I was
also interested in a portrait of an ancestor of the family, the
identical "Belted Will" who figures in Scott's Lay.
"Belted Will Howard shall come with speed,
And William of Deloraine, good at need."
In one of the long corridors we were traversing, we heard the voice of
merriment, and found a gay party of young people and children amusing
themselves at games. I thought what a grand hide-and-go-seek place the
castle must be - whole companies might lose themselves among the
rooms. The central hall of the building goes up to the roof, and is
surmounted by a dome. The architecture is in the Italian style, which
I think much more suited to the purposes of ordinary life than for
strictly religious uses. I never saw a church in that style that
produced a very deep impression on me. This hall was gorgeously
frescoed by Italian masters. The door commands the view of a
magnificent sweep of green lawn, embellished by an artificial lake. It
is singular in how fine and subtle a way different nationalities
express themselves in landscape gardening, while employing the same
materials. I have seen no grounds on the continent that express the
particular shade of ideas which characterize the English. There is an
air of grave majesty about the wide sweep of their outlines - a quality
suggestive of ideas of strength and endurance which is appropriate to
their nationality.
[Illustration:
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