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panying Plate. Over the arch, engraved on grey marble, were the fol

lowing lines, written by Sir Nicholas himself:

HÆC CUM PERFECIT NICOLAUS TECTA BACONUS,
ELIZABETH REGNI LUSTRA FUERE DUO;
FACTUS EQUES, MAGNI CUSTOS FUIT IPSE SIGILLI,
GLORIA SIT SOLI TOTA TRIBUTA DEO.
MEDIOCRIA FIRMA.

From the Porch an ascent of four or five steps led to the upper end of the Hall. In the centre of the lower end was a door of carved oak which led to a suite of apartments, occupying the left-hand, or western, side of the quadrangle, and consisting of an eatingroom, a small anti-chamber, and a drawing-room. On the opposite side were several other rooms, and a small hall called the Armour hall. Behind the hall was a second court, surrounded by the offices.

DE AMICITIA. [1]

In amico admonendo, melius est successum, quam fidem deesse. Omnia cum amico delibera: sed de ipso, prius.

DE AMORE. [1.]

Amor, insana amicitia: illius affectus : istius ratio, causa: at ea sola amicitia durat, cui virtus basis est.

Over a gate leading into the orchard, which had a garden on one side and a wilderness on the other, under the statue of Orpheus stood these verses : Horrida nuper eram aspectu latebræque fe

rarum,

Ruricolis tantum numinibusque locus. Edomitor faustò huc dum forte supervenit Orpheus,

The Gallery was panneled with oak, gilt in compartments, with Latin inscriptions over each. In the Royal Collection of MSS. at the British MuUlterius qui me non sinit esse rudem; seum (17 A XXIII.) is a volume con- Convocat, avulsis virgulta virentia truncis, Et sedem quæ vel Diis placuisse potest. taining copies of these inscriptions, Sicque mei cultor, sic est mihi cultus et Orbeautifully written on fourteen oblong leaves of vellum, in gold letters upon various coloured grounds. The first page contains a very beautiful illumination of the arms of Joanna Lady Lumley, the heiress of the Earls of Arundel, with this superscription :

"Syr Nicholas Bacon Knyghte to his very good ladye the Ladye Lumley sendeth this."

pheus:
Floreat O noster cultus amorque diu!

In the Orchard was a little Ban

queting-house, adorned with great curiosity, having the Liberal Arts beautifully depicted on its walls; over them the pictures of such learned men as had excelled in each; and under them verses expressive of the benefits derived from the study of them. These

At the head of the next page is the verses, and the names of those whose following title:

"Sentences painted in the Lorde Kepars Gallery at Gorhambury, and selected by him owt of divers authors, and sent to the good Ladye Lumley at her desire."

The sentences themselves, which are thirty-seven in number, and each bearing a title, as DE SUMMO BONO, DE AMBITIONE, are transcribed in Miss Grimston's book; and we believe facsimiles of some of them have been published by Mr. Henry Shaw, F.S.A.

The two following are specimens: and they are given because they were omitted (no doubt accidentally) by Miss Grimston.

Some notices of the literary pursuits of Joanna Lady Lumley will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. CIII. ii. 495.

pictures were there placed, follow:

GRAMMAR.

Lex sum sermonis, linguarum regula certa,
Qui me non didicit cætera nulla petat.
DONATUS, LILLY, SERVIUS, and PRISCIAN.

ARITHMETIC.

Ingenium exacuo, numerorum arcana recludo,
Qui numeros didicit quid didicisse nequit.
STIFELIUS, BUDEUS, PYTHAGORAS.

LOGIC.

Divido multiplices, res explanoque latentes,
Vera exquiro, falsa arguo, cuncta probo.
ARISTOTLE, RODOLPH, PORPHYRY, SETON.
MUSIC.

Mitigo moerores, et acerbas lenio curas,
Gestiat ut placidis mens hilarata sonis.
ARIAN, TERPANDER, ORPHEUS.
RHETORIC.

Me duce splendescit, gratis prudentia verbis,
Jamque ornata nitet quæ fuit ante rudis.
CICERO, ISOCRATES, DEMOSTHENES,
QUINTILIAN.

GEOMETRY. Corpora describo rerum, et quo singula pacto Apte sunt formis appropriata suis. ARCHIMIDES, EUCLID, STRABO, APOLLONIUS.

ASTROLOGY.

Astrorum lustrans cursus viresque potentes, Elicio miris fata futura modis. REGIOMONTANUS, HALY, COPERNICUS, PTOLEMY.

From the paper already inserted, it has been shown that the house was not finished until 1568. Four years after, as is supposed, it received its first visit from Queen Elizabeth. Her intention of so doing is recorded by the following letter of the Lord Keeper to the Lord Treasurer:†

"After my hartie comendacions. Understanding by comen speche that the Quenes Matie meanes to come to my howse, And knowyng no certentie of the tyme of her comyng nor of her aboade, I have thowght good to praye you that this bearer my servaunt might understond what you knowe therein, And yf it be trewe, Then that I myght understond yo' advise what you thinke to be the best waye for me to deale in this matter. For, in very deede, no man is more rawe in suche a matter then my selfe. And thus wisshing to yo' L. as to my selfe, I leave any further to trouble you at this tyme. From my howse at Gorhamburie this xijth of Julij 1572.

