST LORD BALTIMORE.
From the Original Picture at Gorhambury.

Published May 1811 by White & Cochrane, &c.

SIR George Calvert Lord Baltimore, is dressed in black, a turn-over, and with short hair. He was born at Kipplin in Yorkshire, was educated at Oxford, and received his first preferment, which was in the law line, in Ireland. His political abilities occasioned his being taken notice of by Sir Robert Cecil. Mr. Calvert was first his clerk, and after knighthood promoted to be one of the secretaries of state, and was in great confidence with his master James I. He thought fit to change his religion, which he ingenuously avowed. The king, pleased with his sincerity, continued him of his privy council, and even created him Lord Baltimore, of the kingdom of Ireland, and made him large grants in that kingdom: a proof that the perversion of his subjects was far from exciting his displeasure. He also obtained a grant of a part of Newfoundland, which he called Avalon, after Old Avalon, the site of Glastonbury abbey, where (as is said) Christianity was first planted in Britain. He was constituted absolute lord and proprietor, with the royalties of a county palatine, except the sovereign dominion and allegiance, with a fifth part of the gold and silver reserved to thd crown. After the king's death, he twice visited the place, built a fair house there; and when his settlement was molested by the French, he fitted out two ships at his own expence, and drove them away. At length, on a repetition of their insults, he was obliged to abandon the island. Charles I. to make him amends, gave him a new grant of the country on the north side of Chesapeak Bay, to hold in common socage as of the manor of Windsor, delivering annually to the crown, in acknowledgement, two Indian arrows on Easter Tuesday, at Windsor castle, with a fifth of the gold and silver ore.²³ His lordship died on April 15th, 1632, before the patent was made out; but his son Cecil took it in his own name, in June following, and laid the foundation of a flourishing colony, which was named by the King himself Maryland, in honor of Henrietta Maria, his royal consort.

THOMAS Wentworth Earl of Strafford, in armour. Like Buckingham, a victim also to the popular fury; but brought to his end by all the solemnity of trial and pomp of strained justice. His great abilities and moving eloquence, his fortitude and great deportment on the scaffold, make us lose sight of his failings, and lament that so much heroism should be devoted to plans, which made his life incompatible with the public security.

RICHARD Weston Earl of Portland, drest in black, with a ruff, blue riband, and white rod, his hair and beard grey.²⁴ This nobleman exhibited a striking proof how honors change manners. He set out with a great character for prudence, spirit, and abilities, and discharged his duty as ambassador, and, on his return, as chancellor of the exchequer, with much credit. Under the ministry of the Duke of Buckingham, he was appointed lord treasurer: on which he suddenly became so elated, that he lost all disposition to please; and, soon after the duke's death, became his successor in the public hatred, without succeeding him in his credit at court.²⁵ His lust after power, and his rapacity to raise a great fortune, were unmeasurable; yet the jealousy of his temper frustrated the one, and the greatness of his expences the other. His imperious nature led him to give frequent offence, yet his timidity obliged him to make humiliating concessions to the very people he had offended. He had a strange curiosity to learn what the persons injured said of him; the knowledge of which always brought on fresh troubles; as he would expostulate with them for their severe sayings, as if he had never given cause for them; by which he would often discover the mean informant of his fruitless intelligence. He died in March 1634, in universal disesteem; and the family and fortune, for which he labored so greatly, were extinct early in the next reign.

THOMAS Wriothesley Earl of Southampton, by Mytens; a nobleman, firmly attached to his royal master, and who offered himself a victim for his prince's life. The earls of Hertford and Lindsay joined in the generous petition to the commons, on the condemnation of the king; alleging, that they having been counsellors to his majesty, and concurring in the advice of the several measures now imputed as crimes, they alone were guilty in the eye of the law, and ought to expiate the supposed offences of majesty. He survived to see the restoration of the royal family; was rewarded with the treasurer's rod; and died a friend to his country, as well as prince, on May l6th, 1667. His death, and the fall of Chancellor Hyde, removed from the abandoned court every check upon its profligate designs. It was so impatient to remove him, as to wish to wrest the rod from his dying hands, had not Hyde earnestly entreated the king to wait four or five days, till his death must happen. He died of the stone. So little credit had our surgeons at that time, that he sent to Paris for one; but his end prevented the operation.²⁶

THIS Chancellor himself, by Lely, in his robes. In him is the character of an honest great man; the glorious victim to a prince and party, that neither could nor dared to attempt the slavery of their country, while he remained in power in it. He was exiled in 1667, by the contrivances of an ungrateful master, and lived abroad, venerated by the good, till this ornament to human nature gave way to death, on December 9th, 1674.

