THE SEAT OF

THE HON. MRS. COCKAYNE MEDLYCOTT.

RUSHTON HALL stands about three miles north-east from Kettering, on ground gently rising above the Ise, a small stream which waters the Park, and is crossed by a bridge of two arches. This ancient, splendid, and very curious Mansion was commenced by Sir Thomas Tresham, who, during the visit made by Queen Elizabeth to the Earl of Leicester received the honour of Knighthood at Kenilworth. The family of Tresham appear to have first possessed Rushton in the 16th year of the reign of Henry VI. the estate having not very long afterwards become forfeited to the Crown, in consequence of the attainder of the first Sir Thomas Tresham, who was beheaded at the commencement of the reign of Edward IV.

The property was, however, subsequently restored to the family, which during the illustrious reign of Elizabeth, seems to have attained the height of its greatness, possessing large estates, several residences, and had become connected with the principal families of the county, whose armorial bearings may still be seen upon the Market House at Rothwell, an unfinished monument, among others, of the taste which Sir Thomas Tresham evinced in architecture. The succeeding reign worked a melancholy change in the fortunes of this family: their extensive possessions were again confiscated, and the head of it, being attainted, was confined, and died in the Tower. The cause of this was the memorable Gunpowder Plot, the downfal of several other families, and in which Francis Tresham Esq., the son of Sir Thomas Tresham, was deeply implicated. This gentleman was, notwithstanding, the cause of its discovery, and from his hand proceeded the wellknown letter, addressed as an anonymous warning to the Lord Monteagle, who had married Elizabeth Tresham, his sister. The manor and estates of Rushton now passed into the hands of Sir William Cockayne, and his descendants have resided here from the year 1619.

Few families in the kingdom have such well-founded claims to antiquity as that of the Cockaynes, who during the reign of Henry I., and for several centuries, were seated at Ashborn Hall, in Derbyshire.

It would be tedious to enumerate the different descents, or the early alliances made by this ancient family, which have connected it with the most illustrious blood of the kingdom. Sir William Cockayne, the first possessor of Rushton, married Mary, daughter of Richard Morris, Esq., afterwards Countess of Dover, and had issue:-1. Charles Cockayne, Esq., of Rushton Hall, sheriff of this county in 1635, created Baron and Viscount Cullen, in 1642, who married Mary, daughter and coheiress of Henry O'Bryan, fifth Earl of Thomond, descended from the ancient kings of Ireland.-2. William, who died without issue.-3. Mary, who married Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham.-4. Ann, who married Sir Hatton Fermor.-5. Martha, married, first, to John, Earl of Holdernesse ; and, secondly, to Montague, Earl of Lindsey.-6. Elizabeth, married, first, to Thomas, Viscount Fanshaw; and, secondly, to Sir Thomas Rich, Bart. of Sunning in Berkshire.— 7. Abigail, married to John, Viscount Rochford, son of the Earl of Dover.-8. Jane, married to James Sheffield, son of Edmund, Earl of Mulgrave.

Bryan, second Viscount Cullen, married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Francis Trentham, of Rosseter and Henigham Castles.

Charles, third Viscount Cullen, married Catherine, fifth daughter of William, Lord Willoughby of Parham, descended from Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, and Blanche, Queen of Castile.

Charles, fourth Viscount Cullen, married Ann, daughter of Borlase Warren, of Stapleford, a family of high antiquity, lineally descended from the Earls of Warren and Surry. Charles, fifth Viscount Cullen, married, first, Ann, daughter of John Borlase Warren, of Stapleford; and, secondly, Sophia, daughter of John Baxter, Esq.

Borlase, sixth Viscount Cullen, died in 1810, without issue, when the title became extinct, the estates remaining in possession of the coheiresses of the Honourable William Cockayne, who died before his brother, the last Viscount.