Yo' L. assured

N. Baco C. S.

The date is altered from the xth to the zij & the Lord Keeper has added to the letter, which was written by his secretary, the following hasty postscript.

"I have wrete thys bycause I wolde gladly take yt cours y' myght best pleas hur Matie, weh I knowe not how better to understond then by yor help.

Addressed, "To my very good L. the L. of Burghley."

tertainment on this occasion are preserved; except the remark which her Majesty made on first surveying the mansion. It appears to have been less than she expected, or than many others of the aspiring structures of that magnificent æra in domestic architecture. So she said, "My Lord Keeper, you have made your house too little for you." He replied, with the characteristic humility of one whose motto was MEDIOCRIA FIRMA,-" Not so, Madam, but your Majesty has made me too big for my house."

The Queen was again at Gorhambury in 1573-4, her charter to the town of Thetford being dated at Gorhambury, March 12, in the 16th year of her reign.

Previously to the Queen's next visit the Lord Keeper had complied with her suggestion. He erected for her reception a Gallery, 120 feet in length, and 18 in breadth, but its materials were only lath and plaster. At either end was a small apartment. Under the whole were Cloisters, in the centre of which (in a niche) was a statue of King Henry the Eighth, cut in stone, with gilt armour, and at the upper end were busts of Sir Nicholas and his second wife, inserted in the wall. From the antechamber, which communicated with the Gallery, were two doors; one, on the left, intended for common use; the other, on the right, for her Majesty to enter; and after her departure Sir Nicholas, with the refined flattery of the times, caused that door to be closed, that no other step might pass the same threshold.

This visit took place from Saturday the 18th of May 1577 to the following Wednesday; and this account of its expenses is preserved in the Lambeth

No particulars of the Queen's en- Library:

"The Charges expended at Gorhambury by reason of her Matie comynge thither on Saturday the xviijth of Maye 1577 before supper, and contynewinge untill Wednesday after dynner followinge, warranted by a booke of particulers :

Pantry and Pastry.-First for wheatt in the Pantry and Pastry
Buttery.-Item in beare and ale
Cellar. Item in wyne of all kyndes

* The original is in MS. Lansd. 14.

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The Queen came to Gorhambury from the Lord Treasurer's own mansion at Theobalds. On her visits to that celebrated place, which in the time of her successor became a royal palace, see our vol. VI. p. 260. A view of Theobalds was given in vol. V. p. 147.

GENT. MAG. VOL, XXIII,

G

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to your Correspondent a mystery. The Sir Griffith Donne, who in the Gwrgant MS. in the College of Arms, is said"to have formed an alliance with the Hastings family, and to have left issue, though this marriage does not appear in the accounts of the house of Hastings," is here represented as married, but no other mention is made of the person, than that she was "the Lady of Tir mawr." But the offspring of this match is stated to have been Elizabeth, sole heiress. This lady married Thomas Hughes of Uxbridge, son of Dr. Hughes of Wales, and their issue were two sons and two daughters. The younger, Grisel,

married, 1st. Lord Abergavenny, and
2ndly, Christopher Clifford, brother
to the Earl of Cumberland. This, ex-
cepting the christian name of "Chris-
topher," is confirmed by Vincent's
Baronagium, No. 20, pp. 15 and 278,
where it is stated that Edward Neville
d'nus de Abergavenny, obiit A. 31
Elizabethæ, leaving his widow Griselda,
daughter of Thomas Hughes de Ux-
bridge, who afterwards espoused
"Franciscus de Clifford, post mortem
fratris sui senioris, comitem fuit Cum-
briæ."

Trusting this short remark may be
deemed of use,
I remain,
Yours, &c. S. R. MEYRICK.

GORHAMBURY HOUSE, HERTFORDSHIRE.
(With a Plate.)

GORHAMBURY derived its name from the family of Robert de Gorham, who was elected Abbat of St. Alban's in 1151, and who alienated from the church this manor (previously called Westwick), in favour of his sècular relatives. It was re-united, by purchase, to the possessions of the abbey, in 1389.

The foundations of the monastic manor-house, including those of a large round tower, may still be traced in dry summers. It was situated in front of the modern house, lower down the hill, and commanding a good view of the wood.t

After the dissolution of Monasteries the manor was granted by the Crown to Ralph Rowlet, esq. afterwards knighted, and sold by his grandson,

Elaborate pedigrees of the Gorham family have been recently published in the Collectanea Topographica and Genealogica, vol. v. p. 189, vol. vii. p. 288, vol. viii. p. 92.

† See a plan, showing the situations of the four successive mansions at Gorhambury, in "The History of Gorhambury," by the Hon. Charlotte Grimston: a volume privately printed in quarto, and remarkable for its being an autograph, multiplied by the process of lithography. It was produced about the year 1826. (See Martin's Catalogue of Privately Printed Books, p. 236.) From this curious and authentic volume our present article will be principally derived,

Ralph Maynard, esq. to Sir Nicholas
Bacon, the Lord Keeper.