ARCHBISHOP Abbot, by Vandyck, in a cap and episcopal habit, with a grey square beard. This prelate owed his preferment under James I. to the Scottish favorite, the able and worthy Earl of Dunbar; perhaps from the Calvinistical principles with which he was strongly imbued. Fuller says, "he honored cloaks above cassocks; lay, above clergymen."²⁷ He was upright and firm in his principles, probably too favourable to the tenets, which, under him, acquired strength, in the following reign, to subvert both church and state, with the assistance of the contrary conduct of the indiscreet and furious Laud. How difficult is the virtue of moderation! Abbot gloriously resisted the licensing of a slavish sermon, preached by Dr. Sibthorp, and fell into disgrace; his office was suspended: nor was the suspension taken off, till the rising strength of the puritanical party made compliance with the times prudent. His manners had in them an uncourtly stiffness and moroseness.²⁸ He found he was restored more through policy than affection. As he attained to the age of seventy-one, I can scarcely think that grief, either on account of his suspension, or unconquerable sorrow for the sad accident of killing a gamekeeper with a cross-bow, in shooting at a deer,²⁹ brought him to his end. Nature might effect his dissolution, without having recourse to other causes.

LORD Keeper Coventry in his robes, and a ruff, with his hands on the seals: his look remarkably pleasing; a mark of the internal comfort he felt from a life passed with integrity in the discharge of his profession. He held the seals for fifteen years, and died in universal esteem, January 14, 1639-40, at a period unhappy for his country; when the respect borne to his counsels³⁰ might have prevented the dreadful feuds that so immediately followed his decease.

A HALF-LENGTH of Sir Edward Grimston, in black, a bonnet, and lawn ruff, by Holbein. Its date is 1548, aet. 20. On one side are these verses:

The life that nature sends, death soon destroyeth,
And momentarie is that life's resemblance;
The seeming life which peaceful art supplieth
Is but a shadow, though life's perfect semblans:
Be that threwe life which virtue doth restore,
Is life indeed, and lasteth evermore.

THIS gentleman was comptroller at Calais at the time it was taken by the Duke de Guise in 1558. He had frequently written to the ministry, to inform them how ill provided it was against a siege. His remonstrance was neglected; and when the place was lost, the English government permitted him to remain prisoner, for fear of his complaints. The French demanded, as the price of his ransom, a large estate he had purchased about Calais; but he preferred captivity rather than injure his family. He suffered a long and rigorous imprisonment in the Bastile; at length escaped to England, and was honorably acquitted of any thing that could be laid to his charge.³¹ He lived to the great age of ninety-eight.

A PORTRAIT of his father, by at the age of eighty-one, with a skull in his hand, and a white bushy beard.

A PORTRAIT, unknown, by the same master.

SIR Harbottle Grimston, by Lely .

THE following are in the dining-room:

EDWARD Earl of Worcester, by Zucchero, master of the horse to Queen Elizabeth, and privy seal to James I. What recommended him to the first, was his being of royal blood, and at the same time the finest gentleman and the best horseman and tilter of his time.³² He is represented here at the period at which he had outlived the athletic exercises, with a bald head and white beard; in a white jacket and ruff, and George pendent.

A FINE full-length portrait, by Vandyck, of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Cleveland, made knight of the bath at the creation of Henry Prince of Wales. He is drest in black, with a red riband, turn-over, and yellow hair. He was captain of the guard to Charles I., and a distinguished loyalist. Survived the Restoration, and enjoyed his former post.³³

WILLIAM ViscountGrimston, with his daughters Jane and Mary, by Sir Joshua Reynolds .

