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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Recollections of the late William Beckford,
+by Henry Venn Lansdown, Edited by Charlotte Lansdown
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Recollections of the late William Beckford
+       of Fonthill, Wilts and Lansdown, Bath
+
+
+Author: Henry Venn Lansdown
+
+Editor: Charlotte Lansdown
+
+Release Date: July 12, 2006  [eBook #18809]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LATE WILLIAM
+BECKFORD***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1893 edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
+
+
+
+
+
+RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LATE WILLIAM BECKFORD
+OF FONTHILL, WILTS and LANSDOWN, BATH
+
+
+The Manuscript of the following Letters, written by my Father, has been
+in my possession fifty years.  He intended to publish it at the time of
+Mr. Beckford's death, in 1844, but delayed the execution of the work, and
+sixteen years afterwards was himself called to enter on the higher life
+of the spiritual world.
+
+Mr. Beckford and my Father were kindred spirits, conversant with the same
+authors, had visited the same countries, and were both gifted with
+extraordinary memories.  Mr. Beckford said that he had never met with a
+man possessed of such a memory as my Father; and many a time has my
+Father told me that he never met a man who possessed such a memory as Mr.
+Beckford.
+
+If my Father had published the Reminiscences himself I think that much
+misconception in the public mind respecting the character of Mr. Beckford
+would have been prevented.  For instance, I remember, when a child, being
+warned that this great man was an infidel.  When he showed my Father the
+sarcophagus in which his body was to be placed, he remarked, "There shall
+I lie, Lansdown, until the trump of God shall rouse me on the
+Resurrection morn."
+
+CHARLOTTE LANSDOWN.
+
+8 Lower East Hayes, Bath;
+July, 1893.
+
+
+
+
+RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LATE WILLIAM BECKFORD.
+
+
+Bath, August 21, 1838.
+
+
+MY DEAR CHARLOTTE,--I have this day seen such an astonishing assemblage
+of works of art, so numerous and of so surprisingly rare a description
+that I am literally what Lord Byron calls "Dazzled and drunk with
+beauty."  I feel so bewildered from beholding the rapid succession of
+some of the very finest productions of the great masters that the attempt
+to describe them seems an impossible task; however, I will make an
+effort.
+
+The collection of which I speak is that of Mr. Beckford, at his house in
+Lansdown-crescent.  Besides all this I have this day been introduced to
+that extraordinary man, the author of "Vathek" and "Italy," the builder
+of Fonthill, the contemporary of the mighty and departed dead, the pupil
+of Mozart; in fact, to the formidable and inaccessible Vathek himself!  I
+have many times passed the house, and longed to see its contents, and
+often have I wondered how a building with so plain and unostentatious an
+exterior could suit the reception of the works it contains, and the
+residence of so magnificent a personage.
+
+I first called by appointment on his ingenious architect, Mr. Goodridge
+(to whom I am indebted for this distinguished favour), and he accompanied
+me to the house, which we reached at half-past twelve o'clock.  We were
+shown upstairs, passing many fine family pictures, and were ushered into
+the neat library, where Mr. Beckford was waiting to receive us.  I
+confess I did at first feel somewhat embarrassed, but a lovely spaniel
+ran playfully towards us, licking our hands in the most affectionate and
+hospitable manner; "You are welcome" was the silent language.  I assure
+you I judge much, and often truly, of the character of individuals from
+the deportment of their favourite dogs.  I often find them exactly
+indicative of their master's disposition.  When you are attacked by
+snarling, waspish curs is it at all wonderful if you find them an echo of
+the proprietor?  But this beautiful animal reassured me, and gave me
+instantly a favourable idea of its master.  My astonishment was great at
+the spaciousness of the room, which had in length a magnificent and
+palatial effect, nor did I immediately discover the cause of its apparent
+grandeur.  It opens into the gallery built over the arch connecting the
+two houses, at the end of which an immense mirror reflects the two
+apartments.  The effect is most illusive, nor should I have guessed the
+truth had I not seen the reflection of my own figure in the glass.
+
+The library, which is the whole length of the first house, cannot be much
+less than fifty feet long.  It has on one side five lofty windows, the
+gallery having three on the same side.  You have the light streaming
+through eight consecutive openings; these openings, with their crimson
+curtains, doubled by the reflection, produce a most charming perspective.
+From the ceiling hangs a splendid ormolu chandelier, the floor is covered
+with a Persian carpet (brought I believe from Portugal), so sumptuous
+that one is afraid to walk on it, and a noble mosaic table of Florentine
+marble, bought in at an immense price at Fonthill, is in the centre of
+the room.  Several rows of the rarest books cover the lower part of the
+walls, and above them hang many fine portraits, which Mr. Beckford
+immediately, without losing any time in compliments, began to show us and
+describe.
+
+First we were shown a portrait by de Vos of Grotius; next to it one of
+Rembrandt, painted by himself.  "You see," said Mr. Beckford, "that he is
+trying to assume an air of dignity not natural to him, by throwing back
+his head, but this attempt at the dignified is neutralized by the
+expression of the eyes, which have rather too much of sly humour for the
+character which he wishes to give himself."  To praise individual
+pictures seems useless when everyone you meet has excellencies peculiar
+to itself; in fact, whatever our ideas of the great masters may be, and
+we certainly do gain from prints and pictures a tolerable idea of their
+style and different beauties (and I have myself seen the Louvre and many
+celebrated pictures) there is in Mr. Beckford's _chef d'oeuvres_
+something still more lovely than our imagination, than our expectation.  I
+speak not now of the St. Catherine, The Claud, The Titian, &c., but all
+the pictures, whether historical, landscape, or low life, have this
+unique character of excellence.  You look at a picture.  You are sure it
+is by Gaspar, but you never saw one of Poussin's that had such an
+exquisite tone of colour, so fresh and with such free and brilliant
+execution.
+
+But I digress.  I forgot that it was the library and its pictures I was
+attempting to describe.  Well, at the other end hangs a portrait of Pope
+Gregory, by Passerotti; the expression of the face Italian, attitude like
+Raphael.  Over the door a portrait of Cosmo de Medici by Bronzino Allori,
+fresh as if painted yesterday.  "The works of that master," I said, "are
+rare, but a friend of mine, Mr. Day, had a noble one at his rooms in
+Piccadilly, St. John in the Wilderness.  The conception of the figure and
+poetical expression of the face always seemed to me astonishingly fine.
+Pray, Sir, do you know that picture?"  "Perfectly, it partakes of the
+sublime and is amazingly fine."  "Your portrait of Cosmo has the
+expression of a resolute, determined man, and I think it conveys well the
+idea of the monstrous parent, who could with his own hand destroy his
+only surviving son after discovering he had murdered his brother.  What a
+horrible piece of business!  The father of two sons, one of whom murdered
+the other, and that father is himself the executioner of the survivor."
+"It was dreadful certainly," said Mr. Beckford.  "However, we have the
+consolation of knowing that two broods of vipers were destroyed."
+
+Mr. Beckford next showed us a Titian, a portrait of the Constable
+Montmorency, in armour richly chased with gold; a fine picture, but sadly
+deficient in intellectual expression.  And no wonder, for as Mr. Beckford
+observed, "He could neither read nor write, but he was none the worse for
+that."  "There is, then, before us," I rejoined, "the portrait of the man
+of whom his master, Henri Quatre, said: 'Avec un Counetable qui re sait
+pas ecrire, et un Chancelier qui ne sait pas le Latin, j'ai reussi dans
+toutes mes entreprises.'  It is the very portrait for which he sat."  "The
+face," I said, "has no great pretensions to intellect, but then Titian
+knew nothing of the refined flattery so fashionable now-a-days that
+throws a halo of mind and expression over faces more stupid than
+Montmorency's, and whose possessors never performed the chivalrous deeds
+of the Constable."
+
+"Witness Sir Thomas Lawrence's fine picture of Sir Wm. Curtis, where the
+Court painter has thrown a poetical expression over a personage that
+never in his life betrayed any predilection for anything but turtle soup
+and gormandizing."  Mr. Beckford burst out laughing.  "Well," said he,
+"here is a picture that will perhaps please you.  Holbein has certainly
+not been guilty of the refined flattery you complain of here; it is the
+portrait of Bishop Gardiner, painted at the time he was in Holland and in
+disgrace.  What think you of it?"  "It is admirably painted, and has
+scarcely anything of his dry and hard manner, the hands are done
+inimitably, but the eyes are small, and the expression cold-hearted and
+brutal.  It conveys to my mind the exact idea of the cold-blooded wretch,
+who consigned so many of his innocent countrymen to the flames."  I did
+not express all I thought, but I certainly wondered how the effigy of
+such a monster should have found an asylum in this palace of taste.
+Smithfield and its horrors rose vividly before me, and I turned, not
+without a shudder, from this too faithful portrait to copies by Phillips
+of some family pictures in the Royal Collection, painted by permission
+expressly for Mr. Beckford, and looking more like originals than mere
+copies.
+
+But the picture of pictures in this room is a Velasquez, an unknown head,
+the expression beyond anything I have ever seen.  Such light and shade,
+such expressive eyes; the very epitome of Spanish character.  "Is it not
+amazingly like Lord Byron?"  "It certainly is very like him, but much
+more handsome."  This room is devoted entirely to portraits.
+
+Mr. Beckford opened a door and we entered the Duchess Drawing Room; a
+truly Royal room, the colour of the curtains, carpet, and furniture being
+crimson, scarlet, and purple.  Over the fireplace is a full length
+portrait of the Duchess of Hamilton by Phillips, painted in the rich and
+glowing style of that sweet colourist.  It represents a beautiful and
+truly dignified lady.  The sleeves of the dress are close and small, as
+worn in 1810 (Quel bonheur! d'etre jeune, jolie, et Duchesse), so truly
+becoming to a finely formed woman, and so much superior to the present
+horrid fashion of disfiguring the shape by gigot and bishop's sleeves,
+which seem to have been invented expressly to conceal what is indeed most
+truly beautiful, a woman's arm.
+
+We were next shown a glorious Sir Joshua, a beautiful full length
+portrait of Mrs. Peter Beckford, afterwards Lady Rivers, and the
+"Nouronchar" of Vathek.  She is represented approaching an altar
+partially obscured by clouds of incense that she may sacrifice to Hygeia,
+and turning round looking at the spectator.  The background is quite
+Titianesque; it is composed of sky and the columns of the temple, the
+light breaking on the pillars in that forcible manner you see on the
+stems of trees in some of Titian's backgrounds.  The colouring of this
+picture is in fine preservation, a delicate lilac scarf floats over the
+dress, the figure is grace and elegance itself, and the drawing perfect;
+the general effect is brilliancy, richness, and astonishing softness.
+"Sir Joshua took the greatest pleasure and delight in painting that
+picture, as it was left entirely to his own refined taste.  The lady was
+in ill-health at the time it was done, and Sir Joshua most charmingly
+conceived the idea of a sacrifice to the Goddess of Health.  Vain hope!
+Her disorder was fatal."
+
+There is a portrait of Mr. Beckford's mother painted by West, with a view
+of Fonthill in the background.  Never was there a greater contrast in
+this and the last picture; West certainly knew nothing of portrait
+painting.  The _tout ensemble_ of the portrait in question is as dry and
+hard as if painted by a Chinese novice.  There is also a portrait of the
+Countess, of Effingham, Mr. Beckford's aunt.  On one side is the original
+portrait by Reynolds of the author of Vathek engraved as the frontispiece
+of the "Excursions to the Monasteries."  The character of the original
+picture is much superior in expression to the print, less stout, eyes
+very intellectual; in fact, you are convinced it must be the portrait of
+a poet or of a poetical character.  The face is very handsome, so is the
+print, but that has nothing in it but what you meet with in a good
+looking young man of fashion.  This, on the contrary, has an expression
+of sensibility, deeply tinged with melancholy, which gives it great
+interest.
