"Courteous lady, leave this fancy,
Here comes all that breeds the strife;

I in England have already

A sweet woman to my wife:

I will not falsify my vow for gold nor gain,
Nor yet for all the fairest dames that live in Spain."

"O, how happy is that woman That enjoys so true a friend! Many happy days God send her!—

Of my suit I make an end.

On my knees I pardon crave for my offence,

Which did from love and true affection first commence.

Commend me to thy lovely lady,
Bear to her this chain of gold;
And these bracelets for a token;

Grieving that I was so bold;

All my jewells in like sort take thou with thee,
For they are fitting for thy wife, but not for me.

"I will spend my days in prayer,

Love and all her laws defye; In a nunnery will I shroud me,

Far from any companye :

But ere my prayers have an end, be sure of this,
To pray for thee and for thy love Ifwill not miss-

"Thus farewell, most gallant Captain! Farewell, too, my heart's content! Count not Spanish ladies wanton,

Though to thee my love was bent:

Joy and true prosperity goe still with thee:"
"The like fall ever to thy share, most fair ladie."

THE PRINCELY CHANDOS.

How loved, how honour'd once, avails thee not,
To whom related, or by whom begot;

A heap of dust alone remains of thee,

'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.

WERE you ever, gentle reader, at the roadside village of Edgeware? It is a pretty rural spot, not more than eight miles from London, closely adjoining rich Hertfordshire, with its green and shady lanes, its sunny meads, and its luxuriant homes. In that favoured vicinage, on a plain now verdant, and "smiling in scorn,"

There stood a structure of majestic frame,

Which from the neighbouring Canons took its name:

a palace of such gorgeous magnificence, that it seemed suited rather to the prince than the subject. All that wealth, taste, and pride could collect together were here assembled; the most eminent architects had been employed in its construction; artists came from Italy to adorn its walls; and costly marble formed the pillars and the ornaments. Such was the abode of James Brydges, Duke of Chandos-a nobleman whose unbounded magnificence, lavish expenditure, and overweening vanity, obtained for him the designation of "princely." He was the representative of the old

wars.

baronial family of Brydges of Sudeley, and succeeded to a considerable patrimonial estate. He inherited, besides, a large fortune from his maternal grandfather, Sir Henry Bernard, an eminent Turkey merchant, and accumulated, himself, considerable sums of money while Paymaster of the Forces, during Queen Anne's Thus amply provided, he determined on building two magnificent mansions, and on adopting a style of costly parade, which even the more ancient ducal nobility did not deem essential to the support of their dignity. He fixed the site of his London residence in Cavendish-square, and commenced its erection with much grandeur of preparation. The plan, however, was never completed; his country palace engrossed al his thoughts, and was the favourite object of his attention. At Canons, near Edgeware, this sumptuous edifice arose the wonder of its own age for its splendour, and of the succeeding, for its abrupt declension and premature ruin. Poets, whose strains were as short-lived as their theme, extolled the mansion's

* In 1604, Sir Thomas Lake purchased from Sir Hugh Losse the manor of Canons, and here his descendants continued long to reside, until their eventual heiress, Mary, only daughter of Sir Thomas Lake, marrying James Brydges, afterwards Duke of Chandos, conveyed the property to her husband.

The magnificent mansion built on the estate, about the year 1712, by Mr. Brydges, stood at the end of a spacious avenue, being placed diagonally, so as to show two sides of the building, which at a distance gave the appearance of a front of prodigious extent. Vertue describes it "as a noble square pile, all of stone, the four sides almost alike, with statues on the front. Within was a small square of brick, not handsome; the out-offices of brick and stone, very convenient and well disposed. The hall is richly adorned with marble statues, busts, &c.; the ceiling of the staircase, by Thornhill, and the grand apartment are finely ornamented with paintings, sculpture, and furniture."

The plastering and gilding were done by the famous Italian

beauty; but a bard, whose verse will outlive both stone and marble, has, in a brilliant satire, left an imperishable record of Canons and its lord. In a poem on Taste, published in 1731, and dedicated to the Earl of Burlington, Pope held up the gardens and buildings of the Duke of Chandos to peculiar ridicule: the name of Timon less concealed the satire than added to the offence. The poet thus writes:

At Timon's villa let us pass a day,

Where all cry out, "What sums are thrown away!'
So proud, so grand; of that stupendous air;
Soft and agreeable come never there.

Greatness, with Timon, dwells in such a draught,
As brings all Brobdignag before your thought:
To compass this, his building is a town,
His pond an ocean, his parterre a down.
Who but must laugh, the master when he sees,
A puny insect, shivering at a breeze!

The libel on the Duke, whose generous and amiable disposition, as well as his very foibles, commanded the people's admiration, raised an universal outcry of popular indignation. Dr. Johnson says: "From the

Pargotti; and the great salon by Paolucci. The avenue was spacious and majestic; and the building appeared to be designed for posterity, as the walls were "twelve feet thick below and nine feet above."

The columns which supported the building were all of marble, as was the great staircase, each step of which was made of an entire block, above twenty feet in length. The whole expense of the building and furniture is said to have amounted to 200,000/. James, of Greenwich, was the architect. Dr. Alexander Blackwell, author of a treatise on agriculture, was employed to superintend the works without doors; and it is probable that he laid out the gardens and pleasure grounds, which abounded with vistas, lakes, canals, and statues, in the taste then prevalent.

The Duke also rebuilt the parish church, dedicated it to St. Laurence, and there constructed a magnificent tomb, wherein now repose his mortal remains.

reproach which the attack on a character so amiable brought upon him, Pope tried all means of escaping He was at last reduced to shelter his temerity behind dissimulation, and endeavoured to make that disbelieved, which he never had the confidence openly t deny. He wrote an exculpatory letter to the Duke, which was answered with great magnanimity, as by a man who accepted his excuse without believing has professions." There is a print of Hogarth's, in which Pope is represented whitewashing the Earl of Burling ton's house, and bespattering the Duke of Chandus's carriage as it passes by. Admitting (what there is little doubt of) the poet's intended application of the satire to Canons, his concluding lines are singularly prophetic :

Another age shall see the golden ear

Imbrown the slope and nod on the parterre;
Deep harvests bury all his pride has plann'd,
And laughing Ceres reassume the land.

When the Duke died, this magnificent mansion, being deemed too expensive for the income of his successor, was, after fruitless attempts to dispose of is entire, pulled down, and the materials sold by aucti The grand staircase, each step of which was made of an entire block of marble, above twenty feet in length, is now at Lord Chesterfield's house in May Fair. The equestrian statue of George I., which stood in the Park, was placed in the centre of Leicester-square; and, in fact, the whole splendid fabric, and its varied contents were scattered piecemeal amongst numerous purchasers The site of the mansion, with a considerable portion of the park and demesne lands, became the property of Mr. William Hallet, a London cabinet-maker, who bui a pretty villa residence. His grandson sold the estate to