Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-10-09

| punished.
Lord Dexter and his Chateau.
| From the Boston Post1
| The announcement that the famous chateau
| once owned aud occupied by Lord Timothy
| Dexter in the historic citv of NewburypOrt, is
| 10 be sold at auction on Wednesday recalls the
| antics Of that self-Styled nobleman, whose his
| tory is made up of such curious commngling
of cunning, shrewdness, imbecility, roeuery and
sarcasm, that one hesitates to saw whether after
| all his lordship was not what he called himself
| in one of his apostrophes-the greatest man in
| the east. What has been lost and gained by
| the transformation of Lord DeXters once ia
| nous castle, matters but little from a historic
point of view, as long as he continues to be held
| in memory by his neighborS as he is now. The
| figure which he used to cut, the deeds of chival-
ny which he performed, and the monuments
| which he raised TO mis- own glory, while they
| no longer feast the eyes of the villagers, are
still the talk of the corners and the tales of the
| nursery Cracked, conceited and eccentric as
| my lord was in his manners and habits, he was
| nevertheless ingenious and shrewd in his bust
| ness transactions, and accumulated large for
| tune by his surprising foresight. He was as
| well miSer as an idiot, a fop as an enthusiast
aud tie record of his life ahoundS in all that is
| foolish as well as a good deal that would come
under the head of Yankee smartness. Like Don
| QuiXote OF La Mancha, he delved in books of
| chivalry and forthwith became as doughty a
| knight as ever bore helmet. He soon aSpired
| to higher hOuors, and became a self-styled peer
| Of the realm. He appropriated a coat-of-arms
| from book of heraldry, and getting himself up
| in gaudy and finical fashion, surrounded him
| self with an atmosphere of royalty which,
| though counterfeit, was gorgeous. His wig was
| powdered and his rut1e stood out from beneath
| MS chin like that of feudal baron. Brass but
| tons and buckles reflected their bright lustre all
| about him, and his strut was as lOrdly as that
| Of a chanticeer.
He made his fortune by speculatious ofan end
less variety, and ascrbed his gain or loss to the
| will of providence. Buying federal securities
| when they sold below par; sending warmpans
| to the West Indies, when no warm-pans were
i wanted there, and converting them into skim
mers, aud ladies only TO sell them at an adj
| vanced price; cornering the whalebOne market,
| after having received an immense invoice of that
| material, and profting greatly by the rise he
| had himself created-Such, in nut shell, are
| the familiar triumphs of his commercial career
| showing how great was his folly and how much
| greater his success. Having possessed himself
| of ample fortune, he was ambitious of being a
| lover of learning, and put himself to writing a
| book The result of his desire was a senSeless
| farrago of the looniest nonsense, which he en-
! titled, "a Pickle for the Knowing Ones" Or
| theOpy and punctuation wereyruthlesSly diSre-
| garded and all the Stons thus left out were
| heaped together on a fly leaf at the end of the
| volume. When age began to wrinkle his tidy
| countenance, he became mindful that he must
| shuttle off his mortal coil, and he accordingly
| built his tomb among the shrubs, flowers and
| trees of his summer house. He ordered gor-
| geous coffin, and issued cards of invitation to
| all the good people of Newburyport to be pres
| eut al his mock funeral, which he got up fer the
| laudable purpose of testing his courage, and
| showing how he wished his funeral to be con-
| Quoted The burial service was performed, the
| euogy pronounced, and the procession marched
| with stately tread to the grave, after which the
| frohcsome company returned TO the chateau,
| where a sumptuOuS banquet was provided, at
| which his ordship declared the funeral a grand
| success, his wifes dry ewes being the only Oh
| ectionable feature of the entertainment. 1t was
| not until the early part of the present century
| that the ceremony was repeated with its bur-
lesque features omitted. Lord Timothy quietly
| expired at his palace, etat SiXty-three years,
! and his remains repOse in the Hill cemetery at
| NewburypOr1. He did not die unsung, however.
| having scared ballad mOuEer as his poet lau-
/ reate some time before his death, who sang the
I virtues Of his master n llnEuDE rhymes, which
! be sold for 1w0pence- Tins passed Lord Tim
/ othy Dexter, Of whom this and g great deal
( more miruI he sad, thai. like the hero OF the
BatemGu ballad
Lord Dexter he YVES 3 noble lord,
a noble lord Of hiEh deErae was hs."
LORD DELTEB CHATEAU.
The palace Iu which ms lur5ship lived and
I died WIS q Teritable chateau in Spain realized.