+
+On the other side of Lady Rivers's portrait is the Duke of Hamilton when
+a boy.  A sweet child, with the hair cut straight along the forehead, as
+worn by children some fifty years ago, and hanging luxuriantly down his
+neck On the same side of the room, behind a bronze of the Laocoon, is a
+wonderful sketch by Paolo Veronese, the drawing and composition in the
+grand style, touched with great sweetness and juiciness.  Two small
+upright Bassans, painted conjointly by both, bearing their names; the
+point of sight is immensely high.
+
+We were then led down the north staircase.  Fronting us was a portrait of
+Mr. Beckford's father, the Alderman and celebrated Lord Mayor of London.
+Mr. Goodridge asked him if he knew a book, just published, denying the
+truth of his father's famous speech to George III.  He seemed astonished,
+and stood still on the staircase.  "Not true!  What in the world will
+they find out next?  Garrick was present when my father uttered it, heard
+the whole speech, repeated it word for word to me, and what is more,
+acted it in my father's manner."  "That is the portrait of my great
+grandfather, Colonel Peter Beckford.  It was painted by a French artist,
+who went to Jamaica for the purpose, at the time he was Governor of the
+island."  It is a full length portrait, large as life, the Colonel
+dressed in a scarlet coat embroidered richly with gold.  There is also a
+lovely portrait by Barker of the present Marquis of Douglas, Mr.
+Beckford's grandson; it was painted when Lord Douglas was twelve or
+thirteen years old.  There is also a charming picture by Reynolds, two
+beautiful little girls, full length and large as life, they are the
+present Duchess of Hamilton and her sister, Mrs General Ord.
+
+We now entered the lovely dining room, which in point of brilliancy and
+cheerfulness has more the character of a drawing than of a dining room.
+Opposite the window is an upright grand pianoforte.  It is the largest
+ever made, with the exception of its companion made at the same time, and
+its richness and power of sound are very great.  Over the fire is what is
+seldom seen in a dining room, a large looking glass.  The paintings in
+this room have been valued at upwards of 20,000 pounds.
+
+On the right as you enter are five pictures that once adorned the
+Aldsbrandini Palace, namely, the St. Catherine by Raphael, a Claude, a
+Garofalo, two by Ferrara, and several smaller ones.  But how shall I
+attempt to describe to you the St. Catherine?  This lovely picture
+combines all the refined elegance of the Venus de Medici, in form,
+contour, and flowing lines, with an astonishing delicacy of colour, and
+masterly yet softened execution.  The eyes are turned upwards with an
+expression of heavenly resignation, the neck, flesh and life itself, the
+hands, arms, and shoulders so sweetly rounded, while the figure melts
+into the background with the softness of Corregio.
+
+            And fills
+   The air around with beauty, we inhale
+   The ambrosial aspect, which beheld instils
+   Part of its immortality; the veil
+   Of heaven is half withdrawn, within the pale
+   We stand, and in that form and face behold
+   What mind can make, when Nature's self would fail.
+
+I can only convey to you a very slight idea of the impression produced by
+the contemplation of this admirable painting.  Such grace and sweetness,
+such softness and roundness in the limbs.  She seems the most beautiful
+creature that ever trod this earthly planet; in short it is no earthly
+beauty that we gaze upon, but the very beau ideal of Italian loveliness.
+
+   Eve of the land which still is Paradise.
+
+Italian beauty! didst thou not inspire Raphael?  "How different," said
+Mr. Beckford, "is that lovely creature from Mr. Etty's beauties.  They
+are for the most part of a meretricious character, would do well enough
+for a mistress; but there," pointing to the St. Catherine, "there are
+personified the modesty and purity a man would wish to have in a wife,
+and yet Frenchmen find fault with it.  C'est un assez joli tableau, say
+they, mais la tete manque, de l'expression, si elle avait plus d'esprit,
+plus de vivacite!  Mais Raphael, il n'avait jamais passe les Alpes."  We
+burst out laughing, and I added, "Le pauvre Raphael quel dommage, de ne
+savoir rien du grand.  Monarque! ni de la grande nation."  "Yet," I
+continued, "there is a painter, Stotherd, who has come nearer to the
+great Italian, in the grace and elegance of his women and children, than
+perhaps any other, and merits well the proud appellation of the English
+Raphael.  What a shame that he never met with encouragement."  "But I
+understood that he was tolerably successful.  He painted many things for
+me at Fonthill.  You are surely mistaken."  "By no means," I replied.
+"Latterly he seldom sold a picture, and supported himself on the paltry
+income of 200 pounds a year, raised by making little designs for
+booksellers.  Yet what a noble painting is Chaucer's pilgrimage to
+Canterbury."  "It is indeed," said Mr. Beckford.  "But, sir, there is
+another painter, Howard, whose conceptions are most poetical.  Do you
+remember his painting at Somerset House in 1824, representing the solar
+system, from Milton's noble lines--
+
+   Hither as to their fountain, other stars
+   Repairing, in their golden urns draw light?"
+
+"I remember it perfectly; 'twas a most beautiful picture."  "Milton's
+original idea, that of the planets drawing light from their eternal
+source, as water from a fountain, is certainly a glorious, a golden one;
+but who beside Howard could have so tangibly, so poetically developed the
+poet's idea in colour.  The personifying the planets according to their
+names, as Venus, Mercury, and so forth, was charming, and the splendour
+of the nearer figures, overwhelmed as it were with excess of light, and
+the gloom and darkness of the distant, were admirably managed.  What a
+wonderful picture!"  "He never painted a finer."
+
+Mr. Beckford then pointed out his Claude.  It is a cool picture, the
+colouring grey and greenish, the time of day, early morning just before
+sunrise: but words fail to express its beauties.  There is a something in
+it, a je ne sais quoi.  Such clearness in the colouring; the trees are
+all green, but so tenderly green; the sky and distance of such an
+exquisite tone that you are at once in imagination transported to those
+"southern climes and cloudless skies" that inspired Claude Lorraine.  I
+can give no possible idea in writing of the tone of colour in this
+picture, except by comparing it to the semi-transparency of Mosaic, such
+are the clearness of the tints and pearliness of the sky and distance.  As
+to chiaro-oscure, it is breadth and simplicity itself.  Nothing but the
+purest ultramarine could ever produce such a green as that which colours
+the trees.
+
+On the same side of the room are two small Vander Meulens, landscapes.
+They are very highly finished, and the colouring is delicious; the trees
+are grouped with all the grandeur of Claude or Poussin.  Above are two of
+the finest Vernets; they are both sea pieces.  The colouring has a depth
+and richness I never before saw in anything attributed to him.  In the
+Louvre are his most famous pictures, and what I now say is the result of
+calm and mature reflection.  I had the Louvre pictures constantly before
+my eyes for three months.  They are very large, and certainly have great
+merit; but had I my choice I would prefer Mr. Beckford's to any of the
+set.
+
+West's original sketch for his great picture of King Lear, painted for
+Boydell's Shakspeare Gallery--"Blow, blow, thou winter wind."  A most
+wonderful performance.  The expression of face of the poor mad king is
+astonishing; the colouring rich and mellow--nothing of West's usually
+hard outline.  The whole picture is full of energy and fire, and seems to
+have been struck off with the greatest ease and rapidity.  "Do observe
+the face of Edgar," said Mr. Beckford.  "Under his assumed madness you
+trace a sentiment of respect and anxiety for the monarch; he could not
+forget that it was his sovereign."  "I have seen," I said, "most of
+West's great pictures, but there is more genius in that sketch than in
+anything I ever saw of his.  I think he took too much pains with his
+sketches.  The consequence was that the original spirit evaporated long
+before the completion of the great tame painting, where his men and women
+too often look like wooden lay figures covered with drapery."  "Sir, did
+you ever see his sketch of Death on the Pale Horse?  The large picture is
+certainly very fine, but I have heard the best judges say that the
+original sketch is one of the finest things in existence.  The President
+himself considered it his best and refused 100 pounds, offered for it by
+the Prince Regent; yet afterwards, being distressed for money, he parted
+with it, I believe, to Mr. Thompson, the artist, for 50 pounds."  "Is it
+possible?  I wish I had known that he wanted to dispose of it.  I should
+have liked it beyond anything.  It was most wonderful."
+
+Above the picture of King Lear hangs a noble picture by Titian, the
+composition of which reminded me much of Raphael.  The Virgin's face is
+extremely beautiful, but it is the sort of beauty we sometimes meet with,
+that we sometimes may have seen.  The St. Catherine is of a more elevated
+style of beauty, more intellectual; in short, it possesses a combination
+of charms that has never yet fallen to the lot of any mortal.  The infant
+is extremely fine.  On this side is also a portrait of himself
+exquisitely coloured and finished.
+
+Near these paintings is a Canaletti, not a real view, but an assemblage
+of various fine buildings; in fact, a sort of union of Rome and Venice.
+In the centre is the Mole of Hadrian, round which he has amused himself
+by putting an elegant colonnade; on the right hand is a bridge.  The
+colouring is clear, the shadows rich, and the water softly painted and
+extremely transparent.  This is the most beautiful Canaletti I ever saw.
+I observed that the generality of his pictures had a hardness, dryness,
+and blackness that we saw nothing of here.  "You are quite right," he
+said, "and the reason is that very few of those generally attributed to
+him are really genuine, but of mine there can be no doubt, as this
+painting and several others that I have were got directly from the artist
+himself by means of the English Consul at Venice; but not a quarter of
+the pictures that one sees and that are called his were ever painted by
+Canaletti."  There were several very fine pictures by this master
+destroyed in the lifetime of Alderman Beckford at the fire which consumed
+the old mansion at Fonthill nearly a hundred years ago.
+
+This Canaletti partakes of the same character of high excellence that Mr.
+Beckford's other pictures possess; in fact, as with so many of his
+pictures, you see the hand of the master, whose common works you know,
+but in this house you find paintings still finer, which give you more
+elevated and correct ideas of the style and manner of the genuine
+productions of the great masters.  There really seems some charm, some
+magic in the walls, so great is the similarity of colouring in these
+_chefs d'oeuvres_, the clear, the subdued, the pearly tints, a variety of
+delicious colour, and none of the dirty hues you see in mediocre old
+paintings.
+
+Over the sofa is a constellation of beauties which we merely glanced at
+as we passed, but which I hope another day to examine.  They are some of
+the rarest specimens by G. Poussin, Wouvermans, Berghem, Van Huysum,
+Polemberg, and others.  On a small table was placed an elegantly cut
+caraffe of carnations of every variety of colour that you can possibly
+imagine.  There is nothing in which Mr. Beckford is more choice than in
+his bouquets.  At every season the rarest living flowers adorn the house.
+
+Next to the dining room is a small salon, which we now entered.  Here is
+a noble drawing by Turner of the Abbey, according to a plan proposed, but
+never carried out.  The tower is conical, and would have been even higher
+than the one that was completed.  "I have seen," I said, "a fine drawing
+of Fonthill by Turner, originally in your possession, but now belonging
+to Mr. Allnutt, of Clapham.  It is prodigiously fine.  The scenery there
+must be magnificent.  The hills and beautiful lake in the drawing give
+one an idea of Cumberland."  "It is a very fine drawing, but rather too
+poetical, too ideal, even for Fonthill.  The scenery there is certainly
+beautiful, but Turner took such liberties with it that he entirely
+destroyed the portraiture, the locality of the spot.  That was the reason
+I parted with it.  There were originally six drawings of the Abbey; three
+were disposed of at the sale, and I still have the remaining ones."  "Are
+they going to rebuild the tower, sir? for when I was last in London,
+Papworth, the architect, was gone down to Fonthill to do something
+there."  "Impossible," he said, "unless it were to be made a national
+affair, which indeed is not very likely.  It would cost at least 100,000
+pounds to restore it.  But what can Papworth have done there?  It must I
+should think be something to the pavilion.  I assure you I had no idea of
+parting with Fonthill till Farquhar made me the offer.  I wished to purge
+it, to get rid of a great many things I did not want, but as to the
+building itself I had no more notion of selling it than you have (turning
+to his architect) of parting with anything, with--with the clothes you
+have on."
