trees that led to a seat at the end of the pond, was common at Claremont, and others of his designs." The seat derives its name from a building erected on a mount in the park, by Lord Clare, and called after his own name. Of the gardens at Claremont another writer says, rather pompously, "There you may wander with secure delight, and saunter with perpetual amusement." Dr. Garth, in the preface to his poem of Claremont, remarks, that the situation is so agreeable and pleasing, that it inclines one to think some place of this nature put Ovid at first upon the story of Narcissus and Echo.

The grounds being thus improved, the original house was found no longer worthy so magnificent a demesne; the great Lord Clive, who purchased the estate from the Duke of Newcastle, gave Browne orders to erect a mansion regardless of expense.

He is said to have performed the task very much to the satisfaction of his employer, although the expense was above one hundred thousand pounds. This is the only mansion Browne completely finished from his own designs, although he altered many. It is a noble mansion, forming an oblong square of forty-four yards by thirty-four. On the ground floor are eight spacious rooms, besides the hall of entrance and the grand staircase. In the principal front a flight of thirteen

steps leads to the great entrance, under a pediment supported by columns of the Corinthian order. The general effect is grand without heaviness, and chastely elegant.

On the death of Lord Clive, this estate was sold for little more than one-third of what the mansion and improvements had cost; it was purchased by Lord Galway, by whom it was sold to the Earl of Tyrconnell, who disposed of it to Charles Rose Ellis, Esq.; this gentleman resided at Claremont until 1816, when it was purchased by Government for 69,000l., for the country residence of the Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold.

LORD CLIVE'S MONUMENT.

In this delightful retreat, secluded from the tedious ceremony and heart

less pomp of courts, the royal pair passed a too brief period of wedded bliss, and here, on the 6th of November, 1817, the Princess expired. The estate is still the property of Leopold, now King of the Belgians; his majesty's equerry, Sir Robert Gardner, residing at Melbourne Lodge, as also the house-steward, have authority to permit applicants to visit the house and grounds.

We have read with attention Sir Samuel Garth's poem entitled "Claremont," in the hope of finding some descriptive touches -some landscape-painting with the penbut in vain. Claremont, in the hands of Garth, is merely a peg to hang a courtier's hat on.

THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.

The poem opens with a complaint of the profusion of poets; an epidemic not peculiar to the days of the learned author of "The Dispensary." The bard then waxes satirical, but prudently conceals the point of his satire in barren generalities; he concludes his poem with a declaration of Parnassian independence, and incontinently begins to flatter.

Claremont, but not its owner, is forgotten, and heroic couplets sing the praises of the Earl of Clare. "Learned youth-Brunswick prince-Liberty -Augustus-Carolina's charms-Romulus in Nassau reigning again"—and the accumulated virtues of Lord Clare, swell the tumid page; ten lines, not worth transcribing, give a false description of the place, and of these seven assist in a panegyric on Sir John Vanbrugh. The other three contain not one attempt at an idea, although overloaded with epithets.

A wire-drawn druidical allegory occupies a great many lines, and the classic story of Echo and Narcissus is poorly paraphrased; the poem concludes with a dozen couplets of servile laudation of the owner of the place and hero of the poem.

The "Claremont" of Sir Samuel Garth is one of the many unhappy works modelled upon the "Cooper's Hill" of Denham; when the author, in his preface, observes, that "They who have seen those two excellent poems of 'Cooper's Hill' and 'Windsor Forest' will show a great deal of candour if they

approve of this," he says not enough; they who approve his "Claremont " must be more than candid, or less than just.

ESHER PLACE, the seat of Mr. Spicer, is historically of much interest. This enchanting spot, together with the manor of Esher, was, from a very early period, the property of the episcopal see of Winchester. Here, on the banks of the Mole, the bishops had a house of stately proportions, built by William Wainfleet, Bishop of Winchester: his arms, and those of the see, carved in stone, were over the gate-house, and in several other parts of the building.

William of Wykeham, the architect of Windsor Castle, resided here.

Wolsey, on giving Hampton Court to the king, ordered the bishop's house here to be repaired, intending to reside, when the king should be at Richmond or Hampton Court. At this place he dismissed all his servants, and lived in much embarrassment of mind, body, and estate; now having his hopes excited, now desponding, or, as he subscribes himself, "most miserable;" hence he retired for a time to Richmond, and thence, all hope of his final restoration to royal favour having vanished, went to York.

Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, gave up this estate, which was described as a mansion-house sumptuously built, and divers edifices, and an orchard and garden adjoining, together with a park of three miles in circuit, stocked with deer, to the king, who annexed it to the honour of Hampton Court.

Queen Mary restored the lands to the Bishop of Winchester, from whom Queen Elizabeth repurchased them, bestowing them in fee upon the Lord Howard of Effingham.

The manor, with the estate and park, passed through the hands of a number of families, among which we cannot observe any name worthy of particular record; until it came into the hands of Henry Pelham, brother of the Duke of Newcastle. Mr. Pelham, to whose retreat here from the turmoil of party politics, Thomson alludes in his "Seasons".

"Where, in the sweetest solitude embraced

By the soft windings of the gentle Mole,

From courts and senates Pelham finds repose,"

made additions to the gate-house, then the only part of Wolsey's mansion remaining, in the same style.

Mr. Pelham devised by will his house and park at Esher, and all his

manors, and messuages in Esher, to his second daughter, Frances Pelham, for her life. This lady dying unmarried, the estate became the property of Lord Sondes, nephew of Miss Pelham, who sold the estate in lots.

The present proprietor, Mr. Spicer, pulled down the additions of Mr. Pelham, but carefully preserved the gate-house, part of the original building of Cardinal Wolsey. On the summit of a gentle hill, commanding fine prospects, he has erected a handsome and commodious mansion.

The grounds are beautifully laid out, the walks winding round the brow and along the undulating slopes of the hill upon whose summit the house is built. In the vale below tranquilly glides the peaceful Mole, and on a verdant holm, close to the river's brink, stands the

lonely tower, now

tenanted by the

croaking raven, and

bat-all that remains

of the palace of Wolsey.

Temples, grottoes, and hermitages are scattered through the groves and glades, but not in injudicious profusion: nothing can exceed the beauty, variety, and richness of the prospect, in which this park has greatly the advantage of its now royal rival, Claremont.

Opposite to Esher Place-divided from it only by the river Mole-in a low but fertile valley, is Weyland Farm, in Walton parish: this estate was the property of a distinguished agriculturist, named Duckett, whose skill and enterprise in farming are mentioned in high terms of praise by Arthur Young. His Majesty King George the Third was a frequent visitor here, taking much pleasure in observing the exertions of Mr. Duckett, in his efforts to further the most useful of the useful arts.

Pursuing the plan we have laid down, we now ascend the river Thames as far as SUNBURY, two miles above Hampton, and fifteen miles from London,

FF

an exceedingly pleasant village on the banks of the Thames. The name is supposed by Mr. Lysons to have reference to the southern aspect of the place:-Sunnabyri, from Sunna, the sun, and byri, a town, being the name of the place in ancient records and memorials. The parish is bounded on the south by the river Thames, which separates it from Walton, in Surrey; on the west by Shepperton, Littleton, and Ashford; on the north by Feltham and Hanworth; and on the east by Hampton.

The manors in the parish are those of Charlton, Halliford, and Kennington or Col Kenyngton, now called Kempton. It is probable that Kempton was a royal residence so far back as the time of the Saxons, the name Kenynton or Kynyngton, the king's town, giving plausibility to the tradition; but it is certain that the manor-house was a royal palace in the reigns of the first Henrys and Edwards.

The parish church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is a modern structure of brick, consisting of a chancel, nave, and north aisle; at the west end, a square tower, with a cupola.

The church contains monuments to the memories of members of the families of Phelips and Dyer; also a memorial of Lady Jane Wharton, daughter of the marquis, sister of the duke of that name, and the last of that noble family.

The churchyard contains not one memorial of interest to the casual tourist.

At Sunbury, the Reverend Gilbert White, author of the "Natural History of Selborne," spent several summers: here he had opportunities of observing the habits and migrations of the swallow tribes, to which he has alluded with so much delightful particularity in his popular work.

A strong pull against the opposing current brings us, at length, to WALTON-UPON-THAMES, in Surrey, a place highly interesting to the antiquary, the historian, and the lover of the picturesque.

The objects of interest in this parish are the Coway Stakes, to which we shall briefly allude in our notice of Shepperton. On St. George's Hill is a camp called Cæsar's Camp, a single oblong work, with a trench running down to the town. The area of the inclosure is thirteen acres : antiquaries conclude it to have been an outwork to a greater camp at Oatlands.

The existence of these camps would seem to lend confirmation to the supposition that, somewhere near this spot, Cæsar, in leading his forces