Walpole began the foundation of this noble hall, or palace, of freestone, which he finished, and furnished in a most elegant and sumptuous manner. The foundation stone of which was thus inscribed : "HIC ME POSUIT" "Fundamen ut essem domûs in agro natali extruendæ ROBERTUS ILLE WALPOLE, quem nulla nesciet posteritas, die 24 mensis Maii, A. D. 1722, faxis Deus, ut postquam maturus ævi Dominus diu lætatus fuerit absoluta, incolumem tueantur incolumes ad summum omnium diem, et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis." The survey of this truly sumptuous pile, fills the mind with every thing that magnificence can inspire, and excites strong images of the power, wealth, and grandeur of the illustrious builder, sir Robert Walpole. It was erected during the time he was prime minister. The original designs were furnished by Colin Campbell, the author of "Vitruvius Britannicus;" but the mansion was erected by Thomas Ripley, an architect, who, from a common carpenter, and having been patronized by the ministry, fell under the satirical lash of Pope : "Who builds a bridge, that never drove a pile, Should Ripley venture, all the world would smile." "So Ripley, till his destined space is filled, Heaps bricks on bricks, and fancies 'tis to build." He very much improved the designs for Houghton, and in the execution was superior even to the earl of Burlington himself, in the opinion of modern critics. The principal front, for a view of which see Neales' Gentlemen's Seats, is towards the west; the centre, or main building, is quadrangular. The basement story is rustic; this is ascended by a double flight of steps, with a balustrade; the pediment over the entrance, containing the arms, is supported by Ionic columns; the entablature is continued round the centre, each angle of which is crowned with a cupola and lantern. Sir Robert used to say, that he had taken the idea of these towers from Osterly park, near Brentford. The wings, (of which the northern one was destroyed by fire in 1789), containing the offices, are connected with the main body of the building by a Tuscan colonnade; and the extent of the principal front, is one hundred and sixty-six feet, and, including the colonnades, four hundred and fifty feet in the interior. The interior contains a suite of magnificent apartments, adorned in the most sumptuous manner; but its principal embellishment, the large and celebrated collection of pictures, once its proud boast, and indeed ornament to the country, was sold, in 1779, by George earl of Orford, who died soon afterwards, to Catherine empress of Russia, for 40,555l. (not 45,500l. as stated by Neale), a sum we should think inadequate to their real value, at least if the original cost to sir Robert be taken.* * The bargain for the Houghton collection is not yet concluded; if the empress of Russia pay the 40,555%. the valuation, she certainly may sell, burn, drown any part, or the whole; and nothing can be so far from common sense, as she to pay 3000l. more than the valuation, for the liberty of selling part, when he gets the rhino.-Tysson. The following appropriate extract is from a letter of lord Orford's in the "Sexage. narian.”—“ I have seen a noble seat, built by a very wise man, who thought he had reason to expect it would remain to his posterity as long as human foundations do in the ordinary course of things. Alas! Sir, I have lived to be the last of that posterity, and to see the glorious collection of pictures, that were the principal ornaments of the house, gone to the North Pole, and to have the house remaining, half ruined, on my hands." The following letter respecting Houghton, was addressed by Horace Walpole, to Mrs Montague.-Vide Letters. Houghton, March, 25, 1761. "Here I am at Houghton! and alone! in this spot, where (except two hours last month) I have not been for sixteen years! Think, what a crowd of reflections! No, Gray and forty Church-yards could not furnish so many; nay, I know one must feel them with greater indifference than I feel I possess to put them into verse. Here I am, probably for the last time of my life, though not for the last time. Every clock that strikes tells me I am an hour nearer to yonder church-that church Into which I have not the courage to enter, where lies the mother on whom I doated, and who doated on me! There are the two rival mistresses of Houghton, neither of whom ever wished to enjoy it! There too lies he who founded its greatness, to contribute to whose fall Europe was embroiled. There he sleeps in quiet and dignity, while his friend and his foe, rather his false ally and his real enemy, are exhausting the dregs of their pitiful lives in squabbles and pamphlets. am "The surprise the pictures gave me is again renewed: accustomed for many years to see nothing but wretched daubs and varnished copies at auctions, I look at these as enchantment. My own description of them seems poor; but shall I tell you truly, the majesty of Italian ideas sinks before the warm NATURE of Flemish colouring. Alas! don't I grow old? My young imagination was fired with GUIDO's ideas! Does great youth feel with poetic limbs, as well as see with poetic