think that their labours are fo foon demolished, their coftly palaces laid low, and their glories buried in oblivion. Near this is a charming fituation much frequented, where the archers used to perform their exercises upon particular occafions, and frequently in the prefence of fovereigns: whence it took its name of Shooter's-hill. We now proceeded on our tour, Auguft 26th, through the remaining part of Middlefex, more familiarly known by the name of the Uxbridge road. On our left, for some time we have a view of Hyde-park and Kenfington-gardens; the former, remarkable for its noble fheet of water, the Serpentine river, and other pleafing charms; the latter, for their beautiful walks, and ornaments defigned by Queeh Mary, and improved and greatly enlarged by Queen Anne and Caroline. The palace was originally an old manfion of the earl of Nottingham, bought and enlarged by King William, but of late years little honoured with a royal residence. Farther on, we view the back of Hollandhoufe, built by Sir Walter Cope, mafter of the court of wards, in the reign of James I. whofe daughter and heir, Ifabel, by the intereft of the court, carried it in marriage to Henry Rich, earl of Holland. It at prefent belongs to Henry Fox, who takes his title of baron from thence. It is beautifully fituated on an eminence; the ground, which is of a fine verdure, falls in gentle declivities; and the trees are grouped with a pleasing effect. The next remarkable object is the noble structure of Gunnersbury-house, which was built by Inigo Jones, and was the feat of Sir John Maynard Knight, one of the commiffioners of the great feal in the reign of William III. It afterwards belonged to Mr. Furnese, and was bought by the late Princefs Amelia of his executors, and fince her death fold by public auction. It is fituated between Acton and the great western road, with the principal front to the latter. Though the external part fhews fome of the bold and fimple graces of that great master, yet the apartments are by no means adequate to this idea. The hall and faloon are the most magnificent rooms; the latter, a double cube of 25 feet, and fuperbly furnished. The reft are very inferior; not füfficiently large, nor well adapted for a place of state, nor convenient enough for private comforts. From the portico, which is grand and elevated, but too large, engroffing moft of the front, the prospect is beautiful, and the adjacent grounds, are well-adorned and modernized. Betwixt this and the neatly formed village of Ealing, is another noble house belonging to the duke of Argyle, but the fituation is too flat, and the whole too much concealed to attract much notice. About two miles farther we deviated a small distance to the left, to see the magnificent ftructure of Ofterley-houfe, built in a park by Sir Thomas Grefham. Though Sir Thomas had purchafed very large eftates in feveral counties of England, yet he thought a country feat near London, to which he might retire from bufinefs, and the hurry of the city, as often as he pleafed, would be very convenient. With this view he bought this place, and here he built a very large and fplendid feat, at which he fumptuoufly entertained Queen Elizabeth, about 1577. Her majefty found fault with the court of this houfe, as too great, affirming that it would appear more handfome if divided with a wall in the middle; upon which Sir Thomas, in the night time fends for workmen to London, (money commands all things) who fo fpeedily and filently apply their bufinefs, that the next morning discovered the court double, which was only fingle the night before. It is queftionable whether the queen next day was more contented with the conformity to her fancy, or more pleafed with the furprize and fudden performance thereof; whilft her courtiers difported themfelves with their feveral expreilions; fome avowing avowing it was no wonder he could fo foon "change a building," who could "build a change" others (reflecting upon fome known differences in this knight's family) affirmed that a houfe is eafier divided than united. This feat is thus defcribed by Norden: "Ofterley, or Oysterley, the houfe now of the ladie Grefham's; a faire and stately building of bricke, erected by Sir Thomas Grefham, knt citizen and merchantadventurer of London, and finished about 1577. It ftandeth in a parke by him alfo impaled, well wooded, and garnifhed with manie faire ponds, which