+
+On the chimney piece, protected by a glass, is a precious Japan vase.  We
+examined it for some time under its envelope.  It seemed to me (for I
+know nothing of Japan work) a bronze vessel, richly and most elaborately
+chased, and I could not help joining in the praises due to its exquisite
+finish.  Mr. Beckford took off the glass, and desired me to take it to
+the window.  "I am really afraid to touch it," said I, but he forced it
+into my hands.  I prepared them to receive a massive and (as it seemed to
+me) very weighty vessel, when lo it proved as light as a feather.  We
+were afterwards shown another Japan vase, the exterior of which exactly
+resembled the Pompeian designs, elegant scrolls, delicate tracery of
+blue, red, green, &c.  These colours strongly opposed as in the remains
+of paintings at Pompeii.  Here are some other precious little pictures, a
+small Gerard Dow, a Watteau, a Moucheron, and a Polemberg.  He merely
+noticed them, and then led us into the next room.
+
+A noble library.  It is an elegant and charming apartment, very chastely
+ornamented.  Here are no pictures; it is devoted entirely to books and
+ponderous folios of the most rare and precious engravings.  The sides of
+the library are adorned by Scagliola pilasters and arched recesses, which
+contain the books.  The interstices between the arches and the ceiling
+are painted in imitation of marble, so extremely like that though they
+touch the Scagliola it is next to impossible to distinguish any
+difference.  The ceiling is belted across and enriched with bands of
+Grecian tracery in relief, delicately painted and slightly touched with
+gold.  On the walls are some gilded ornaments, enough to give to the
+whole richness of effect without heaviness.  Between the windows is what
+I suppose may be termed a table, composed of an enormous slab of the
+rarest marble, supported by elegantly cast bronze legs.  Over this a
+small cabinet (manufactured in Bath from drawings by Mr. Goodridge) full
+of extremely small books; it is carved in oak in the most elaborate
+manner.  The fireplace, of Devonshire marble, is perfect in design and in
+its adaptation to the rest of the room; in fact, everything in this
+lovely chamber is in unison, everything soft, quiet, and subdued.
+
+New wonders awaited me.  Next to the library is a sort of vestibule
+leading to a staircase, which from its mysterious and crimson light, rich
+draperies, and latticed doors seemed to be the sanctum sanctorum of a
+heathen temple.  To the left a long passage, whose termination not being
+seen allowed the imagination full play, led for aught I know to the
+Fortress of Akerman, to the Montagne du Caf or to the Halls of Argenti.
+Ou sout peintes toutes les createures raissonables, et les animaux qui
+ont habite la terre.
+
+To the right two latticed doors, reminding you of Grand Cairo or
+Persepolis, ingeniously conceal the commonplace entrance from the
+Crescent.  The singular and harmonious light of this mysterious vestibule
+is produced by crimson silk strained over the fanlight of the outer door.
+"This place," I observed, "puts one in mind of the Hall of Eblis."  "You
+are quite right," he observed, "this is unquestionably the Hall of
+Eblis."  "Those latticed doors," I continued, "seem to lead to the small
+apartment where the three princes, Alasi, Barkiarokh, and Kalilah,
+related to Vathek and Nouronchar their adventures."  He seemed amused at
+my observations, and said, "Then you have read 'Vathek.'  How do you like
+it?"  "Vastly.  I read it in English many years ago, but never in
+French."  "Then read it in French," said Mr. Beckford.  "The French
+edition is much finer than the English."
+
+We mounted the staircase.  Above you in open niches are Etruscan vases.
+The ceiling is arched and has belts at intervals.  "I wished to exclude
+the draughts," said Mr. Beckford, "and to do away with the cold and
+uncomfortable appearance you generally have in staircases."  The effect
+of the whole is so novel that you lose all idea of stairs, and seem
+merely going from one room to another.  As you stand on the landing the
+vaulted and belted ceiling behind you has the appearance of a row of
+arches in perspective.  The same solemn and mysterious gloom pervades the
+staircase.  The architect has frequently entreated to be allowed to
+introduce a little more light, but in vain.  The author of "Vathek" will
+not consent to the least alteration of the present mystical effect, and
+he is quite right.  This warm and indefinite light produces not only the
+effect of air, but also of space, and makes the passage before noticed,
+seen through the latticed doors, apparently of lines of real dimensions.
+
+Mr. Beckford drew aside a curtain.  We entered the smaller of two lovely
+drawing rooms lately fitted up.  Before us, over the mantelpiece, was
+suspended a magnificent full length portrait by Gaspar de Crayer of
+Philip II. of Spain.  Just then my head was too full of the Hall of
+Eblis, of "Vathek" and its associations, for mere ordinary admiration of
+even one of the finest portraits painted, and on Mr. Beckford pointing
+out the whitefaced monarch I almost involuntarily ejaculated "Pale slave
+of Eblis."  He burst out laughing.  "Eh! eh! what?  His face is pale
+indeed, but he was very proud of his complexion."  This is a very fine
+group.  Philip is represented dressed in a suit of black armour,
+elaborately chased in gold, standing on a throne covered with a crimson
+carpet.  Near him is his dwarf, dressed in black, holding the helmet,
+adorned with a magnificent plume of feathers, and turning towards his
+master (the fountain of honour) a most expressive and intelligent face.
+"That dwarf," said Mr. Beckford, "was a man of great ability and
+exercised over his master a vast influence."  Lower down you discover the
+head of a Mexican page, holding a horse, whose head, as well as that of
+the page, is all that is visible, their bodies being concealed by the
+steps of the throne.  This is a noble picture; but in my eyes the extreme
+plainness of the steps of the throne and the unornamented war boots of
+the king have a bare and naked appearance.  They contrast rather too
+violently with the whole of the upper part of the picture.  Over the
+steps are painted in Roman letters Rx. Ps. 4s. (Rex Philippus quartos).
+Many who have hardly heard the painter's name will of course not admire
+it, being done neither by Titian nor Vandyke; but Mr. Beckford's taste is
+peculiar.  He prefers a genuine picture by an inferior painter to those
+attributed to the more celebrated masters, but where originality is
+ambiguous, or at least if not ambiguous where picture cleaner, or
+scavengers, as he calls them, have been at work.  In this room, suspended
+from the ceiling by a silken cord, is the silver gilt lamp that hung in
+the oratory at Fonthill.  Its shape and proportion are very elegant, and
+no wonder; it was designed by the author of "Italy" himself.  How great
+was my astonishment some time after, on visiting Fonthill, at perceiving,
+suspended from the _cul de lamp_, the very crimson cord that once
+supported this precious vessel!  The lamp had been hastily cut down, and
+the height of the remains of the cord from the floor was probably the
+reason of its preservation.
+
+Mr. Beckford next pointed out a charming sketch by Rubens, clear and
+pearly beyond conception.  It is St. George and the Dragon, the dragon
+hero and his horse in the air, and the dragon must certainly have been an
+African lion.  Mr. Beckford called the beast, or reptile, a mumpsimus
+(_sic_).  "Do look at the Pontimeitos in the beautiful sketch," said he,
+"there is a bit from his pencil certainly his own.  Don't imagine that
+those great pictures that bear his name are all his pictures.  He was too
+much of a gentleman for such drudgery, and the greatest part of such
+pictures (the Luxembourg for instance) are the works of his pupils from
+his original designs certainly; they were afterwards retouched by him,
+and people are silly enough to believe they are all his work.  But mark
+well the difference in execution between those great gallery pictures and
+such a gem as this."  Mr. Beckford then showed me a "Ripon" by Polemberg,
+a lovely classic landscape, with smooth sky, pearly distance, and
+picturesque plains; the Holy Family in the foreground.  "Do take notice
+of the St. Joseph in this charming picture," he said.  "The painters too
+often pourtray him as little better than a vagabond Jew or an old beggar.
+Polemberg had too much good taste for such caricaturing, and you see he
+has made him here look like a decayed gentleman."
+
+Mr. Beckford drew aside another curtain, and we entered the front drawing
+room, of larger dimensions, but fitted up in a similar style.  The first
+thing that caught my eye was the magnificent effect produced by a scarlet
+drapery, whose ample folds covered the whole side of the room opposite
+the three windows from the ceiling to the floor.  Mr. Beckford's
+observation on his first view of Mad. d' Aranda's boudoir instantly
+recurred to my mind.  These are his very words: "I wonder architects and
+fitters-up of apartments do not avail themselves more frequently of the
+powers of drapery.  Nothing produces so grand and at the same time so
+comfortable an effect.  The moment I have an opportunity I will set about
+constructing a tabernacle larger than the one I arranged at Ramalhad, and
+indulge myself in every variety of plait and fold that can be possibly
+invented."  "I never was so convinced," I said, "of the truth of your
+observations as at the present moment.  What a charming and comfortable
+effect does that splendid drapery produce!"  "I am very fond of drapery,"
+he replied, "but that is nothing to what I had at Fonthill in the great
+octagon.  There were purple curtains fifty feet long."
+
+Here was a cabinet of oak, made in Bath, in form most classical and
+appropriate.  On one side stood two massive and richly chased silver gilt
+candlesticks that formerly were used in the Moorish Palace of the
+Alhambra.  "Then you have visited Granada?" I inquired.  "More than
+once."  "What do you think of the Alhambra?"  "It is vastly curious
+certainly, but many things there are in wretched taste, and to say truth
+I don't much admire Moorish taste."
+
+Mr. Beckford next pointed out a head in marble brought from Mexico by
+Cortez, which was for centuries in the possession of the Duke of Alba's
+family, and was given to the present proprietor by the Duchess.  "Her
+fate was very tragical," he observed.  In a small cupboard with glass in
+front is a little ivory reliquior, four or five hundred years old.  It
+was given to Mr. Beckford by the late Mr. Hope.  It is in the shape of a
+small chapel; on opening the doors, the fastenings of which were two
+small dogs or monkeys, you found in a recess the Virgin and Child,
+surrounded by various effigies, all carved in the most astonishingly
+minute manner.
+
+The mention of Mr. Hope's name produced an observation about
+"Anastasius," of which Mr. Beckford affirmed he was confident Mr. Hope
+had written very little; he was, he positively asserted, assisted by
+Spence.  My companion here observed, "Had Mr. Beckford heard of the
+recent discoveries made of the ruins of Carthage?"  "Of Carthage?" he
+said, "it must be New Carthage.  It cannot be the old town, that is
+impossible.  If it were, I would start to-morrow to see it.  I should
+think myself on the road to Babylon half-way."  "Babylon must have been a
+glorious place," observed my companion, "if we can place any reliance on
+Mr. Martin's long line of distances about that famous city."  "Oh,
+Martin.  Martin is very clever, but a friend of mine, Danby, in my
+opinion far surpasses him."  I cannot agree with Mr. Beckford in this.
+Martin was undoubtedly the inventor of the singular style of painting in
+question, and I do not believe that Danby ever produced anything equal to
+some of the illustrations of "Paradise Lost," in particular "The Fall of
+the Apostate Angels," which is as fine a conception as any painter,
+ancient or modern, ever produced.
