Page images
PDF
EPUB

On an appropriate eminence, beyond the northern part of the ornamented grounds, is a Druidical temple, which presents a singular but curious and interesting object to certain parts of Park-Place, as well as to the adjacent country. This ancient structure was presented to Field Marshal Conway by the inhabitants of Jersey, of which island he was Governor, and where it was erected at the remote period when the Druids reigned there, as well as in Britain.-It was accompanied with an inscription, that enhanced the offering by the unaffected language of respect and vene

ration.

Cet ancien Temple des Druides,
deouvert le 12 Août, 1785,
Sur la Montagne de St. Helier,
dans l'isle de Jersey,

a été presenté par les habitans
son Excellence le General Conway,
leur Gouverneur.

Pour des siecles caché aux regards des Mortels,
Cet ancien monument, ces pierres, ces autels,
Ou le sang des humains, offert en sacrifice,
Ruissela pour des dieux qu' enfantoit le caprice.
Ce monument, sans prix par son antiquité,
Temoignera pour nous à la postérité,

Que dans tous les dangers Cesarée eut un père,
Attentif et vaillant, genereux et prospère :
Et redira, Conway, aux siécles avenir,
Qu' en vertu du respect dû à ce souvenir,

Elle te fit ce don, acquis à ta vaillance,
Comme un juste tribut de sa reconnoissance.

This ancient temple lay concealed on the summit of an high hill, near the town of Saint Helier, in the island of Jersey, in the summer of 1785. It was entirely covered with earth, having the appearance of a large tumulus; and was discovered by workmen who were employed by the Colonel of the Saint Helier militia, to level the ground, for the more

PARK PLACE.

convenient exercise of his corps. Of the time when, or on what occasion it was thus secreted, there can be no serious hope of any authentic information. Of the existence of such a building, the inhabitants of the island had no idea. No records of any kind made allusion to it, and no antiquarian researches had awakened the least suspicion that this place had been a seat of Druidieal retirement. Conjecture is equally baffled when it attempts to give any clue for the reasonable gratification of curious enquiry. That this ancient structure was purposely and carefully buried, is evident from the situation in which it was found; and no better reason can be assigned for its having been thus entombed, than a pious wish in the Druids themselves, to preserve their altars from the profanation of the Romans, from whom they had suffered, at different periods, very barbarous persecutions.

There can, indeed, be little doubt of that people having obtained possession of the island, not only from its Latin name Casarea, but from other Roman vestiges, which have been sometimes found in it. Roman coins have, from time to time, been collected by the well-digger and the ploughman; and within this temple itself, two medals were discovered; one of the Emperor Claudius, and the other so defaced by time, as to be altogether illegible.

This curious structure measures sixty-five feet in circumference, and is composed of forty five large stones, each of them about seven feet in height, from four to six in breadth, and from one to three in thickness; and contains six perfect lodges or cells. The supposed entrance or passage faces the east, and is fifteen feet in length; four feet and upwards in breadth, and about four feet in height; with a covering of rude stones, from eighteen inches to two feet thick.

In the removal of this curious temple from Jersey, all the parts were marked with such care, as to be correctly placed in their original form and precise direction, when they were re-erected on the charming spot which is now

distinguished by them. In the eighth volume of the Archæologia, published by the Society of Antiquaries, a particular account is given of this venerable, ancient, and curious structure. In its appearance and general form, it bears a strong resemblance to Stone-henge, the wonder of the Wiltshire plains, and which has excited so much learned, toilsome, and ingenious disquisitions among several of our antiquaries, without being able to come to any final decision as to the age or object of those singular and wonderful remains of the early art, and the remote antiquity of Britain.

It must have been obvious to the reader, that this description of Park Place has been written, as the Italians express it, con amore, with a fondness for the subject. This we acknowledge, but we are not afraid to challenge those who have seen it, to controvert the truth of our narrative; and we are not afraid to anticipate the acknowledgment of those who may hereafter visit the place we have described, with our description in their hands. Nor shall we apologize for the small addition we are about to make to this place, in giving a slight sketch of that excellent and distinguished man, who employed his leisure, in forming the place, which has given so pleasing an occupation to us.

