and an infant Hercules, with a few good pictures: Holy Family.-Shidone. Cleopatra.-Murillo. Portrait of Sir R. Worsley.-Strochling. Kemble as Coriolanus.-Lawrence. Descent from the Cross.-Daniel de Volterra. Portrait of Roxelana, in a Venetian dress.-Gentile Belline. Roxelana was mistress to Soliman II. who afterwards married her, and applied to the Doge of Venice to permit Gentile to take her portrait: the artist accordingly went to Constantinople for the purpose. Nessus, who, in bearing off Dejanira, is seen staggering with the arrow of Hercules in his side. To the left of the hall is the library, which contains a choice collection of pictures. This room is of moderate dimensions. Over the mantel-piece is a superb landscape, by Salvator Rosa. Here are also a lovely little Scene on the Ice, by Cuyp; a Booth, with Men and Cattle; Cupid stretching a Bow, by Albano; and a portrait of Charles I. given by that sovereign to the Worsley family, who attempted his escape; Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and the Dowager Queen of France, widow of Louis XII. and several others, by Vandyke; Henry VIII. by Holbein ; Edward VI. &c. with a portrait of Essex by Zucchero, and others by Jansen, &c. Virgin and Infant, small.-Dominichino. Circumcision, small.—Benvenuto. St. Bruno.-Andrea Succhi. Berghem, with dog and gun, by himself. Dead Christ and Mary in the Sepulchre.-Caracci. Infant Jesus and John.-Vandyke.. The above are nearly all cabinet pictures. The drawing-room contains many beautiful specimens of the various masters: A Magdalen.-Titian. Holy Family.-Leonardo da Vinci. Portrait of the old Duchess of Lor raine.-Rembrandt. Earl of Essex.-Sir A. More. Four Family Heads of Females. Joseph and Infant Christ.-Baroccio. Portrait of Pope Alexander.-Ditto. A small room adjoining the draw-with two of his Disciples. ing-room contains The saloon is a superb apartment, The Earl of Pembroke, a small whole- and contains the following pictures: length.-Vandyke. Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise. Martyrdom of St. Stephen.-Domini--Schiavone. chino. Holy Family, small.-Albano. Holy Family.-Schidone. A Concert.-Jordaens. John the Baptist in the Wilderness.— Caracci. Spanish Girl.-Velasquez. Venus at a Mirror.-Caracci. Descent from the Cross.-Tintoretto. Two portraits of Philip and Isabella of Bourbon.-Parga. Also many beautful antique pieces of sculpture, with Mosaic specimens. Over the mantel-piece is a superb picture of the Annunciation, by Guercino, painted in 1629, purchased of the Confraternity of the Holy Cross at Reggio, of the house, is an artificial ruin, called Cook's Castle, which has a pleasing effect as viewed from the mansion, which is surrounded with hills, being nestled down, as it were, in a well-wooded valley. From Steephill-Shoot a fine view of this sweet vale is obtained; the woods appear to the best possible advantage, the valley being spread out most pleasingly, with its rich pasturage, small farms, and streamlet. The beech-trees are of uncommon magnitude, and the venerable oaks yield to few that we are acquainted with; being, in this sequestered place, screened from the sea air, they stretch their tree-like limbs, and form delightful shade for the herds of deer that are kept here. The house, from its situation, has only its own beautiful home-scene, but the sur The dining-room contains that very beautiful picture of a Storm by Turner; two very fine views by Zuccarelli; Latona changing the Peasants into Frogs, by Dominichino; a fine Poussin, Scene from Rinaldo. A small room adjoining the dining-rounding hills command most exroom has many sweet pieces of sculpture, with some water-colour drawings. There are days in the week set apart by the noble owner for the public to view this splendid collection. This mansion was begun by Sir Robert Worsley in 1710, and completed by Sir Richard, who extended and improved the plan. The whole is of freestone; the offices are most commodious; the bedchambers, with their dressing-rooms, amount to about twenty. The principal entrance into the park is through an elegant gateway of the Ionic order, which has a fine appearance, and bespeaks the style and magnitude of the mansion to which it leads. On the summit of the park is an obelisk of Cornish granite, nearly seventy feet in height, erected to the memory of Sir Robert Worsley. On a rocky cliff, eastward tensive and magnificent prospects. Steephill-Shoot has a beautiful view of the Undercliff; while to the east are seen St. Helen's road, Spithead, and Portsmouth; on the north, the New Forest and the Solent Sea; on the south, the British Channel; while on the west, in addition to the Undercliff, may be seen the cliffs at Freshwater, the Dorset coast, and the Isle of Portland. The name of Appuldurcombe is derived from certain Armoric and Saxon words, signifying "a pool of water in a valley." It was formerly a monastery of the Benedictine order, held under the abbey of Lyra, in Normandy, and suppressed in the second year of Henry V. 1414. It was afterwards granted to the abbess and nuns of the Minories, of the order of St. Clare, without Aldgate, and at the dissolution by Henry VIII. sold to Sir James Worsley. The at a small distance from the present mansion, and was pulled down in the beginning of the present century by Sir Richard Worsley. old house of the prior was situated | ceeded his father, Sir Thomas, in 1768, and in 1775 married Seymour, one of the daughters of the late Sir John Fleming, Bart. by whom he had one son, who died before him. By this failure of male issue, a jointure of 70,000l. reverted to Lady Worsley, and Sir Richard leaving no will, his estates and property de Sir Richard, the historian of his native island, died at this his favourite retreat in 1805, and was succeeded in the title by the Rev. Dr. Worsley, of Pidford-House, after-volved to his niece, the daughter of wards Sir Henry Worsley Holmes, the Hon. Bridgman Simpson, and Bart. who was succeeded by Sir were carried by marriage into the Leonard Thomas Worsley Holmes. Pelham family. The late baronet, Sir Richard, suc SKETCHES AND CHARACTERS. No. I. PETER PARAGRAPH. I HAVE now in my mind's eye ho- || the young lads and lasses of the vilnest Peter Paragraph, the village schoolmaster of, and the collector of births, marriages, and deaths, with other remarkable incidents in that vicinity, for the county paper, published in the neighbouring town of Peter, at the age of sixty, was a "hale, hearty old man;" the snow of winter had silvered his locks, but his cheek had not lost its ruddy tinge; and you might walk many miles and not meet with one who carried his years better. Like Shakspeare's Adam, "He was strong and lusty: Peter had more occupations than lage, who, like Cade, thought it a suspicious accomplishment to be able to write, and preferred making their marks, like "honest and plain-dealing men and women;" and, at the period to which I am alluding, that number was much more considerable than it is now, when we have so many "aids and appliances" to boot, to make the rising generation learned, if not wise. He drew up marriage-articles and made wills; and he had under his care, as schoolmaster, some thirty or forty ragged urchins, whom he instructed in "English reading and grammar; writing and arithmetic; geography and the use of the globes:" so at least his card set forth. Then, as I have said before, he was a collector of paragraphs for the county paper; and his eye sparkled, and his honest countenance assumed a ruddier hue, when any extraordinary incidents occurred, such as a grand christening, Christmas festivities, a churchwar |