+
+Mr. Beckford then, taking off a glass cover, showed us what is, I should
+imagine, one of the greatest curiosities in existence, a vase about ten
+inches high, composed of one entire block of chalcedonian onyx.  It is of
+Greek workmanship, most probably about the time of Alexander the Great.
+The stone is full of veins, as usual with onyxes.  "Do observe," said he,
+"these satyrs' heads.  Imagine the number of diamonds it must have taken
+to make any impression on such a hard substance.  Rubens made a drawing
+of it, for it was pawned in his time for a large sum.  I possess an
+engraving from his drawing," and opening a portfolio he immediately
+presented it to my wondering eyes.
+
+Over the fireplace is a magnificent picture by Roberts, representing the
+tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella in the Alhambra.  What I had always
+imagined a small chapel is, I find, really of gigantic proportions, and
+looks like a Cathedral in solemn grandeur and softness; the two
+sarcophagi are of white marble.  The light streams through enormous
+painted windows, and at the extremity of the edifice is an altar
+surrounded by figures in different attitudes.  "I should never have
+dreamt, from what Washington Irving says of the chapel of Ferdinand and
+Isabella, that it was such a plan as this."   "Oh, Washington Irving," he
+replied, "is very poor in his descriptions; he does not do justice to
+Spain."  I wished he had spoken with a little more enthusiasm of a
+favourite author, but I imagine that the author of the "Sketch Book" is
+scarcely aristocratic enough for Mr. Beckford.
+
+On the right hand of the fireplace is a very large landscape by Lee,
+which Mr. Beckford eulogised warmly.  "That silvery stream," he observed,
+"winding amongst those gentle undulating hills must be intended to
+represent Berkshire," or he pronounced it Barkshire.  With all due
+deference to the taste of the author of "Vathek," and his admiration of
+this picture, which he compared to a Wouvermann, it is in my eyes a very
+uninteresting scene, though certainly strictly natural.  "I don't in
+general like Lee's pictures," he said, "but that is an exception."  In
+the corresponding recess is a fine sea piece by Chambers.  On the
+opposite side of the room are rows of the most valuable books, which
+almost reach the ceiling.  I hinted that I was really afraid we were
+trespassing on his leisure, as our visit was lengthened out most
+prodigiously.  "Not at all," he replied, "I am delighted to see you.  It
+is a pleasure to show these things to those who really appreciate them,
+for I assure you that I find very few who do."  We now returned through
+the apartments.  He accompanied us as far as the dining room door, when
+he inquired if I had seen the Tower?  On my answering in the negative he
+said, "Then you must come up again."  He shook hands with my friend, and
+bowing politely to me was retiring, when stepping back he held out his
+hand in the kindest manner, repeating the words "Come up again."  We
+found we had spent three hours in his company.
+
+We paused an instant before leaving the dining room to admire a lovely
+bit of perspective.  It is a line of open doors, exactly opposite each
+other (never seen but in large houses), piercing and uniting the three
+lower rooms.  The effect is vastly increased by a mirror placed in the
+lobby leading to the second staircase, which mirror terminated the view.
+"L'une perspective bien menagee charmait la vue; ici, la magic de
+l'optique la trompoit agreablement.  En un mot, le plus curieux des
+hommes n'avait rien omis dans ce palais de ce qui pouvait contenter la
+curiosite de ceux qui le visitait."
+
+You may imagine I did not forget Mr. Beckford's invitation, nor cease
+pestering my friend till he at length fixed a day for accompanying me
+again to Lansdown.  My curiosity to see the Tower was excited.  I longed
+to behold that extraordinary structure, but still more to see again the
+wonderful individual to whom it belonged.
+
+We proceeded in the first place to the house, and I had an opportunity of
+examining the pictures and curiosities in the ante-room.  Here are two
+cabinets, containing curious china, and small golden vessels.  Most of
+the china was, I believe, painted at Sevres expressly for Mr. Beckford,
+as the ornaments on several pieces indicate, being formed of his arms, so
+arranged as to produce a rich and beautiful effect without the slightest
+formality.  I counted in one cabinet ten vessels of gold, in the other
+five: these were small teapots, caddies, cups, saucers, plates.  I am
+told that they are used occasionally at tea-time.
+
+Over the door is a magnificent drawing of the Abbey, by Turner, taken I
+should imagine at a distance of two miles.  The appearance of the
+building with its lofty tower is grand and imposing.  The foreground
+seems to have been an old quarry.  The great lake glitters in the middle
+distance, from the opposite banks of which the ground gradually rises,
+and the eminence is crowned by the stately structure.  Here are also a
+fine interior by Van Ostade from Fonthill, representing a noble picture
+gallery; a drawing of the interior of St. Paul's; one by Rubens,
+representing Christ and the two disciples at Emmaus; a fine Swaneveldt; a
+glorious Weeninx, game and fruit; with a lovely bit by Lance, and many
+smaller pictures.
+
+I was informed that Mr. Beckford intended meeting us at the Tower, and
+that a servant was in readiness to conduct us thither by the walk through
+the grounds.  We therefore issued by a private door, and presently
+entered the spacious kitchen garden, containing, I believe, seven or
+eight acres.  A broad gravel walk, bordered by lovely flowers and fruit
+trees, leads to a magnificent terrace, which bounds the northern side of
+this beautiful enclosure, the view from which is enchanting.  This noble
+terrace is screened from the north by a luxuriant shrubbery, from which
+arises an archway of massive proportions, erected chiefly to shut out the
+view of an unpicturesque object.  The _tout ensemble_ reminds one of
+Florence.  You pass this gigantic portal, and ascend the hill by a
+winding pathway through the fields, the grass being always kept clipped
+and short.  At the distance of half a mile from the house we crossed a
+lane, and our guide unlocking a gate entered the grounds at the brow of
+the hill.  We again ascended, till we reached a broader way between two
+flourishing plantations, branching off to the left, and leading by a
+gently winding walk to a rustic sort of bungalow, which was discovered
+about a quarter of a mile off.  "You must walk along here," said my
+friend, "and behold the prospect before we mount higher, for you will
+find the view repay you."  It did indeed repay us: the grassy pathway
+extends along the side of the southern brow of Lansdown, and the view
+from this spot is unrivalled.  The whole valley of the Doon stretches
+beneath you.  Looking towards the east you discover in extreme distance
+the Marlborough Downs; then somewhat nearer Kingsdown, Bathford, the
+hills above Warleigh, with Hampton cliffs and the neighbouring woods,
+where Gainsborough, Wilson, and Barker studied Nature so well, and where
+is shown the flat rock called Gainsborough's table, on which the first of
+this picturesque triumvirate so often ate his rustic meal.  To the south
+Bladud's splendid city, with its towers and stately buildings, backed by
+the long line of Wiltshire hills, and Alfred's Tower is faintly traced in
+the clear, grey haze.  The little conical hill of Englishcombe, where the
+unfortunate Duke of Monmouth drew up his army during his rash and fatal
+enterprise, awoke a thousand recollections, whilst the lovely river
+flashed occasionally in the noontide sun.  To the west are seen Newton
+Park, the Mendip Hills, Dundry Tower, and the Welsh hills, whilst the
+hazy atmosphere marked the position of another great city, Bristol.  At
+the extreme western point, too, are seen the waters of the Bristol
+Channel, glittering under the glowing rays of the setting sun, and
+shining like a vast plateau of burnished gold.
+
+After feasting our eyes on this lovely panorama and tracing out well
+known places, at one moment lost in obscurity from the shadow of a
+passing cloud and the next moment appearing in the full blaze of
+sunshine, we retraced our steps towards the path to the Tower.  We again
+ascended the hill, and soon reached the sort of tableland on the top,
+which seems to me to have been once an immense quarry, and no doubt
+furnished stone in vast quantities for the building of the splendid city
+at the foot of the eminence.  The remains of these quarries are most
+picturesque.  At a little distance they seem to present the wrecks of
+stately buildings, with rows of broken arches, and vividly recall the
+idea of Roman ruins.  I afterwards mentioned my impressions on seeing
+them to Mr. Beckford, who replied, "They do indeed put one in mind of the
+Campagna of Rome, and are vastly like the ruins of the Baths of
+Caracalla."  We were now on the brow of the hill, and soon felt the
+influence of the genial breezes from the Bristol Channel.  We quitted the
+open Down, and passing under a low doorway entered a lovely shrubbery.
+The walk (composed of small fossils) winds between graceful trees, and is
+skirted by odoriferous flowers, which we are astonished to find growing
+in such luxuriance at an elevation of nearly a thousand feet above the
+vale below.  In many places the trees meet, and form a green arcade over
+your head, whilst patches of mignonette, giant plants of heliotrope, and
+clusters of geranium perfume the air.
+
+We next enter a beautiful kitchen garden, and are presented with a broad
+and noble straight walk fully ten feet in width and nearly four hundred
+feet long, between beds of flowers, and on either side beyond fruit trees
+and vegetables.  The garden terminates with a picturesque building,
+pierced by a lofty archway, through which the walk passes.  This garden
+is about eighty feet wide and about twelve feet below the level of the
+Down, being formed in an old quarry, besides which a lofty wall on either
+side shelters it.  One cannot describe one's sensations of comfort at
+finding so delicious a spot in so unexpected a place.  I said to the
+gardener, "I understood Mr. Beckford had planted everything on the Down,
+but you surely found those apple trees here.  They are fifty years old."
+"We found nothing here but an old quarry and a few nettles.  Those apple
+trees were great trees when we moved them, and moving them stopped their
+bearing.  They blossom in the spring and look pretty, and that is all
+master cares about."  We left this charming enclosure, passing under the
+archway before mentioned.  And here I must pause a moment and admire the
+happy idea of placing this pretty building at the end of this cultivated
+spot.  It closes the kitchen garden, and as its front is similar on
+either side, it harmonizes with the regular garden we have left, as well
+as with the wilder spot which we next approach.  This building forms a
+complete termination to one of that succession of lovely scenes with
+which we are presented on our walk to the Tower.  Each scene is totally
+distinct in character from the others, and yet with matchless taste they
+are united by some harmonious link, as in the present case.
+
+Having then passed through the archway of this building, we observed
+before us a grotto, into which we entered.  On the right is a pond of
+gold and silver fish, which are fed every morning by the hands of the
+gifted possessor of this charming place.  On the opposite side thirty or
+forty birds assemble at the same time to hail the appearance of St.
+Anthony's devotee, and chirrup a song of gratitude for their morning
+meal.  The grotto is formed under a road, and is so ingeniously contrived
+that hundreds have walked over it without ever dreaming of the
+subterranean passage beneath.  The grotto-like arch winds underground for
+perhaps sixty or seventy feet.  When coming to its termination we are
+presented with a flight of rustic steps, which leads us again directly on
+to the Down.  Looking back you cannot but admire the natural appearance
+of this work of art.  The ground over the grotto is covered with tangled
+shrubs and brambles.  There is nothing formed, nothing apparently
+artificial, and a young ash springs as if accidentally from between the
+stones.
