The Penn's Grove record., 1882-09-30

ace which the first Earl OF Salisbur.
reared at Hatfield was in sorry pligh
when the grandfather of the presen
Tory leader in the Lords rehabllitatet
it-and this though it was only twenty
miles from London. Very few o
these houses were allowed, however
to pass into decay beyond recovery
They were simply terribly out of re
pair, with their gardens unkempt
and their parks neglected.
With the close of the war in 1915
and the matchmaking of roads, came
a revival of country life among the
grandees. The ''swellsp who had
been fighting took to fox-hunting and
found that the Tally-ho and Qaicksil-
yer would carry them up to town in
what seemed then extraordinarily
quick time should a frost set in. Then
came the railroad, bringing Northum-
berland and Cornwall within a days
es yjou rney, and enabling peopleto fill
tbs fir houses with London friends, and
be no longer dependent on local 'abo-
rigines." This probably did more than
anything else to make the great land
lords the Countrywide people they have
been duringthe reign OF Victoria. Never
before has there been in England such
a large number of fine places so regu-
larly occupied for a portion of the year.
In fact, when the bad time set in
seven years ago they found the big
houses in snch perfect order that even
if they are neglected for the next
twenty years they can stand it. Proba-
bly, the number of country houses on a
grand scale which will be built in the
England of the future will be very
past twenty years they have not num-
bered more than five or six. Mr.. Hol-
ford, the inheritor of a vast CONNER
cial fortune and owner of a mansion
which taken altogether is the finest in
London, has raised a vast edihce on
his estate in Worcestershire. Mr..
Elves, who enjoys some of the boards
of the celebrated miser of his name-a
miser is 9 pleasant person to these
who inherit his money bags, if to no
one else-has created a stately man
sion in the same country. Lord Elles-
mere has built a very fine home on
his mid England estate, and Lord
Butte is rearing a palace at Mount
Stuart. These, with n or two fabrics
raised by the iron princes of the
North, are about all the grand seigneur
creations of later days, but any num-
Der have been rehabilitated.
Many men are so obviously over
housed that they offer an awful
example deterrent of would-be brick
and mortar makers. Thus the Duke
of Buckingham would probably almost
sacrifice an arm if by so doing he
could only see Stowe well off his hands
and g big balance at his bankers in
stead. His Grace is not rich, he
doesn't care a straw for show, Stowe
was Quilted of Its treasures-almost its
sole attIaction-under q forced sale in
the time of his father it lies in an
ugly country, it is enormous, it is alb
solutely timetable, and, lastly, he has
another and very desirable home. Can
anything, then. be more of q white
elephant than Stowe? And there
must, too. be times, we should fancy,
when the Duke of Devonshire may have
reflected that five country residences,
four with deer parks, and a vast mansion
in London, are almost more than are
absolutely necessary for the happiness
of a widowed septuagenarian, ever
though he a pay for them, while we
can imagine that the Duke of Buc-
cleuch would readily admit hat fewer
than his nine residences would suffice
him. Fortunate is Lord Derby with
nothing but Knowsley and a villa
near London. Many of his noble
brethren burdened with places to keep
up must envy him, particularly in
such times as these.