and his method was to fix the price expected for each on the back of the picture, which was readily paid. He died in 1665, aged seventy-one.

Returning into the grand corridor, a door on the right conducts us into a suite of apartments, called the

CHINESE ROOMS,

each of which is lighted by two lofty windows, from which there is a view of Woolsthorpe, and a portion of the same landscape as was observed in the green room. The Sitting Room, though of unusual shape, is a very agreeable apartment. Its length is 29 feet, and its breadth, to the extreme verge of the circular side, is 22 feet. On this side of the room are folding doors, with japanned panels of genuine Chinese workmanship; foliage, flowers, peacocks, and other birds, being bronzed on a black ground, in the slight relief peculiar to the Chinese. The character of the room is preserved in the paper, in the covers of the chairs, couches, &c., which are adorned with flowers worked in coloured silks, on a bright yellow ground. A cabinet with marble slab contains various articles of china. A table panelled in the ledges is decorated with flowers painted on china. A side table has a semicircular slab of alabaster, inlaid with flowers and medallions. On this slab are Chinese figures, in ivory, &c., of genuine Chinese workmanship; and an apparently original Chinese tea or coffee pot, with tap: this latter is a great curiosity. There are two semicircular paintings in water colours, of considerable merit, which were probably used formerly as fans. The ceiling of this room is coved, and encircled by a light cornice of leaves, partly gilded, which has a very pleasing effect.

It was in this room that the portrait of the late Duchess,

by Sanders, was painted; though the artist has certainly, in his background, (with a licence allowable, I suppose, in his art,) given a larger and more vivid representation of the exterior of the Elizabeth Saloon, than can be observed from any point in this room.

THE BED-ROOM

A

of this suite of apartments is 20 feet 6 inches, by 17 feet; and contains a wardrobe with folding doors, of similar workmanship to those mentioned in the sitting room. great degree of appropriate elegance is given to this room by the decorations of the walls. They are covered with panels of silk, on which are painted in brilliant colours, Chinese figures and landscapes. The framework of the panels, or the alternate compartments, is formed of stripes of fluted silk. The ceiling and cornice of the room are similar to the last.

THE DRESSING ROOM

is of the same size with the bed-room, with similar ceiling and cornice, but not gilded; and similar folding doors, of Chinese character and workmanship. It contains a canopied couch, with pink silk furniture. Over the fire-place is the private print by Cousins, from the painting by Sanders, of the late Duchess. There are also two heads; one of "Mrs. Boughton," and the other of " Mrs. Dashwood;" and a pair of semicircular paintings in water colours, companions to those noticed in the sitting room.

The gallery at the end of the grand corridor, which I

have already noticed as the most elaborate specimen of English architecture in this part of the Castle, communicates on the right with the

ELIZABETH SALOON.

After the Castle had been rebuilt, it was the wish of the late Duchess, that the internal decorations of this room should be completed before those of the other principal rooms. The style determined upon was the gorgeous fashion of Louis Quatorze; and it fortunately happened that genuine specimens of this style could be obtained, by purchase, from a chateau of Madame de Maintenon. The arrangement and superintendence of the decorations were intrusted to Matthew Wyatt; who also painted the ceiling, and sculptured the statue of the Duchess, which we observe immediately on entering. It is a beautifully imagined and well proportioned room; the dimensions being 55 feet in length, 30 feet 6 inches in breadth, and 20 feet 10 inches in height.

The effect of the statue of the Duchess, on entering, is startling, almost painfully so; yet it would be difficult, if not impossible, to determine upon a more appropriate position. She is represented in simple drapery, with sandals, and placed before a magnificent pier glass in one of the panels of the whole height of the room. And we cannot help considering this statue to be an appropriate memorial, of a high order of excellence in conception and execution, of the cultivated taste which imagined and planned so many superb designs, and especially this splendid and magnificent saloon.

The ceiling is divided into one circular and three semicircular compartments, the former occupying the space

over the bay. In the compartment over the statue of the Duchess, Jupiter is represented with the eagle and thunderbolts, despatching Mercury on a mission. The head of Jupiter is an admirable likeness of the late Duke of York. Over the fire-place on the right hand, there is a group of heathen celestials:-Jupiter and Juno, in a reclining posture, with their mythological insignia (the eagle holding the thunderbolts, and the peacock in his pride); Mercury has his arm round Venus, who, with extended arms, is receiving a flying Cupid; behind her are two children, and Io, as a white cow, in a recumbent posture. The final catastrophe, consequent upon the jealousy of Juno, of the amours of Jupiter with Io, is represented in the circular compartment of the bay. Juno, in her chariot, attended by two peacocks, one in his pride, is giving directions to Iris, who is taking the eyes out of the head of Argus,— slain by Mercury, at the command of Jupiter, while watching Io,—and placing them in the peacock's tail. In the semicircular compartment over the fire-place on the left hand, are Jupiter with eagle and thunderbolts, Cupid and Venus. There is an appropriateness in these paintings, which does not always belong to similar representations. The family cognizance—the peacock in his pride—though forming a subordinate part in the mythological subjects of the principal compartments, is a sufficiently obvious feature to perpetuate the not unnatural complacency of the family in an heraldic bearing, which has always stood foremost in the estimation of the votaries of chivalry. It was a common circumstance for the adventurous knight, when on the eve of the performance of deeds of high emprise, to make his solemn vow before the peacock and the ladies. The peacock was also held in high estimation in the feasts of epicures. In ancient times, no great feast was complete, even in this country, without this bird, which was presented

by the sewer well cooked, but in all its gorgeous plumage. There is a beautiful monumental brass in the chancel of St. Margaret's Church, Lynn, which commemorates a burgess of that place, who, during his mayoralty, had the honour of entertaining his sovereign. Round the verge of the brass, memorials of the civic festivity of the period are represented, in which the peacock holds a conspicuous place. Some years ago, a zealous churchwarden was desirous of polishing this interesting relic; and vitriol was the means intended to be employed. Fortunately an intelligent gentleman of the town arrested the process of beautifying, by representing to the parties employed, that the polish could only be obtained by the erasure of the subjects engraved on the brass.

The intervals between the compartments of the ceiling are embellished with portraits of the Duke and the late Duchess, Sir Frederick Trench, Lord George and Lady Adeliza Manners, Lady Catharine Jermyn, the Marquis of Granby, and Lord John Manners, in medallions supported by cherubs, and encircled with flowers and fruit.

This peculiar style of decoration was most strenuously adopted in the reign of Charles II., when Verrio, whom Pope has condemned to an unenviable notoriety, by his pungent satire

"Where sprawl the saints of Verrio,”

was the principal painter. This person was employed by Charles II. at Windsor; by the Earl of Exeter, at Burleigh; at Chatsworth, by the Earl of Devonshire; and by William III. at Hampton Court. His most distinguished successors in this style of decoration were Laguerre and Sir James Thornhill. The taste for this species of painting has since much declined.

The Elizabeth Saloon is skirted by a strip of black