+
+We pursued our way to the Tower by a path of a quarter of a mile on the
+Down, along a walk parallel to the wall of the public road, gently curved
+to take off the appearance of formality, yet so slightly that you can go
+on in a straight line.  On our right hand venerable bushes of lavender,
+great plants of rosemary, and large rose trees perfume the air, all
+growing as if indigenous to the smooth turf.  In one place clusters of
+rare and deeply crimsoned snapdragons, in another patches of aromatic
+thyme and wild strawberries keep up the charm of the place.  As we draw
+nearer to the Tower the ground is laid out in a wilder and more
+picturesque manner, the walks are more serpentine.  We turned a corner,
+and Mr. Beckford stood before us, attended by an aged servant, whose
+hairs have whitened in his employment, and whose skill has laid out these
+grounds in this beautiful manner.  Mr. Beckford welcomed me in the
+kindest way, and immediately began pointing out the various curious
+plants and shrubs.  How on this happy spot specimens of the productions
+of every country in the world unite!  Shrubs and trees, whose natural
+climates are as opposite as the Antipodes, here flourish in the most
+astonishing manner.  We were shown a rose tree brought from Pekin and a
+fir tree brought from the highest part of the Himalaya Mountains; many
+have been brought to this country, but Mr. Beckford's is the only one
+that has survived.  Here are pine trees of every species and variety--a
+tree that once vegetated at Larissa, in Greece, Italian pines, Siberian
+pines, Scotch firs, a lovely specimen of Irish yew, and other trees which
+it is impossible to describe.  My astonishment was great at witnessing
+the size of the trees, and I could scarcely believe my ears when told
+that the whole of this wood had been raised on the bare Down within the
+last thirteen years.  The ground is broken and diversified in the most
+agreeable manner: here a flight of easy and water worn steps leads to an
+eminence, whence you have a view of the building and an old ruin
+overgrown with shrubs, which looks as if it had seen five hundred
+summers, but in reality no older than the rest of this creation.  On
+ascending the easy though ruined steps of this building, passing under an
+archway, the view of the Tower burst upon us, and a long, straight walk
+led us directly to the entrance.  From this point the view is most
+imposing.  On your right is a continuation of the shrubberies I spoke of,
+at the end of which is a lovely pine, most beautiful in form and colour,
+which by hiding some of the lower buildings thus makes a picture of the
+whole.  The effect of the building is grand and stately beyond
+description.  The long line of flat distance and the flatness of the Down
+here come in contact with the perpendicular lines of the Tower and lower
+buildings, producing that strikingly peculiar combination which never
+fails to produce a grand effect.  This is the real secret of Claude's
+seaports.  His stately buildings, moles, and tall towers form a right
+angle with the straight horizon; thus the whole is magnificent.  Nothing
+of the sort could be produced in the interior of a country but in a
+situation like the present.  Who but a man of extraordinary genius would
+have thought of rearing in the desert such a structure as this, or
+creating such an oasis?  The colouring of the building reminded me of
+Malta or Sicily, a rich mellow hue prevails; the ornaments of the Tower
+are so clean, so distinct, such terseness.  The windows, small and few
+compared with modern buildings, give it the appearance of those early
+Florentine edifices reared when security and defence were as much an
+object as beauty.  From every part of the ground the pile looks grand,
+the lines producing the most beautiful effect.  The windows have iron
+gratings, which give it an Oriental character.  We entered, and
+immediately ascended the Tower.  A circular staircase was round the wall.
+The proportion of the interior is beautiful; you see from the bottom to
+the top.  From the apparent size of the three or four loopholes seen from
+the outside I imagined it would be dark and gloomy from within, but I was
+agreeably surprised to find the whole extremely light.  The balustrade is
+Egyptian in form, and banisters bronze.  On reaching the top you find a
+square apartment containing twelve windows, each a piece of plate glass,
+the floor covered with red cloth and crimson window curtains.  The effect
+of distance seen through these apertures unobstructed by framework,
+contrasted with the bronze balustrade without and crimson curtains
+within, is truly enchanting.  We were not happy in the weather.  The
+morning was sunny and promising, but at noon clouds obscured the heavens;
+therefore we wanted that glow and splendour sunshine never fails to give
+the landscape.  The height is so great that everything looks quite
+diminutive.  The road running in a straight line across the Down reminds
+one of a Roman work, and the whole expanse of country surrounding recalls
+the Campagna.  Two more flights of stairs, most ingeniously contrived and
+to all appearance hanging on nothing, lead to two other apartments, the
+top one lighted by glass all round, concealed on the outside by the open
+ornament that runs round the very top of the cupola.
+
+On descending the staircase, the door opening showed us at the end of a
+small vaulted corridor a beautiful statue by Rossi of St. Anthony and the
+infant Jesus.  At the back, fixed in the wall, is a large slab of red
+porphyry, circular at the top and surrounded by an elegant inlay of
+Sienna verd, antique border surrounding the whole figure of the Saint,
+and has a most rich effect; it is difficult to believe that the Sienna is
+not gold.  The light descending from above gives that fine effect which
+sets off statues so much.  On the left hand of the figure is a picture by
+Pietro Perugino, which for centuries was in the Cathedral of Sienna,
+having been painted for that building and never removed till Mr. Beckford
+(I suppose by making an offer too tempting to be resisted) succeeded in
+obtaining it.  It is the Virgin and two pretty boys, admirably drawn,
+very like Raphael, and in as fine preservation as the St. Catherine.  The
+execution is masterly, and though not so free as the Raphael still it is
+forcible.  The figure of the left hand boy is very graceful, face
+beautiful and sweetly dimpled.  Opposite are a Francesco Mola and a
+Steinwych.  The Mola is exceedingly fine, the sky and landscape much like
+Mr. Beckford's Gaspar Poussin in colour and execution; the Steinwych,
+interior of a Cathedral, one of the most wonderful finished pictures I
+ever beheld.  This picture was painted for an ancestor of Mr. Beckford's.
+Here there is a little cabinet full of rare and curious manuscripts.  We
+were shown a small Bible in MS., including the Apocrypha, written 300
+years before printing was introduced, and a very curious Missal.
+
+We then entered a gorgeous room containing pictures and curiosities of
+immense value.  Its proportions seem exactly the same as the one on the
+floor below, and decorations with its furniture pretty similar.  The
+windows in both are in one large plate, and the shutters of plain oak.
+The colour of curtains and carpet crimson.  In these rooms are a portrait
+of the Doge out of the Grimaldi Palace, purchased by Mr. Beckford from
+Lord Cawdor, who got it out of the Palace by an intrigue; this is a
+splendid portrait; he has on the Dalmatica and the Phrygian Cap worn by
+the Doges on occasions of State, and two lovely Polembergs, infinitely
+finer and more like Claude than anything I ever saw; in fact, they were
+ascribed to Claude by the German Waagen, architecture grand, foliage
+light and elegant; the figures are by Le Soeur.  Two fine portraits by De
+Vos, wonderfully painted, execution and colouring reminded me of Vandyke,
+particularly the latter, and not unlike the Gavertius in the National
+Gallery.  Then there is a magnificent Houdekoeta, the landscape part
+painted by Both most inimitably.  A beautiful cabinet designed by
+Bernini, another with sculptured paintings, in the centre the story of
+Adam and Eve.  Two more candlesticks from the Alhambra, in shape and
+execution similar to those at the house; two gold candlesticks after
+designs by Holbein; some curious specimens of china; an Asiatic purple
+glass vase, brought by St. Louis from the Holy Land, which contained at
+St. Denis some holy fragments; a piece of china, the centre of which is
+ornamented in a style totally different from the generality of china, in
+eight or ten compartments, and painted in such a manner that the festoon
+of leaves fall over and hide the fruit most picturesquely; two ivory
+cups, one in alto, the other in basso relievo; the latter the finer and
+most charmingly carved; a small group in bronze by John Bologna,
+"Dejanira and the Centaur," admirably done.  Here are tables of the
+rarest marbles, one composed of a block from the Himalaya Mountains.  In
+one of the windows is a piece of African marble brought to this country
+for George IV; also a small bath of Egyptian porphyry.  In the lower room
+was a vase containing the most lovely flowers, that perfumed the
+apartment.  In this room, from the judicious introduction of scarlet and
+crimson, you have the effect of sunshine.  The ceilings are belted; the
+interstices painted crimson.  It is impossible to give any idea of the
+splendour of these two rooms, the finishing touch being cabinet looking
+glasses, introduced most judiciously.
+
+We now took leave of Mr. Beckford.  His horses were waiting in the
+courtyard, with two servants standing respectfully and uncovered at the
+door, whilst two more held the horses.  The stately and magnificent
+tower, the terrace on which we lingered a few moments, whilst this
+extraordinary man mounted his horse, all, all conspired to cast a
+poetical feeling over the parting moment which I shall never forget.  I
+was reminded most forcibly of similar scenes in Scott's novels.  In
+particular the ancient Tower of Tillietudleni was presented to my mind's
+eye, and I gazed for a moment on this gifted person with a melancholy
+foreboding that it was for the last time, and experienced an elevation of
+feeling connected with the scene which it is impossible to describe.  Such
+moments are worth whole years of everyday existence.  We turned our heads
+to look once more on a man who must always create the most intense
+interest, and I repeated those lines of Petrarch, introduced by Mr.
+Beckford himself in his "Italy" on a similar occasion--
+
+   O ora, o georno, o ultimo momento,
+   O stelle conjurate ad impoverime, &c.
+
+I forgot to mention a cluster of heliotrope in blossom on the Down,
+growing in such wild luxuriance that I could not believe it to be my
+little darling flower.  However, on stooping down I soon perceived by its
+fragrance it was the same plant that I had been accustomed to admire in
+greenhouses or in small pots.
+
+
+
+October, 1838.
+
+
+I have had another peep at the Tower.  The day was auspicious.  I ran up
+the staircase and wonderfully enjoyed the prospect.  Looking through the
+middle window towards the west you have a delicious picture.  The hills
+undulate in the most picturesque manner, the motion of the clouds at one
+moment threw a line of hills into shadow, which were the next minute
+illumined by the sun, the Avon glittering in the sunbeams, the village of
+Weston embedded in the valley, a rich cluster of large trees near the
+town, variegated by the tints of autumn, united to form a charming
+picture.  The pieces of plate-glass that compose the twelve windows of
+this beautiful room cannot be less than 5.5ft. high and 18in. wide.
+
+On descending I was struck with the lovely effect of the corridor, at the
+end of which is the statue of St. Anthony; on the pedestal (a block of
+Sienna) are engraved in letters of gold these words, "Dominus illuminatio
+mio."  The Francesco Mola (the Magdalen in the Desert) is a lovely
+landscape indeed; the rocks and their spirited execution, lightness of
+the foliage, &c., in the foreground remind one of St. Rosa.  A cluster of
+cherubs hovers over the head of Mary.  In the smaller room on the upper
+floor is the picture by West of the Installation of the Knights of the
+Garter.  From the contemplation of this picture I entertain a higher
+opinion of the genius of West than I ever did before.  You can scarcely
+believe it is his painting; there is nothing of his usual hard outline,
+the shadows are rich, the background soft and mellow, the lights unite
+sweetly, and it is touched in the free and juicy manner of the sketches
+of Rubens or Paolo Veronese.  It is difficult to believe that this
+picture is not 200 years old.  The head of a child by Parmigiano; a large
+picture by Breughel.  The enameled glass vase brought to Europe by St.
+Louis; this must be of Arabian manufacture, for the figures on horseback
+have turbans.  A large cabinet by Franks, the panels most highly
+finished, different passages in the history of Adam and Eve form small
+pictural subjects.  In the larger room is the cabinet by Bernini, inlaid
+with mosaic work in the most finished manner, surrounded by three brass
+figures; Bellini's two pictures of the Doges of Venice.  Over Bernini's
+cabinet a large piece of looking glass is most judiciously introduced.  In
+this and the lower room are two lovely crimson Wilton carpets; the
+ceilings of both are painted purple and red.  Holbein's candlesticks are
+really gold! the chasing is elegance itself; an inscription states that
+they were made in 1800 for the Abbey at Fonthill.  A fine picture of the
+infant St. John by Murillo; a curious one of St. Anthony by Civoli; an
+exquisite interior, by Steynwich, very small, and being a night effect,
+the shadows are amazingly rich.  In the passage leading to the garden are
+the two ivory cups by Frainingo.  One is much better carved than the
+other; it is copied from an antique vase.  The figures are Bacchanalian.
