Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq., vol 2 | Page 4

happy for his people to shew
it me and my friends, although they did not in general make a practice
of doing it. "You will find it," said he, "Mr. Hunt, a comfortable
residence for a country gentleman. It is small, but comfortable."
I had two or three days good sport, in grouse shooting, though my
friends, who were too delicate sportsmen to encounter, with success,
the difficulties and dangers of the Welsh mountains, returned, without
having killed a single bird. It was, however, altogether, a pleasant
excursion, and as we returned we spent a day or two at the Fish-ponds,
near Bristol, with Dr. Fox, who had recently paid me a visit at
Chisenbury, as a friend of one of the shooting party. As we were on our
way home, the Marquis of Lansdown's polite and gentlemanly conduct
became the subject of conversation; and as one of my friends, who
came out of Berkshire, expressed a wish, as we passed by Bow-wood,
the seat of the Marquis, to see the place, before he went home, we fixed
a day, and made a party, determined to accept the offer of the Noble
Marquis, to visit his seat, and see the beautiful pleasure-grounds, park,
and cascade, which surround the mansion, and likewise view the fine
paintings which it contained. I fell in with this plan the more readily,
because my Berkshire friend rather hoaxed me, for professing to
believe that the Marquis was sincere. He said he was a fine old courtier,
and it cost him nothing to be polite; but, with regard to what he said
about the pleasure he would feel at skewing us Bow-wood, they were
mere words of course, and he would think no more of them afterwards;
and if we went to see it, we should be treated the same as we were
when we went to see Blenheim, the seat of the Duke of Marlborough,
which was, we had to pay about thirty shillings to the different servants
that showed us over the house, gardens, and grounds, at which,
considering it was built for the great Duke of Marlborough, at the
public expense, I had expressed my disapprobation. I contended, that
we should be treated in a different manner, and that the old Marquis

would not allow his servants to behave so shabbily. I was, however,
laughed at, for expecting that a Nobleman would take the pains to write
home from Wales, to his servants, to give them any directions about the
matter. The day was, nevertheless, fixed for the 24th of August, 1801.
I shall relate the circumstances of our visit, to shew what sort of a
character the first Marquis of Lansdown was. We appointed to meet at
Devizes, and the party proceeded together to Bow-wood, which is
about six miles from that town. We were six in number, three ladies
and three gentlemen; myself and Mrs. Hunt in our curricle, and our
friends two in a chariot, and two in a gig; each of us attended by a
servant. It was a lovely day, and when we entered the lodge, as we
drove down the park, a distance of about a mile before we came to the
house, we drew up and looked around us. The picturesque views were
enchanting, and the sublime grandeur of the beautiful oaks was most
striking. We had been travelling in Wales, where we had been delighted
with the most romantic scenery; but this park at Bow-wood possessed a
richness and a luxuriance such as we all declared we had never seen
before; and the gravel road, the whole of the mile through the park, was
more like the neatest gravel walk in a garden than a public carriage
road. There was not a pebble the size of a marble, not a leaf, a straw, or
a blade of grass, the whole way; every thing was kept up in the neatest
and most perfect style that I ever saw. We remarked to each other, as
we passed along, that the Marquis must have returned, as no servants
would take such pains with a place in a master's absence.
At length we drove up to the door, and upon inquiring of the porter
whether the Marquis was at home, he answered, "No;" that he was gone
into Wales, and not expected back for a month. We asked if we could
see the house? The answer was, that it was never shown to any one but
the Marquis's friends. My Berkshire friend smiled, and looking very
significantly said, "Well, Hunt, we have had a very pleasant drive, but I
told you how it would be; we may, therefore, as well turn round and
drive back again." I was about to put some other question to the porter,
when the housekeeper