Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq., vol 2 | Page 5

approached; an elegant, handsomely dressed
matron, who inquired, "Pray, Sir, is your name Hunt?" I, of course,
answered her in the affirmative; upon which she begged we would
alight. She then rang a bell, and desired the porter and another servant
to take the carriages round the yard, and put the horses in the stable,

and take care of them. She then informed us, that the Marquis had
written home, to desire that, if I came with my friends, we should be
shewn the house, gardens, grounds, cascade, and every thing at
Bow-wood.
Having led us into a large room, the walls of which were hung with
paintings, the good lady politely requested that we would amuse
ourselves for a few minutes, while she made some preparations, and
she would return and shew us the whole of the house. As soon as she
had retired, my friend admitted that he had done the Noble Marquis
great injustice, and he was now full of praises for his true nobility of
character. The housekeeper now returned, and, after pointing out some
beauties in the paintings, and the particular views from the windows,
she led us into an adjoining room, in the centre of which stood a table,
covered with wines of various sorts, and the most superb desert of fruit
I ever beheld, consisting of pines, hot-house grapes, and various other
fruits, in the greatest perfection, as well as profusion. We looked at
each other with some surprise, when she invited the ladies to be seated,
and the gentlemen to assist them to refreshments, before we proceeded
any further; and, addressing herself to me, she said, this is a letter I
received on the fourteenth of August. It was written by the Marquis, on
the twelfth, from the Black Rock Inn, on the other side of the New
Passage. It commences as follows:--"I expect Mr. Hunt, of Chisenbury
House, to visit Bow-wood, to see the house and gardens, with his
friends. If they should arrive before my return, you will take care that
they receive that attention which I always wish to be shewn to my
friends, when they do me the honour to visit Bow-wood." "Now,"
continued the housekeeper, "I understand the wish of the Marquis well.
I know nothing will afford him greater pleasure than to hear that you,
Sir, and your friends, make yourselves as welcome as he would have
made you, had he been at home." She had, she said, orders to dress us a
dinner, which she should do, while we were walking round the gardens
and pleasure grounds, and viewing the cascade. She had sent a servant,
she told us, to get some fish out of the store, and there was a haunch of
venison just fit to dress; and she would have dinner ready for us at any
hour we would fix. As we had a previous engagement, we declined the
invitation to dinner, but we did ample justice to the pines and grapes.
We were then shewn over the house, and afterwards we went round the

gardens, consisting of five acres of the highest cultivated soil, and the
walls clothed with the choicest fruit trees in full bearing. One fact
worth recording the gardener told me, which was, that the Marquis,
being particularly fond of pears, they were cultivated in this garden to
the highest perfection, and he had a different plate of pears to be put
upon the table for every day in the year. The pleasure grounds and
every thing at Bow-wood bespoke the residence of one who was a
nobleman by nature as well as by title.
After having spent a most agreeable morning, and had a second edition
of the desert and wine, we prepared to depart, all much delighted with
what we had seen, and more gratified with the polite and handsome
conduct of the noble owner. Just as I was about to offer a present, the
housekeeper called me aside. She took the liberty, she said, to request
that I would not offer any of the servants any money. As the servants of
the Marquis had all of them most liberal wages, he never suffered them
to take any vails of his friends who visited him.
In addition to the attention which had been shewn to us, our servants
had also been handsomely regaled, and the horses well taken care of in
the stables; and, as we contemplated the munificent treatment we
experienced at Bow-wood, we could not refrain from drawing a most
unfavourable contrast of the treatment we had experienced about a
month before, when we had made a party to visit Blenheim, the seat of
the Duke of Marlborough, at Woodstock, near Oxford. There we were
turned over from one servant to another, each having his department,
and