+
+The effect of this lower room from the vestibule, illumined by the rays
+of the glorious sun, was more beautiful than anything of the sort I had
+ever witnessed.  Nothing can be more happy than the way the colour of
+this apartment is managed.  The walls are covered with scarlet cloth; the
+curtains on each side of the window being a deep purple produce a
+striking contrast, the colouring of the ceiling, crimson, purple and
+gold, is admirable.  In one window is a large table formed of a block of
+Egyptian porphyry, on which were flowers in a large vase of ivory; in the
+other recess, or rather tribune, is the small round Himalaya block.  Over
+the fireplace is a charming little Dietrich, and on either hand a
+Polemberg.  On this side of the room the two De Vos, two singularly
+shaped cabinets of oak finely carved; on one is a gold teapot.  On the
+right hand of the door is a Simonini: sky and distance admirable, the
+colouring of two large trees very rich and mellow, one a dark green, the
+other pale yellow.  A picture on the other side of the door by Canaletti.
+On the opposite side of the room a large Pastel, ruins of foliage fine
+but figures lanky.  I had not before to-day seen the Tower from the road
+entrance.  The effect of the whole building is grand, and improved by the
+arches which support the terrace.  On the left the ground is admirably
+broken and the foliage rich.
+
+
+
+November 3rd, 1838.
+
+
+Mr. Beckford showed me some sketches of St. Non's Sicily and harbour of
+Malta, forty drawings, given by St. Non himself, each bearing the name in
+pencil; he also showed me a MS. "Arabian Nights."  He studied Arabic very
+deeply in Paris, and had a Mussulman master.  He read to me part of a
+tale never put into the ordinary edition, translated into English tersely
+and perspicuously.  He is much indebted to Arabic MS. for "Vathek," and
+reads Arabic to this day.  He says Lord Byron and others are quite
+mistaken as to the age when he wrote "Vathek," not seventeen but twenty-
+three years of age.  "Sir," says he, "if you want a description of
+Persepolis read 'Vathek.'"  He laughed heartily at the different sorts of
+praise bestowed by Lord Byron on "Vathek," equal to Rasselas, like
+Mackenzie.  Lord Byron tried many times to get a sight of the Eps [?],
+often intreated the Duchess to intercede with her father.  He once called
+with "Vathek" in his pocket, which he styled "his gospel."  Moore's
+"Lallah Rookh" has too much western sentimentality for an Oriental
+romance, the common fault of most writers of such stories.  Beckford
+prefers Moore's Melodies, and likes the "Loves of Angels" least of all.
+"Fudge Family" he thinks admirable.
+
+Speaking of the triumph he achieved in writing as an Englishman a work
+which was supposed for years to be by a Frenchman, he said: "Oh, my great
+uncle did more than me.  Did you never read 'Memories of the Duke of
+Grammont?'  Voltaire told me he was entirely indebted to my great uncle
+for whatever beauty of style he might possess.  French is just the same
+as English to me.  He showed me the Eps."
+
+October 31.--Went out and accidentally met Mr. Beckford speaking in
+praise of his West, who painted expressly for Mr. Beckford.  I said, "How
+did you get him to paint it so soft?  I suppose you particularly
+requested him to do so."  "Oh no.  Mr. West was a man who would stand no
+dictation; had I uttered such a thought he would have kicked me out of
+the house!  Oh no, that would never have done.  The only way to get him
+to avoid his hard outline would be to entreat him to paint harder.  West
+came one day laughing to me, and said, "All London is in ecstasy
+beholding the Lazarus in Sebo Deltz, painted they say by M. A.  Ha! ha!
+they don't know it is my painting.  L., who brought the picture over,
+came to me in the greatest distress, 'The set is ruined by the salt
+water; you must try and restore the Lazarus.'  I was shut up for two
+days, and painted the Lazarus."  On my asking if he believed it true, Mr.
+Beckford replied, "Perfectly true, for I saw it lying on the floor and
+the figure of Lazarus was quite gone."  "Then you don't value that
+picture much?"  "All the rest is perfect, and I offered 12,000 pounds for
+that and four more.  I saw in the Escurial the marriage of Isaac and
+Rebecca, now belonging to the Duke of Wellington.  In fact, of all the
+pictures in the collection there is not more than one in ten that has
+escaped repainting.  The picture given by H. Carr I cannot admire, the
+outline of the hill is so hard.  It is just the picture Satan would show
+poor Claude, if he has him, which we charitably hope he has not."
+
+
+
+November 10th, 1838.
+
+
+How poor dear Mozart would be frightened (moralised Mr. Beckford) could
+he hear some of our modern music!  My father was very fond of music, and
+invited Mozart to Fonthill.  He was eight years old and I was six.  It
+was rather ludicrous one child being the pupil of another.  He went to
+Vienna, where he obtained vast celebrity, and wrote to me, saying, "Do
+you remember that march you composed which I kept so long?  Well, I have
+just composed a new opera and I have introduced your air."  "In what
+opera?" asked I.  "Why in the 'Nozze di Figaro.'"  "Is it possible, sir,
+and which then is your air?"  "You shall hear it."  Mr. Beckford opened a
+piano, and immediately began what I thought a sort of march, but soon I
+recognized "Non piu andrai."  He struck the notes with energy and force,
+he sang a few words, and seemed to enter into the music with the greatest
+enthusiasm; his eye sparkled, and his countenance assumed an expression
+which I had never noticed before.
+
+Mr. Beckford showed me some very fine original drawings by Gaspar
+Poussin, exceedingly delicate.  On the back a profile most exquisitely
+finished, another just begun, and another by his brother in admirable
+style, sketch of a peacock by Houdekoeta.  "When I was in Portugal," said
+Mr. Beckford, "I had as much influence and power as if I had been the
+King.  The Prince Regent acknowledged me in public as his relation (which
+indeed I was).  I had the privilege of an entrance at all times, and
+could visit the Royal Family in ordinary dress.  Of course, on grand
+occasions I wore Court costume."  He showed me a letter from a rich
+banker in Lisbon, a man in great esteem at the Palace; another letter
+from one of the first noblemen in Portugal, entreating him to use his
+influence with the Prince Regent for the reversion of the decree of
+confiscation of some nobleman's estate; another from the Grand Prior of
+Aviz (in French).  Mr. Beckford was treated as a grandee of the first
+rank in Germany; he showed me an autograph of the Emperor Joseph.
+Voltaire said to him, "Je dois tout a votre oncle, Count Anthony H.  The
+Duchess was acknowledged in Paris by the Bourbon as Duchess de
+Chatelrault.  On going to Court I saw her sitting next the Royal Family
+with the Duchess, whilst all the Court was standing.  The Duchess has
+fine taste for the arts, quite as strong a feeling as I have.  The Duke
+also is amazingly fond of the arts.  The Marquis of D. has a spice of my
+character."
+
+The Claude looked more blooming and pearly than ever.  I observed that I
+had never seen such a tone in any Claude in existence.  I know many
+pictures which had that hue, but they have been so daubed and retouched
+that they are no longer the same.  He showed me the Episodes.  One
+begins, "Mes malheurs, O Caliphe sont encore plus grands que les votres,
+aussi bien que mes crimes, tu a ete trompe en ecoutant un navis
+malheureux; mais moi, pour me desobir d'une amitie la plus tendre, je
+suis precipite dans ce lieu d'horreur."
+
+The origin of Beckford's "Lives of Extraordinary Painters" was very odd.
+When he was fifteen years old the housekeeper came to him, and said she
+wished he would tell her something about the artists who painted his fine
+pictures, as visitors were always questioning her, and she did not know
+what to answer.  "Oh, very well; I'll write down some particulars about
+them."  He instantly composed "Lives of Extraordinary Painters."  The
+housekeeper studied the manuscript attentively, and regaled her
+astonished visitors with the marvellous incidents it contained; however,
+finding many were sceptical, she came to her young master and told him
+people would not believe what she told them.  "Not believe?  Ah, that's
+because it is only in manuscript.  Then we'll have it printed; they'll
+believe when they see it in print."  He sent the manuscript to a London
+publisher, and inquired what the expense of printing it would be.  The
+publisher read it with delight, and instantly offered the youthful author
+50 pounds for the manuscript.  The housekeeper was now able to silence
+all cavilers by producing the book itself.
+
+Having left an umbrella in Lansdown-crescent, I inquired of the gentleman
+to whom I am indebted for my introduction to Mr. Beckford if he thought
+it would be taking a liberty if I sent in my name when I called for it.
+"I really don't know what to say" was the answer, "you must do as you
+think proper.  I will only say that for my part I am always looking out
+for squalls, but I daresay he will be glad to see you."  I accordingly
+determined to make a bold stroke and call on him, remembering the old
+adage, "Quidlibet audendum picturis atque poetis."  The weather was most
+delightful.  A wet and cold summer had been succeeded by warm autumnal
+days, on which the sun shone without a cloud; it was one of those seasons
+of settled fair so uncommon in our humid country, when after witnessing a
+golden sunset you might sleep
+
+   Secure he'd rise to-morrow.
+
+I therefore called at the great man's house, and found the umbrella in
+the exact corner in the ante-room where it had been left a fortnight
+before, and told the porter to announce my name to his master.  I waited
+in anxiety in the hall a few moments.  The footman returned, saying his
+master was engaged, but if I would walk upstairs Mr. Beckford would come
+to me.  The servant led the way to the Duchess Drawing Room, opened the
+door, and on my entering he retired, leaving me alone in this gorgeous
+apartment, wondering what the dickens I did there.  You may suppose I was
+not a little delighted at this mark of confidence, and spent several
+minutes examining the pictures till the author of "Vathek" entered, his
+countenance beaming with good nature and affability.  He extended his
+hand in the kindest manner, and said he was extremely glad to see me.  I
+instantly declared the purport of my visit, that I had some copies of
+pictures that were once in his possession, and that it would give me the
+greatest possible pleasure to show them to him.  "I shall be delighted to
+see them" was the reply, "but for some days I am rather busy; I will come
+next week."  "You have had a visit from the author of 'Italy'," I
+observed; "people say that you like Mr. R.'s poem."  "Oh yes, some
+passages are very beautiful.  He is a man of considerable talent; but who
+was that person he brought with him?  What a delightful man!  I suppose
+it was Mr. L."  I replied, "I believe they are great friends."
+
+"What an awful state the country is in (he observed)!  One has scarcely
+time to think about poetry or painting, or anything else, when our
+stupid, imbecile Government allows public meetings of 150,000 men, where
+the most inflammatory language is used and the common people are called
+on to arm, beginning, too, with solemn prayer.  Their prayer will never
+succeed.  No, no, their solemn prayer is but a solemn mockery.  They
+seemed to have forgotten the name of the only Mediator, without whose
+intercession all prayer is worse than useless.  Well, well (said Mr.
+Beckford), depend upon it we shall have a tremendous outbreak before
+long.  The ground we stand on is trembling, and gives signs of an
+approaching earthquake.  Then will come a volcanic eruption; you will
+have fire, stones, and lava enough.  Afterwards, when the lava has
+cooled, there will be an inquiry for works of art.  I assure you I expect
+everything to be swept away."  I ventured to differ from him in that
+opinion, and said I was convinced that whatever political changes might
+happen, property was perfectly secure.  "Some reforms," I said, "would
+take place, and many pensions perhaps be swept away, but such changes
+would never affect him or his, and after all it was but a matter of
+pounds, shillings, and pence."  "There you are right," he exclaimed.  "If
+anything can save us 'twill be pounds, shillings, and pence," meaning, I
+suppose, a union of all classes who possessed property, from the pound of
+the peer to the penny of the plebeian.  "But the present times are really
+very critical.  Have you time to go through the rooms with me?" he
+demanded.  I replied that nothing would give me greater pleasure.  "But
+perhaps you are going somewhere?"  I answered that I was perfectly
+disengaged.  Passing along the landing of the stairs he paused before the
+Alderman's portrait, and observed, "Had my father's advice been taken we
+should not now be in danger of starvation."  I ventured to say that in
+those days there was more reciprocal feeling between the poor and the
+rich than at present; now a-days classes are so divided by artificial
+barriers that there is little or no sympathy between any.  "You are
+mistaken," he replied.  "As long as I remember anything there was always
+discontent, always heartburning; but at the time of my father's speech
+dissatisfaction had risen to such a pitch that I assure you these people
+were on the point of being sent back to the place they came from."  (He
+alluded to the present Royal Family).
+
+Mr. Beckford opened the door of the great library, and on entering I
+immediately discovered the cause of my being so much puzzled as to its
+architecture.  There are two doors in this magnificent room; one leads to
+the Duchess Drawing Room, the other to the landing, and to produce the
+air of privacy so delightful to a bookworm the latter is covered with
+imitative books, exactly corresponding with the rest of the library.  I
+remembered on my first entering the room from the staircase, and when the
+servant had closed the door, there appeared but one entrance, which was
+that by which we left this noble room, passing thence into the Duchess's
+room.  I puzzled my brains in vain to make out the geography of the
+place, but could make neither top nor tail, and should never have solved
+the enigma but for this third visit.  "I have been to Fonthill," he said,
+"since I saw you.  I don't think much of what Papworth has done there.  I
+rode thirty-eight miles in one day without getting out of the saddle.
+That was pretty well, eh?"  I thought so indeed for a man in his seventy-
+ninth year.
+
+* * * * *
+
+On the 28th of October, 1844, we left Bath determined to examine the once
+far-famed Abbey of Fonthill, and to see if its scenery was really as fine
+as report had represented.  The morning was cold and inauspicious, but
+when we reached Warminster the sun burst out through the mists that had
+obscured him, and the remainder of the day was as genial and mild as if
+had been May.  We procured the aid of a clownish bumpkin to carry our
+carpet bag, and left Warminster on foot.  About four miles from that town
+those barren and interminable downs are reached which seem to cover the
+greater part of Wiltshire.  The country is as wild as the mountain
+scenery of Wales, and the contrast between it and the polished city we
+had left in the morning was truly singular.  We took the road to
+_Hindon_, but a worthy old man, of whom we asked particulars, pointed out
+a pathway, which cut off at least a mile and a half.  We followed his
+direction, and left the high road.  Mounting the hill by a steep and
+chalky road we reached a considerable elevation; before us extended a
+succession of downs, and in the extreme distance a blue hill of singular
+form, at least nine miles off, was crowned by buildings of very unusual
+appearance.  Curiosity as to the place was at its utmost stretch, but our
+ignorant bumpkin could tell nothing about it.  It surely cannot be
+Fonthill was the instant suggestion?  Impossible.  Can we see the remains
+at this distance?  We continued our walk for about two miles, without
+losing sight of this interesting edifice, and at length all doubts were
+cleared in the certainty that the long wished-for object was absolutely
+before us.  It is impossible to describe the feelings of interest
+experienced by the sight of these gigantic remains.  The eastern transept
+still rises above the woods, a point, pinnacle, and round tower.
+Descending the hill towards Hindon we lost sight of the Abbey.  A most
+singular specimen of country life was presented by an old shepherd, of
+whom we inquired the way.  "How far is it to Hindon?"  "About four
+miles."  "Is this the right road?"  "Yes, you cannot miss it, but I
+haven't been there these forty years.  Naa, this is forty years agone
+save two that I went to Hindon: 'twas in 1807."
+
+This place, which once sent members to Parliament, and which the author
+of "Vathek" himself represented for many years, is not so large as the
+village of Batheaston!  There are neither lamps nor pavement, but it
+possesses a most picturesque little church.  It was one of the rotten
+boroughs swept away, and properly enough, by the Reform Bill.  Here our
+rustic relinquished his burden to a Hindon lad, who acted as our future
+cicerone, and undertook to show us the way to the inn called the Beckford
+Arms.  Soon after leaving Hindon the woods of Fonthill were reached.  We
+mounted a somewhat steep hill, and here met with a specimen of the
+gigantic nature of the buildings.  A tunnel about 100 feet long passed
+under the noble terrace, reaching from Knoyle to Fonthill Bishop, at
+least three miles in length; the tunnel was formed to keep the grounds
+private.  The beech trees, now arrayed in gaudy autumnal tints, seen
+through this archway have a lovely effect.  Emerging from the tunnel, the
+famous wall, seven miles long, was just in front.  To the left you trace
+the terrace, on a charming elevation, leading to Fonthill Gardens, and
+here and there you have glimpses of the great lake.  The ground is broken
+and varied in the most picturesque fashion.  You pass some cottages that
+remind you of Ryswick, and soon come to the church of Fonthill Gifford.
+This church is perfectly unique in form, its architecture purely Italian;
+one would think it was designed by Palladio.  There is a pretty portico
+supported by four tall Doric columns, and its belfry is a regular cupola.
+We at last gained the inn, and were shown into a lovely parlour that
+savoured of the refined taste that once reigned in this happy solitude.
+It is lofty, spacious, and surrounded by oak panels; it has a charming
+bow window, where are elegantly represented, in stained glass on distinct
+shields, the arms of Alderman Beckford, his wife, and their eccentric
+son.
+
+The evening was most lovely.  A soft haze had prevailed the whole
+afternoon, and as there was still an hour's daylight I determined on
+instantly visiting the ruins.  Just without the sacred enclosure that
+once prevented all intrusion to this mysterious solitude is the lovely
+little village of Fonthill Gifford; its charming cottages, with their
+neat gardens and blooming roses, are a perfect epitome of English
+rusticity.  A padlocked gate admits the visitor within the barrier; a
+steep road, but gently winding so as to make access easy, leads you to
+the hill, where once stood "the gem and the wonder of earth."
+
+The road is broad and entirely arched by trees.  Emerging suddenly from
+their covert an astonishing assemblage of ruins comes into view.  Before
+you stands the magnificent eastern transept with its two beautiful
+octangular towers, still rising to the height of 120 feet, but roofless
+and desolate; the three stately windows, 60 feet high, as open to the sky
+as Glastonbury Abbey; in the rooms once adorned with choicest paintings
+and rarities trees are growing.  Oh what a scene of desolation!  What the
+noble poet said of "Vathek's" residence in Portugal we may now literally
+say of Fonthill.
+
+   Here grown weeds a passage scarce allow
+   To halls deserted, portals gaping wide.
+   Fresh lessons, ye thinking bosoms, how
+   Vain are the pleasures by earth supplied,
+   Swept into wrecks anon by Time's ungentle tide.
+
+Of all desolate scenes there are none so desolate as those which we now
+see as ruins, and which were lately the abode of splendour and
+magnificence.  Ruins that have been such for ages, whose tenants have
+long since been swept away, recall ideas of persons and times so far back
+that we have no sympathy with them at all; but if you wish for a sight of
+all that is melancholy, all that is desolate, visit a modern ruin.  We
+passed through briars and brambles into the great octagon.  Straight
+before us stands the western doorway of the noble entrance hall; but
+where is its oaken roof, with its proud heraldic emblazonments, where its
+lofty painted windows, where its ponderous doors, more than 30 feet high?
+The cross still remains above, as if symbolical that religion triumphs
+over all, and St. Anthony still holds out his right hand as if to protect
+the sylvan and mute inhabitants of these groves that here once found
+secure shelter from the cruel gun and still more cruel dog.  But he is
+tottering in his niche, and when the wind is high is seen to rock, as if
+his reign were drawing to a close.
+
+Of the noble octagon but two sides remain.  Looking up, but at such an
+amazing elevation that it makes one's neck ache, still are seen two
+windows of the four nunneries that adorned its unique and unrivalled
+circuit.  And what is more wonderful than all, the noble organ screen,
+designed by "Vathek" himself, has still survived; its gilded lattices,
+though exposed for twenty years to the "pelting of the pitiless storm,"
+yet glitter in the last rays of the setting sun.  We entered the doorway
+of the southern entrance hall, that door which once admitted thousands of
+the curious when Fonthill was in its glory.  This wing, though not yet in
+ruins, not yet entirely dismantled, bears evident signs of decay.
+Standing on the marble floor you look up through holes in the ceiling,
+and discover the once beautifully fretted roof of St. Michael's Gallery.
+We entered the brown parlour.  This is a really noble room, 52 feet long,
+with eight windows, painted at the top in the most glorious manner.  This
+room has survived the surrounding desolation, and gives you a slight idea
+of the former glories of the place.  Each window consists of four
+gigantic pieces of plate-glass, and in the midst of red, purple, lilac,
+and yellow ornaments are painted four elegant figures, designed by the
+artist, Hamilton, of kings and knights, from whom Mr. Beckford was
+descended.  As there are eight windows there are thirty-two figures,
+drawn most correctly.  What reflections crowd the mind on beholding this
+once gorgeous room!  There stood the sideboard, once groaning beneath the
+weight of solid gold salvers.  In this very room dined frequently the
+magnificent "Vathek" on solid gold, and there, where stood his table,
+covered with every delicacy to tempt the palate, is now a pool of water,
+for the roof is insecure, and the rain streams through in torrents.  On
+the right hand is the famous cedar boudoir, whose odoriferous perfume is
+smelt even here.  We entered the Fountain Court, but sought in vain the
+stream that was once forced up, at vast expense, from the vale below and
+trickled over its marble bason.
+
+   For the stream has shrunk from its marble bed,
+   Where the weeds and desolate dust are spread.
+
+One would almost imagine Byron had written his lines in the "Giaour"
+describing Hassan's residence amidst the ruins of Fonthill, so striking,
+so tangible, is the resemblance.  He says of the fountains--
+
+   'Twas sweet of yore to hear it play
+   And chase the sultriness of day,
+   As springing high the silver dew
+   In whirls fantastically flew
+   And flung luxurious coolness round
+   The air, and verdure o'er the ground.
+   'Twas sweet, when cloudless stars were bright,
+   To view the wave of watery light
+   And hear its melody by night.
+
+But the shades of evening, now rapidly advancing, warned us to depart
+while there was yet light enough to trace our path through the gloomy
+wood.  We entered its thick and umbrageous covert, and were near losing
+our road before we reached the barrier gate.  The road was strewed with
+dry leaves, which reminded me of the earthly hopes of man.
+
+   He builds too low who builds beneath the skies,
+
+and he who wishes for solid happiness must rest on a broader base than
+that afforded by momentary enjoyment, tempting and blooming as the
+foliage of summer, but evanescent as its withered leaves.