eyes? In one respect very young, I cannot satiate myself with looking: an incident contributed to make me feel this more strongly. A party arrived, just as I did, to see the house, a man and three women in riding dresses, and they rode post through the apartments. I could not hurry before them fast enough; they were not so long in seeing, for the first time, as I could have been in one room to examine what I knew by heart. I remember formerly being diverted with those see-ers; they come, ask what such a room is called in which sir Robert lay, write it down, admire a lobster or a cabbage in a marketpiece, dispute whether the last room was green or purple, and then hurry to the inn for fear the fish should be over-dressed. How different my sensations! Not a picture here but recalls a history; not one but I remember in Downing-street or Chelsea, where queens and crowds admired them, though seeing them as little as those travellers! "When I had drunk tea, I strolled into the garden: they told me it was now called 'the pleasure ground.' What a dissonant idea of pleasure! Those groves, those alleys, where I have passed so many charming moments, are now stripped up or overgrown: many fond paths I could not unravel, though with a very exact clue in my memory. 1 met two gamekeepers and a thousand hares! In the days when all my soul was tuned to pleasure and vivacity (and you will think, perhaps, it is far from being out of tune yet), 1 hated Houghtou and its solitude. Yet I loved this garden-as now, with many regrets, I love Houghton-Houghton, I know not what to call it, a monument of gran. The seat is surrounded with very magnificent plantations. In the road from Syderstone they appear to the most advantage, they are seen to a great extent, with openings left in many places, to let in the view of more distant woods, which changes the shade, and gives them that solemn brownness, that always produces a very great effect. The proprietor has judiciously contrived to obviate the effect of the flatness of the country, which rather contracts than enlarges their appearance. The woods seen from the south front, are so disposed, as to appear one beyond another, in different shades, to a great extent. Mr. Loudon, in his elaborate "Ency. of Gardening," calls the park extensive, but dull and flat, but containing some fine old beeches. Houghton hall," says Mr. Gilpin, "stands low, and is surrounded by an ample park. It was built on the site of an old family mansion, and such trees as formerly adorned it are large, but in general the plantations are modern; and it is easy to trace, from the growth of the woods, and the vestiges of hedge-rows, where the ambition of the minister made his ornamental inroads into the acres of his inheritance. Taste, however, then was not; no Brown at that time existed to conduct the channels of wealth, and though there are many good scenes in this park, (as it is impossible to have wood without beauty), yet an eye used to the juster improvements of taste, is everywhere hurt, nor can the magnificence of the whole atone for a number of awkward parts.* The house is a stately heavy building, joined to colonnades to large wings, the whole extending four hundred and fifty feet. The stables are superb; the rooms are of a moderate size, except the hall and the saloon; the former of which is decorated in a very pleasing manner. It is plain, simple, and elegant. I should have liked it better if the bases of deur or ruin. How I wished this evening for lord Bute: how I could preach to him! For myself, I don't want to be preached to. The servants wanted to lay me in the great apartment-what! to make me pass my night as I had done my evening! It was like proposing to Margaret Roper to be a duchess in the court that cut off her father's head, and imagining that would please her. I have chosen to sit in my father's little dressing room; and am now by his escrutoire, where, in the height of his fortune, he used to receive the accounts of his farmers, and deceive himself, or us, with the thoughts of his economy. How wise a man at once, and how weak! For what has he built Houghton? For his grandson to annihilate, or for his son to mourn over. H. W." * There is an old walk in Houghton, called 'sir Jeffery Burwell's walk,' where the old gent. used to teach sir Robert his book. The old trees here encouraged sir Robert to plant; when people tried to persuade him nothing would grow there, he used to retort by saying, why should not other trees grow as well as those in sir Jeffrys' walk. -See Walpole to Cole, p. 114. the statues, and all the other ornamental parts, had been of the same plain stone colour with which the room is painted. The furniture and decorations of the whole house are grand and rich. We scarce observed any instances of littleness or affectation: the window cases and doors are of mahogany, gilt, and very grand. "But the house is not the object at Houghton-the pictures attract the attention; and as this is the most celebrated collection in England, I examined them with what care I was able, and shall remark such of them as particularly pleased me. I ought, perhaps, to apologize for