Field Marshal Conway was the younger brother of the late Earl of Hertford. His profession was the army; but he first became an object of public attention in a civil capacity, when he was appointed secretary to the Marquis of Hartington, on his appointment to the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, in the year 1753; where his amiable manners, and general character seemed to soften the asperity of those who were most violent in their opposition to that government, which it was his duty to support. Indeed in his civil employments he may be said to have been more generally known; as must ever be the case in a constitution like our own, where the army is a subordinate engine of state, when an individual blends them both in himself. Marshal Conway had never been appointed to the care of any important military ser

PARK PLACE.

vice; he was, indeed, second in command of the British forces in Germany, during the seven years war; and was distinguished in the House of Commons, by one of our great statesmen, by the title of an enlightened General, on some military opinion which he had given in parliament. Nor was this an idle or unmerited compliment; for there was not an officer of his time who possessed an higher degree of theoretic attainments. His history of the German war was declared, by those who had seen it, to have been a work of first rate merit, both as a professional and literary, production; but unfortunately for his own fame and that of the nation, whose glories it described, the manuscript was consumed, in the fire which took place in his town residence, with all the materials from which it was composed; and he was thereby disqualified for renewing a labour of which no common expectations had been formed.

He certainly possessed superior talents, and the character of pre-eminent virtue was never denied him. But though he was good-he was not gifted with those qualities which, in the general acceptation of the term, render a man great. He was deficient in that spirit of decision, and in that promptitude of action, which are necessary to produce the more splendid actions of human life. In all important and exalted stations they are leading qualities; but in no character are they so essential as in that of a soldier, in which without what is called presence of mind, and an ever ready spirit of activity, such laurels as were worn by a Wolf and a Marlborough, a Hawke and a Nelson, cannot be reaped. The want of these qualities, though it did not prevent Marshal Conway from being a good man, nay the very defect might aid his private virtues, certainly obstructed his being what is called a great one. This inferior state of his mind, which might, as we doubt not it did, arise from an anxious principle of rectitude, certainly unfitted him for taking the lead in his military or civil capacities, though it was calculated to render him efficiently useful, as a counsellor in both. As a.

secretary of state, he maintained his station with ability; as a speaker in parliament he was always heard with a respectful attention; and even Junius, in his severe phillipics against his colleagues, touched but lightly upon him, and softens his expression, when he mentions-" the gentle Conway's undetermined discretion."

** &

Of his taste nothing need be said, when Park Place has been seen, or the foregoing description been read. As a man of literature, he must not be forgotten. There is one, if not more, of his political pamphlets, which if they had been written at an earlier period, would have secured him a distinguished place in the late Lord Orford's work on Royal and noble Authors. Many of his poetic effusions are in the port-folios of high life, and they, according to their subjects, beam with fancy, wit, or tenderness. He once gave a comedy to the stage, which, as it disdained ribaldry, and was not a vehicle for grimace, but such a picture of the mind and human life, as he had been accustomed to contemplate; though it was well received, and gave great delight to the polished auditors which attended its representations, was not formed to be a stock play; and is now known only to those who knew its author.

In private life, as an husband, a father, a master, and a neighbour, we wish it were in our power to recollect more than we do who are his equals. He married the Countess Dowager of Aylesbury, who was the counterpart of himself, and who united with him to give a very long, uninterrupted, and rare example of matrimonial felicity.

ཚ་་་

That lady cannot be named, in a work of this nature, without mentioning the extraordinary productions of her needle; and which were the most interesting decorations of the different apartments in Park Place house. They consisted of imitations of Cuyp, Rosa de Tivoli, Vandyck, Gainsborough, and other eminent masters, and are scarce inferior, in effect, to the originals. They are worked in worsteds with so much taste, and the various tints se

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »