Biographical Catalogue of the Portraits at Longleat in the County of Wilts The Seat of the Marquis of Bath by Mary Louisa Boyle

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Title: Biographical catalogue of the portraits at Longleat in the county of Wilts the seat of the Marquis of Bath

Author: Mary Louisa Boyle

Release Date: February 28, 2021 [eBook #64653]

Language: English

Character set encoding: UTF-8

Produced by: Fay Dunn, Barry Abrahamsen, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIOGRAPHICAL CATALOGUE OF THE
PORTRAITS AT LONGLEAT IN THE COUNTY OF WILTS THE SEAT OF THE MARQUIS OF BATH ***

ARISE ✤ PRAY ✤ WORK

BIOGRAPHICAL CATALOGUE

OF THE PORTRAITS AT LONGLEAT

IN THE COUNTY OF WILTS

THE SEAT OF THE MARQUIS OF BATH

B IOGR AP HIC AL

C ATA L O G UE

OF THE PORTRAITS

AT LONGLEAT

IN THE COUNTY

OF WILTS

THE SEAT OF

THE MARQUIS OF BATH

❦

‘A true delineation, even of the smallest man, and his scene of

pilgrimage through life, is capable of interesting the greatest
man; for all men are to an unspeakable degree brothers, each
man’s life a strange emblem of every man’s, and human
portraits faithfully drawn are, of all pictures, the welcomest on
human walls.’ Carlyle.

L O N D O N: E L L I O T STO C K

1881.

DE DICATION

TO THE OWNERS OF THAT BEAUTIFUL HOME,

ENDEARED TO ME BY THE KINDNESS AND FRIENDSHIP

OF THREE GENERATIONS,

THESE PAGES ARE INSCRIBED

BY THEIR FAITHFUL KINSWOMAN

MARY LOUISA BOYLE.

London, September 1881.

I

FEEL it incumbent upon me to offer a few words of apology for the shortcomings and inequalities of

this small work, and the disproportion of the length of some notices, and that of others; but I have had many difficulties
to contend with since I began my pleasant labours,—the absence, for instance, of books of reference when travelling,
and still more, the failure of sight, which has rendered me more than usually dependent on the kind help of others for
description of pictures, details of dress, and the like.

Being essentially a family record, I have given more especial attention to the notices of such personages as were

connected, even remotely, with the owners of Longleat, making, as a rule, the records of public, subservient to those of
private, and domestic life, excepting, as in many cases, where they were closely intertwined. To Kings and Queens I
have usually apportioned but a few lines, deviating from this rule, however, when treating of the King and Queen of
Bohemia, whose lives read as a romance.

I have consulted history by many hands, and memoirs of all kinds,—Clarendon, Burnet, Strype, Aubrey, Conway,

Granger, Lodge, etc. etc., and only refrained from quoting my authorities in footnotes from the fear of swelling a volume
already, I fear, too bulky.

To Canon Jackson, for whose invaluable help I can offer no adequate thanks, I am indebted for stores of

information, which his well-known local knowledge, and love, and power of research, could alone supply. Neither am I
ashamed to own (since I had his permission) how largely I have helped myself to gifts so freely bestowed.

Mr. Ernest Law kindly came to my assistance in the vexed question of the portrait of Francis I. and his Queen, for so

many years improperly named, by allowing me to make use of a note belonging to his forthcoming interesting work on
Hampton Court Palace. The picture in question has been attributed to different painters,—Sir Antonio More, Janet,
and a French artist, Maître Amboise, little known to fame. A similar portrait was painted, and has been engraved, of
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his wife, Mary, widow of Louis XII., King of France, but the position of the
figures is transposed, the Queen (doubtless in deference to her rank) being on the right hand.

Many delightful hours, both at Longleat itself, and in manifold, and devious wanderings, have been passed, in

compiling this brief memorial of the portraits in ‘the most august house in England.’

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E N T R A N C E H A L L

Contains large pictures by John Wootton,
representing the second Lord Weymouth,
several gentlemen, members of the hunt,

attendants, horses, hounds, etc. etc.

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L IBRARY.

L IBRARY.
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No. 1.

FIRST VISCOUNT WEYMOUTH.

Oval. Brown coat. Wig.

No. 2.

B I S H O P K E N.

By Sir Peter Lely.

BORN 1637, DIED 1711.

Oval. In Canonicals. Black skull-cap.