afforded not only fifhe and fowle, as fwanes and other water fowle, but alfo great ufe for milles, as papermilles, oyle-milles, and corne-milles, all which are now decayed (a corne-mille excepted.) In the fame parke was a very faire heronrie, for the increafe and prefervation whereof, fundry allurements were devifed and fet up, fallen to ruine." "Sir Thomas was fo good a manager, that he knew how to make the beft ufe of his pleafures, and even to render them profitable, as appears by the mills erected by him in this park. But no fooner was he gone, than this fine feat began to fall to decay, which has paffed through feveral handst, fince his time, and is now in the poffeffion of Sir Francis Child, alderman of London, and member of Middlefex." Thus far have we its former ftate, from Ward's life of Grefham, p. 17. Let us now view its prefent condition in the poffeffion of Mrs. Child, widow of Mr. Child, an eminent banker in London, defcended from Sir Francis. The park is near five miles round, well watered and planted, but too much upon a flat; deer are pretty numerous, and on one fide is a moft elegant menagerie, with a choice and large collection of birds. The houfe ftands nearly in the centre, is built in the form of an half H, with an immenfe portico in front, through which you enter, by steps, to the court leading to the hall. This room is the grand entrance, it measures 63 feet long, and is otherwise proportionable; the apartments are moftly large and convenient, and made elegant by the taste of Mr. Adam, the architect, and Zucchi, the painter, who was first employed here on his arrival into England; he has fince diftributed the graces of his pencil in many parts of the kingdom, particularly in the noble houfe of Mr. Lafcelles, at Harewood, in Yorkshire. The collection of paintings here are the admiration of most vifitors, and contain fome of the fineft ftrokes of many excellent mafters. On the ceiling of the ftair-cafe, is the apotheofis of William, prince of Orange, who was affaffinated at Delft, by Ballages Gerrard, 1584; painted by Rubens. The breakfastroom, good common fize, unadorned, except by fome tolerable pictures. The library is very handfome, 33 feet by 25. Dining-room is 36 by 24; here the exertions of Zucchi, &c. are beautifully confpicuous. The gallery is one of the nobleft private rooms I ever faw. Its dimenfions, 136 feet by 27, and elegantly furnished, but more particularly with thofe enchanting fubjects of contemplation, which ufually adorn fuch noble walls; amongst which I had time to remark, with the affiftance of a catalogue, two full-fized pieces, at the extremities of the room, of Charles I. on horfeback, with the duke de Pernon holding his helmet, by Vandyke; the other, Villiers, duke of Buckingham, by Rubens. A charming landfcape of gipfies dreffing their dinner, by Salvator Rofa; morning and evening, which difplay all that rich and foft colouring of their admirable painter, Claud Lorrain; alfo two others of the fame fize, with the Angel and Tobit; Apollo and the Sybil, by S. Rofa; two more fine landscapes, by Gafpar Pouffin; Lord Strafford, by Vandyke; Cain killing Abel, by Late; Jonas and the Whale, S. Rofa; Conftantine's arch, with figures and cattle, by Vivíano and *Fuller's Worthies, Middlefex, 177. This was the feat of the famous Parliament-General, Sir William Waller. Bombaccio; the lights and fhades on the building are very clear and beautiful. The drawing-room anfwers to the dining-parlour in fize; here are two pieces, Jacob and Rachael, and Samuel anointing David, by Titian; Vandyke's head, by himself, thought to be an original. Beyond this are three fquare rooms, called the French, English, and Italian; the firft diftinguifhed by moft exquifite tapestry, of the richest French manufacture, interspersed with feveral of Mr. Child's favourite birds; the fecond by a magnificent ftate-bed and furniture; the laft by curious Italian paper. The views from the feveral windows are picturefque, and from Mrs. Child's elegant dreffing-room, the profpect towards Hampstead is very fine. From hence to Uxbridge the country is very flat and unpleafant, nothing but the distant view of Harrow on the hill to attract the eye, which is an agreeable object for many miles; those however who are fond of the bufinefs of agriculture, may fhake off the general dulnefs by an attention to the nature and improvement of the foil, which