On emerging from the arch, the wondrous edifice is before one in all its unimaginable grandeur and magnificence, like a vast sea of glass; the form of the building not inaptly giving us the idea of the swell of the ocean when calming down after a violent storm. Of course, this idea can only be formed when the intervening trees and rocks impede your view of the base of the structure, and your eye is simply caught by the vast expanse of glass as it receives and reflects the rays of the sun with most dazzling brilliancy. The formation of the fairy-like building, which is sheltered from the inclemency of this northern climate by a complete belt of lofty forest-trees, is very singular, consisting as it does of a central roof arched, with two wings or side aisles, similarly arched and rounded. The structure, in form, is not much unlike a ship bottom upwards; with a smaller one on each side of the centre. In description this may not sound well, but in reality nothing can be more effective than this appearance, or grander than the effect of this immense mountain of glass, with no visible means of support or adhesion, and apparently kept together by some unknown power. But it is on your first entrance into this fairy domain that the full effect of the genius of the architect and the florist is seen and felt, for then you almost seem to have been suddenly transported to the lands of the tropics, and, look which way you may, nothing meets the eye but the loftiest and richest productions of the most favoured climates. All the choicest and rarest floral productions that have been discovered are here, in open borders, planted in a soil suited to the nature of each species; and the temperature is so skilfully managed that each plant, or shrub, or tree, rejoices and flourishes in that degree of warmth that is best adapted to its own individual nature. The entrance to the gallery, which runs round the immense edifice at about two-thirds of its height, is admirably managed; steps being formed in the beautiful rock-work that adorns this part of the building. Nor is there anything formal or unpicturesque in the arrangement, for the most graceful climbing-plants cover the rocks and twine themselves in and out of the fanciful balustrade which assists one in the ascent. The view from this gallery is perhaps more striking than that which is obtained below. You gaze in speechless rapture upon a glowing assemblage of all that is most beautiful in nature's productions. Every shade of exquisite colour, brilliant and almost dazzling in their combined effect; every form of foliage, in its almost endless variety; and every shade green, softening, from its reposing qualities, the otherwise too gorgeous mass of bright colours; every curious berry and wondrous production that hitherto one was contented to read about, without aiming at anything beyond, are all to be seen here, growing in such luxuriance and profusion, that you might be in the country belonging to each variety and not see them to greater advantage. Large pools of water are provided for the cultivation of the rare specimens of waterplants. The beautiful blue water-lily from the rivers of South America is here, seeming as if it had stolen the colour of the deep blue sky above it; together with the matchless crimson-lily, reflecting of itself in the transparent water, and looking as though it blushed at its own gorgeous beauty. Every brilliant variety of the cactus, and the varied forms of ferns, adorn the rock-work as you ascend to the gallery, now and then affording you glimpses, through their luxuriant growth, of the beauty above, below, and around you, till, at the top, nearly the whole of the interior bursts at once upon the view. A broad carriage-drive goes up the centre, upon which I have seen as many as three or four carriages together at one time. When the duchess of Gloucester was honouring the noble duke by spending a short time at Chatsworth, she was taken to the conservatory in a carriage, being unable to walk, and in this manner had the most luxurious enjoyment of the scene. Many and many an hour, in bad weather, have I myself passed in this enchanting region: and sometimes, curious indeed was the contrast; for while out-of-doors the whole earth was covered by a snowy mantle, the hoar frost glittering upon every tree and shrub, and icicles hanging from all the rocks, the scene indoors was a perfect antithesis to this! Here was the deliciously warm temperature of southern lands, the luxuriant foliage of the very height of summer, the sweetest scents filling the air, birds with brilliant plumage disporting themselves in the fanciful aviary allotted to them, and flowers and fruits mingling in the richest confusion; while without, raged winter in all its severity. What visions rose up before one's fancy respecting the distant lands here represented by some of their most curious and unique products, with their delights of climate and charms of scenery! Many a long winter's afternoon have I passed in this pavilion of beauty, steeped in the most delicious reveries, which took their colouring from the charming objects surrounding me! To particularize all the plants that most interested me would be impracticable; still I may perhaps be permitted to designate just a few of the more striking ones; such, for instance, as the magnificent scarlet flowering banana; one of the finest date-palm rees that probably has ever been seen out of its own country; the cocoa-nut palm, which has grown to the immense height of fifty-six feet; the prickly pear, much used in its native regions for forming an almost impenetrable fence; the coffee-plant, the foliage of which is beautiful; and a most curious production known by the name of the Chinese air-plant. Indeed, such are the variety, luxuriance, and free growth of all these foreign plants, and the