+
+The next morning was finer than our most sanguine wishes could have
+anticipated.  We were not long dispatching our comfortable breakfast, and
+hastened to the barrier gate.  We here met a venerable woman, whose noble
+features and picturesque dress would have served as a splendid model for
+Gainsborough or Ben Barker.  Stopping to inquire a nearer road to the
+Abbey, as she seemed indigenous to the place, I was tempted to ask if she
+knew Mr. Beckford.  "I have seen him, sir, many, many times; but he is
+gone, and I trust--I do trust--to rest.  He was a good man to the poor,
+never was there a better."  "You astonish me; I had heard that he never
+gave away anything."  "Good gracious, sir, who could have invented such
+lies?  There never was a kinder friend to the poor, and when he left they
+lost a friend indeed.  Not give away anything!  Why, sir, in the winter,
+when snow was on the ground and firing dear, he used to send wagons and
+wagons for coal to Warminster, and make them cut through the snow to
+fetch it, and gave the poor souls plenty of firing, besides money,
+blankets, and clothing, too, and as for me I can answer for three half-
+sovereigns he gave me himself at different times with his own hand."  "You
+surprise me."  "I saw him coming once with his servants.  I had my baby
+in my arms--that's she that lives in that cottage yonder, she's grown a
+woman now--and I was shuffling along to get out of his way, when he
+called out, 'What a beautiful little babe, let me look at it,' and then
+he smiled and made as though he would shake hands with the child, and,
+bless you, he slipped half-a-sovereign into my hand."  I confess I was
+delighted at the little anecdote, and I am sure the good woman's praise
+was perfectly disinterested.  Those who know anything of the poor are
+convinced they never flatter those from whom they can never again derive
+any benefit.  I had almost expected to hear curses, if not loud at least
+deep.
+
+A bailiff resides in the Abbey stables, who has charge of the place, but
+the "steeds are vanished from the stalls."  We inquired if we could see
+the remaining apartments, but found the bailiff was gone to Hindon, and
+had taken the keys with him.  Here was a difficulty indeed.  "Perhaps,"
+said his daughter, "you can get into the great Tower staircase; I think
+the door is open."  We proceeded thither, but alas! a ponderous door and
+locked most unequivocally denied all entrance.  "Perhaps father has left
+the key in his old coat; I will run and see" said our interesting young
+cicerone.  She scuttled off, and we waited in anxiety, till in five
+minutes she returned with a large bunch of keys, the passport to the
+extraordinary apartments still remaining.  My joy was as great at hearing
+the lock turn as was ever "Vathek's" when he discovered the Indian at the
+gate of the Hall of Eblis with his _clef d'or_.  The great circular
+staircase survived the shock of the falling tower.  The stairs wind round
+a massive centre, or newel, three feet in diameter; the ascent is gentle,
+the stairs at least six feet broad.  They form an approach light,
+elegant, and so lofty that you cannot touch with the hand the stairs
+above your head.  Numerous small windows make the staircase perfectly
+light, and the inside is so clean that it is difficult to believe it is
+not continually scoured and whitened, but this I was assured was not the
+case.  Two hundred and ten steps lead to a leaden roof, the view from
+which beggars description.  You have here a bird's eye view of the lovely
+estate.  Majestic trees, hanging woods, and luxuriant plantations cover
+the ground for two or three miles round, whilst beyond this begin those
+immense and interminable downs for which Wiltshire is so noted; they are
+dreary and barren enough in themselves, but at such a point as this,
+where the foreground and middle distance are as verdant and richly clad
+with trees as can possibly be desired, their effect is very beautiful.
+The absence of enclosures produces breadth and repose, and the local
+colour melts gradually into the grey distance in the most charming
+manner.  Looking westward the great avenue, a mile in length, presents
+itself; to the south the Beacon-terrace, a green road more than two miles
+long, leads to a high hill, where the Alderman commenced, but never
+finished, a triangular tower.  This road, or rather avenue, has a most
+charming effect; the trees that bound its sides are planted in a zigzag
+direction, so as to destroy the appearance of formality, whilst in
+reality it is a straight road, and you walk at once in a direct line,
+without losing the time you would if the road were more tortuous.  On the
+south side the view is most fascinating.  In a deep hollow not half-a-
+mile off, enbosomed, nay almost buried amidst groves of pine and beech,
+are discovered the dark waters of the bittern lake.  The immense
+plantations of dark pines give it this sombre hue, but in reality the
+waters are clear as crystal.  Beyond these groves, still looking south,
+you discover the woods about Wardour Castle, and amongst them the silvery
+gleam of another sheet of water.  To the south-west is the giant spire of
+Salisbury, which since the fall of Fonthill Tower now reigns in solitary
+stateliness over these vast regions of down and desert.  Stourton Tower
+presents itself to the north, whilst to the west, in the extreme
+distance, several high hills are traced which have quite a mountainous
+character--
+
+   Naveled in the woody hills,
+   And calm as cherished hate, its surface wears
+   A deep, cold, settled aspect nought can shake.
+
+The north wing of the Abbey, containing the oratory, does not seem to
+have suffered from the fall of the Tower, and we next proceeded to
+inspect it.  A winding staircase from the kitchen court leads you at once
+to that portion of the gallery called the vaulted corridors.  The
+ceilings of four consecutive rooms are beautiful beyond all expectation.
+Prepared as I was by the engravings in Rutter and Britton to admire these
+ceilings, I confess that the real thing was finer than I could possibly
+have imagined.  King Edward's ceiling of dark oak (and its ornaments in
+strong relief) is as fresh as if just painted, and the beautiful cornice
+round the four walls of this stately gallery is still preserved, with its
+three gilded mouldings, but the seventy-two emblazoned shields that
+formed an integral part of the frieze have been ruthlessly torn off.  The
+roof of the vaulted corridor with its gilded belts is the most perfect of
+the series of rooms, and that of the sanctum is beautifully rich; it is
+fretted in the most elegant way with long drops, pendants, or hangings
+like icicles, at least nine inches deep.  Here alas! the hands of vandals
+have knocked off the gilded roses and ornaments that were suspended.
+These three apartments are painted in oak, and gold is most judiciously
+introduced on prominent parts.  But the ceiling of the last compartment
+is beyond all praise; it gleams as freshly with purple, scarlet, and gold
+as if painted yesterday.  Five slender columns expand into and support a
+gilded reticulation on a dark crimson ground.  In the centre of the
+ceiling is still hanging the dark crimson cord which formerly supported
+the elegant golden lamp I had formerly admired in Lansdown-crescent; it
+seemed to have been hastily cut down, and its height from the floor and
+its deep colour, the same as the ceiling, has probably prevented its
+observation and removal.  The southern end of the gallery has been
+stripped of its floor, and it was with difficulty, and not without
+danger, I got across a beam; and, standing with my back against the brick
+wall that has been built up at the end, where were once noble glazed
+doors opening into the grand octagon, I surveyed the whole lovely
+perspective; the length from this spot is 120 feet.  The beautiful
+reddish alabaster chimney-piece still remains, but it is split in the
+centre, whether from the weight of wall or a fruitless attempt to tear it
+out I know not.  The recesses, once adorned with the choicest and rarest
+books, still retain their sliding shelves, but the whole framework of the
+windows has been removed, and they are open to the inclemency of the
+weather, or roughly boarded up.  The stove, once of polished steel, is
+now brown and encrusted with rust as if the iron were 500 years old.  It
+is impossible for an architect or artist to survey the ruthless and
+wanton destruction of this noble wing, unscathed and uninjured but by the
+hands of barbarous man, without feelings of the deepest regret and
+sorrow.  How forcibly do the lines of the noble bard recur to the mind on
+surveying these apartments, still magnificent, yet neglected, and slowly
+and surely falling into ruin--
+
+   For many a gilded chamber's here,
+   Which solitude might well forbear,
+   Within this dome, ere yet decay
+   Hath slowly worked her cankering way.
+
+I ran up the circular staircase, and entered the noble state bedroom.  The
+enormous plate glasses still remain; the ceiling is of carved oak
+relieved by gold ornaments.  With what emotion did I turn through the
+narrow gallery, leading to the state room, to the tribune, which looked
+into the great octagon.  A lofty door was at the extremity.  I attempted
+to open it; it yielded to the pressure, and I stood on the very balcony
+that looked into the octagon.
+
+Here the whole scene of desolation is surveyed at a glance.  How deep
+were my feelings of regret at the destruction of the loftiest domestic
+apartment in the world.  Twenty years ago this glorious place was in all
+its splendour.  High in the air are still seen two round windows that
+once lighted the highest bedrooms in the world.  What an extraordinary
+idea!  On this lofty hill, 120 feet from the ground, were four bedrooms.
+Below these round windows are the windows of two of the chambers called
+nunneries.  Landing on this balcony I quickly conjured up a vision of
+former glory.  There were the lofty windows gleaming with purple and
+gold, producing an atmosphere of harmonious light peculiar to this place,
+the brilliant sunshine covering everything within its influence with
+yellow quatrefoils.  From that pointed arch once descended draperies 50
+feet long!  The very framework of these vast windows was covered with
+gold.  There was the lovely gallery opening to the nunneries, through
+whose arches ceilings were discovered glittering with gold, and walls
+covered with pictures.  Exactly opposite was another tribune similar to
+this; below it the immense doors of St. Michael's Gallery, whose crimson
+carpet, thickly strewed with white roses; was seen from this place,
+whilst far, far above, at an elevation of 130 feet, was seen the lofty
+dome, its walls pierced with eight tall windows, and even these were
+painted and their frames gilded.  The crimson list to exclude draught
+still remained on these folding doors, but the lock was torn off!  I
+closed the doors, not without a feeling of sadness, and returning to the
+small gallery again ran up the Lancaster Gallery to another noble
+bedroom.  Finding the stairs still intact I mounted them, and found a
+door, which opened on to the roof.  We were now on the top of the
+Lancaster Tower.  Though not so extensive as the view from the platform
+of the great staircase, there is a peep here that is most fascinating; it
+is the extreme distance seen through the ruined window of the opposite
+nunnery.
+
+The glimpse I had of the bittern lake having sharpened my appetite to see
+it, I descended the staircase of the Lancaster turret, and marching off
+in a southerly direction hastened towards its shores.  But it is so
+buried in wood that it was not without some difficulty we found it.  Never
+in happy England did I see a spot that so forcibly reminded me of
+Switzerland.  Though formed by Art, so happily is it concealed that
+Nature alone appears, and this lovely lake seems to occupy the crater of
+an extinct volcano.  It is much larger than I anticipated.  A walk runs
+all round it; I followed its circuit, and soon had a glorious view of the
+Abbey, standing in solitary stateliness on its wooded hill on the
+opposite side.  The waters were smooth as a mirror, and reflected the
+ruined building; its lofty towers trembled on the crystal wave, as if
+they were really rocking and about to share the fate of the giant Tower
+that was once here reflected.  We followed the banks of the lake.  Passing
+some noble oaks that were dipping their extended boughs in the water, we
+soon gained the opposite side.  Here is a labyrinth of exotic plants, a
+maze of rhododendrons, azaleas, and the productions of warmer climes,
+growing as if indigenous to the soil.  We passed between great walls of
+rhododendrons, in some places 15 feet high, and reached a seat, from
+whence you see the whole extent of this lovely sheet of water.  What I
+had seen and admired so much on Lansdown was here carried to its utmost
+perfection; I mean the representation of a southern wilderness.  In this
+spot the formality of gardening is absolutely lost.  These enormous
+exotic plants mingle with the oak, the beech, and the pine, so naturally
+that they would delight a landscape painter.  These dark and solemn
+groves of fir, contrasting so strikingly with the beech woods, now
+arrayed in their last gaudiest dress, remind me forcibly of Switzerland
+and the Jura Mountains, which I saw at this very season.  Nature at this
+period is so gaudily clad that we may admire her for her excessive
+variety of tints, but cannot dare to copy her absolutely.  In this
+sheltered and sequestered spot the oaks, though brown and leafless
+elsewhere, are still verdant as July.  Every varied shade of the
+luxuriant groves--yellow, red, dark, and light green--every shade is
+reflected in these clear waters.  Three tall trees on the opposite shore
+have, however, quite lost their leaves, and their reflection in the wave
+is so exactly like Gothic buildings, that one is apt to imagine you see
+beneath the waters the fairy palace of the Naiads, the guardians of this
+terrestrial Paradise.
+
+
+
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