the wine-cellar. The intelligent clerk of the kitchen offered me information, again unsolicited on my part, which affords further illustration of the magnificent hospitality maintained in the Castle,* and yet the regular control exercised over the smallest expenditure. In the book of this important officer of the kitchen, is entered in minute detail, every article of provision required, (except, of course, household stores,) and the persons from whom they are bought; these being, for the most part, the Duke's own tenants. This account is examined and signed weekly by his Grace.

The roof of the kitchen is vaulted and groined. The fittings are in every instance the most convenient that could be conceived for the several purposes to which they are destined. Of the various larders with which the kitchen communicates, two in the court-yard, one circular, and the other angular, are worthy of short notice, from the effectual manner in which they are ventilated, and protected, not only from the ingress of insects, but even from the entry and adhesion of damp. With regard to the ventilation, it is effected by an underground communication to the north of each building.

A descent into the ALE CELLARS and LAMP-ROOMS will finish our survey in the lower regions of the Castle. The first cellar contains 28 barrels, the largest of which holds 1300 gallons. A label is attached to this monster,

The brief result of a very ample document, kindly given me, is here presented to the reader. It is an account kept during the season mentioned of his Grace's residence, in portions of the last winter and spring :

The money value of the meat, poultry, eggs, and every kind of provision except stores, consumed during this period, amounted to £1329 7s. 11 d. The quantity of game killed by his Grace and friends, and consumed at Belvoir Castle alone, was 2589 head ;-supposed value, £193 13s. 7d.

The total quantity of game killed during the season, over all his Grace's manors, is thus stated:-1733 hares; 987 pheasants; 2101 partridges; 23 wild ducks; 108 woodcocks; 135 snipes; 1947 rabbits; 776 grouse ; 23 black game; and 6 teal.

with the date, "May 16, 1815;" being the day on which the present Marquis of Granby was born, and the barrel filled. It was tapped on his coming of age. It seems to have attracted the particular notice of Dr. Dibdin, whose buoyant description of this portion of the Castle, in his "Northern Tour," is the more remarkable, as it was scarcely to be expected from one usually supposed to be

"Intent on thoughts sublime."

Every barrel has a label attached to it, with a temporary inscription upon it of the maltster's name, and the time when the ale was brewed.

The second cellar, situated under the north terrace, holds about 109 hogsheads, in vessels, each containing about 500 gallons. The third is of smaller dimensions, containing about 84 hogsheads; and from this last, there is a communication with the small-beer cellar.

These inferior regions of the Castle are remarkable for the solidity of their construction; but, though the greatest possible pains were taken to exclude moisture, damp in considerable quantities is constantly permeating the vaults.

The Lamp-Rooms are considered to be the most complete in their arrangements in the kingdom. The lamps are filled over cisterns, which receive the unavoidable waste of oil in the operation. The waste thus collected is afterwards used in the offices, &c. In the season of his Grace's residence, about sixteen or seventeen weeks, 400 burners are required, and about 600 gallons of oil consumed. The roofs are vaulted and groined, and every part fire-proof.

THE DEMESNE.

"Women, for foundresses, two seats do own;
Of modern times the glory, one;
Of ancient, th' other the crown;
Belvoir and Babylon."*

SUCH was the lofty panegyric of the author of the Pindaric Ode on Belvoir Castle, written in 1679; or rather more than ten years after the rebuilding had been completed by John, eighth Earl of Rutland. The visitor will have had an opportunity of testing the good taste of the poet, and at the same time of forming a comparison between the present and former Castles, by an examination of the model in the anteroom to the regent's gallery. My present object is to accompany him through "The Demesne." I have in vain endeavoured to find a more appropriate word to describe the marvellously beautiful territory which surrounds the Castle. Park it is not, in its essential character; having neither the ordinary enclosure, nor usual occupants, of a park. Besides the affectation of the expression, "Ferme Ornée," it is far too limited to comprehend the character of the Belvoir domain; which does indeed include an ornamental farm, but a great deal besides, of a much more imposing nature. My readers must, * See page 98.

then, be content with a descriptive term, which, if it fails to convey a precise idea of the subject, is not without authority for the application I have made of it.

The same enthusiastic writer, who has furnished us with an expressive opinion of the former Castle, has also described, though in too many words for entire quotation, the beauties of the gardens as they existed in his time; and indeed, with but few alterations, to the time of Nichols; as may be seen in the two views which he has given of the Castle, in the second volume of the "History of Leicestershire."

"We circled round the wondrous hill, till we,
Like an enchanted vision, see

The hanging gardens, Nature's paradise ;
Where she doth lavish out her store,

As if, grown prodigally careless, she,

To furnish this, had left the whole world poor."

The author then, in a multitude of words, describes the fountains and water-works.

lection :

The following is a se

"Behold-with pleasant fury streams break out,

And wander in meanders round about;
Calling the soul home in a sweet surprise.
Amazed, we see the sportive streams
In thousand gayful postures move;
Unbid, with active motion rise,
And, with a new ambition, court the skies;
In various numbers gently rove,
Dance to the music of the spheres,
Wanton and play their short-lived date,
Aspire at heaven, but fall in tears,

And imitate the general dance of Fate."

After a digression on the blessings and terrors of the element of water, the poet gives a somewhat original view

of the aspiring character of the finny race, by way of introducing the fish-ponds :

"I saw the liquid crystal stor'd
With numbers of the finny race,
That with ambitious eyes did gaze
Upon their kindred, shining in the skies;
The sportful dolphin and the kingly whale,
The backward crab, and southern fish,
To whom learn'd ages did afford
A mansion in the starry plain."

From this spot, the poet surveys the other essential constituents of a first-rate garden of the day :

"From hence our eyes, with pleasing joys beguil❜d,
Do upon various objects rove,
Breeding delight and love;

Till a surprising wonder bid them stay:
Statues that did such charms display,

A mixture they appear'd of death and life;

As though these enemies had been at strife,

Which should the empire sway,

Which most its nature should to them bequeath."

It may appear to some of my readers, that if the object had been to record the taste of former days in garden decorations, I might have translated the inflated language of the poet into common sense prose. But, however inverted the taste of the poet may appear in an age of more simple and correct judgment, it is no less a faithful counterpart of contemporary taste in the matters he describes; as I think will appear, in the course of the following observations.

Terraces connected by flights of steps, guarded by balustrades, and adorned with statues; fountains and other ingenious as well as enormously expensive applications of water-work machinery; straight formal avenues in every direction, terminated by Grecian temples, statues, obelisks,

Ꮓ