A FULL-LENGTH of Thomas Duke of Norfolk, by Holbein, in a bonnet, furred robe, the order of the garter, and a white rod. This respectable peer, who had distinguished himself on various occasions during the reign of Henry VIII., nearly fell a sacrifice to the jealousy of that tyrant; his execution was only prevented by the timely death of his oppressor. He was kept in custody during the next short reign, but was released on the accession of Queen Mary. He mounted his horse in 1554, at the age of fourscore, to assist in quelling the insurrection of Sir Thomas Wyat, and died in the same year.

THE illustrious and faithful servant to Charles I. James Duke of Richmond, by Vandyck, in long, flowing, flaxen hair; his star on his cloak; a dog by him.

THE beautiful George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, by Mytens, in white, with a hat and feather on a table. A minion of fortune, who owed his rise to a handsome face and elegant person, merits irresistible with James I. The King, by the insolence and ingratitude of his favorite, received sufficient punishment for his folly. Buckingham was possessed of abilities, clouded and almost rendered useless by the violence of his passions. In his embassy to France, in 1625, he had the presumption to make his addresses to the Queen Anne of Austria .³⁴ On receiving the treatment which his vanity merited, he not only, in revenge, involved his country in war, but endeavoured to alienate the affection of his master Charles from his spouse, her lovely sister-in-law, Henrietta Maria. I ought to have mentioned the common report, that his ill-success with the wife of Olivarez, the Spanish minister, and a cruel deception in consequence,³⁵ was the primary cause of the breach ef the Spanish match, and the hazard his young prince ran in escaping from an incensed court He fell at length by the hands of the melancholy Felton, who, taught by the murmurs of the people, thought he did an acceptable service, by freeing his country from so distasteful a minister.

A LARGE picture, by Vandyck, containing the portraits of Algernon Earl of Northumberland, in black, standing: his lady in blue, sitting, and a child by them. This generous peer stepped forward in the cause of liberty, in the beginning of the troubles of Charles I. while he held the post of lord high admiral: a post he was displaced from by the popular party, by reason of his moderation, which they suspected would be a check to their unreasonable views. He was constantly a mediating commissioner in all treaties on the side of the parlement, in which he behaved to them with dignity, spirit, and integrity. He was appointed governor of the king's children while they were separated from their parents, and behaved to them with respect and affection. He joined in opposing the ordinance for the trial of his master; after whose death he retired to Tetworth, and took no part with the usurping powers. He joined heartily in the Restoration; but, like a true friend to his country, wished for it on terms of security to the people, and advantage to the nation. He received from the restored king honors suited to his rank, and enjoyed them till his death in 1668.

THE favourite Devereux, Earl of Essex, by Hilliard, in black and gold, with a ruff: a chain round his waist, and a sword by his side; date 1594.

HIS royal mistress in a dress of black and gold, and of materials resembling the former; with a great lawn ruff, and three long chains of pearls round her neck. This was also painted by Hilliard, and presented by her Majesty to the lord keeper Bacon .

J. Caldwall sculp^t .

COUNTESS OF SUFFOLK.
From the Original Picture at Gorhambury.

Published May 1811 by White & Cochrane, &c.

A FINE full-length of the Countess of Suffolk, daughter of Sir Henry Knevit, and wife to the lord treasurer. A lady, who, like Lord Verulam, fell under the charge of corruption, should have been placed next to him. She is dressed in white, and in a great ruff; her breasts much exposed; her waist short and swelling; for she was extremely prolific. This lady had unhappily a great ascendency over her husband, and was extremely rapacious. She made use of his exalted situation to indulge her avarice, and took bribes from all quarters. Sir Francis Bacon, in his speech in the star-chamber against her husband, wittily compares her to an exchange-woman, who kept her shop, while Sir John Bingley, a teller of the exchequer, a tool of hers, cried, What d'ye lack?³⁶ Her beauty was remarkable, and I fear she made a bad use of her charms. "Lady Suffolk," says the famous Ann Clifford, in her diary under the year 1619, "had the small-pox at Northampton-house, which spoiled that good face of hers, which had brought to others much misery, and to herself greatness which ended in much unhappiness."

CHARLES I. by Mytens.

