Lord Capel, of Hadham. The Capels were for long seated at Stoke Nayland, in Suffolk, on Capel Manor ; but in 1503 Sir William Capel had acquired considerable wealth in trade, and became Lord Mayor of London. His wealth was sufficient to attract the cupidity of Henry VII. and his servile tools, Empson and Dudley, and he was mulcted in the sum of £2000 by the process of ready reckoning for which that monarch was celebrated. The system of "Benevolences" was reintroduced in this reign, and "a dilemma of his favourite minister, which received the name of Morton's fork, extracted gifts for the exchequer from men who lived handsomely on the ground that their wealth was manifest, and from those who lived plainly on the score that their parsimony had made them wealthy." When Capel refused to pay another sum of £2000, he was imprisoned in the Tower until the death of Henry VII. His son accompanied Henry VIII. to France, and appears to have been very skilful in deeds of arms. Cashiobury Park, of which some notice will appear later on, has always been in the hands of the family till the present day. There is one singular epitaph on a tablet of white marble on the south wall of the nave, which was written by Dr. Johnson.

In the Vault below are deposited the Remains of
JANE BELL, Wife of JOHN BELL, Esq.,

Who, in the fifty-third year of her Age,
Surrounded him with many worldly Blessings,
Heard, with Fortitude and Composure truly great,

The horrible Malady which had for some time begun to afflict her,
Pronounced Incurable;

And for more than three years

Endured with patience, and concealed with Decency,
The daily tortures of gradual death;

Continued to divide the Hours not allotted to Devotion Between the Cares of her Family and the Converse of her Friends; Rewarded the Attendance of Duty,

And acknowledged the Offices of Affection;
And while she endeavoured to alleviate, by Cheerfulness,
Her Husband's Sufferings and Sorrows,
Encreased them by her Gratitude for his Care
And her Solicitude for his Quiet.

To the Memory of these Virtues,

More highly honoured as more familiarly known,
This Monument is erected by
JOHN BELL.

Watford is now a favourite resort for London men of business who are not tied very rigidly to hours, and who can, in their half-hour's ride, read the morning's news. It lies literally embedded in ancestral parks, through which a public road is always allowed, and it is one of the most charming districts within easy reach of the Metropolis. Much taste is displayed in many of the residences, and some of them are surrounded with grounds of considerable beauty.

CHAPTER IX.

Watford-Market Gardens about Watford - Parks and their uses Cashiobury-Verses by Lord Arthur Capel, written in the TowerWater-mill at Cashiobury-Rickmansworth-Sir John Fotherly and his tragic end-Stone Crosses-Moor Park and its owners.

WATFORD, according to Mr. House of Culham College, derives its name partly from Watling Street and partly from a ford over the Colne, and it carries on a rather large trade; the local requirements also are very considerable, as the easy access to London has made it at favourite resort of the wealthier classes whose avocations lie in the metropolis. There are some iron foundries in it, and one or two picturesque paper-mills. Silk also is manufactured at some mills here; and it has often occurred to me that cottagers might greatly increase their resources by keeping silkworms. They are easily attended to, and produce a certain crop.

The French have long been alive to the value of silkworm culture, and the industry which so characterises

the peasantry of that country, and enables them to send eggs and poultry to England, also enables them to supply us with silk; and so the mills on the Colne might be the means of greatly increasing the income

of the rustic population. The mulberry, on which the silkworms feed, is a hardy plant, which, though it grows in the tropics, will also resist the cold of the Hebrides; and though silkworms will readily devour lettuceleaves, mulberry is their very best food, and that, too, which produces the best silk. This is not the place to enter upon the culture of these little creatures, but,

in a word, it is work for which women and children are peculiarly adapted, and cocoons might easily be raised along the rooms of a farmhouse, where they would be out of the way, and bring in a handsome

return.

But the most interesting industry in this part of Hertfordshire is the fruit-cultivation. The apple and cherry orchards have no superiors in England, and the loose soil is admirably adapted for the production of early vegetables; indeed, some of those that we see in gardens round Watford are the finest that are sent to Covent Garden. The straw-platting has declined here, and has removed to Rickmansworth and other centres. We notice but few sheep and oxen, but the reason is that the grass land is principally used for raising hay, and not for pasturage. Very little land is allowed to lie waste, and the facility with which the best market in England can be reached has always made agriculture a profitable occupation. Malting is carried on to a considerable extent, and the country ale is said to be very excellent-a verdict which, if the judgment of the writer were worth recording on such a subject, he would readily confirm. In no part of England does wall-fruit attain greater perfection than in the southern part of this county, and in a favourable