minster, afterwards Member for the county of Northumberland, when in 1812, he was called to the House of Peers; 5th, Agnes, who is a twin with Earl Percy; 6th, Henry, born June 24, 1787, since deceased; 7th, Amelia, born Jan. 16th, 1789; 8th, Frances, born Sept. 13th, 1791, died August 28th, 1803; and 9th, Algernon, born Dec. 15, 1792.

His Grace is a general in the army, and colonel of the Royal Horse Guards, Lord Lieutenant and Vice Admiral of Northumberland and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, one of the Council of State of the Prince of Wales, in Cornwall, Constable of Launceston Castle, and High Steward of Launceston, K. G.; F. R. S. and F. S. A. He is in an infirm state of health, and generally resides at Syou House; but seldom appears in public.

Having thus given a hasty, but I trust, correct, sketch of this illustrious family, I may now proceed to state such particulars relative to this noble mansion at Charing Cross as I have been able to collect. The annexed view will furnish the reader with a tolerably correct idea of the front opposite the Strand: a minute description of the interior would much exceed my limits.

Of this ancient house Bernard Jansen was the architect; the mansion originally consisted of three sides of a quadrangle, and the principal apartments were in the upper story, next the Strand; but the noise and hurry of so great a thoroughfare being unpleasant to the last-mentioned earl, he caused a fourth side to be erected, under the direction of Inigo Jones; which, commanding a view over a spacious garden, and the river to the Surrey hills, unites the advantages of a palace, situated in the midst of a large and populous city, with the retirement of a country seat. The father of the present duke made considerable additions and improvements. He built two new wings to the garden front, above one hundred feet in length; faced the sides of the quadrangular court with stone, and nearly rebuilt the whole of the front next the street, about the year 1752. The central part, which, in a tablet on the top, bears the date when these improvements were made, only received some trifling alteration, and may be consi

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dered as a valuable remnant of the original pile, and of the magnificence of our forefathers. On the top is a lion passant, the crest of the noble family of Percy, cast in lead.

The vestibule of the interior is eighty-two feet long, and more than twelve in breadth, ornamented with Doric columns. Each end communicates with a stair-case, leading to the principal apartments facing the garden and the Thames. They consist of several spacious rooms, fitted up in the most elegant manner, embellished with paintings, by Titian, particularly the Carnoro family, as well as the works of other great masters. The State Gallery, in the left wing, is one hundred and six feet long, most beautifully ornamented.

The light is admitted through windows in the side, above which is another row, which throws a proper quantity of light over the exquisitely worked cornice, so that the whole apartment receives an equal degree. This hall abounds with paintings, chiefly from the greatest masters.

Besides the apartments already mentioned, there are nearly 150 rooms appropriated for the private uses of the family.

The south flank of this mansion being left, in some measure, in its pristine form, gives the style of the reign of Henry VIII. in brick walls, lofty windows, both pointed and flat-headed (now stopped up) with stone dressings. The north, or street front, was evidently constructed in the reign of Edward VI. in the new mode; yet, by the several repairs and alterations it has undergone at later periods, the whole line may appear to some a modern work of no very great distance of time from the present day.

About 20 years back, a very general repair of the front took place, in new pointing and facing the brick-work, re-cutting the stone ornaments, &c. by the Adams's (it is believed) architects. Nearer to Charing Cross was an ancient hermitage*, with a PART III. CONTIN. chapel

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The hermitage, in 1261, is said to have belonged to the see of Llandaff; for Willis, in his history of that see, informs us, "that William de Radnor, then bishop, had leave from the king to lodge in the cloister of his hermitage of Charing, whenever he came to London." This should rather imply that the hermitage belonged to the king, and that the king granted the lodging as an indulgence.

chapel dedicated to St. Catharine. A few surrounding houses constituted the hamlet of Charing, where Edward I. built a beautiful wooden cross, from respect to his beloved queen Eleanor; it was afterwards constructed of stone, and appears to have been of an octagonal form, and in an upper stage, ornamented with eight figures; a likeness appears of it in Agass's map. Dr. Combe, of Bloomsbury Square, possessed a drawing of it; in which is shewn that the ornamental parts were not very rich in their execution. The whole, however, was levelled by the intemperate fury of bigots, during the time of the Reformation.

In the next century it was replaced by a most beautiful and animated equestrian statue, in brass, of Charles I. cast in 1633, by Le Soeur, for the great Earl of Arundel. It was not erected (in its present state) till the year 1678, when it was placed on the pedestal, the work of Grinlin Gibbons. The parliament had ordered it to be sold, and broke to pieces: but John River, the brazier, who purchased it, having more taste or more loyalty than his masters, buried it unmutilated, and shewed to them some broken pieces of brass in token of his obedience. M. D'Archenoltz gives a diverting anecdote of this brazier: that he‍ cast a vast number of handles of knives and forks in brass, which he sold as made of the broken statue. They were bought with great eagerness by the loyalists from affection to their monarch: by the rebels, as a mark of triumph over the murdered sovereign.* Charles is most admirably represented in armour, with his ownhair, uncovered, on horseback. The figures are brass, looking toward Whitehall, and are as big as life. The pedestal is seventeen feet high, enriched with his majesty's arms, trophies, cupids, palm-branches, &c. and enclosed with a rail and banister of strong iron work. The pedestal is erected in the centre of a circle of stone, thirty feet in diameter, the area whereof is one step above that of the street, fenced with strong posts to keep off coaches, carts, &c.

The Mews, on the north side of Charing Cross, was ap

+ So denominated from Mew, a term used among falconers, signifying to moult, or cast feather.