Bowood, Wiltshire;

THE SEAT OF THE

MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE.

A CONSIDERABLE part of this noble residence was erected by John Earl of Shelburne, upon the designs of the brothers, Robert and James Adams, which now forms the principal and south front, shewn in our View, adorned by an elegant octostyle portico, of the Doric order, bearing in its pediment the arms of the founder. To this edifice his son William, the first Marquess of Lansdowne, added, on the west side, three hundred feet of building, designed by the same architects, upon the exact model of a wing of the Emperor Diocletian's Palace at Spalatro, in Dalmatia, which constitutes the façade of two quadrangular courts of offices for the domestics. The north front, possessing no remarkable architectural character, contains the private apartments of the family, all the state-rooms being towards the south. The Dining-room and Saloon are noble apartments, which, as well as the others, are adorned with a valuable collection of pictures. The Park and Pleasure-grounds are very extensive, and comprise a great variety of beautiful scenery, laid out under the direction of William, Marquess of Lansdowne, who is understood to have been much assisted by the Hon. Charles Hamilton, of Pains Hill. The surface of the Park is greatly diversified by nature; it is nearly encircled by woods, the belt differing in its breadth according to the situation of the ground. In the midst is a grand Lake, covering nearly thirty acres, partly concealed by its winding form, and by the foliage of overhanging trees upon its banks, and spreading its surface at the foot of the Lawn in front of the House, where it is confined by a stupendous mass of rock-work, and over which it falls in a beautiful cascade, having no appearance of being artificial Upon a rising ground, about a mile west of the Mansion, and deeply embosomed in wood, stands a Mausoleum, containing a marble monument, inscribed to the memory of John Petty, Earl of Shelburne.

Sophia, the first wife of William, Marquess of Lansdowne, is also buried in this Mausoleum; she died, 5th January, 1771, ætat. 25. Bowood is two miles north-west of Calne, and four miles south-east of Chippenham. The estate anciently formed part of the royal forest of Pewisham, in which King James I. is reported to have frequently enjoyed the diversion of hunting; but soon after his death it was disforested, and was comprised among other estates seized by the Parliament as forfeited, after the establishment of the Commonwealth. It was then laid open, and tradition reports, that the parliamentary commissioners, wishing to convey the deer over Lockshill Heath to Spye Park, were embarrassed as to the means of effecting their object, till the clothiers of the neighbourhood constructed a skirted road of broad cloth between those places, and thereby accomplished their removal. In the reign of Charles II. Bowood was granted to Sir Orlando Bridgman, Bart., son of the Lord Keeper; after whose death it was purchased by John, Earl of Shelburne, who was succeeded in his honours and estates by his son William, who, during the lifetime of his father, was created Baron Wycombe, in 1760, and was farther advanced to the titles of Marquess of Lansdowne, Earl of Wycombe, Viscount Calne and Calnstone, in 1784. He died in 1805, and was succeeded by his son John-Henry, the second Marquess, who died in 1809, without issue, when his brother, the present Marquess of Lansdowne, succeeded to the title.

List of the principal Pictures, &c. at Bowood.

Portrait of the celebrated Sir William Petty, author

of a Treatise on Political Arithmetic.

Oliver Cromwell-Walker.

Drawings by Glover and others.

Buonaparte, after Girard.

The late Lady Lansdowne-Romney.

Blackwater Bridge, Ireland-Aglio.
Match Girl.

Lord Lansdowne when a Boy-Romney.

An Interior-Morland.

Mrs. Woffington, by Hogarth.

View on the Thames-Calcott.

William Lord Lansdowne-Sir J. Reynolds.

Mrs. Baldwin-Ditto.

St. Louis Gonzaga-Bronzino.

An Old Head-Sebastian del Piombo.

Two Sketches-Rubens.

Views in Venice-Canaletti.

Jew Rabbi, copy-Rembrandt.

Boar Hunt-E. Landseer.

Busts of Homer, Virgil, Locke, Newton, &c. a Group in Marble-Westmacott.

Dead Christ, after Caracci-Ross.

Infancy-Sir J. Reynolds.

A Cast of Phaeton and his Horses.

Lady Dacre.

View in Ireland-Aglio.

Improvisatrice, after Woutermans-Reinagle.
Landscape-Collins.

Fortune Teller-Opie.

Innocent X.-Velasquez.

A Head-A. Caracci.

Virgin and Child-Schedoni.

A very fine Landscape with Figures-Gainsborough.
Battle-piece-Poelemberg.

Lucretia-Pordenone.

Guy Fawkes burnt in Effigy-Witherington.
Sea-piece.

Longford Castle, Wiltshire ;

THE SEAT OF THE

EARL OF RADNOR.