NEXT appears a fine full-length portrait, by Vansomer, of Sir Francis Bacon Lord Verulam, who succeeded his brother Anthony in the possession of Gorhambury. Much is said of his depravity during prosperity, and more of his abject fawning after his fall. For my part, I look on the latter part of his life as the period in whkh he shone with greatest dignity. That soul, which sunk, during good fortune, beneath the temptation of corruption, arose, unbroken by disgrace, and superior to obloquy. He passed his latter days in labors which have made him the admiration of succeeding times. He was then disengaged from business, which fettered his genius, and was supported (notwithstanding assertions to the contrary) by a great pension (of £ .1800 a year) which enabled him to pursue his studies at ease, removed from every fear of the embarrassments of poverty.

NEAR him is his accomplished kinsman, his half-brother Sir Nathaniel Bacon, knight of the bath, leaning back in his chair, in a green jacket laced, yellow stockings, a dog by him, and sword and pallet hung up. "In the art of painting, none," says Peacham, "deserveth more respect and admiration than master Nathaniel Bacon, of Brome, in Suffolk; not inferior, in my judgment, to our skilfullest masters."³⁷ He improved his talent by travelling into Italy; and left in this house, as a proof of the excellency of his performances, this portrait, and a most beautiful one of a cook, a perfect Venus, with an old game-keeper: behind is a variety of dead game, in particular a swan, whose plumage is expressed with inimitable softness and gloss.

A REMARKABLE picture of Sir Thomas Meautys ,³⁸ secretary to Lord Verulam, by Vansomer. His dress confirms the account of the choice he made of his servants, whom he selected from the young, the prodigal, and expensive.³⁹ Sir Thomas makes a most finical appearance: his habit elegant: he has on a sash, a hat with a white feather, laced turn-over, a long love-lock extended on his left arm, an ear-ring in one ear, a spear in the other, and brown boots. He was clerk of the privy council to two kings; and got possession of Gorhambury from his master, who conveyed it to him on foreseeing his fall. Like a grateful servant, Meautys erected a handsome monument to him in a neighboring church, more to shew his respect, than from any necessity of endeavouring to preserve the memory of one self-immortalized.

IN Lady Grimston's dressing-room,

THE head of Sir Nicholas Bacon, his dress a furred robe. He was a person of a very corpulent habit; for which reason Queen Elizabeth used to say, "that her lord keeper's soul lodged well." To what I have given of him before, I shall only add, that he caught his death by sleeping in his chair with his window open. He awoke disordered, and, reproving his servant for his negligence, was told, that he feared to awake him. "Then," replies the Keeper, "your complaisance will cost me my life." He died in 1579.

A HEAD of his second wife in a close cap and white gown, worked with oak-leaves and acorns, This distinguished lady was Anne daughter of Sir Anthony Cook, of Giddy hall, in Essex. She had great abilities, natural and acquired, was emminently skilled in Greek, Latin, and Italian, and had the honor of being appointed governess to Edward VI. To her instructions was probably owing the surprising knowledge of that excellent young prince. She shared his education with her father, Doctor Cox, and Sir John Cheek .⁴⁰ Her sons Anthony and Francis were not a little indebted, for the reputation they acquired, to the pains taken with them by this excellent woman in their tender years.⁴¹ When they grew up, they found in her a severe but admirable monitor. She translated from the Italian the sermons of Barnardine Ochise; and from the Latin. Jewel's Apotegy for the church of England: both which met with the highest applause. She died in the beginning of the reign of James I. and was buried in the neighbouring church of St. Michael .⁴²

HERE is also preserved a very singular⁴³ portrait in wood, called Sylvester de Grimston, a noble Norman, standard-bearer to the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings, and afterwards his chamberlain. He held lands in Yorkshire of the Lord Roos: among others that of Grimston in Holderness; from whence he took the name. The picture is antient and curious, but wants four centuries of the great period in which Sylvester lived; neither did that age afford any artists that could give even a tolerable representation of the human figure, much less convey down a likeness of the fierce heroes of their times. I premise this, to show the impossibility of this portrait having been a copy of some original of this great ancestor. The dress its singular: a large bonnet, with a very long silken appendage; a green jacket, hanging sleeves: a collar of SS held in one hand: his face beardless. On the back of the picture is the following inscription:

The artist is unknown to me; but the habit of the person is that of the date: for I find in Montfaucon's Monarchie Francoise several persons of rank in the dress, particularly Philip Le Bon Duke of Burgundy : between whom and this portrait there is so strong a resemblance of featyre, that I do not hesitate to imagine that the Gorhambury portrait is no other than one of this illustrious prince. He was born in 1396;. died in 1467: so that he was a youth when the picture was taken.