differing in opinion, on some occasions, from Mr. Walpole, who has printed a catalogue of these pictures with remarks on several of them. But I shall always give reasons for my opinion, and my opinion of course can have no more weight than the reasons which support it; I am the less scrupulous in differing from Mr, Walpole, as, in honour of his father's collection, his criticism seem plainly inclined to the more favourable side. Mine, I hope, will not be thought too severe, though there are very few pictures in this noble collection which entirely pleased me. I had the satisfaction, however, in my own vindication to observe, that among the multitude of capital pictures which sir Joshua Reynolds saw in his journey through Holland and Flanders, there is scarce one in which he does not find something he dislikes." Houghton was much admired by his late royal highness the duke of Cumberland, who frequently visited it. It was likewise much resorted to every year in the time of sir Robert Walpole, by all the great officers of state and-foreign ministers; this annual meeting, which usually lasted a fortnight, was called the Congress. The common approach to the house is by the south end door, over which is engraved this inscription: ROBERTUS WALPOLE HAS ÆDES ANNO S M,DCC,XII. INCHOAVIT, ANNO M,DCC,XXXV. PERFECIT. We shall now copy the account and descriptions of the pictures &c. by Horace Walpole, as introduced by him in his works, in the order in which they hung at the time in which he wrote, embodying with it the remarks of Mr. Gilpin, who visited the house in 1769, and marking with Italics, and the prices at which they were valued, those paintings sent to Russia. This, we trust, will form a complete cata logue raisonnée of the most interesting collection of pictures ever made in this country; and which, though for the present lost, may, through the medium of prints and copies, continue to instruct and delight us.* A As you enter the house on the right hand you enter the BREAKFAST PARLOUR, in which, over the chimney, is a very good picture of Hounds, by Wooton. A Concert of Birds, by Mario di Fiori-a very uncommon picture, for hè seldom painted anything but flowers: it belonged to Gibbon, the carver, and is 4ft. 7in. high, by 7ft. 9}in. wide. The Prodigal Son returning to his father, a very dark picture, by Pordenone-the architecture and landscape very good, 5ft. 5in. high, by 8ft. 11 in. it belonged to George Villiers, the great duke of Buckingham. A Horse's Head, a fine sketch, by Vandyke, 401. Greyhound's Head, by Old Wyck, Wooton's master. Walpole. Robert Walpole. Horatio lord Townshend. rold, gardener to sir Robert Walpole, a head by Ellis. The SUPPING PARLOUR.-The Battle of Constantine and Maxentius, 150l., a copy, by Julio Romano, of the famous picture in the Vatican, executed after a design of Raffaelle, 4ft. 8 in. high, by 9ft. 74in. wide. The story is told by Zosimus Hist. lib. ii. from which the quotation is extracted in Walpole. Over the chimney, Horace Walpole, a threequarter, by Richardson. Sir Robert Walpole when secretary at war to queen Anne, a three-quarter, by Jervaso. Catherine lady Walpole, b Sir Edward We strongly recommend to the connoisseur who is interested in the account of sales of celebrated pictures, Mr. Buchannan's Memoirs of Painting. Previously to the sale of these paintings, engravings were made, by G. and J. Farringon, royal academicians, from the principal pictures, and published by Boydell; this work, which consists of one hundred and twenty plates, and comprising about two hundred of the pictures, was sold in fourteen numbers, at two guineas each. a Grandfather to sir Robert, he was created knight of the Bath at the coronation of Charles II., and made a great figure in parliament. Once, on a very warm dispute in the House, he proposed an expedient to which both parties immediately concurredWaller the poet moved, that he might be sent to the tower for not having composed the heats sooner when he had it in his power. He married Susan, daughter of sir Robert Crane, on whose death he wrote these verses in his bible, which is now in the church here: "She lives, reigns, triumphs, in a state of bliss- If saints for pilgrims here concerned can be, My love for her not lessened by her death Then turned into Latin by Dr. Bland, dean of Durham, who drew up the Latin inscription on the foundation stone.-Vide Walpole's Works. He is buried in Houghton church, with this plain epitaph, "Here lies sir Edward Walpole, Cætera si quæras narrabit fama superstes." Son of sir Edward, and father of sir Robert; he was member for Castle Rising from the first of William and Mary till his death 1700. His wife was Mary, only daughter of sir Jeffery Burwell, by whom he had nineteen children. Father of Charles lord viscount Townshend. There was one of these, (probably this very second picture, see his Catalogue published by Bothoe), in the collection of king James II., p. 22, No. 248. Brother of sir Robert Walpole: he was ambassador in France and Holland, cofferer of the household, and lastly one of the tellers of the Exchequer, and created a baron a little before his death, 1756. |