Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume I.djvu/162

 fane should certainly be dedicated to Mercury, the god of fraud and deceit, as a piece of roguery is practised upon the incautious stranger within its very sanctuary; from the floor of which a multitude of little fountains suddenly spout up whilst he is admiring the prospect through the portal, and quickly wet him to the skin. After this practical joke, the cascade is put in motion by another screw, and certainly is grand in its kind; the water rushing in vast quantity and with prodigious force from the domed roof of the temple; from a great variety of dolphins, dragons, and other figures that ornament it; and throwing up several fountains from the bottom of the pool in front of the building; and then rolling down the long stages of steps before described. The tree, also, which squirts water from all its leaves, and the fountains in the ponds that throw the element up to the height of ninety feet, are still shewn; though the correct taste of the day considers them only as expensive puerilities.

Heaviness and gloom characterize the inside as well as the exterior of Chats worth-House. The Entrance-Hall is grand, but dark; the ends, ceiling, and one side, finely painted by Lewis La Guerre, in 1694, with a representation of the Assembly of the Gods; Julius Cæsar sacrificing; and