upon a fertile vale animated by the meanderings of the Gade and Colne rivers, and rendered beautiful by a luxuriance of verdure, intermingled with noble seats, villages, and farmhouses, together with the towns of Rickmansworth and Watford." Mr. Styles, the fortunate seller-out of South Sea stock, it was who built the present mansion, and he employed for the purpose the then celebrated architect, Giacomo Leonì, a Venetian architect, who was formerly in the service of the Elector Palatine of Germany. He settled in England, and wrote a very excellent edition of Palladio in 1742, and was employed by Mr. Styles for the building of Moor Park. The house, as the Duke of Monmouth left it, was a brick building, though of no inconsiderable dimensions. Sir James Thornhill painted the saloon, and acted as surveyor for the building. His paintings are a good example of the pseudo-classic taste of the period. In the hall are paintings to represent the story of Io and Argus as told by Ovid in the first book of the Metamorphoses, even to the last scene where Mercury appears to cut off the head of Argus :— "Without delay his crooked falchion drew, And at one fatal stroke the keeper slew, And all his hundred eyes with all their light Are closed at once in one perpetual night : These Juno takes, that they no more may fail, And spreads them in her peacock's gaudy tail."

Some doubt is expressed as to the actual artist, but it is much in Thornhill's style. The cost of the building was £150,000, and the carriage of stone from London amounted to the enormous sum of £14,000. But other, and almost equally extravagant, sums were afterwards spent upon this place by Lord Anson and Sir Lawrence Dundas. Mr. Rous, an East Indian director, had possession for a short time, but his means were not equal to the strain of keeping up such a great estate, and he pulled down the wings to sell the building materials ! He had hoped to be a member

of the Board of Control under Mr. Fox's celebrated Indian Bill, but he was doomed to disappointment. In the west wing which he pulled down lay the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Styles. They were buried in the magnificent chapel, and now they lie under a grass plot at the west end of the house. One of the wings pulled down contained the chapel, and the other the offices, and they were united with the main building by a fine Tuscan colonnade. The central part of this mansion was, however, untouched, and it forms one of the finest seats in Hertfordshire. The saloon, the library, and the ball-room or long drawing-room are all on a grand scale, and the author of the Beauties of England and Wales very simply says of the ceiling of

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the latter: "It was one of the finest works of Sir James Thornhill, but was copied from one of Guido's at the Respigliari palace. Sir James was paid £3500 for executing it, but not until he had established its value by the testimony of some of the most celebrated artists in a court of justice." The park is extremely beautiful, and if a nightingale is to be heard anywhere it is there. It is said that the oak trees have begun to fade and decay from the top, and this would give credence to the generally received belief that the Duchess of Monmouth, after her husband's execution, caused the tops of all the oaks in the park to be cut off. Lord Anson destroyed the pleasure-ground so much praised by Sir William Temple, and laid out the present one, and his planting of foreign trees and shrubs greatly enriches the beauty of the park. The kitchen garden also was not neglected, and here the far-famed "Moor Park apricot" was perfected. Brown, commonly known as "Capability Brown," was the surveyor employed by Lord Anson to effect the improvements, and it is probable that they will rank among his best works.

CHAPTER X.

Grove Park-Lord Clarendon's Picture Gallery-King's Langley-King's Evil-Abbot's Langley-Brakespear, the only Englishman who was ever Pope of Rome : His Character and Career-Splendid View from Abbot's Langley.

A PLEASANT, shady lane divides Cashiobury from Grove Park, which is situated about seven miles in a direct line from Harrow, on the Hemel Hempstead road, so that the many broad acres that are covered by the grounds of the two residences are almost contiguous. The lodge is at the corner of the lane, and no exception is taken to any one walking through to enjoy one of the most beautiful scenes that all the parks in this charming district can offer. The road slopes down to a bridge over the Colne, which runs through the grounds, and herds of deer are either resting under the shade of beeches and elms, or gazing with surprised eyes at the passer-by. Perhaps the road that is spoken of is unsurpassed in beauty by any in either Cashiobury or

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Moor Park.

The grounds of Grove Park are some three miles in circumference, and they enclose, among other objects of interest, a very successful farm, which was laid out and conducted with great sagacity by the great-uncle of the present proprietor when he enjoyed

the estates and dignities. "The quantity of land which his lordship has now in cultivation includes about 600 acres, and, as the prevailing soil is a sharp gravel, the skill and industry necessary to render it productive must be of a superior description. On this farm about 100 acres are every year laid in artificial