The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II — John Shaqi
The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No IIVarious
History
The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
Those who feel no interest in monkish chronicles, may reverence St. Anne’s
Hill, because of its having been the favorite residence of Charles James
Fox, the contemporary of Pitt and Burke and Sheridan and Grattan, at a
period when men felt strongly and spoke eloquently. The site of the house
on the south-eastern site of the hill is extremely beautiful, and it is
much regretted in the neighborhood that it finds so little favor in the
heart of its present noble proprietor. The grounds are laid out with much
taste; there is a noble cedar planted by Mrs. Fox when only the size of a
wand. The statesman’s widow survived her husband more than thirty-six
years, but never outlived her friends or her faculties. There is a temple
dedicated to Friendship, which was erected to perpetuate the coming of age
of one of the late Lords Holland; on a pedestal ornamented by a vase, are
inscribed some verses by General Fitzpatrick; another placed by Mrs. Fox
to mark a favorite spot where Mr. Fox loved to muse, is enriched by a
quotation from the "Flower and the Leaf," concluded by two graceful
stanzas:
"Cheerful in this sequestered bower,
From all the storms of life removed;
Here Fox enjoyed his evening hour,
In converse with the friends he loved.
And here these lines he oft would quote,
Pleased from his favorite poet’s lay;
When challenged by the warbler’s note,
That breathed a song from every spray."
At the bottom of the garden is a grotto, which must have once possessed
many attractions, and above it there is a pretty little quaint chamber
that was used as a tea-room, when, according to the custom of the time,
the English drank tea by daylight; it is adorned by painted glass windows;
there are portraits of the Prince of Wales and Mr. Fox, when both were
looking their best, and the balcony in front commands a delicious view of
the surrounding country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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