loftiness and transparency of the immense glass domes, that you are almost tempted to believe yourself transported by some magical agency to the aromatic and beauteous groves of far-famed India. One word more I must write in reference to the water-plants-a portion of the collection that to me has an especial charm. The pools of water in which they grow are enlivened by the sports of brilliant gold fish, while they are surrounded by fantastic rock-work, consisting of very fine spars, crystals, and other rare specimens of stone and marble; all of which are arranged in so unstudied and natural a manner that they add much to the enchantment of the scene. Every known variety of water-plant may here be seen; and where, in all the ornamental displays of creation, can one find a vegetable tribe more full of charm, in every way, whether for the extreme grace of their foliage, the rare delicacy and almost transparency of their flowers, or the richness of their colouring? But I must away to other scenes, and would conclude this cursory notice by remarking, that in my opinion this conservatory, take it altogether, as far surpasses any structure of the kind that I have ever seen, as Chatsworth itself surpasses the generality of country seats throughout England. The exit from the building, on the opposite side to the entrance, leads into a very beautiful part of the grounds, and is as admirably managed as the other approach. The whole of the banks of the drive are covered with the varieties of the British fern, and, in the season when they are in perfection, their appearance is very delightful. As you pass on your way, foreign trees and shrubs of the rarest kind greet the eye, growing as freely as in their more favoured native countries; and, being planted on the sunniest banks to be found in the grounds, with the lofty woods and high hills around sheltering them from inclement winds, they have every chance afforded them of flourishing and arriving at perfection. Proceeding onwards, in this direction, you enter a delightful pleasureground walk, known by the name of the Two-mile Walk, winding its way amongst broken rock-work and grassy hills, covered with timber arrayed in picturesque groups, and affording from time to time enchanting vistas and peeps of the surrounding country. Rustic seats are disposed with great taste wherever these points of view occur, so that one may rest while fatigued, and at the same time enjoy a succession of beautiful scenes. chanced to bend my steps that way on one of those lovely May-days which so seldom visit this ungenial clime, when nature is in all the exquisite freshness of her first awakening from the long slumbers of winter. The air resounded with the soothing murmur of bees; the larks were singing joyously, as they soared aloft into the bright blue sky; the Wye, like a silvery line of light, turned and twisted through the blooming meadows; and as I penetrated into this secluded vale, and left all the living world behind me, a feeling of tranquil repose and enjoyment crept over me, such as is only to be found in the pursuit of pleasures of a pure and simple character. This picturesque spot comprises all the most prized features of sylvan beauty; it is perfectly untouched and unspoiled by the hand of man, and gives one the idea, that just as it now smiles upon the visitor in its tranquil loveliness, so it may have smiled upon our ancestors hundreds of years ago. The charm of this scenery, moreover, is much enhanced by contrast with what surrounds it. The almost bare range of hills in the distance, with their scanty vegetation and scattered crops of hawthorns and hazels, which shut in this fair paradise from the rest of the world, impart a certain air of wildness to the prospect. Time meanwhile passed almost unconsciously away, and still found me reclining on a soft grassy bank in the midst of this dale, quite unable to tear myself away from a retreat so pleasant, until at length the increasing shadows of evening, and the solemn hush that was gradually stealing over everything, warned me that I must not linger, as I had many miles to go before reaching Chatsworth, where, as a guest, my presence would of course be expected at the dinner table at the apOn leaving the woods, the walk again enters pointed hour. With unfeigned regret I therefore the park by the Edensor Lodge, and winding along bade adieu to this delightful spot, and hastened the banks of the river, amidst fine clumps of mag- homewards in a mood fluctuating between melannificent trees, reaches at length a bridge across the choly and joyousness; a mood, however, well enough Derwent, from whence, it is the opinion of many, in harmony with the soft evening hour and the the finest view of Chatsworth may be obtained. charming landscape through which the drive back After crossing the river, one may gain entrance took me. With this last excursion I must terminate through a private gate into what is known by the my notice of Chatsworth, hoping that I have been name of the Italian Garden, which is situated on enabled, by my feeble description, to impart to my one side of the mansion; and, from its classically-readers some portion of the pleasure that I have formed balustrades, the vases by which they are myself derived from numerous and agreeable visits ornamented, the rather formal disposition of the to this princely residence. beds of flowers, the close hedges of privet in imitation of those formed of the ilex, and the innumerable fountains by which it is enlivened, it well deserves its appellation. THE BANKS OF THE THAMES. IIL-SION MOUSE. The writer has not space enough for any detailed description of the Amherstia house, devoted to the KEW BRIDGE! to stand on London Bridge at midgrowth of the most beautiful tree known, of which day, amidst a torrent of coaches and cabs, omnithere are only two other