THE beautiful picture of Catherine Queen to Charles II. in the character of St. Catherine, in one of the bed-chambers.

IN a dressing-room is a head of Thomas Howard, the virtuoso Earl of Arundel; who, by much residence in foreign parts, acquired a thorough contempt for bis own country. Filled with family-pride, he was sent to the Tower for a contempt shewn in the House to a nobleman less highly born than himself; yet on the breaking out of the troubles of his royal master Charles I. he shewed a great want of true spirit, consulting his own safety and ease rather than risque them by siding with either party. He quitted England, for which, as Lord Clarendon says, he had little other affection than as he had a great share in it, in which, like a great leviathan, he might sport himself. He was a man of a noble presence, and affected a plain garb. He accordingly is here dressed in a dark habit robed with fur. His countenance corresponds to the description: his hair short, and his beard bushy: his turn-over plain; and the only ornament is the pendent order of the Garter.

JAMES I,⁴⁴ in inconsistent armour, black and gold, with each foot on a rock. Above him,

Jam tum tenditque fovetque,

beneath,

Jacobus unitor Britannie plantator Hibernia conditor imperii Atlantici. .

The last, I fear, a piece of the characteristic adulation of the chancellor.

NEAR him are two monarchs, not in fact coeval with Bacon, but placed here from the admiration he had of their abilities, in extending their dominions to the Indies. By Emanuel king of Portugal, he pointed out the advantage of commerce, received by the discovery of the new passage to India under his auspices, by Vasco di Gama: by Ferdinand V. he points out the discovery of America by Columbus. The first monarch he calls Conditor imperii Europae super Indias orientales; the other Super Indias occidentales. Both of the princes are represented knee-deep in water: but I suppose, by the situation of their cautious master, he would shew he had too much prudence to wet his feet.

I NOW resume my journey, and, in my way to St. Albans , about a mile and half distant, pass by the site of St. Mary de la Pre, de Pratis, or the Meadows; an hospital for leprous women, founded about 1190, by Warine, abbot of St. Albans , It afterwards rose to a priory of Benedictine nuns, but fell in 1528, when Wolsey, commendatory abbot, obtained from Clement VIII. a bull for its suppression, and for annexing it to the abbey; after which he got a grant of it for himself from the king, who, on the ruin of the cardinal, gave it to Sir Ralph Rowlet .⁴⁵

IMMEDIATELY after quitting this place, I entered the celebrated Verulamium, at a spot distinguished by a great fragment of the antient wall, known by the name of Gorhambury-block, which probably bounded one side of one of the portae, or entrances, being exactly opposite to that on the eastern part. The precinct departs from the rectangular form of the Romans, this being among those which were laid out, Prout loci qua aut neccssitas postulaverit .⁴⁶ It inclines to an oval shape; is placed on a slope, and the lower side bounded by the river Ver, which in former times might have spread into a lake, and given greater security to the town. According to Humphry Lloyd ,⁴⁷ it gave also the name to the place, Gwerllan, or the temple on the Ver; rightly bestowing on the Britons a pre-occupancy of it to the Romans. I shall not dispute the notions of the particular ford over which Caesar crossed the Thames, when he penetrated into our island. It probably was at or near Coway Stakes. Caesar leaves us no room to depart from that opinion, as he expressly tells us that he led his army to the river Thames, towards the borders of the territories of Cassivelaunus ,⁴⁸ the golden-locked leader of the country of the Cassi: and these Cassi are reasonably supposed to have been a clan of the Cattieuchlani, and to have inhabited the hundred of this county now called Cashio, in which Verulamium stood. But I must contend, that the distance of that city is far too remote from the fordable parts of the Thames, to admit it to have been the town of the British leader destroyed by the invader. It lies, in the nearest line, thirty-seven miles from those parts of the river: a distance too great for the time given to Caesar for his second campaign in Britain. The town, or rather post, which was forced by him, was not remote from the camp occupied by him on the side of the river; and most likely was that which is still very entire, in the park of her Grace the Dutchess dowager of Portland, at Bulstrode, about fifteen miles distant from the Roman camp: whose vestiges are still to be seen, not far from the famous ford.⁴⁹ Partly by length of time, partly by constant cultivation, this post has lost some of the characters ascribed by Caesar to the town of Cassivelaunus; for it wants at present the marshy defence it had in his days.

