The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-08 00:00:00

NOES-57.

Ansley, Thomas Glyn, G. C. Pilkington, Joiner!
Bagshaw, John Goold, Wnydham Reid, Colonel
Barrington, Viscount Heald, James Renton, John C.
Bass, M. T. Heywood, James Ricardo, Osman
Boldero, H. G. Hernby, John Sanders, Joseph
Cayley, Edward S. Jackson, William Seymer, Henry Set
Chaplin, W. J. Johnstone, Sir,J. Smollett, A.
Clay, James Lacy, H. C. Sotheron, T. H. S.
Clements, C. S. Locke, Joseph S.ephenson, Robert
Cobbold, John C. Lowther, Colonel Stuart, H.
Colvile, C. R. Lushington, Charles Thicknesse, Ralph
Cubitt, William March, Earl of Tyler, Sir G.
Denison, Edmund Marshall, W. Verney. Sir H.
Dodd, G. Mulling*, J. R. Villiers, Viscount
Douglas, Sir C. Napier, Joseph Wel=ley, Sir J.
Emlyn, Viscount Nicholl, J. Westhead, J. B.
Eatcourt, J. B. B. O'Connell, M. J. Williamson, Sir Y.
Floyer, John Ogle, S. C. =JAW.
Freshfleld, J. W. Packe, C. W. Spooner, Richard
Gallwey, Sir W. P. Peto, Samuel Ricardo, J. L.

SION HOUSE.
This suburban mansion of his Grace the Duke of
Northumberland was on Tuesday thrown open by the
liberality of the Noble proprietor to the public, who
were afforded an opportunity of viewing the state
apartments and promenading through the conservatories
and spacious pleasure-grounds, a privilege which we un-
derstand will be continued while the Great Exhibition

remains open.
Sion House, as must be well known to a,
above-bridge excursionists, stands on the north
bank of the Thames a little beyond Brentford. The
grounds are extensive and beantitully laid out, and the
mansion is so placed that owing to the windings of the
river it may be said to have two river fronts, the south
and the library wings. Exteriorly it exhibits little of
architectural decoration or embellishment, forming a
massive-looking solid square of yellow stone witk a bat-
demented top. Like Northumberland House, Charing-
cross, the Duke's town residence, and Buckingham
Palace, the square is hollow, which enables all the
rooms to be thoroughly lighted and ventilated. The
interior court is filled with fruit trees, flowers, and flower-
ing shrubs, and is termed "the Nuns' Garden," Sion
House being the site of an ancient religious order once
established here. It was one of the last convents sup-
pressed, and obtained some celebrity from the circum-
stance of the remains of Henry VIII. being deposited
hero for a night, when the funeral cottEge was on its
way to Windsor. Standing about half a mile from the
main road between Brentford and Hounslow, its exact
position is little known to the casual traveller on the
high road, although for a long period the inha-
bitants of Brentford and Isleworth have, by the
permission of the Duke, " a right of way" access the
grounds in front of the principal entrance. Proceeding
torough the main avenue, and crossing a rustic bridge
thrown over a sheet of water in the park, a circular
gravel walk conducts to the main entrance under a lofty
portico. The entrance-hall is of fine proportions, the
flu-ling of black and white-chequered marble, audit is en-
riched by several statues from the antique, among which
the dying gladiator, in bronze, may be referred to as a
beautiful work of art. To the right of this is
an apartment termed the vestibule, supported on
pillars of verd and antique marble, brought by the pre-
sent Duke's grandfather from Italy, and said to have
been taken out of the Tiber. The flooring is of mosaic,
and is an exquisite specimen of inlaying, and is highly
polished. The ceiling is divided into carved and deco-
rated compartments. Next to this is the state dining-
room, painted in French white and gold, the niches along
the sides of the room are filled with statues, and the
tables and consoles are inlaid with mosaic. At hete far-
ther end are two marble busts of Leopold Saxe bur
(the present Kicg of the Belgians), and the Princess
Charlotte, by Turnerilli. The state dravring-room,
which stands next, is a light and elegant apartment of
large dimensions, hung with crimson damask embroidered
en
in silver, with the chairs, couches, ottomans,
suite; the ceiling is painted on medallions by Angelica
Kauffman with highly-enriched and gilded borders.
One of the most interesting and beautiful ornaments of
this apartment is a cystal vase on a carved gold
pedestal. It was presented to the Duke of Northum-
berland when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, by the ladies
of that country, as a token, which the pedestal indi-
cates, of " Ireland's gratitude." 'rhe vase was designed
by Lady Caroline Stanhope, and presented to his Grace
by the Duchess of Leinster. The base of the pedestal
is a stag 'a head in Irish oak. There are also ornaments
in Kilkenny coal, and various other productions of tlee
country. Surmounting it is a female figure representing
Erin, with the national harp in dead silver, and above
all a phoenix holding a large pearl in its beak. The
gold, silver, emeralds, diamonds, the pearl, and
all the component parts of this unique and
classical ornament are said to be Irish produc-
tions. The slabs of the side tables are mosaics
taken
from the ancient Roman baths. The colonnade,
a noble apartment, running the entire length of the
building and looking out upon the river, is sometimes
called the library. It is painted in light blue and gold,
and over the windows are medallions of the eleven
Dukes of Northumberland, other compartments on the
opposite side being filled withh.
i!seantings by Angelica
w
Kauffman, the colours of are as fresh and bril-
liant as the day they were laid on. At the further
end is an ottoman formed of a singular trophy
found at the palace of Lahore, and sent to this
coun-
try by Lord Hardinge . It
is somewhat
state bed, piled with cushions, like a_
the pillars being ot
solid silver curiously carved, and is said to
have belonged to Ackbar, ono of the most dis"
anguished Indian princes of the sixteenth century. The
turrets that terminate this wing are formed into nth°
boudoirs, one of them being hung with Indian tawers,
ffeta,
covered with paintings of birds, fruit, and flo
the work of the Dowager Duchess of Northumberland.
The other closet is remarkableforan,:g:tll,
don eofn-
fective copy of Martin's Belshazzar
artmentsra con
fa-
-
glass as a transparency. The private ap
tain a large number of pictures, chiefly portits and
mily groups of members or connexions O.Df fl __ the hosiruse
p.
of
Northumberland. The paintings are chiey by
Lely, Vandyke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Barry, an Irish ar-
tia, to whom the grandfather of the present Duke, who
was also Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, sat for his portrait.
One room, called King Charles contains 's room, por-
traits of the unhappy Monarch and most of the mem-
bers of his Willy, a number of the ripe and glowing
Court beauties of the succeeding reign, and a portrait of
the ninth Earl of Northumberland, who spent many
years of his life in the Tower. At the foot of the grand