in this office, according to Osborne, with his white rod he broke many wiser heads than his own. He died in January, 1649, 50. GEORGE VILLIERS, Duke of Buckingham, full length; Myfens: represented in white, with a hat and feather on a table near him.*

SIR NATHANIEL BACON, Knight of the Bath, half brother to Lord Bacon, seated at a table with books, and dressed in a green jacket, laced, with yellow stockings; and near him, a dog. This picture was executed by Sir Nathaniel himself, whom Peacham, in his Treatise on Limning, has recorded as an admirable painter, and whom Horace Walpole, in his Anecdotes, admits to have really attained the perfection of a master. Besides this specimen of his talents, there is another painting in this apartment, which does him great honour for its truth and brilliancy of coloring; it is a large piece, representing a Cook-Maid, with dead Game, and an old Game-Keeper in the back-ground. This is considered as a real portrait of Dame Jane Bacon, Sir Nathaniel's mother.

GEORGE MONK, Duke of Albemarle, copied by Sir Godfrey Kneller, from Sir Peter Lely.

THOMAS WENTWORTH, Earl of Cleveland, full length; Vandyck. This very fine picture was executed in 1636, when the Earl was in his forty-fourth year. He was a distinguished loyalist, and Captain of the Guard to Charles the First, and Charles the Second. His dress is black, with a red ribbon, turnover, and yellow hair.

SIR THOMAS MEAUTYS, Secretary to Lord Bacon, and his successor in the possession of Gorhambury. He is pourtrayed in an elegant but singular habit: in one hand is a spear, the other rests on his side: he has on a sash, brown boots, a laced turnover, and a hat with a white feather.

In the Drawing Room are the following portraits. SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON, three quarters; Sir Peter Lely. Sir Harbottle is represented in his robes as Master of the Rolls. This

was

*See Anecdotes of this Duke, in Vol. VI. P. 313.

was the gentleman who became possessed of Gorhambury by his marriage with the daughter of Sir Nathaniel Bacon.

St. John Preaching in the Wilderness; Tintoretto.

A curious old Portrait on pannel, being a small half length of one of the Grimstons, painted in a green jacket with loose sleeves, and a large bonnet with a long silken appendage. On the back is this inscription, DETRUS XDIME FECIT A 1496.*

CHARLES HOWARD, Earl of Nottingham, Lord High Admiral in the reign of Elizabeth; Sir Peter Lely. In the back-ground is a view of a Fleet in a Storm, in allusion to the Spanish Armada, against which the Earl acted as Commander in Chief.

LADY GRIMSTON, first wife of Sir Harbottle, and daughter to Sir George Croke.

Adoration of the Shepherds; Luca Giordano.

ALGERNON, Earl of Northumberland, with his Lady and Child; a long picture, by Vandyck. The Earl is represented in black; his Lady in blue, and sitting. This Nobleman held the post of Lord High Admiral, at the beginning of the troubles, in the time of Charles the First, but was displaced by the popular party. He opposed the trial of the King, and, after his death, retired to Petworth, without associating with the prevailing powers. He died in 1668.

Ascension of the Virgin; Ann. Caracci.

LADY ELIZABETH GRIMSTON, first wife to Sir Samuel, and daughter to Heneage Finch, Earl of Nottingham; Sir Peter Lely. LADY ANN GRIMSTON, second wife to Sir Samuel, and daughter to Tufton, Earl of Thanet.

SIR EDWARD GRIMSTON, Comptroller of Calais, at the age of fifty; painted by Holbein in 1548.

DAME JANE BACON, first wife to Sir Nicholas; small half length, painted by Sir Nathaniel Bacon,

Our Saviour curing the Sick Man at the Pool of Bethesda; Bassano.

In

Pennant has given the date and inscription on the back of this picture erroneously; and, from a faint resemblance between the likeness and a print in Montfaucon, called it Philip Le Bon, Duke of Burgundy.

In the Hall is a full length of JAMES THE FIRST, in black and gold armour, by Holbein.

JAMES THE SECOND; Sir Godfrey Kneller.

CHARLES THE FIRST; Henry Stone.

CATHERINE, Queen of Charles the Second, in the character of St. Catherine; Huysman. This, or a duplicate picture of the same subject, is mentioned by Walpole, as being that to which the artist was most partial: it has been engraved in mezzotinto, and is finely painted.

EDWARD CAREW, Earl of Totness, represented in a white flowered jacket, with a white beard, and short hair; his hand on his sword.

SIR EDWARD SACKVILLE, fourth Earl of Dorset; the witty and accomplished nobleman who fought the sanguinary duel under the walls of Antwerp with the Scottish Lord Bruce, who fell dead upon the spot. The Earl died in July, 1652.