THE town alluded to was within the territories of the British chieftain, and one of the strong-holds into which the Britons were used to drive their cattle in time of danger. This, by Cesar's account, was certainly not the most capital; for his first relation informs us, it only contained satis numerus pecorum, a pretty considerable number of cattle. Notwithstanding his vanity, a few lines lower, swells his booty into magnus numerus, a vast number.⁵⁰ At Shepperton, also, near Coway-Stakes, in a field called War Close, are found spurs, swords, bones, and other marks of a battle. See Camden, i. 366: but in all likelihood, the first is the nearest to the truth.

Verulamium was the capital of this country, and the residence of its princes. I do not reckon Cassivelaunus among them; he was a chieftain of the Cassi, and, for his great abilities, elected general on the Roman invasion, if our British history is to be trusted. He was guardian to his nephews, Anarwy and Tenqfan ⁵¹ (the last) father to Cunoboline, whose coins are so frequent. Here was one of the British mints; for we find the word Ver on the coins, but no prince's name to distinguish the reign.

AFTER the Romans had effected their conquest, they added walls to the ordinary British defence of ramparts, and ditches. Many great fragments of the former still remain, proofs of the strength and manner of the Roman masonry. On one side is a vast foss; on another, two. The walls are twelve feet thick, where entire, formed of flints bedded in mortar, now grown into amazing hardness. By intervals of about three feet distance, are three, and in some places four rows of broad and thin bricks, or tiles, which were continued the whole length of the walls, which seem designed as foundations to sustain the layers of flints and lime, while the last was in a moist state. There were, besides, round holes, which penetrated quite through;⁵² but these are either filled up, or escaped my notice. According to Doctor Stukely's measurement, the area is five thousand two hundred feet in length, and the greatest breadth about three thousand. It is at present inclosed; but under the hedges, in many places, are vestiges of buildings, and, as I am told, when it is under tillage, the sites of the streets appear, by the different color of the corn above them. The Watling-street comes to the Porta Decumana, the gate on the western side, and passes quite through the city. There is another road goes on the outside on the south side; a small military way, like that which passed from turret to turret on Severus's wall,⁵³ for the conveniency of external passengers.

THIS place, by its attachment to the conquerors, acquired the privileges of a free borough, a municipium, or municipal city, whose inhabitants enjoyed all the rights of the Roman citizens; for which reason such towns derive their name a muneribus capiendis, their power to bear public offices. They had their senators, knights, and commons; magistrates and priests; censors, ediles, questors, and flamens.

THE attachment of this town to its new masters, proved the cause of a heavy misfortune, which befel it under the reign of Nero. Boadicea, widow of Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, enraged at the cruel indignity offered to her and her daughters, raised an insurrection against the Romans and theif friends, and repaid with the most dreadful cruelties the injuries they had received. Camolodunum, Londinium, and Verolamium, suffered from the fury of the Britons, and seventy thousand citizens and allies fell by the edge of the sword. This city was remarkable for its wealth,⁵⁴ which was another incentive for the Britons to attack it, added to a particular animosity against a people who had forsaken the customs and religion of their ancestors.

THE place in a short time emerged from its misfortune; and had the honor of producing Albanus, the proto-martyr of Britain, a wealthy citizen of Verulamium, and, by privilege, of Rome also. He had been a Pagan, but was converted by means of a guest, whom he had sheltered during the great persecution of Dioclesian as I have before related. St. Alban suffered in the year 302. Let not legend destroy the credibility of the martyrdom, by assigning attendant miracles, long after their cessation. We are told, that after he had refused to sacrifice to the heathen gods, the usual test of the alleged crime of Christianity, he was, as customary, whipped with rods, and then led to execution, and beheaded on Holmhurst, where the town of St. Albans at present stands. In his passage, the torrent, which then divided the place from Verulamium, like the Red-sea, divided its waters, and gave dry passage to the Saint and his followers: a fountain sprung up where the martyr kneeled: one of the executioners relenting, was converted, and suffered with Albanus; another, who performed the deed, lost his eyes, as a penalty for his cruelty; for they dropped out of his head at the moment in which he gave the blow.⁵⁵ St. Alban was interred on the spot; and his remains were miraculously discovered several centuries after their interment.