Sir Nicholas Bacon commenced erecting a new mansion at Gorhambury on the 1st of March 1363. Among the papers of his son Anthony, in the library at Lambeth Palace, is one containing the following particulars :

"A Brief of the whole charges bestowed upoh the building of Gorhambury, between the years 1563 and the last day of September 1568, viz. by the space of five years and fourteen days:

£315 9 0
461 7 1

1563

1564

1565

177 6 7

1566

568 3 9

1567

171 8 81

1568

204 16

[Total
"Memorandum.

£1898 11 94]

There is not accounted for in this brief any Timber felled in the Lord Keeper's woods or otherwise; neither is there valued any freestone from the abbey of St. Alban's, lime, sand; nor the profits that might have accrued of burning and making of brick within the time mentioned."

Sir Nicholas Bacon's building consisted of a quadrangle of about seventy feet square, in the centre of which was the entrance, and on each side small turrets. The door of entry led through a cloister into a court, in which, facing the entrance, was a porch of Roman architecture, which still exists in ruin, and is represented in the accom

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Ewry and Chaundry.-Item in cotton-lightes and in quarriers, torches, and mertrezes Kytchen.-Item, in beef 8 oxen, 317. 38. 7d. In Mutton 60 carcases, 271. In Veales 18 carcases, 91. 6s. 3d. In Lambs 34 carcases, 77. 158. 4d. In Kids 50s. Achates in Fowle.-Item, Capons of all kinds 206, 167. 58. 4d. Pullets of all kindes, 218. Chekins 31 dozen and 8, 61. 6s. 8d. Geese 10 dozen, 67. 128. Herrons 12 dozen and 8, 267. 138. 4d. Bitters 8 dozen and 10, 177. 48. 2d. Ducklings 12 dozen, 31. 138. Pigeons 19 dozen and 7, 428. 8d. Birds of the neast 18 dozen and 7, 18s. 7d. Godwittes 2 dozen, 41. Dotterells 14, 98. 4d. Shovelers 13, 438. 4d. Fezaunts 2 dozen and 5, 31. 12s. 6d. Pertriches 14, 11s. 8d. Quails 16 dozen and 9, 81. 7s. 6d. Mayechickes 17 dozen, 31. 88. Teales 12, 48. Larkes 3 dozen and 9, 2s. 6d. one dozen, 48. Achates in Fyshe.-Item for Sea Fyshe of all kindes, Freshe-water Fyshe of all kindes 137. 08. 8d. Achates, viz.-In Gammons of Bacon, baked and boyled, 30s. Tonges 24, 168. Pigges 26, 37s. Bacon in Flitches, 11s. Neates Tongues, 8s. Sheeps Tonges, 6d. Cowes Udders, 12d. Calves Feet, 28. Hare 1, 16d. Rabbetes 41 dozen and 9, 71. 98. 6d. Butter, 81. 14s. 8d. Eggs, 57s. Creame, 50s. 8d. Milke, 6d. Frutte, 338. 9d. 28 12 11 Saltery.-Item, in Vinegre and Verges

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Spicery.-Item, in Spice of all sorts

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Confectionary.-Item, in Banquetting Stuff
Wood-yarde.-Item, in Woode

Coolehouse.-Item in Cooles

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Necessaries, Herbes, Flowers, and Artichoks.-Item, in Necessaryes,
187. 58. 9d. In Herbes, Flowers, and Artichokes, 6l. 158. 10d.
Rewards.-Item, in Rewards for Presents,† 197. 16s. In Rewards for
Officers of the Queen, 121. 58.

36 18 6

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Cariedge. Item, in Cariedges from London to Gorhambury, and from
Gorhambury backe againe to London

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Item, for Loss of Pewter, 61. 15s. 6d. For Loss in Naperye, 408. 6d.

8 16 0

Summa totalis of all Expences, besides a Cupp presented to the Queenes
Majestie

Besides 25 Bucks and 2 Stagges, &c.

In acknowledgment of this entertainment, it is said that the Lord Keeper received from the Queen that portrait of her by Hilliard, which is still in the collection at the present

mansion.

Sir Nicholas Bacon, on his death in 1579, devised Gorhambury to the elder son of his second marriage, Anthony Bacon, esq. a man of considerable

£577 6 74

political talents, but who made an un. fortunate choice in attaching himself to the party of the Earl of Essex. He resided with that nobleman at Essex House in the Strand, in the capacity of Secretary, and died there, a few months after the loss of his patron, in the year 1601. Gorhambury had in the mean time been inhabited by Lady Bacon, the widow of the Lord Keeper.

*Provisions purchased, in distinction to those already in the stores of the House

hold.

When the Queen visited any great house, its owner generally received presents of provisions from all his neighbours. See the list of those sent in to Lord Ellesmere at Harefield, Middlesex, in 1602, in the Egerton Papers, published by the Camden Society, p. 350.

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