LONGFORD CASTLE is in the immediate vicinity of Salisbury, and affords a singular specimen of whimsical architecture. According to an inscription on the principal front, the mansion was erected in 1591, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but bears very little resemblance to the edifices of the same period. The ground plan of Longford Castle is in the form of a triangle, having a large circular tower at each extreme angle, measuring about thirty feet diameter in the inside. These towers give to the building an appearance of great strength and durability, being constructed with squared stones and flints, disposed with tasteful exactitude. The principal or north-west front is richly interspersed with caryatides and other architectural ornaments. This part has undergone several alterations, and retains very little of its original appearance. The south-east front, however, which is the part selected for the accompanying View, has not undergone any alteration.

Sir Thomas Gorges, who married the Dowager Marchioness of Northampton, one of the ladies of honour to Queen Elizabeth, was the original planner of this singular edifice, but the whole premises have been considerably altered within the last thirty years, during the life-time of the late Earl. The situation, which is in a flat valley, on the banks of the Avon, has been greatly improved, by the raising the ground round the house, and sinking it gradually as it recedes. The late Earl likewise projected and began a new house on an enlarged plan, but it remains at present incomplete. The interior contains a court-yard of a triangular form. At the internal angles are circular stair-cases leading to the different apartments. A choice collection of original paintings is preserved at Longford Castle, one of which, a View of the Town of Folkestone, in Kent, whence the Earl of Radnor takes his title of Viscount, executed by Marlow, adorns the entrance hall on the south-west.

The vicinity of Salisbury cannot boast of any great variety of scenery, yet there are some fine views from the grounds of Longford Castle. That to the north-west, looking towards Salisbury, and including the elegant spire of the venerable Cathedral, is very picturesque. On the south appears the white tower of Downton church; and on the eastern side, pasture and woodland are beautifully blended.

During the rage of civil contention, in the reign of Charles I., Longford Castle was put in a state of defence, and held out for some time in favour of the royal cause, but was finally compelled, together with most of the strong holds in the neighbourhood, to yield to the pressure of circumstances, and surrender to the Parliamentary forces. Upon this, the noble mansion experienced all the injuries that a band of ruffians could inflict.

William Pleydell Bouverie, Earl of Radnor, Viscount Folkestone, Baron of Longford, Baron Pleydell Bouverie of Coleshill, in the County of Berks, and a Baronet, was born in May, 1779, and succeeded his father Jacob, second Earl of Radnor, in February, 1828. His Lordship married, in 1800, Catherine Pelham Clinton, only child of Henry, Earl of Lincoln, eldest son of the second Duke of Newcastle, K. G., and by her had two daughters. This lady dying in 1804, soon after the birth of her second child, his Lordship married for his second wife, in May 1814, Anne, third daughter of the late Sir Henry Paulet St. John Mildmay, Bart., and has had issue Jacob Viscount Folkestone, born in September, 1815; a daughter born in January, 1817, but who died in 1825; a son born in April, 1818; a daughter born in April, 1819; and another daughter, born in December, 1825. The present Earl of Radnor, when Viscount Folkestone, sat in the House of Commons from 1801 until his father's death, and occasionally took an active part in its proceedings during that period.

The family name was formerly written des Bouveries. Lawrence des Bouveries, a native of Sainghin, near Lisle, in Flanders, being persecuted on account of his religion, came over to England about the year 1568, and settled at Canterbury. His son Edward was father of Sir Edward des Bouveries, Knt., born in 1621, who acquired considerable wealth by trading to the Levant. He died in 1694, and left the bulk of his fortune to his eldest son, Sir William des Bouveries, who was created a Baronet by Queen Anne, in February, 1714. He left two sons, Edward and Jacob, the elder of whom succeeded to the title; but he dying unmarried in 1736, his brother Jacob succeeded.

Sir Jacob, third Baronet, and first Viscount Folkestone, was created a peer in June, 1747, by the titles of Baron Longford and Viscount Folkestone. This nobleman died in February, 1761, and was succeeded by his son William, first Earl, born in February, 1725, and created Earl of Radnor in October, 1765. This nobleman married in January, 1748, Harriet, only daughter and heiress to Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell, Bart., who left his estate to his grandson Jacob, second Earl, with remainder to the issue male of William, the first Earl, and Jacob Viscount Folkestone, his father, enjoining each person succeeding to the same to use the name of Pleydell Bouverie. Jacob, the late Earl, was the only issue by this marriage; but William, Earl of Radnor, left several children by his second lady, Rebecca, daughter of John Alleyne, of Barbadoes, Esq. Jacob, second Earl and third Viscount, succeeded his father in January, 1776, and married, in 1777, Anne, daughter and co-heiress of Anthony Duncombe, Lord Feversham, by whom he had issue six children, one daughter and five sons. William the eldest son, is the present Earl of Radnor.-Motto:-Patria cara, carior libertas.