IN 429, this place was honored with a synod, in which St. Germanus and Lupus, two French prelates, assisted. A chapel was erected, about the year 945, by abbot Ulsin, in honor of the former, on the spot in which he preached; whose ruins were to be seen the beginning of the last century.

AFTER the Savon invasion, the name of the town was changed for that of Verlamcester and Watlincester. The British hero, Uther Pendragon, after a long siege, wrested it out of the hands of the Saxons, and held it during his life; after his death they soon recovered it; but by reason of the cruel wars that raged during the contest between them and the Britons, the place became totally desolated.

LIKE the antient Deva,⁵⁶ Verulamium had its great vaults, or subterraneous retreats, strongly and artfully arched. These are supposed, by Sir Henry Chauncy, to have been designed as places of retreat in time of war for the women and children, and for the concealment of the most valuable effects. In 960, they were found to give shelter to thieves and prostitutes, which caused Eldred, the eighth abbot, to search after these souterreins; he discovered several ways and passages, all which he caused to be destroyed, but preserved the tiles and stones for rebuilding the church, then in ruins.⁵⁷

THE present St. Alban's arose from the ruins of Verulamium. Offa king of the Mercians, directed, says legend, by a vision from heaven, discovered the reliques of St. Alban, by beams of glory springing from the grave.⁵⁸ In 793, he erected on the spot the magnificent monastery, for the maintenance of a hundred Benedictine or black monks, and in a parlementary council, which he held in the same year, bestowed on it most liberal endowments. Verulamium was now reduced to the state elegantly described by Spenser, assuming the character of the Genius of the place.

I was that city which the garland wore
Of Britain's pride, delivered unto me
By Roman victors, which it wore of yore,
Though nought at all but ruins now I be,
And lie in mine own ashes, as ye see.
Verlame I was: what boots it that I was,
Sith now I am but weeds and wasteful grass?

                                                        Ruines of Time .

BEFORE I quit these antient precincts, I must note the church of St. Michael, built within them by the same pious abbot who founded the chapel of St. German. It became an impropriation of the abbey, and, after the dissolution, a vicarage. The church is small, supported within by round arches. It is most distinguished by the monument of the great Lord Verulam. His figure is of white marble, sitting in a chair, and reclining, in the easy attitude of meditation. He is dressed in robes lined with fur, and a high-crowned hat. Any emblems of greatness would have been unnecessary attendants on this illustrious character. The spectator's ideas must render every complimental sculpture superfluous. The epitaph conveys high honor to the grateful servant: his master could receive nothing additional.

H. P.
Francisc. Bacon, Baro de Verulam, Sanct. Albani viceco'
Seu notioribus titulis
Scientiarum lumen, facundiae lex,
Sic sedebat:
Qui postquam, omnia naturalis sapientiae
Et civilis arcana evolvisset,
Naturae decretum explevit.
Composita solvantur.
Anno Dom. MDCXXVI.
AEt. LXVI.

                                Tanti viri
                                Mem.
                                Thomas Meautys
                                Superstitis cultor,
                                Defuncti admirator.

---

¹ Salmon Hist. Hertf. 83. Chauncy, 404.

² i. 356.

³ Redgrave has unfortunately shared the fate of Gorhambury; a modern house has been erected on its ruins. ED.

⁴ Collins's Baronets, i.

⁵ Welsh Tour .

⁶ Weever's Fun. Mon. 584.

⁷ Lib. ii, epist. 17.

⁸ Lib. v. epist 6.

⁹ Lib. ii. epist. 17.

¹⁰ This venerable edifice, of which the greatest part was slightly built with framed wood and plaister, having fallen to decay, a new and handsome mansion was erected at a small distance from the site of the former by the late Viscount Grimston .

