Arthur Algernon Capel, sixth Earl of Essex and Viscount Malden, and seventh Baron Capel of Hadham, was born January 28th, 1803. In 1825 he married the Lady Caroline Jeanetta Beauclerk, third daughter of the eighth Duke of St. Albans, and by her, who died in 1862, had issue: Arthur De Vere Capel, Viscount Malden, born 1826 (heir to the title and estate, who married, in 1853, Emma Martha, daughter of Sir Henry Meux, Bart., and has issue), the Hon. Adela Caroline Harriet Capel, now deceased, married to the Earl of Eglintoun; the Hon. Reginald Algernon Capel, married to Mary, daughter of John Nicholas Fazkerly, Esq., and niece of the Earl of Rokeby; and the Hon. Randolph Capel. In 1863, his lordship married, secondly, the Lady Louisa Caroline Elizabeth Boyle, daughter of Viscountess Dungarvon, and sister to the Earl of Cork, and by her has issue living, the Hon. Arthur Algernon Capel, born 1864, and the Hon. Beatrice Mary, born 1870. His lordship is patron of the livings of Watford, in Hertfordshire, Rayne, in Essex, and Shuttington, in Warwickshire. The arms of the Earl of Essex are—_Gules_, a lion rampant between three cross-crosslets fitchée, _or_; crest, a demi-lion rampant supporting a cross-crosslet fitchée, _or_; supporters, two lions, _or_, ducally crowned, _gules_; motto, “Fide et Fortitudine.” The park of Cassiobury embraces an area of nearly seven hundred acres, of which more than three hundred and fifty are called “the Home Park,” and about two hundred and fifty the “Upper Park;” they are separated from each other by the river Gade, which flows between them. The remainder of the ground is divided into woods, lawns, gardens, and all the other elegancies of grounds around the house, the site of which is also included in it. The parks are well wooded with majestic trees, among which are a profusion of beech, oak, elm, and fir—some of the latter resembling in their enormous size those of Norway. Several of the beech-trees, too, are of gigantic size, some being said to cover an area of ground nearly 150 feet in diameter. [Illustration: _The Swiss Cottage._] The present mansion was built from the designs of Mr. James Wyatt, at that time the fashionable architect of Fonthill Abbey, of parts of Windsor Castle, and other places: it is of that peculiar style of Gothic architecture which characterizes most buildings erected by him. The general plan is a square; the building surrounding a court-yard or quadrangle, with a cloister on two of its sides; the entrance being to the west, the chief room to the south, the private or family rooms to the east, and the kitchen, servants’ offices, &c., to the north. A porch screens the entrance-doorway, that opens into a narrow cloister, on the right of which is a small vestibule and enclosed staircase. Eastward of these is the great cloister, having five windows, partly of stained glass, and its walls adorned with full-length family portraits and other paintings. [Illustration: _The Lodge._]