Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed]

BUSHY PARK.

WE cannot quit the vicinage of Hampton Court without paying our humble tribute to the beauties of Bushy Park. Indeed, a day may be well and happily spent in wandering among its secluded avenues, opening lawns, and verdant glades—where, suddenly bursting from a dense mass of ivy, honeysuckle, and jessamine, half appears a peace-possessing cottage-a pet place such as poets dream of, and gamekeepers enjoy; places so happily situated, so secluded, so picturesque, that you would almost imagine they must convert gamekeepers to poesy.

How delicious the intermingling fragrance of the pleasaunce surrounding the happy-looking little cot! How soothing the various commingling sounds that, in quiet harmony, blend on the attentive ear: the ceaseless hum, busy, yet obscure, of thousand insects quivering in the sunny beam: the satisfied cluck-cluck of snow-white chanticleer, leading his dame partlets to some favourite food: the tinkling of the distant sheep-fold, and the merry peal of neighbouring church bells swelling the minor sounds, and giving them substance then the cleanliness and comfort that pervade the place: quiet, gentlemanlike dogs-silky-legged spaniels, wagging their fringed tails when you appear; lady-like, thin-waisted greyhounds, approaching wooingly to make your acquaintance; cleanly, white-bristled terriers, scorning to imitate the vulgar herd of curs by barking at the stranger; and, more domestic and home-like, grimalkin sunning her tortoise-shell coat on the ledge of a projecting casement; such are the quiet, home-like pictures one stumbles upon in strolling through Bushy Park.

Bushy Park is supposed to have derived its name from the old thorns— many of great magnitude-with which it abounds. In the time of Oliver Cromwell, this park was preserved for the diversion of coursing hares. During the usurpation an attempt was made to obstruct the right of footway through the park: the grand jury presenting in 1662 that the highway for horse and foot leading from the wick (now called Hampton Wick), through the hare warren (Bushy Park), was stopped up by pales lately erected by

B B

Oliver Cromwell, and continued then stopped up. The jury also presented that by turning the course of the new river water into the ponds lately dug by Oliver Cromwell in the hare-warren (which still exist), and by the overflowing of the same water, the common highway leading from the Wick was made very dangerous and unsafe to pass, for man, horse, or carriage.

Not only was the outrage committed during the time of Cromwell, but the old monarchical system of extensive inclosures was attempted: the court-rolls of the manor of Hampton, preserved by the steward, containing a strong remonstrance of the inhabitants of the place to the Protector, complaining of his having encroached upon their rights, by adding a part of this common to Bushy Park.

So little do forms of government restrain men, by whatever name they may be called, from attempting, where they can with the hope of impunity, to further their private interests or pleasures at the expense of the public at large!

The Upper Lodge in this park is delightfully situated. It was formerly occupied by the Ranger of the Park; and was for some time the residence of Bradshaw, President of the Court that tried and condemned the unfortunate Charles the First. Charles the Second granted the Lodge, together with the rangership of the park and hare-warren, to one Edward Progers, who had been page of honour to his royal father, and very active in the service of both princes, during the Civil War.

There is an exceedingly pleasant pathway across this park from Hampton Wick to Teddington. An attempt similar to that which we have had occasion to record, as having occurred at Richmond, namely, stopping up the thoroughfare, was made here in the rangership, as it is said, of the Earl of Halifax. "A patriotic shoemaker, hight Timotheus Bennet, however, who had long enjoyed an agreeable walk among the thorn-trees, thought that he could not do better with the money which he had scraped together, than leave it to be spent in recovering the right of way for the benefit of his neighbours. The money was so spent, and the right of way established. Some of the cottagers in the neighbourhood have portraits of this publicspirited cobbler, with an account affixed of the above-mentioned circumstances."

The grand attraction of Bushy Park is, however, the magnificent avenue, or rather rows of avenues, of horse-chesnut trees, extending in length one mile and forty yards; on either side the great avenue are four others; the

united breadth of the whole is five hundred and sixty-three feet, and the quantity of ground covered, sixty-seven acres.

To the right, as you enter from the Teddington road, is the residence of the dowager Queen Adelaide. It is the plain substantial residence of a good old English gentleman, without pretension, and therefore without offence.

[graphic][merged small]

Here his late Majesty King William the Fourth lived for thirty-six years, in the quiet unobtrusive manner of a country gentleman.

A circular pond, called the Diana Water, adorned with a bronze statue of the goddess, seven feet in height, supported by an elevated base of statuary marble, and ornamented with lesser statues round the base, of the same material as the principal figure, is worthy attention.

On inquiring of our talkative coachman who Diana might have been, we

were assured that "she was wife of King Solomon!" a piece of information saying but little for the extent of Jehu's reading-mythological or scriptural.

Before we quit the neighbourhood of Hampton Court, we should not omit a last illustration of the vast wealth and enterprise of its founder, in the expensive works completed by him, for the supply of his palace with water. The springs are situate at Combe Wood, a distance of two miles in a direct line, and the leaden pipes conveying the water are carried beneath the bed of the river Thames. There are two pipes from each conduit, making all together eight miles of leaden pipes. A foot of this old lead weighs twenty-four pounds, and, allowing one pound for waste in each foot since the time of Cardinal Wolsey, Mr. Jesse calculates that each pipe must have weighed one hundred and thirty-two thousand pounds, the total weight being one million and fifty-six thousand pounds of a metal, then and now expensive.

[graphic][merged small][merged small]

A PRETTY straggling village, to the westward of Hampton Court Palace, in the county of Middlesex, thirteen miles from London, and seven miles from Staines, situate on the Thames, opposite to one of the mouths of the "sullen" river Mole. Here is a bridge over the Thames to East Moulsey,

« AnteriorContinuar »