Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/148

 LIBRARY AND STUDY. 123

lor, are many pictures, and gifts from persons of dis tinction. There are also an ebony writing-desk pre sented by George the Third, chairs by George the Fourth and the Pope, and ornaments in Italian marble by Lord Byron.

The magnificence of the library strikes every eye. It is sixty feet by fifty, and contains more than twenty thousand volumes, beautifully arranged. It has a bold projecting window, commanding a lovely view of rural scenery and the classic Tweed. Shakspeare s bust, and one of Scott, by Chantry, and a full-length portrait of his eldest son, in military costume, are among the ornaments of this noble apartment. It is a pleasing instance of the filial piety of this only surviving son, that every article throughout the mansion re mains, by his orders, in exactly the same situation in which it was left by his father. The books, the anti quarian relics, all retain the places given them by him, and the last suit of clothes that he wore is preserved under a glass case in his closet.

But it was in the smaller room, used as a study, that one most feelingly realizes the truth, that

&quot; Hushed is the harp, the minstrel gone ! &quot;

Lighted by a single window, its furniture is ex tremely simple. I think there was but one. chair in it, beside that which he was accustomed to occupy. Here was the working-spot, where, dismissing all ex traneous objects, he bent his mind to its mighty tasks.

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