on what day he shall send for the abovesaid deer to the aforesaid place at the aforesaid times; and this notice they shall cause to be given to them six days before the aforesaid day. In witness whereof each to the other's writing hath put to his seal. And it is to be observed, that the time of buck-season [tempus pinguedinis] here is computed between the feast of St. Peter ad vincula [August 1st.] and the exaltation of the Holy Cross [Sept. 14]; and the time of doe-season [tempus firmationis] between the feast of St. Martin and the purification of the Blessed Virgin."

The present Park is bounded by a wall of nearly seven miles in length, and is also subdivided into several walled lawnds, some of which are of very ancient inclosure. The whole surface is of a very varied character, in which wildness greatly predominates. The little glen on the south-western side, called the Rocky Valley, is extremely romantic. The mansion, of which the ruins still form an object of such interest, is deserving of particular notice. Of this Leland makes the following remarks:-" From Leicester to Brodegate, by ground well woodded, 3 miles. At Brodegate is a faire Parke and a logge lately builded there by the Lorde Thomas Gray, Marquise of Dorsete, father to Henry that is now Marquise." Hence it may be concluded that the mansion was erected about the year 1530. The former Marquis, however, began some buildings here in 1501. This house, according to the same authority (Leland), was chiefly erected out of the materials of the Manor House of the Earls of Warwick at Sutton Coldfield; for he says, "After that the Earldom of Warwicke was attainted and came to the Kinge, the toune of Sutton, standinge in a barren soyle, fell daily to decay, and the market was cleane forsaken. Wingston, by authoritie of his office, sould the tymbre of the Mannour place, and had part of it himselfe. The hall selfe was after sett up at Brodegate, the Marquise of Dorsett's house at Leicester, and there yet stondeth."*

It was inhabited by the family and their successors until the early part of the last century, when it was destroyed by fire, and left in the state in which it now stands. Throsby, in his "History of Leicestershire," mentions that James the First was entertained here for some days; but there are no certain accounts respecting his visit. Nichols, who published a description of the progresses of this King, in mentioning the various palaces and houses of the nobles where he sojourned, takes no notice of Bradgate; and it is therefore most probable that he never visited it. It is certain, however, that King William was entertained here for some days: the account states that he rode from Leicester through the open fields by Anstey, which was also then uninclosed. The following account of the destruction of the house is taken from Throsby's Leicestershire:-"It is said of the wife of the Earl of Suffolk, who last inhabited Bradgate Hall, that she set it on fire, at the instigation of her sister, who then lived in London. The story is thus told :-Some time after the Earl had married, he brought his lady to his seat at Bradgate; her sister wrote to her, desiring to know how she liked her habitation, and the country she was in: the Countess of Suffolk wrote for answer, 'that the house was tolerable, that the country was a forest, and the inhabitants all brutes.' The sister in consequence, by letter, desired her to set fire to the

Leland, Vol. IV., page 187.

house, and run away by the light of it: the former part of the request, it is said, she immediately put in practice, and thus this celebrated and interesting mansion was consigned to the flames."

PRESENT APPEARANCE OF BRADGATE.

I shall now proceed to give a detailed account of the ruins, as they exist at the present day. On approaching them from the west, we perceive the remains of two towers, one of a square form, the other an irregular polygon; these are now only connected together by a low ruinous wall; they and the rest of the edifice are built of brick, with coins at the angles, and cornice mouldings of soft red sandstone; the mullions and facings of the windows, which are square headed, are also of the same materials. To the south of these towers are the remains of the bakehouse, the ovens of which may still be discerned; over it were probably the servants' chambers, the fire-places of which still exist to the height of three stories, and this part of the ruin is surmounted by a large angular-shaped chimney, with a projecting cornice of brick. A few feet to the north-east of the bakehouse are the remains of the kitchen; of this nothing more is now apparent than the capacious fire-place, and a portion of the wall. The above buildings are evidently of older date than other portions of the ruins, and formed part of the mansion existing during the period of Lady Jane Grey's residence here. The great hall appears to have been on the north side of the house; and here the remains of a wall and square-headed windows, partly overgrown with ivy, are still to be seen. What a casual observer would probably take for the entrance door, appears to have been a bay or projecting window reaching down to the ground; all the mullioned tracery, however, is demolished. The entrance door, which likewise projected, was much to the westward of these windows, and may still be traced out. Eastward of the hall a long range of buildings extended towards the north, the foundations only of which now remain ; these inclosed the court on the east, the great hall and other offices on the south. The east front, the foundations of the buildings of which may be traced, looked out on the Plaisance, and here no doubt were the more private and most comfortable apartments of the family. At the south-eastern corner of the mansion, and connected formerly on the north and east with other buildings, are the remains of an octagonal tower, with square-headed windows, mostly divided by a mullion, the facings and architrave mouldings of which are of stone; and a little to the westward of this is

THE CHAPEL.

This is the only part of this once extensive mansion which is now covered in; it joined other buildings on the east and north sides, and was formerly lighted by a large squareheaded window on the south, divided into twelve compartments by mullions and transoms, the six lowest of which are now bricked up; and on the west by two square-headed windows of smaller dimensions, both of which are also bricked up, and the mullions of them destroyed; above the large window on the south side is a smaller one, which like the rest is now blocked up. All these windows have stone dressings, and a horizontal moulding of