present, and others are fine copies from Luca Giordano, Vanloo, and Holbein; some set in the exquisitely little carved frames of Lejarée, and others mounted in brilliants or precious stones. Here, in the immortal bloom of enamel, still smiles the coarse but beautiful Cleveland, the intriguing but piquante Portsmouth," Mistress Godfrey, of the York seraglio," and the lovely Countess d'Olonne (one of the heroines of De Retz's Memoirs) who had a seraglio of her own, though she is here represented as Diana. Here, too, leers and lours the royal petit-maître of despotism, as he was wont to do at Versailles, in the midst of profligate mistresses and slavish courtiers -Louis the Fourteenth, surrounded by De Fontanges, De la Vallière, et tutte quante; while the wives of England's Blue Beard are to be found with all their heads on; and the lovely Madame Mazarin, looking as if she had just escaped from St. Evremont's letters, accounts for the passion of the enamoured philosopher, in loveliness far more bewitching than regular. Vases, cups, and chalices, in gems, jewels, and chrystals, the great seals of great kings, and the pretty bi oux of great

ladies, fill up this beautiful répertoire of all that is precious and curious, with rings to satisfy an alderman's wife, and snuff-boxes in number and beauty à faire crever d'envie Beau B, or Lord P; while vessels of wrought silver, and cups scooped out of amethysts, or set with brilliants, recall the treasures of the guarda roba of the Medici, when Benvenuto Cellini worked for their amusement, and had (as it sometimes fares with talent patronized by grandeur) his labour for his pains. Pictures,* lamps, and bronzes, fill up every part of this interesting room, and one leaves it with dazzled eyes, and sated curiosity, by the sombre little passage and small closet adjoining, (full to stuffing, like every other part of the edifice, with objects of curiosity or of art) for that great north bed-chamber, where the readers of French memoirs, and the adorers of Grammont, (or rather of Antoine Hamilton,) may feast their eyes and associations to satiety. The Great North

* Among these the most striking are the Temptation of St. Anthony, by Teniers. Soldiers at Cards, by Vandyke. His own Head, by Himself, and a portrait of Frances Howard, the celebrated Countess of Essex, by Isaac Oliver.

Bed-chamber, considered as a bed-chamber, is en grande tenue, according to the old style of magnificence; its royal canopied bed is plumed with ostrich feathers, and hung with rich tapestry of Aubusson, surrounded by a carpet of curious needlework, and flanked by chairs of ebony and gold, too heavy to move, and too fine to sit in. Its crimsoned damask walls are covered with the most precious portraits. Over the chimney is a great picture of Henry the Eighth, and his children, and a bust of Francis the Second, the boy-husband of the unfortunate Queen of Scots. Immediately opposite to the bed stands that figure, which occasioned so many sleepless nights to the gallants of Whitehall, "La belle Jennings," afterwards Duchess of Tyrconnel, whose bon mot to James the Second, when, as Lady Lieutenant, she received him at the Castle of Dublin, shows her not to have been of the order of stupid beauties, or like Mademoiselle Stuart, aussi bête que belle; her friend, Mademoiselle Hamilton, (Countess de Grammont,) is placed near her. There is also in this chamber an

* See a description of this piece in "The Anecdotes of Painting."

admirable group, the rehearsal of an opera, with the famous Mrs. Toft, the prima donna of her day, at the harpsichord. Its pendant is a scene from the "Beggar's Opera," by Hogarth, with portraits of the original performers.* The charming portraits of Ninon de l'Enclos,+ Hortense Mancini, and Madame de Maintenon, long detain the attention, even from the wonders of the " glass closet," where a silver perfume box, by Benvenuto Cellini, wedding-gloves of the patriot Hampden's bride, and the trunked ones of King James, with Von Trump's tobacco-box, and "a silver-gilt apostle spoon," belonging to Lord knows who, offer a curious and heterogeneous variety, and mark the successful and arduous researches of the collector after all that was rare and old. The Beauclerc closet, dedicated to the elegant works of the accomplished Lady Diana Beauclerc, the

* Among these is Miss Fenton (afterwards Duchess of Bolton) as Polly.

It is of this picture that Walpole says, "You see Ninon tries to look charming, and she only looks tipsy." The tradition of this picture is, that Ninon herself gave it to Lady Sandwich, daughter of Wilmot, Earl of Rochester; her grandson (Miss Rae's Lord Sand'wich,) gave it to Horace Walpole.

round bed-room, and the great cloister, follow in sight-seeing succession, and each has its separate interest and character. In the second are some fine portraits, and many very pleasing ones: among the latter may be reckoned the portraits of Lady Suffolk, the mistress titré of George the Second, Mrs. Barry and Mrs. Clive, the tragic and comic muses of their time;-there is also a fine head of Oliver Cromwell's mother. But the Round Bedroom is to Strawberry, what Naples is to the rest of Italy, the ne plus ultra of curiosity: attention is exhausted, eyes are dazzled, and expectation satiated by the time it is reached ;* and it is with a pleasure unspeakable, that one passes through the great cloister, into the refreshing grounds and gardens, without even stopping to examine those gate-piers, which are taken from the tomb of William de Luda in the cathedral of Ely.

* I really forget in what order of seeing we visited a handsome modernly-furnished saloon, in which the most interesting object is a fine, full-length and very beautiful portrait of the present noble lady of the castle, the Countess of Waldegrave. I think our cicerone told us it was by Sir William Beechey. Both as a portrait and a painting, it may stand the test with any of the Lely and Kneller beauties in the adjoining rooms.