HAREFIELD CHURCH.

269

fourteenth century, and literally nestles in great elmtrees, which we look down upon from above. The road continues very beautiful till we arrive at the signpost which points to the roads which lead to Denham, Langley Marsh, Slough, and Windsor, and then the view is shut out by high thorn hedges that are none the less picturesque from the fact of their generally being in want of pruning. In places these seem almost to be choked with the beautiful yet parasitic bindweed, whose winding roots cling to those of the thorns, and with wild roses and blackberries, and the lane here is planted on each side with elms and poplars. Harefield Church consists of a chancel, nave, and two aisles, with a south chapel called the Brackenbury Chapel, which contains ancient monuments of the Newdegate family. On the east wall is a monument with a long Latin inscription to Sir Richard Newdegate, Bart., who died in 1678. A singular event in his life may be noticed here. Cromwell had removed nearly all the judges on the bench, in consequence of their attachment to the royal cause; and casting about for proper successors, he very naturally selected Newdegate, who was then a sergeant at law, and paid him the high compliment of offering him a judgeship. It is said that Newdegate, perhaps coquettishly, declined, for it

must be remembered that in those days a counsel's fees were less, and not, as is often now the case, much more than a judge's pay; and Cromwell replied: "Well, if you gentlemen of the red robes will not execute the laws, my red coats shall," and the "nolo episcopari" was gracefully sunk by Sergeant Newdegate. He seems, however, to have lost his high office by deciding in the case of Col. Halsey and other cavaliers of York that, though it was treason to levy war against a king, he could not find that the law affected those who levied war against a Lord Protector; and we may depend upon it, that when this sophistry was communicated to Cromwell, he very soon was practising at the bar again. The church is full of monuments to the Newdegate family, and they are for the most part of very considerable beauty. One to Lady Newdegate is by Grinling Gibbons. The one to Alice, Countess Dowager of Derby, who died in 1637, occupies the south-east corner of the chancel. She was married first to Ferdinando, Earl of Derby, who is said to have been poisoned in 1594, and afterwards to Lord Keeper Ellesmere. This monument is very costly and gorgeous; but quite a work might be written on the monuments of this interesting church, and the historical associations connected with them. From Harefield, if we look

towards Harrow, we shall see some extensive forest lands at Clayton, Bayhurst, and Ruislip, which is remarkable for the number of ways in which it is spelt; some have written it Rouslip in records, some Ruslip, and one enterprising scribe has gone so far as to spell it Rushellype.

We are now in decidedly the quietest part of Middlesex, and no part of Nottingham or Northampton could give us a more complete picture of rural seclusion. If you cross along a footpath, it is quite common to startle a hare or raise a covey of partridges; and a velveteen-coated keeper is not at all out of keeping with everything, as he passes by with his dog and a gun under his arm, and, having thoroughly satisfied himself that you have no nets or gins in your coat pocket, touches his hat as a sort of apology for the keenness of his scrutiny. The roads, which are very good from Rickmansworth to Uxbridge, become broader as we reach the town, and they are more elaborately finished with foot-walks and curb-stones and macadam. One thing which strikes a stranger as he enters the country town is the size and importance of the houses, which extend for a considerable distance along the principal street, and are like the residences of wealthy London merchants. It is not apparent why they are