is

fane should certainly be dedicated to Mercury, the god of fraud and deceit, as a piece of roguery practised upon the incautious stranger within its very sanctuary; from the floor of which a multitude of little fountains suddenly spout up whilst he is admiring the prospect through the portal, and quickly wet him to the skin. After this practical joke, the cascade is put in motion by another screw, and certainly is grand in its kind; the water rushing in vast quantity and with prodigious force from the domed roof of the temple; from a great variety of dolphins, dragons, and other figures that ornament it; and throwing up several fountains from the bottom of the pool in front of the building; and then rolling down the long stages of steps before described. The tree, also, which squirts water from all its leaves, and the fountains in the ponds that throw the element up to the height of ninety feet, are still shewn; though the correct taste of the day considers them only as expensive puerilities.

Heaviness and gloom characterize the inside as well as the exterior of Chatsworth-House. The Entrance-Hall is grand, but dark; the ends, ceiling, and one side, finely painted by Lewis La Guerre, in 1694, with a representation of the Assembly of the Gods; Julius Cæsar sacrificing; and

his assassination at the foot of Pompey's statue. Two sweeping flights of steps and a long gallery lead to the chapel, ornamented with the exquisite carving of Gibbons, (who was killed by a fall in the act of fixing it up) and painted by La Guerre, whose powers are displayed in the altar-pieceChrist reproving Thomas's incredulity; supported on one side by the miracle of the Paralytic restored by our Saviour's simple command, Take up thy 'bed, and walk;' and on the other by the representation of a similar exertion of power divine. A painting of the Ascension covers the cieling.

6

In the Music-Room, we have the present Duchess of Devonshire, and her daughter Lady Georgiana, married to Lord Morpeth; by Sir J. Reynolds.

In the Drawing-Room is a whole length of William Duke of Cumberland; and a most expensive article of furniture, an immense silver chandelier.

In the Dining-Room is a fine whole-length, by Sir G. Kneller, of William first Duke of Devonshire, who was distinguished as a wit, a scholar, a soldier, and a gentleman. His name occurs in early life as Lord Cavendish, member for the county of Derby; when his political conduct evinced those true patriotic principles which he afterwards so eminently displayed in assisting to bring about the glorious Revolution, and persuading the gentry of

Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire to transfer to King William that allegiance and affection to which James had forfeited all claims. He was the inseparable friend of the amiable Lord Russel, and offered to change clothes with him in prison, and thus contrive his escape; an attempt so desperate must have proved fatal to one, if not both these noble characters, and was therefore declined by Lord Russel. Such was his gallantry, and so warm his friendship, that when Koningsmark was acquitted on the charge of plotting the murder of Mr. Thynne, he challenged him to prove his innocence by single combat. Having been insulted by a Colonel Culpepper, he scrupled not to take him by the nose before the King, and remove him from the presence-chamber; for which he was fined thirty thousand pounds, and committed to the King's-Bench prison, whence he effected his escape to his estate in Derbyshire, and employed himself in rebuilding his seat at Chatsworth; patiently awaiting the overthrow of a system of Popery and tyranny, which was daily becoming more oppressive and intolerable. On the accession of William, the fine was voted excessive and exorbitant, and the imprisonment illegal: he was admitted of the privy council, appointed lord-steward of the houshold, and knight of the Garter, with other

honours, and created Duke of Devonshire 1694. He died 1707, when this inscription was put on his monument:

"WILLIELMUS DUX DEVON, bonorum Principum fidelis subditus, inimicus et invisus tyrannis."

The Ball-Room is singularly magnificent; green and gold ornaments, and painted pannels, fitted up Joubert. The ceiling of the Billiard-Room is painted by Thornhill. The Dressing-Room to the best Bedchamber has the Duchess's small but beautiful collection of spars and fossils; amongst the latter of which we remarked à superlatively fine and perfect cast of the maize, or Indian corn. In the Chintz Bedchamber, a portrait of Rachael second Duchess of Devonshire, the daughter of William Lord Russel, and her four children, three girls and a boy; and two nameless portraits. In the adjoining closet, an Earl of Devonshire in the costume of the sixteenth century. In the dressingroom to the State Bedchamber is a good Sleeping Shepherd, by Gennaro; and the Flight into Egypt, by Hannibal Carracci.

The first Drawing-Room contains John first Duke of Rutland; obiit 1710, ætat. 72.—William first Earl of Devonshire; ob. 1625. This picture is ascribed to Mytens, but considered by Mr. Wal

pole to be by Van Somer, though equal to Vandyck, and one of the finest single figures ever painted on canvas.-Two fine whole-lengths, said to be two Earls of Pembroke; pointed beards, whiskers, Vandycked sleeves, and slashed hose.-An Earl of Devonshire in his robes, costume of the seventeenth century.-Duke of Ormond.

Amongst the furniture in the Second DrawingRoom are the two coronation chairs of the present King and Queen; perquisites to the late Duke of Devonshire, who was then lord-chamberlain.

In the Leicester-Room is an invaluable work of Holbein, Henry VII. and Henry VIII. in one picture. It is in black chalks, heightened, and large as life. Our Saviour and Mary Magdalen in the Garden, by Titian. No grace in the figures, but a sweet expression in the face of Mary.

The Scarlet-Room holds the bed in which George the Second died; another perquisite of the office of the late Duke.

Adjoining to this is an apartment called Mary's Room, from the bed in it (crimson velvet and gold) and chairs having been those which Mary Queen of Scots, (the beautiful, indiscreet, and unfortunate) used during her long confinement of nineteen years in the old house at Chatsworth. From hence she wrote a letter to Pope Pius, dated Oct. 31, 1570.