E was the youngest son of Thomas Ken, of Furnival’s Inn. Born at Berkhampstead, county Herts. The

Kens were a family of great antiquity in Somersetshire. The future Bishop was educated at Winchester and New
College, Oxford, and entered the University, about the year 1656, at the same time as Mr. Thynne (afterwards Lord
Weymouth), who became the faithful friend of his whole (subsequent) life.

Oxford was at that time in a state of great disorder;—the Book of Common Prayer forbidden; ‘the Proctor a

boisterous fellow at cudgelling, and foot-ball playing; the Vice-Chancellor in Spanish leather boots, huge ribbons at the
knee, and his hat mostly cocked.’

But such examples were lost on Ken. He pursued his studies with sobriety, and diligence, and took his Degree. In

1666 he became a Fellow of Winchester College, and was made chaplain to Morley, Bishop of the diocese, who gave
him a living in the Isle of Wight.

Here he was most zealous in his duties, allowing himself but little sleep, and (in the words of a near relation and

friend) ‘so lively and cheerful was his temper that he would be very facetious to his friends of an evening, though he
could scarce keep his eyes open, and he used to sing his morning hymn to his lute before he dressed.’ In 1669 he was
appointed Prebendary of Winchester, and travelled to Italy with his nephew, who was also the nephew and namesake
of the celebrated Izaak Walton; and in 1682 we hear of him on board the Tangiers fleet, with Lord Dartmouth.

The Princess of Orange (afterwards Queen Mary of England), whose chaplain he became, appreciated Ken’s

straightforward and uncompromising character. But the Prince was very wroth with him on one occasion, when the
Englishman stood forward as champion of a young lady, at the Dutch Court, who had been wronged.

Ken insisted that her seducer should marry her, and he carried his point, but William (with whom he had not been on

friendly terms, before this event) resented the interference, and threatened to deprive his wife’s chaplain of his post.

The Princess was in despair when she found her favourite on the eve of departure, and endeavoured to compromise

matters; but Ken would brook no half measures, and told his royal mistress roundly, that he would not remain in
Holland unless requested to do so by the Prince, and that in person.

The matter was soon settled according to Ken’s own stipulations; but shortly afterwards he was back in England,

and appointed to a royal chaplaincy by Charles II.

It seemed his fate, however, to fall out with his royal patrons, for the Court repairing to Winchester for the summer,

Ken’s prebendal house was pitched on as a suitable residence for Madam Eleanor Gwynne; but the merry monarch
had reckoned without his host, in every sense of the word, and no power on earth could persuade the Churchman to
admit the siren.

It speaks well for Charles that he bore Ken no ill-will for his resistance, as he preferred him not long after to the See

of Bath and Wells. But before the new Bishop entered on his Episcopal duties, the King fell sick, and Burnet bears
testimony to the zeal with which Ken attended Charles’s deathbed, striving ‘to awaken his conscience, and speaking
with great elevation, as of a man inspired.’

On the King’s death, the Bishop devoted himself to his Episcopal duties; he published several works, chiefly on

divinity, and, disgusted with the ignorance of the people in his diocese, he founded several schools, trying, as he said,
‘to lay a foundation to make the next generation better.’

He was invariably courteous in his demeanour to all men, so much so, as to give some members of the Roman

Catholic faith, a hope of his conversion; but he was a staunch Protestant, and withstood and denounced Popery,
regardless of Court favour. Indeed, he spoke boldly from his own pulpit, but, more daring still, he admonished the
Court on the subject, calling on them to hold fast by the reformed religion, and rebuking them for unmanly policy. James
II. bore with Ken for a time, and was said to have done all in his power to gain over one, who was indeed a staunch
champion of the creed, or opinion he professed; but Bath and Wells would listen to no overtures, and took his way to
the Tower with the six other prelates. In spite of all these religious differences, Ken was loyal to the house of Stuart,
and when William and the Revolution appeared, he refused to take the oath of allegiance, and was in consequence
deprived of his bishopric—William perhaps not unwilling to pay off old scores.

Ken was much beloved in his diocese, and when he took his departure he was followed by the prayers and good

wishes of all men; and now that the horizon had clouded over for him, there rose up a noble and faithful friend, ‘even
like unto a brother, who was born for adversity.’

Lord Weymouth, who had been his fellow-collegian at Oxford, gladly availed himself of the plea that Longleat was in

the diocese, and cordially bade the outcast welcome. In that beautiful home did the ex-Bishop reside for twenty years,

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