The editor has preserved the description of the old house. The valuable collection of portraits is described according to the order in which they are now placed. ED.

¹¹ Osborn's reign of King James, paragraph 26.

¹² For an account of this dreadful affair read the Guardian, N^o 129. 133.

¹³ Lloyd ii. 267. Memorials 25.

¹⁴ This is now called a Sibyll, and is said to have been painted by John Vander Meer. ED.

¹⁵ Prince's Worthies of Devonshire, 197.

¹⁶ The same.

¹⁷ Prince, 198.

¹⁸ Athen. Oxon. i. 529.

¹⁹ Dugdale Baron, ii. 310.

²⁰ Clarendon, i. 56.

²¹ Crawford's Peerage. Scot. 262.

²² Wilson 257, 258.

²³ Fuller's Worthies of Yorkshire, 201.

²⁴ There is a print by Mollar after this portrait, inscribed "HIERONYMUS WESTONIUS COMES PORTLANDIAE, &c."; an evident misnomer. Jerome never attained the dignity of the order of the Garter, which is worn by the person here repreented. ED.

²⁵ Clarendon i. 49.

²⁶ Continuation of Clarendon, 411.

²⁷ Fuller's Worthies of Surry, 83.

²⁸ Clarendon, i. 88.

²⁹ Illust. Heads, i. 60.

³⁰ Clarendon, i. 131.

³¹ Lodge's Irish Peerage, iii. 267.

³² Collin's Peerage, i. 204.

³³ Dugdale Baron, ii. 310.

³⁴ Clarendon, i. 38.

³⁵ Granger, i. 326, note.

³⁶ Wilson, 97.

³⁷ Complete Gentleman, 127. Walpole's Anecdotes of Painters, i. 163. where the portrait of Sir Nathaniel is engraven.

³⁸ Sir Thomas Meautys was of Norman extraction;^* his ancestor John Meautys came into England with Henry VII. and was his secretary for the French tongue. His grandfather Sir Peter was enriched by the spoils of the church in the possession of Stratford abbey in Essex, and sent ambassador to France by Henry VIII. who conferred on him the honor of knighthood. Sir Thomas Meautys married Anne eldest daughter of Sir Nathaniel Bacon, of Culford. ED.

^* Morant's Essex, i. 19.

³⁹ Wilson, 159.

⁴⁰ Chauncy's Hertfordshire, 464.

⁴¹ Complete Hist. England, ii. 274.

⁴² Ballard's Br. Ladies, 136.

⁴³ This portrait is now supposed by the noble owner to represent Edward Grimston, who was^* ambassador to the court of Burgundy in the reign of Henry VI.; and as the family arms are painted on the back and front of the picture, the conjecture does not appear improbable. It must however be remarked, that the resemblance to the Duke of Burgundy may be traced in other prints, exclusive of that referred to in the Monarchie Francoise. ED.

^* Rymer's Readers, xi. 230.

⁴⁴ These royal portraits, and a few others, were too much injured to bear removal from the old house, or were thought unworthy to occupy a place in the collection of the modern Gorhambury. ED.

In the house are several valuable paintings by foreign masters, a list of which will be given in the Appendix. ED.

⁴⁵ Tanner, 185.

⁴⁶ Vegetius, lib. i. c. 23.

⁴⁷ Commentariol, 31.

⁴⁸ Caesar cognito consilio eorum ad flumen Tamasin in fines Cassivelauni exercitum duxit. Bel. Gal. lib. v.

Preceding this, he speaks of the fines Cassivelauni, as being a mari circiter millia passuum lxxx.

⁴⁹ Sylvis paludibusque munitum.

⁵⁰ Lewis Hist. Br. 73.

⁵¹ Stukely Itin. i. 117.

⁵² See Doctor Stukely's admirable plan of this place.

⁵³ Tour Scotl. 1772. part ii. p. 288.

⁵⁴ Taciti Annal. lib. xiv. c. 31. &c.

⁵⁵ Bede Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. 7. Father Cressy, in his Church History, lib. vi. has given a much longer detail.

⁵⁶ Tour in Wales, p. 108. 8th ed. 1810. 1. p. 149.

⁵⁷ Chauncy, 431.

⁵⁸ Cressy, lib.xxv. c. 6.

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