is peculiarly rich. Hefton parish, adjoining to Ofterley, is defcribed by Norden, (p. 15.) as "a most fertile place of wheate, yet not so much to be commended for the quantitie as the qualitie; for the wheat is most pure, accompted the pureft in many fhires; and therefore Queen Elizabeth hath the most part of her provifion from that place for manchet for her highness's diet, as is reported." In the neighbourhood of Hays, are found two kinds of foil: one very heavy, and the other light turnip-land. The former they ufe chiefly for wheat and beans; but fow them in a course peculiar to themfelves; they fallow for wheat, and after that fow beans; whereas in land strong enough to yield thofe crops, beans fhould be the fallow, by means of a thorough good cleaning, and wheat fucceed them; which is the practice in the richest parts of Effex. Very few oats or barley are fown in these heavy tracts; in the lighter ones their method is, 1. turnips; 2. barley, or, 3. clover; 4. wheat; than which none can be better.* Between Hillingdon and Uxbridge, on the right is a white house, pleasingly fituated, and well adorned with wood, the ground falling in gentle declivities around it. It lately belonged to Mrs. Talbot, aunt, I believe, of Lord Talbot, but is now inhabited by the marchionefs of Rockingham. Farther on the right, before we came to Uxbridge, we left Harefield, once famous for the refidence of the countess of Derby, before whom Milton's Arcades was there prefented. Norden, as cited by Mr. Warton, thus defcribes it in his Speculum Bri tannia (about 1590.) “There Sir Edmund Anderson, knt. lord chief justice of the Common Pleas, hath a faire house, standing on the edge of the hill. The river Colne paffing neere the fame, thro' the pleasant meddowes and sweet pastures, yealding both delight and profit." I viewed this houfe (adds Mr. Warton) a few years ago, when it was for the moft part remaining in its original ftate. Milton, when he wrote Arcades, was ftill living with his father at Horton, near Colnbroke, in the fame neighbourhood.‡ Uxbridge is a fmall market town. In Leland's time it confifted of one long ftreet, built of timber. The church is only a chapel of eafe to Hillingdon, a proof it is not very ancient. In Camden's time it was full of inns; thofe which it has at prefent arevery indifferent, particularly, when we confider its propinquity to London. It gives the title of earl, to lord Paget, whose ancestors had a feat, called Drayton, in this Young's Six Weeks Tour, p. 81, 82. In his Edition of Milton's Juvenile Poems, p. 96. This lady Derby afterwards married lord chancellor Egerton, for whofe fon, John earl of Bridge-water, Milton wrote his Comus, neighbourhood. neighbourhood. We ftopt to dine at the principal inn, the Crown, and afterwards entered the county of Bucks, purfuing the Oxford road about three miles. Far on our left hand lay Stoke Pogeis, which anciently belonged to the family of Pogeis, whofe heiress in Edward IIId's time marrying lord Molines, he in the 5th of that king's reign, obtained a licence to make a casftle of his manor-house here. From him it defcended to the lords Hungerford, and from them to the Haftings's, earls of Huntingdon. Edward Haftings, created by Queen Mary, lord Loughborough, was buried in the chapel here of his own erection, and many others of the Molines's, Hungerfords, and Haftings's, were buried in the church. This manfion feems afterwards to have belonged to lord chancellor Hatton. The mother of Mr. Gray, the poet, had a small house in this parish, and here that incomparable genius fpent many days of the earlier part of his life. And the manfion before mentioned was the scene of that beautiful poem of his, called the Long Story, which opens with the following excellent defcription of this, and all other feats of that age. In Britain's ifle no matter where, An ancient pile of building ftands, To raife the cieling's fretted height, Full oft within the fpacious walls When he had fifty winters o'er him, His bufhy beard, and fhoe-ftrings green, Tho' Pope and Spaniard could not trouble it. Lady Cobham then refided here. I cannot help here obferving what facred ground we were now upon. Milton refided long at Horton in this neighbourhood before mentioned. Waller lived at Beaconsfield, as we shall presently have occafion to notice. Pope long dwelt no great distance from hence, at Binfield in Windfor Forest, and