The bad we court not.-To the good we fay, ART. I. The Hiftory of the principal Rivers of Great Britain Vol. 11. Folio. 41. 4s. Boydell. 1796. THIS truly magnificent work, as far as it regards the river Thames, is here brought to a conclufion; and, if the fubfcribers and the public had caufe to be fatisfied with the first volume, in our opinion, they have much greater reafon to be fo with the fecond. The metropolis and its vicinity, as connected with the Thames, if it gave greater fcope to the fkill and genius of the artift, was, at the fame time, from the multitude of objects neceffarily comprehended, attended with extraordinary difficulty, and far more expofed to every kind of criticism. But the fcenes here reprefented are well chofen and happily executed, and if any objection shall be made to their being lefs agreeable than might be expected by fome readers, A BRIT. CRIT, VOL. VIII. JULY, 1796. they they will be found by all in the minutest degree, faithful, and thus, like thofe of Hollar, will, at future periods, be eagerly fought and defervedly admired. The plan of this is the fame with that of the preceding volume. The more important places and more interefting fcenery in the vicinity of the river, are defcribed by the writer, and delineated by the artist. It commences with Strawberry Hill, the feat of the venerable Lord Orford, of which, if we had not already prefented our readers with the account, by Mr. Lyfons, we fhould willingly have inferted the agreeable reprefentation exhibited in the work before as. We fhall, therefore, select the defcriptions of Sion Houfe, which, though univerfally admired by the passengers on the river, is, with regard to its hiftory and interior, but little known; and of Penhurst, the feat of the gallant Sir Philip Sidney. "Sion Houfe was originally a convent, founded by Henry the Fifth, in the year 1414, for fixty nuns, of the order of Saint Bridget of Zion, thirteen priefts, four deacons, and eight lay brethren. It was endowed, on its foundation, with a revenue of one thoufand marks, which was afterwards increased to one thousand feven hundred and thirty-one pounds per annum. An abbels and nuns were refident there in the time of Philip and Mary, but were fent away in the first year of Queen Elizabeth. At the diffolution, the revenues of this religious houfe amounted to one thousand, nine hundred, and fortyfour pounds, eleven fhillings, and oight-pence per annum, after which period the abbots, nuns, lay fifters, &c. to the number of feventythree, received penfions during their lives. The laft abbefs was interred at Denham Church, near Uxbridge; and a great part of the infcription on the grave ftone is ftill legible. This monaftery was granted by Edward the Sixth, in the first year of his reign, to the protector, Edward, Duke of Somerfet, who built a fuperb palace out of its ruins, the fhell of which ftill remains in its primitive flate. After the fall of that potent robleman, it reverted to the crown. In the feventh year of Edward the Sixth, it was granted to John, Duke of Northumberland; and, on his attainder, James the First gave it to Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland. In 1646, the Dukes of York and Gloucefter, and the Princess Elizabeth, were fent hither by order of parliament, and were treated with fuch kind attention by the Earl and Countefs of Northumberland, that their unfortunate father, when he vifited them in the following year, received no fmall confolation, on finding his children under fuch friendly care and protection. From this period it continued to be the refi dence of the Earls of Northumberland. In the year 1682, Charles, Duke of Somerfet, married the Lady Elizabeth Percy, the only daughter and heiress of Jofceline, Earl of Northumberland, by which alliance Sion became the property of that nobleman, who lent it to the Princess of Denmark, during the time that a coolness fubfifted between her royal highnefs and her fifter, Queen Mary. On the death of Charles, Duke of Somerset, in 1748, Algernon, Earl of Hertford, Hertford, his only furviving fon, fucceeded to the title and immenfer property of his father, and foon after gave Sion to his daughter and fon-in-law, the late Duke and Dutchefs of Northumberland, to whose magnificent tafte it owes its prefent grandeur and beauty. The houfe occupies the fite of the mon ftic church, and is a large and majeftic ftructure. It is a fquare edifice of stone, built round a quadrangles every front is embattled and ornamented at the angles with embattled turrets: the eastern elevation, which faces the Thames, is fupported by arches, that form a grand piazza. The original gardens were made by the protector, Somerset, in a ftyle of great inagniscence; and, according to the fashion of the age, enclofed within high walls and elevated by terraces; but these were deftroyed and levelled by the late noble poffeffor; and the lower apartments of the house now look upon the beautiful fcene, which was excluded by the faftidious pride of former times. The weitern lawn, enriched with ftately trees, is interfected by a ferpentine water, and divided by flourishing plantations from the eaftern part of the grounds, which flopes to wards the river. The flower garden contains a large collection of curious trees and exotic plants, and a lofty Doric column rifes in it and dignifies the fpot. A part of the walls, that enclofe the kitchen garden, forms the only remains of the ancient monaftery, The in terior part of this noble edifice is faid to have received confiderable alterations from the skill of Inigo Jones, in the early part of laft century; but it was the fumptuous tatte of the late Duke of Northum berland which completed and furnished it, in its present state of unrivalled fplendour. Among its fpacious apartments, where the antique style of decorations has been employed with peculiar felicity, is a fpacious anti-chamber of unique magnificence. The floor is of feaglioli and the walls in fine relief, with gilded trophies: but its diftinguishing ornaments are twelve large columns and fixteen pilafters of verde antique, containing a greater quantity of this fearce and precious marble than is now, perhaps, to be found in any building in the world. The great gallery, which ferves for the library and mufeum, is one hundred and thirty feet in length. The book cafes are formed in receffes in the wall, and receive the books in fuch a manner, as to make them a part of the general finishing of the room. The whole is finished with the utmoft lightness and elegance, in the moft beautiful ftyle of the antique, and afforded the firit example of ftucco work, finished in England, after the fine remains of antiquity. The cieling is richly adorned with paintings and other ornamente, that harmonize with the beautiful decorations that pervade the other parts of this fuperb apartment. Beneath the cieling runs a feries of large medallion paintings, exhibiting the portraits of all the Earls of Northumberland in fucceffion, with other diftinguished perfonages of the noble houses of Percy and Seymour, most of which are copied from original pictures. At the weft end is a pair of folding doors, that open into the garden, which the general uniformity of the library required to reprefent a book-cafe; and here, by a very happy thought, are exhibited the titles of the Greek and Roman authors, which not only form a very pleafing deception; but, at the fame time, afford a curious catalogue of the authores deperditi. The other apartments A 2 are |