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designed the plan of the building himself, and laid the foundation of it in January 1567. Twelve years were consumed before it was completed, and the sum of 80161. 13s. 8d. exclusive of carriage, stone, and timber, which were his own, expended by the knight in its execution. But, ah! how vain are human anticipations of future enjoyments! The splendid mansion had now received its noble owner, where, in the bosom of his large family, his eight sons and numerous daughters, he purposed to expend his income in that generous hospitality, which has attached to the English character the exclusive praise of good living; but fate decreed otherwise, and he fell a victim to a fever in the spring of the year 1580, immediately ensuing that in which he had completed the building. Longleat-house forms a parallelogram, in the centre of which is a quadrangle; the chapel occupies one side, and dwelling-apartments and offices compose the others; the enormous extent of the whole may be best imagined, by simply mentioning the number of rooms, which are said to amount to one hundred and seventy.

Our ancestors, for reasons, in point of taste, perhaps, as well as propriety, sufficiently judi

cious, chose situations for their mansions very different from those which their descendants select. The flat and the bottom were preferred to the hill; their aim was quiet and seclusion; the stillness of retreat, where, equally secured from the storms of the Heavens, and the impertinence of the world, they might enjoy undisturbed, that" dear delight," which springs from the cultivation of the domestic affections and the enjoyment of family union. Influenced. by this taste, Sir John Thynne, neglecting the many rising grounds and inviting hills within the park, placed his mansion in a flat, open only to the distant country on one side, but making a happy exchange for extensive prospects in quiet sylvan views within its own demesne. The cellars of this magnificent residence are in unison with that character of

greatness which every other part displays; they form an immense range of catacombs, stretching the whole length of the front, and not disgracing the ancient hospitality of the seat, contain between ́five and six hundred hogsheads of different kinds of beer. But the richest treasure is above-ground, a vast collection of original portraits; exhibiting a tolerably complete series of the most illustrious characters of

the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. That we may pay due respect to these venerable personages, you must allow me to introduce you to them individually, in the different apartments which they have long occupied, mute and careless spectators of those political squabbles and conflicting interests wherein they were once so busily employed themselves, and by which the sons of ambition are at present almost universally engrossed.

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The hall is the first apartment of the mansion, a grand room, with a gallery at one end, intended to accommodate the music, when the lord of old fed his tenantry, or entertained, on public days, his neighbours. It is appropriately ornamented with stags' horns and hunting-pieces, and realizes the description of Thomson's "ghostly hall of grey renown, with woodland honours graced." The paintings here are eight in number, representing some favourite horses of the former possessors of Longleat; and the portraits of the second Lord Weymouth, Lord Hyde, Rev. Mr. Villiers, and Doctor Jackson, equipped for the chace. It will be speaking sufficiently in their praise to say, that these pieces are the work of Wootton, who, about sixty years ago, obtained such celebrity

for his masterly productions in this line of painting. He has certainly lost none of it by his labours at Longleat; the same skill of pencil, and fire of expression, are discerned here, as in his most esteemed pieces; indeed, the horses and dogs are all but alive. The dining-room adjoins the hall; an apartment of very large dimensions, including one of the advanced bows or oriels, which I noticed before. Here several family portraits present themselves, as well as some original ones of characters celebrated or remarkable in former days; amongst the most curious are,,

Sir John Thynne, the founder of Longleat, in the fifty-first year of his age, who was the seneschallus hospiti, or house-steward, to Protector Somerset. From this powerful patron he happily imbibed a warm zeal for the Reformation, which he had the courage to assert, even under the implacable bigot Queen Mary. The widely-extended grief which his death occasioned, bears the most honourable testimony to the amiableness of his character; and the tears of sixty-one servants, and sixty poor men, who accompanied their master and friend to the church of Deverell-Longbridge, threw more real splendour over the funeral procession, than

the numerous troop of heralds which attended, with all their frippery of pennons, plumes, and atchievements, could produce.

Sir John Thynne, eldest son and heir of the founder of Longleat, knighted by James I. at the charter-house, May 11th, 1603, four days after his Majesty's arrival in London; an honour which he survived only eighteen months.

Thomas Thynne, esq; the possessor of Long

leat estate towards the conclusion of the seventeenth century, called Tom of Ten Thousand, from the generosity of his spirit, and the splendour of his mode of living. By his marriage. with Elizabeth Countess of Ogle, the immensely rich heiress of the Earl of Northumberland, he unfortunately excited the jealous rage of Count Coningsmark, who had intended the lady for himself. Determining to sacrifice Thynne to his fury, the Count engaged assassins to shoot him in his carriage; which service they performed on the 12th February, 1682-3. Two of the villains were apprehended and hanged, and the Count himself brought to a trial, at which, however, he was acquitted, after a tedious deliberation of the jurors. But,

"Raro antecedentem scelestum
"Deseruit pede pœna claudo;"

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