/ Ii WIS made 10 satisfy bis widest dreams and
Z his l0ltiest amMiion, and whatever ingenuity
Of q. peculiar kind could invent or gold purchase
/ was procured for The embellishment Of his
/ prnceIy establishment X stood on hight a
| short distance from the Merrimack river, COM
| mOndinL q beautiful and extensive view of The
| sea- The Isles Of Shoals, bar, harDOr, and the far
| surrounding country. When Lord Dexter puT-
chased the residence il was Stad and sOber-lOok-
ing mansion, with nothing but its broad front 10
attract attention. His lOrdship, Immediately after
he entered upon his new possessions, began the
work of transforming his mansion into palace,
fashioned and nodded after his own taste. In a
trice it had assumed the motley dress of a harle-
quin, having been painted in gorgeous cOlOrs
and been decked out in full liz. He raised
minarets on the roof of his mansion, and sur
| mounted them by gilt balls in profuSion. He
| summoned to his aid landscape artists from Eu-
rope to carry out his designs, and the grounds
were laid out in the most careful manner. In
| his garden he put all kinds of foreign trees and
| Shrubberv and around his house he erected rows
of tall columns, and surmOunted them with the
most hideous images hewn out of wood. D.
rectly in front of the door of the house on an
immense broad-spanning Roman arch stood
what purported to be the image OF Gen. Wash.
| ington, in military garb On his right was JET.
terSOn; on his left was Adams. On the wooden
| columns were the figures of Indian chiefs, gen.
erals, politicians, statesmen aud philosophers
| now and then a nymph-ke goddess or a stern
| Recommendations enough to be either. Gen.
| Washington to-day might be Benedict Arnold
tomorrow, as the lord OF the mansion was OF an
unruly temper and was in the habit Of getting
| in a milf with the public men OF the day, owing
to their lack of attention to Lord Dexter of Dex-
ter hall, and the painters brush was forthwith
employed 10 paint new name on the pedestal
| and make or unmake a fierce warrior. Besides
the representations Of menA there were the
forms of birds and beasts; there were
eagles at rest and on the wing:
there were lions couchant and passant
and every species of animals which could be
fashioned by his nimbe-fistet sculptor. Then
there were ponds and groves, and all manner of
fantastic adjuncts which could be devised He
imported e,e9ant articles OF furniture,
| less OF either taste or expense. His library was
filled with the most elegantly bound books,
though his illiterate taste had been INDUCED in
the selection OF his favOrte authors. TWAS an
outand out Minerva library, filled with trash in
an infinite variety. Impressed with the idea
that the noble lords of Albion indulgel their
expensive tastes in galleries of art, he at once
procured all the bright colored daubs he could
find and hung his walls with them. Those of
whom he made purchases took advantage OF
his connoisseur taste and found in him a ready
purchaser when they had marked them with
| the names of great masters. On the death of
| the lord of the manor, such of the furniture and
gewgewS as were Of any value were disposed of,
| while others were left to natural decay. The
| great September gale threw down many of the
| outdoor ornaments, and the general neglect
| which the place underwent for long season
| subsequent to the death of his lordship, made a
| ruin Of all the fantastic embellishments with
| which the eccentric owner, in his mirthful
whims and caprices, had surrounded him
| self.
The scene which is presented to-day, at what
| was once the home of Lord Timothy is such as
to impress the visitor with the conviction that
the famous old house has completely lost iden-
| tty. One is told that the same old oaken frame
| sustains the house, and that the cupola, which
| commands view of the beautiful country for
| miles around, and which was the work of Lord
| Timothy, still survives the wreck of time and
the destroying hand of a skilful landscape
artist But nothing else remains to tell the
tales Of heraldry, knght-errantry, and eccen-
| triciy with which my lord was saddled. Were
| some New Lealander to take his stand on
| broken arch of Merrimaek bridge TO sketch the
| ruins Of Lord Dexter's mansion, he would find
hardly vestge of the ancient hall remaining (,
but there would meet his gaze one of the most
beautiful and picturesque villa residences in New
England.
The APES OF GIBRALTAR.-A correspondent
| of the London Telegraph writing from Glbral-
tar under date of Sept. 16, says:
"The governor, Sir Fenwick Williams, of
Kars, is popular, and makes an excellent COM
mander He and his predecessors have mainly
| devoted themselves to defending the apes that
are to be found on the rock against hostile at.
| tacks from the garrison or town. These apes
are the only wild monkeys in Europe. They
L.. hoo I..ur. r. Al