by whom he had issue two sons and a daughter: namely, 1. Anne, who in 1741 married George Venables Vernon, Esq. afterwards created Lord Vernon of Kinderton, and died s. p. within a year. 2. Thomas, who died before his father at the early age of eighteen; and 3. William, his successor, who inherited the property and honours as fourth Baronet in the year 1749.

Sir William was completely what is termed "a man of business," and his management of the farms and farming buildings has been followed by lasting benefit to the property. He has already been mentioned as the builder of the church on its present elegant plan; and he displayed great taste in planting and laying out the grounds, so that, while they were not strictly Brunonian, they yet kept pace with the reforms then in almost universal adoption. The mansion-house-which had been erected partly by Sir Thomas Lee and partly by his son, Thomas Lee, Esq. at the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign and the beginning of James the First's-was now greatly enlarged; the south and east fronts finished in what was termed, by rather a free licence, the Greek style; and the interior arrangements were greatly altered. These fronts are shown on the annexed plate (plate IV.); but the low projecting portion with a cupola is the observatory recently added, which will be presently spoken of. The heavy pargetted pedimental gables of the old northern front were removed, and the whole roof and parapet brought into harmony.

Here I am compelled to return for a moment to Dr. Lipscomb's County History; for, although the criticism of a work of such labour and information forms no part of my object, yet where a direct statement appears under such authority, it is likely to perpetuate error unless pointed out. The Doctor (vol. ii. page 327) gives a vignette of the old mansion, before the alterations made by Sir Thomas Lee, said to be "from an ancient map or plan surveyed by John and William Brudenell, surveyors, in 1661." Now if this were worth preserving at all, his engraving ought to have been a scrupulously faithful fac-simile of the wretched drawing itself, which it assuredly is not; and I therefore submit a true one,--the only liberty taken being the reversion of its meridian.

83

I am, moreover, at a loss to conceive on what grounds this was assumed to have been a correct representation of Hartwell House; for we only need look at the deformed angels around the title of the original, the bizarre crosses on the church, the disproportioned cottages, and other palpable as well as internal evidences, to see that the Messrs. Brudenell were no great masters of their craft and indeed they have actually placed the north of their compass where the south should be! The "plott" is not even a passable specimen of the talent of its day; and when this "ancient" drawing of a house was made in 1661, by some incompetent hand merely to decorate the plan, the following front, from a still older representation in Dr. Lee's possession, might have

DELER

been copied by them had they possessed skill enough: moreover the original itself was before their eyes.

On the 20th of June, 1763, Sir William Lee married the Right Hon. Lady Elizabeth Harcourt, only daughter of Simon Earl Harcourt, by whom he had two sons, William, his successor, and George; and one daughter, Elizabeth, who died in her infancy. Lady Elizabeth was a highly accomplished and very amiable person, and her memory was long held in the grateful recollection of the neighbourhood.* She was born on the 18th of January, 1738, and was one of ten young ladies, daughters of Dukes and Earls, who supported the train of Queen Charlotte at her nuptials in 1761. Her father was unfortunately drowned in a well, while endeavouring to save the life of a favourite dog which had fallen into it: he made the improvements in his grounds celebrated by Whitehead in the poem commencing

Dame Nature, the Goddess, one very bright day,

In strolling through Nuneham met Brown in her way:
"And bless me," she said, with an insolent sneer,
"I wonder that fellow will dare to come here.
What more than I did has your impudence plann'd?
The lawn, wood, and water, are all of my hand;" &c.

There are still remaining at Hartwell various specimens of Lady Elizabeth's acquirements; and among her drawings is the portrait of Dame Mules ---an old woman who inhabited the Swiss cottage in the park—also a reduction of the large picture of Sir John Suckling; and I have given a wood-engraving from her view of Hartwell Church at page 13. Indeed, both Sir William and herself seem to have been equally partial to the fine arts; Whitehead the Laureate and Mason the poet were treated with intimacy, and among other

* Sir Alexander Croke, on visiting Hartwell in September, 1830, jocosely remarked that he had often scorched his fingers at the fire-place before him, toasting bread and muffins, as Lady Elizabeth always insisted on the party present "cooking" for themselves. Such was also the custom at the well-known public breakfasts of Sir Joseph Banks.