The Honourable William Cockayne married Barbara, youngest daughter of George Hill, Esq. of Rothwell, for thirty-five years his Majesty's ancient Sergeant at Law, a lineal descendant of the Hills, of Hounsden, Somersetshire, settled there in the reign of Edward III.; and whose extraordinary talents, unrivalled in the profession to which he belonged, are too well known to need any comment here.

Rushton Hall remains nearly in its original state; time has but imparted its mellow hue to this fine old building, which, having been erected at the precise period of the first introduction of Roman architecture, exhibits great peculiarity of style, neither Gothic nor Roman prevailing. In the plan, the order of monastic dwellings has been preferred, the House and Offices surrounding three sides of a quadrangular Court, and having in front toward the East a Doric Screen, over which the enriched gables of the early domestic style are seen, crowned with finials, fashioned after the Italian taste, like obelisks. So mixed, indeed, are the architectural ornaments of the Classic and Gothic eras, that Rushton Hall might well be taken as a text, if we were disposed to dilate upon the apparent absurdity of the combination: but the singularly picturesque effect produced by the variety of form exhibited in the grotesque decorations, the numerous broken lines of the building, with its spiral terminations, assisted by the beautiful grey tints of the mosscovered stone; may redeem the absence of correct taste, and plead powerfully in favour of its preservation; for we dare to doubt, even in a building of the same magnitude, whether a more imposing appearance would be gained by a strict adherence to the purest Grecian model, in the construction of a gentleman's residence in this country. The earliest date upon the exterior of the edifice is 1595, a little previously to the period of the erection of Audley End, in Essex: the model of which latter building is said to have been procured from Italy. With regard to Rushton Hall, however, the foundation was certainly earlier than the above date, and the designs were probably furnished by Sir Thomas Tresham himself, which is inferred from his acknowledged taste and delight in the study of architecture. From other dates upon the building, 1621, 1627, 1629, and 1630, the edifice seems to have been carried on and finished by the Cockayne family, whose armorial bearings are intermixed with those of the Treshams in different parts of the mansion.

Our Plate presents a view of the principal Front. The Screen upon this Front is of the Doric order, but widely differing from the examples of Greece. A new scale had been invented by San Gallo, a Florentine architect, which at the period of the building of Rushton Hall, was adopted generally: the engaged columns of the Screen stand upon pedestals, and support an enriched entablature, over which is a balustrade, surmounted by vases. In the centre of the front is a grand arch of entrance, between the two columns, on each side of which, are niches containing statues of armed knights. The arch is crowned by a reclining figure of Plenty, with the cornucopia. Upon the wings or extremities of the Mansion, at the ends of the Screen, are very large oriel windows, of two stories in height, shewing each twelve lights in front, and four on the returns, surmounted by a curious open-work parapet of elaborate workmanship. On each of the fronts towards the Court are three gable terminations; these are plain, except the centre, which rises over the principal door-way, and, like those upon the ends, takes the form of the cyma; all of them, however, are embellished with rich mouldings and obelisks in the manner of the ancient finials.

The most curious, and undoubtedly the most ancient part of the building, is a small Oratory, leading from the Great Staircase, containing a representation, in basso relievo, of the Crucifixion, composed of numerous figures, and a Latin inscription in gilt characters. The date 1577 appears above it, and underneath are the arms and motto of the Tresham family, viz. Sable, six trefoils slipped or, between two flaunches argent.

The Wilderness was originally planted by Sir William Cockayne with hornbeam hedges, in the form of a great cross, each quarter being laid out in bowers, labyrinths, &c. according to the fantastic fashion of the times. The hedges, said to have been the highest in England, were cut down in the year 1785, when the formal walks were demolished, and others made: the Wilderness, in its present state, was laid out with considerable taste by the Honourable William Cockayne.

Amidst these delightful shades, Dryden, who enjoyed the friendship of Bryan, the second Viscount Cullen, passed much of his time. It was here that he is said to have written the Hind and Panther, published in 1687, and other poems; and in one of the walks is an urn erected to his memory.