Algernon, Duke Of Northumberland, K.G., In Connection With Art.

with the other Avorkers employed on the estate , to a banquet . When the number of men upon the works was at the highest point nearly eight hundred mustered on these occasions . The Duke also introduced Italian art at Sion House , and at his seat of Stanwick , in Yorkshire .

Where practicable , as in the carving at Alnwick Castle , he employed native workmen to work out the Italian designs ; but such work as mosaics , statuary , and friezes , Avas executed in Rome , and conveyed to its destination ready for fixing . He further evinced his Italian art sympathies bthe

y purchase of the Camucini gallery . For the pictures of Northumbrian incidents depicted upon the coved ceiling ofthe ante-chamber leading to the new state apartments , at Alnwick Castle , he employed a German artist , Herr Gotzenberg . Besides the architects mentioned as consulted

by the Duke when contemplating the enrichment of one of his seats , he employed Mr . Deason and Mr . Green to a large extent in the numerous Avorks constantly progressing at his cost , as well as maintained , among the officers of his estate , a resident clerk of works , whose buisiness Avas to keep all farm-buildings in repair . It will be fresh in the remembrance of our readers that the Duke

laid the foundations of five new churches , and Avas subsequently present at the consecration of them , only a short time ago , all of which , with their parsonages , Avere indebted to his means ; and the parish church of Alnwick has just "been restored also at his cost . He has improved the cottages on

his Northumbrian estates to an extent that may be estimated at the expenditure incurred , which is said to have been £ 100 , 000 . Many and many a village may be seen with a crescent painted on every door , indicating that it is ducal property . When the late Duke came into possession most of

these consisted of picturesque but ruinous cottages such as that in which Burns Avas born , composed of four low walls , a door , and a thatched roof spanning all . It is now difficult to point to one of these : they have been superseded by UBAV , substantial buildings , Avith as large an amount of the

picturesque element in them as those displaced , mostly built from designs by Mr . Deason ; the only drawback being- that they occupy the precise sites of the former cots with the same rears of soaked soil from piggeries . The partial restoration of Warkworth Castle is

another architectural work carried out by the late Duke . This , with the restoration of Warkworth Church , to the accomplishment of which he was a liberal subscriber , has been described in these

pages . In sanitary matters the late Duke lent his aid to ascertain whether it Avas possible to utilise the liquid sewage of Alnwick upon the grass lands around . The works constructed for this purpose were made at his cost and on his land ; but owing to some mismanagement the experiment has not proved so succesful as it should have done . His

Grace placed Alnwick Castle in the hands of Mr . R . Rawlinson for sanitary revision , thus adding his testimony to the importance of such precaution . The subdivision of sanitary science in Avhich the ills of overcrowding are combated had not , however , been brought under his notice .

There are two indications of the large number of people living upon the Duke's Northumbrian estate that may be quoted . On the day of the great annual fair in July , on the eve of which watch and ward are still kept against incui-sions of the Scots , it is the custom of all the tenants able

and willing to do so to ride into one of the courtyards of the castle and there be regaled , and thence to proceed to the market-cross in procession , headed by the Duke ' s piper , also on horseback , wrapped in a Northumbrian plaid , Avith the Percy badge ( a silver crescent ) on his arm and in

his cap , playing "Chevy chace" on his pipes as he rides , and there proclaim the fair . This cavalcade of hearty , broad-shouldered Northumbrian farmers rarely consists of less than seventy or eighty mounts . The other test is that of the Percy Volunteer Artillery Corps , Avhich musters more than 500 athletes .

Large hearted and liberal handed , the late Duke , while managing his vast income Avith discretion , loved to do things handsomely . He liked every kind of Avork executed in the best possible manner ; not stinting the cost of such excellence , but always requiring an estimate , and vras displeased

if it Avas exceeded . When his brother , the third Duke , died , about £ 600 were raised in subscriptions to erect a public monument to his memory . At this stage the proposal was placed in his hands to carry into effect . He commissioned Mr . Dyce to make a design for a stained glass Avindowto be

, placed in the east end of the church Avhich it Avas one of the last acts of his brother to build . He then sent the cartoon to Munich , where it was executed for a sum far exceeding the subscriptions , not tolerating the restrictions which penury enforces on art . Mr . Dyce received £ 500 for the

design ; and the glass , with its guards and carriage , cost £ 1 , 139 5 s . From his earliest days , when as a midshipman he handed his superior officer a cheque upon his father for £ 1 , 000 for a charitable purpose , to his latter days , Avhen he founded a Sailors' Home at Shields , and sent the

sick sailors in the Dreadnought some thousands of bottles of choice Avines , he exhibited the same seafaring generosity , the same quiescent grandeur of temperament . He Avas deeply interested in every contrivance for the saving of human life ; and , whether it was a request to assist an inventor

to bring out a plan by Avhich sash-Avindows could be easily turned upon a pivot , so that there was no danger incurred by standing on sills to clean them ; or to promote life-saving operations upon a larger scale by presiding over and helping the Lifeboat Institution , he ever lent his Avilling aid to every scheme .