OF CHATSWORTH. vii Sir William's widow, Elizabeth, after some years accepted the hand of Sir William St. Lo, Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth, and after his death became Countess of Shrewsbury by her marriage with George Talbot, the sixth earl and her fourth husband, whom she survived.' She continued and finished on a much larger scale than Sir William Cavendish had planned, the new hall at Chatsworth,' which soon acquired historical interest. Mary Queen of Scots was there held prisoner under the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury from May, 1570, to April, 1571, and again for a short time in 1573, 1578, 1579, and 1581. Her first letter from Chatsworth, dated the 31st of May, 1570, is addressed to the Duc de Nemours; her last letter from the same place was written to Pope Gregory XIII. on the 31st of July, 1581. The rooms which in the present building answer to the apartment occupied by her-they are in the upper story of the east wing and look upon the quadrangle still retain her name, though their furniture has been removed to Hardwick Hall. A raised massive construction of stone in the Park, surrounded by a moat, where according to tradition she was wont to go to breathe fresh air, is called to this day "Queen Mary's Bower.' It was in the old house at Chatsworth and in the hall at vers, 1557, fol." First edition, often reprinted. For English editions of it, see CATAL., vol. i. p. 344. 1 Hobbes sang her praises : . . At quota pars ea laudis Elizæ Salopicæ ? quæ multa et magna palatia struxit ; Ornavitque humiles; multam, magnamque reliquit "Magna palatia” were Chatsworth, Hardwick, Oldcotes, Welbeck, and Bolsover. 2 Woodcut, vol. iv. p. 1. * Woodcut, vol. iv. p. 113. b viii HISTORICAL NOTICE Hardwick that Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury spent most of his life. At the age of twenty he was engaged by William, first Earl of Devonshire, as tutor to his sons, Gilbert who died young, and William, afterwards second Earl; after the death of the latter, his son William, third Earl of Devonshire, was also placed under Hobbes' care. Hobbes died at Hardwick Hall on the 4th of December, 1679, at the age of ninety-one, a few days after he had gone there from Chatsworth with the Earl and Countess of Devonshire for the Christmas holidays. The manuscripts of all his works and correspondence are still preserved at Hardwick. His Latin poem "De Mirabilibus Pecci" contains the following description of the Hall and Park at Chatsworth:— Alpibus Angliacis, ubi Pecci nomine surgit Stat CHATSWORTH præclara domus, tum mole superba, Hic tacitus, saxis infra supraque sonorus. At mons terga domus rapidis defendit ab Euris, Porticibus, potiora tuæ, Maro, tegmine fagi ; Quam dulce est, inter circumque nitentia stagna, 'The Peak. 2 The Derwent. OF CHATSWORTH. Commodiore loco non usquam habitare, nec usquam Hinc ad tecta, solo surgente, ascenditur : extra, Commoda, culta, capacia, splendida, ditia tecta.' ix A more detailed description of Chatsworth as it was in his days is to be found in Charles Cotton's poem, “The Wonders of the Peak," of which we only give a few lines :- This Palace, with wild prospects girded round, But that she has better reflection From a large mirror nearer of her own. For a fair lake, from wash of floods unmixt, Before it lies, an area spread betwixt. Over this pond, opposite to the gate, A bridge of a quaint structure, strength and state, Bess of Hardwick's hall at Chatsworth was almost entirely pulled down by her great great grandson, William, fourth Earl and first Duke of Devonshire. William's life was a stirring one, even for the eventful times in which it fell. Born in 1640 he travelled abroad, when very young, with Hobbes, Opera quæ latine scripsit omnia, studio et labore G. Molesworth, vol. v. pp. 325-26. Cotton: "The Wonders of the Peak," London, 1683. X HISTORICAL NOTICE Dr. Killigrew, afterwards Master of the Savoy. On his return he bore Charles II.'s train at his coronation, took the degree of Master of Arts at Oxford in 1663, and in 1665 joined the fleet as a volunteer, in which capacity he was engaged in the action in which the Duke of York defeated the Dutch. In 1669 he accompanied Montagu on his embassy to France, and there met with an adventure, which we tell in the words of Collins : "Whilst he was at Paris he was most rudely affronted at an opera by three officers of the King's guard, who came full of wine upon the stage. One of them coming up to him, with a very insulting question, my lord gave him a severe blow on the face, upon which they all drew, and pushed hard upon him. He got his back against one of the screens, and made a stout defence, receiving several wounds, till a sturdy Swiss of my Lord Ambassador Montagu's caught him up in his arms and threw him over the stage into the pit. In his fall one of his arms was caught upon an iron spike, which tore out the flesh, and left a scar very visible to his dying day. The assailants were clapped up by the King's command, and not released till my lord himself interceded for them." Till the death of his father in 1684 he represented the county of Derby in Parliament, and afterwards took a leading part in the events which led to the Revolution, and by his weight and influence contributed largely to its success. It was at a cottage inn, known as the "Cock and Pynot," on Whittington Moor, not far from Chatsworth, that he, Lord Danby, John d'Arcy and others met and planned their scheme. The chair on which the Earl of Devonshire sat on that occasion is still preserved at Hardwick as an historical relic. In 1694 William III. created him Duke of 1 Collins: Memoirs, &c., p. 157. OF CHATSWORTH. xi Devonshire. He was a man of letters as well as a politician, and the author of "The Charms of Liberty," a poem occasioned by the "Télémaque" of Fénélon, whose personal friend he was. "In wealth and influence," says Macaulay, "he was second to none of the English nobles, and the general voice designated him as the finest gentleman of his time. His magnificence, his taste, his talents, his classical learning, his high spirit, the grace and urbanity of his manners were admitted by his enemies. No man had done more or risked more for England during the crisis of her fate. He had stood near Russell at the bar, had parted from him on the sad morning of the execution with close embraces and with many bitter tears, nay, had offered to manage an escape at the hazard of his own life."1 It was in 1688 that he began the erection of the present magnificent house, which was not finished till shortly before his death in 1707. The architect, William Talman, under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren, adopted the Palladian style of architecture, as may be seen from the west front, which still remains as it was when finished in 1702.2 Some parts of the old hall were retained and incorporated in the new square building, such as the central hall and the long gallery in the east wing, which is the present large library. The cascade and most of the fountains in the gardens were constructed at the same time. The massive and extensive stables are of a later date; they were built by the fourth Duke in the latter half of the last century. The last alterations in the house, and the last additions on a large scale were made between 1820-1840 by William, sixth and late Duke of Devonshire, from the designs of Sir Jeffrey Wyatt and under his direction. The chief entrance, 1 Macaulay's "History of England,” vol. ii. p. 32, and vol. iii. p. 23. * Woodcut, vol. ii. p. 111. |