HENRY RICH, first Earl of Holland, in a striped dress, very rich, with a blue ribbon across his breast, and a hat with a red feather in his hand. The Earl was beheaded in March, 1648,9.

CATHERINE HOWARD, Countess of Suffolk, eldest daughter to Sir Henry Knevit, Knt. of Charlton, Wilts; whole length, in white, with a great ruff; her bosom partly uncovered. This lady was eminently distinguished for her venality in respect to public affairs, during the four years in which the Earl of Suffolk enjoyed the Treasurership in the time of James the First. The peace, so beneficial to Spain, negociated in the same reign, is attributed by Weldon to the influence of the Countess; and, " in truth," he observes, "Audley-End, that famous and great structure, had its foundation in Spanish gold."

THOMAS HOWARD, third Duke of Norfolk, in his sixty-sixth year; full length: Holbein,

SIR NICHOLAS BACON. This portrait is mentioned by Granger. In Mallet's Life of the Lord Chancellor Bacon, the manner of the death of Sir Nicholas is thus related. "He was under the VOL. VII. FEB. 1806

I

hands

See a full relation of this fight, written by Sir Edward himself, in the

Guardian, No. CXXXIII.

hands of his barber, and the weather being sultry, had ordered a window before him to be thrown open. As he was become very corpulent, he presently fell asleep, in the current of fresh air that was blowing in upon him, and awaked after some time distempered all over. 6 Why (said he to the servant) did you suffer me to sleep thus exposed? The fellow replied, that he durst not presume to disturb him.' Then, (said the Lord Keeper,) by your civility, I lose my life;' and so removed into his bed-chamber, where he died a few days after."

The Park and grounds at Gorhambury include about 600 acres, and are well stocked with fine timber; particularly beech, oak, and elm. The surface is agreeably diversified; and the scenery composes some good landscapes; to which the contiguity of Prè Wood gives additional interest. The Park contains a considerable quantity of fine deer.

HEMEL HEMSTED,

OR HEMEL-HEMPSTEAD, as it is more commonly, though incorrectly, denominated, is a respectable market-town, pleasantly situated on rising ground, at a short distance from the river Gade, The manor was an ancient demesne of the Mercian Sovereigns; and six mansions herein, were granted, by King Offa, to the Church of St. Alban: the remainder was, after the Conquest, given to the Earl of Mortaigne; and it is singular that, in the descriptions of these respective possessions, recorded in the Domesday Book, they are described as distinct manors, and as lying in different hundreds. The part held by the Abbots of St. Alban, continued in their possession till the Dissolution: that held by the Earl, descended in the same manner as Berkhamsted, to Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, who granted it to his foundation for Bon Hommes, at Ashridge, in Bucks, on the borders of this county. John Waterhouse, Esq. who was Auditor to Henry the Eighth, and whose family had been long seated at Hemsted-Bury, appears to have been afterwards possessed of this manor; and by his interest with

* See p. 185.

the

the King, a charter of incorporation, and a weekly market, were granted to the inhabitants. In Salmon's time, the owner of this manor was Henshaw Halsey, Esq. whose descendant, the late Thomas Halsey, Esq. of Gaddesden Place, represented this county in three Parliaments: he died in October, 1788, leaving two children, Thomas and Sarah; the former of whom died an infant, when the latter became sole heir, and has lately married.

The Church, which stands in a spacious Church-yard adjoining to the town on the west side, appears to have been erected in the Norman times, but has been much altered, and enlarged, at subsequent periods. It is built in the form of a cross, and consists of a nave, chancel, transept, and side aisles, with an embattled tower, surmounted by a high, octagonal spire, rising from the intersection. The western entrance is now disused, but displays a finely ornamented recessed arch, with two columns, and a half column on each side, supporting various mouldings, charged with diamonds, lozenges, roses, and trefoils: the capitals are all varied; one of them has a curious figure. The nave is separated from the aisles by a range of five massive columns on each side, and two half columns, with square capitals, variously sculptured, and supporting round arches, having plain, zig-zag, and billetted mouldings. The arches supporting the tower, are semi-circular, with clustered columns, consisting of two large and one smaller on each side: the capitals are square, but dissimilarly ornamented; and on one of these is a curious head. The arch, which opens into the chancel, has the billet and zig-zag mouldings: the roof of the chancel is strongly groined; that of the nave is plain. The windows have been all opened in the pointed form, with the excep tion of those of the tower, the upper story of which has two semicircular windows on each side; below these are others of the lancet form. The south porch, which opens into the Church by a pointed arch, has a pointed window on each side, and is sustained by strong buttresses.