DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22423#0381
Letter XXX. DUKE OF DEVONSHIKE'S COLLECTION". 369
santly along. We went first to the extensive kitchen-gardens,
where every kind of vegetable and herb are cultivated in the
highest perfection. We next visited a number of hot-houses. In
one of- them tropical plants of the rarest species were collected in
greater numbers than in the one nearer the mansion. In others,
innumerable pine-apples, some of them of enormous size, raised,
their golden heads, and filled the air with an almost overpowering
fragrance. In others again, hundreds of magnificent bunches of
black grapes hung down, looking very tempting. On my observing
to the Duke that his table was indeed very completely furnished,
he suddenly opened a door and desired me to look in. There,
in a dark, damp, and hot place, the rarest and most delicate
species of mushrooms were thriving luxuriantly. The park itself,
through which we then drove, having the advantage of very con-
siderable and beautifully-wooded eminences, affords extremely pic-
turesque views, which are agreeably animated by numerous herds
of deer. In order to reach some points from which the mansion
has a fine effect, and groups very happily with the hills., we turned
out of the beaten road, and rolled rapidly over the soft verdant
turf, which, like all the rest, is kept in the highest order. Several
young plantations manifest the Duke's taste for the picturesque.
He told me he wished to show me Haddon Hall, an old castle
now belonging to the Duke of Rutland; we therefore drove along
a charming valley enclosed by beautifully-wooded hills, in which
this castle, with its tower, has a very romantic effect. It is of but
small extent, and is an instance of the moderate pretensions of
noblemen in the middle ages.
At dinner, besides the Duke, I met Lord Cavendish, a near
relation, with his young consort, a lady of that elegant and slender
form which is rarely met with except in England; and an old
gentleman. During the time that the hospitable Duke passes at
Chatsworth, the number of his guests sometimes amounts to fifty.
My first visit to Chatsworth was, as I have already mentioned,
in 1835—my second in 1850, on which occasion the Duke was
absent, being at that time on his Irish estates. The lapse of years,
however, had not diminished his courteous kindness towards me,
and I received from his Grace a card which not only procured
me the most humane treatment from the housekeeper, and the
undisturbed inspection of all the above-mentioned treasures of
art, but also allowed me to view the magnificent grounds, and
VOL. III. 2 B
santly along. We went first to the extensive kitchen-gardens,
where every kind of vegetable and herb are cultivated in the
highest perfection. We next visited a number of hot-houses. In
one of- them tropical plants of the rarest species were collected in
greater numbers than in the one nearer the mansion. In others,
innumerable pine-apples, some of them of enormous size, raised,
their golden heads, and filled the air with an almost overpowering
fragrance. In others again, hundreds of magnificent bunches of
black grapes hung down, looking very tempting. On my observing
to the Duke that his table was indeed very completely furnished,
he suddenly opened a door and desired me to look in. There,
in a dark, damp, and hot place, the rarest and most delicate
species of mushrooms were thriving luxuriantly. The park itself,
through which we then drove, having the advantage of very con-
siderable and beautifully-wooded eminences, affords extremely pic-
turesque views, which are agreeably animated by numerous herds
of deer. In order to reach some points from which the mansion
has a fine effect, and groups very happily with the hills., we turned
out of the beaten road, and rolled rapidly over the soft verdant
turf, which, like all the rest, is kept in the highest order. Several
young plantations manifest the Duke's taste for the picturesque.
He told me he wished to show me Haddon Hall, an old castle
now belonging to the Duke of Rutland; we therefore drove along
a charming valley enclosed by beautifully-wooded hills, in which
this castle, with its tower, has a very romantic effect. It is of but
small extent, and is an instance of the moderate pretensions of
noblemen in the middle ages.
At dinner, besides the Duke, I met Lord Cavendish, a near
relation, with his young consort, a lady of that elegant and slender
form which is rarely met with except in England; and an old
gentleman. During the time that the hospitable Duke passes at
Chatsworth, the number of his guests sometimes amounts to fifty.
My first visit to Chatsworth was, as I have already mentioned,
in 1835—my second in 1850, on which occasion the Duke was
absent, being at that time on his Irish estates. The lapse of years,
however, had not diminished his courteous kindness towards me,
and I received from his Grace a card which not only procured
me the most humane treatment from the housekeeper, and the
undisturbed inspection of all the above-mentioned treasures of
art, but also allowed me to view the magnificent grounds, and
VOL. III. 2 B