Stoke-Pogeis was much frequented by the fublime, and the pathetic Gray. I must here break out in the words of one of thefe authors. We now left the Oxford road, and took another through an agreeable valley and excellent road, on our way to Amerfham. About five miles beyond Uxbridge, at a distance on our left, we paffed Bulftrode-park, the paternal feat of the duke of Port Hatton preferred by Queen Elizabeth for his graceful perfon, and fine dancing. land. The park is extenfive, well planted, and varied with perpetual fwells and flopes, though in the midst of a flat country. This had formerly been the feat of a family of its own name, who had been of much confideration in this county, fince the reign of Edward IV. of which the heirefs was mother of Sir Bulẞtrode Whitlocke, one of Cromwell's lords, a man well known, who after the restoration retiring to Chiltonpark, in Wilts, lived there in great retirement, and died at that place July 28, 1675. This feat afterwards belonged to the infamous lord chancellor Jeffreys, by whofe attainder at the revolution it fell to the crown, and thence came by grant to William, the first earl of Portland, who came over from Holland with William II. and died here 1709. Thence paffing on through the fame agreeable valley we left Beaconsfield ftill further on the left, made immortal by the birth and refidence of Waller the poet, whofe family now continue there in opulence, and by the prefent habitation of the celebrated Edmund Burke, at Gregories, another house once belonging to the Wallers. On our right we left Cheneys, formerly the feat of a family of that name, of very long continuance in this country, but afterwards the principal feat of the Ruffels, earls of Bedford, when they firft had footing in these parts, at the time they were raifed to the peerage, and an immense estate, of church-lands, in that harvest of fortunes, the diffolution of monafteries. It ftill belongs to the family (who feem never to have been squanderers) though Woburne Abbey, in Bedfordshire, is now their chief seat. Amersham is an ancient market-town, which fent members to parliament, as early as the reign of Edward I. Leland, in Henry VIIIth's time, calls it pretty, and fays, it then confifted of a street well built with timber, and had a market on Friday. It had belonged to Stafford, duke of Buckingham, and on his attainder fell to the king, and in this writer's time was granted to lord Ruffel; the place cannot now boaft either of buildings or of populoufnefs. We flept at the Griffin, the best house the place affords, but of indifferent accommodations. The next morning we continued up the fame delightful valley, and paffed Shardeloes, in this parish, the feat of Mr. Drake. This feat in 1431, belonged to Henry Brudenell, efq. ancestor to the earls of Cardigan, and duke of Montague, &c. This, and the manor of Raans, in this parish, they continued to poffefs for several generations, and were buried in a chapel appropriate to these manors, of Amerfham-church; particularly as Leland mentions, Edmund Brudenell, father of Sir Robert, chief justice of the Common Pleas, 1520, and Drew Brudenell, his elder brother. Sir Robert being a younger brother fettled at Dean, in Northamptonshire, the present feat of his defcendant lord Brudenell. The Drakes have been fettled at Shardeloes for about 150 years at least*. The old feat was a noble one, and remarkable for its fine gardens. The prefent Mr. Drake has rebuilt it in a manner much admired, but it does not seem to make a great figure from the road. The park and grounds are beautiful; the gentle fwells of rich verdure crowned with groups of charming foliage, and the lawn falling gradually to the water's fide, form the most picturefque affemblage one can well conceive. The channel of this water, which is well formed by nature for the purpose, only wants properly cleansing, to make the scene quite compleat. The borough of Amersham belongs to Mr. Drake, who, and his eldest fon, are the prefent meinbers; the patronage of the rectory alfo belongs to him, which is very valuable. I had almosft forgot to mention, that the parfonage-house appears advantageously on the hill above the town, the prefent incumbent doctor John Sir William Drake, of Shardeloes, was created a baronet July 17, 1641. The prefent family are collateral to him. Arms, Argt. a Wyvern Gules, fame as thofe of Afh. Co. Devon. VOL. II. BB Drake, |