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NUNEHAM COURTENAY,

THE SEAT OF EARL HARCOURT.

THE View of this beautiful spot is taken from the bottoni of a wood, which declines from the upper part of the park to the banks of the Thames, which are here enlivened by two pleasing cottages: the bridge, by connecting the island with the shore, adds to the picturesque appearance of the scene, and the house in the distance crowns the whole. As we consider this place to be the most distinguished for beauty along the course of the river, we consider ourselves as called upon to give an enlarged description of it.

Nuneham Courtenay, at the General Survey, belonged to Richard de Curcy, and afterwards to the family of Riparys or Redvers. Mary, youngest daughter of William de Redvers, Earl of Devon, who, as well as his uncle William, was surnamed de Vernon, married Robert de Courtenay, Baron of Okenhampton, in 1214. It is probable, that by this marriage the manor of Nuneham passed into the family of Courtenay, and thence assumed the name of Nuneham Courtenay. The Pollards of Devonshire next succeeded to the possession of it: from them it went to Audley, of the Court of Wards, called the rich Audley. From him it passed to Robert Wright, Bishop of Litchfield, whose son, Calvert Wright, sold it to John Robinson, Merchant of London, in the time of Oliver Cromwell, who was knighted in 1660, by Charles the Second, and made Lieutenant of the Tower. From the Robinsons it descended to David, Earl of Wemyss, who married Mary, daughter and co-heir of Sir John Robinson, Baronet, of whom it was purchased in the year 1710, by Simon, first Lord Harcourt, Lord High Chancellor of England.

The present house was built by the father of the late and the present earl, after a design of Ledbeater; but has been since much altered and enlarged under the direction of Mr. Brown, who superintended the disposition of the grounds and plantations. It is a plain, regular, and elegant stone edifice, consisting of a principal floor, between a basement and attic story, and connected with two projecting wings, by inflected corridores, with galleries over them. Of the simplex munditüs, it affords a very rare and most pleasing example. Its interior arrangement comprehends convenience, elegance, and magnificence. Its principal apartments are of grand proportions, and fitted up both as to furniture and embellishment, in a very superior and splendid taste. It may be said with great truth of this mansion, that it is not too small for the first station, nor too large for any comfort. A considerable and very fine collection of pictures enhance its decoration; among which are those of the following distinguished masters :-Annibal Caracci, Murillo, Claude Lorrain, Albano, Guido, Salvator Rosa, Nicolo Poussin, Gasper Poussin, Domenichino, Titian, Rubens, Tempeste, Andrea de Turto, Wouwermans, Ruysdaal, Snyders, Fytt, Teniers, Cuyp, Vandervelde, Wycke, Swanefeld, Van Artois, Filippo Lauri, Berchem, Taverner, Vandycke, Sir Godfrey Kneller, Cornelius Janssen, Rosalba, Angelica, Miss Read, Sir Peter Lely, Sir Joshua Reynolds, &c. &c. &c.

The immediate approach to the house, through the park, is on a descent, which, though gradual and judiciously broken by its lateral course, is a circumstance that will scarcely admit of grandeur: but, in the example before us, and considering all the concomitants of the spot, grandeur may, perhaps, be thought to yield to something better-to that calm tranquil appearance which the painters call repose. This effect is, in a great measure, produced by three groupes of large elms, which, in different forms, present themselves at a short distance in the front, and are connected by side screens of trees, with the wings of the building. One of these groupes is nearly central, and the others are at such distances from it, as to leave considerable intervals between