specimens in Europe; nor buses and wagons, horses and people, and to think of the building erected solely for the culture of of that other bridge with its quietude and rural the celebrated Victoria Regia, so justly named the associations-to contrast the wharf with the green queen of the waters; neither can we do more than bank, the warehouses with the green trees, and the just allude to the orchidaceous house, though it big wherries and ships and steamers with the light contains one of the finest collections of this curious barks and the gay boats-is certainly for a moment tribe in existence. But, not to linger longer in dissatisfying to one who has a strong relish for these fairy regions, I will wind up this slight sketch a country view, as we happen to have, and is comwith a very brief description of a pleasant excur-pelled to move on to city scenes and toils. Still sion which may be easily made from Chatsworth. The prettiest spot in this very charming locality, I should say, is Monsal Dale, which, taking it altogether, combines the greatest variety of attractions to be found in the neighbourhood. I we cannot for ever be gratifying a fondness for retirement and pleasant poetic images. Life has stern, plain, common-place duties to be performed, and therefore in most instances we must hurry over London Bridge to the city hive of business and industry, and forget Kew Bridge. But when we have a few hours' holiday, and see a trim little steamer with gilt letters on it," Kew and Richmond," it is a very cheerful thing to step on board and run up the river, and exchange a smoky atmosphere for one transparent and pure. But, as we have said, in these rambles for your service, fair reader-or if not fair, still gentle-we do not avail ourselves of steamboats. If we go on the stream, we must leisurely row along and take time to look about; yet at Kew Bridge it is necessary to disembark, just to glance at some objects in the vicinity ere we proceed to our main destination, which just now is Sion House. The village of Kew is very pleasant. We like the broad open green, with the trees here and there around it, and the old-fashioned respectable houses; and as to the church, despite of its architecture, there is even about that something which we like. It has monuments to the memory of three artists, Meyer, Kirby, and the more famous and gifted Gainsborough. Here he lies with the wish fulfilled, "My name shall be my epitaph alone," and the place is just such as to make his pictures of the Shepherd Boy in the Shower, and the Cottage Girl with her Dog and Pitcher, no bad accompaniments to the rural quiet of the green which the churchyard borders. Perhaps, however, the artist's representations of rustic character are rather too bold and wild for the locality of Kew, which has about it something of that dignified country air to be expected in the neighbourhood of a palace. Kew Palace is a comparatively small house, which George the Third often occupied, and which for its simplicity was in harmony with the tastes of that monarch. It was afterwards one of the residences of the late duke of Cambridge. The red-brick gables and chimneys peer out very prettily from between the tall trees near the river-a specimen of many such relics of the past century which adorn the broad lands of England. But the Botanical Gardens are the chief attraction of Kew, and, for their extent, arrangement, and specimens, are worthy of all the admiration they have excited. It belongs not to our plan to notice at length every object of interest on the banks of the Thames, and it must suffice, in reference to Kew Gardens, to remark that they were established in 1760 by the Princess Dowager of Wales, and were much patronized by the royal family, who cherished a taste for horticulture and botany. They have of late years been greatly improved; and now the Victoria Regia and the collection of tropical plants in the palm-house form botanical attractions, which, in addition to a profusion of curious and beautiful flowers, shrubs, and trees, are drawing together every summer multitudes of visitors. The last time we were there, it struck us how much an English traveller would have to say of such a place if he saw it in some foreign country. But we must go back to our boat; and yonder is Sion House. The warmest eulogium William the Third ever pronounced on any place he visited is said to have been in phlegmatic terms well worthy of a Dutchman-"I could live here five days." Lord Exeter's mansion at Burleigh, and sir Stephen Fox's house at Chiswick, were the only two residences that awakened in the monarch even this small measure of enthusiasm. We wonder whether he saw Sion House as well as the neighbouring residence of sir Stephen Fox; and, if he did, whether its appearance in his day was like what it is at present. Had he seen it as we have seen it, surely he would have been disposed to lengthen out his visit beyond five days. We should be glad of a few weeks there; but then we are neither princes nor Dutchmen. Coming up the river from Kew Bridge on a bright summer day, when the water is calm, the wind gentle, the sky quite blue, and the sun is mounting overhead; when the cattle are grazing on the meadows, and the birds singing in the trees; when the angler is busy with rod and line, and the swans are nestling among the rushes; what a beautiful background to the picture is formed by the sloping lawns, the broad gardens, the majestic park, and the tall stately trees amidst which the simple but yet noble-looking façade of Sion House stands out in bold relief. The exterior of the building, as seen from the river, makes little architectural pretension, but its position and accessories have an indescribable charm; and one is irresistibly tempted to stop and land-to wander over that velvet turf, to go and gather those rich lilacs, to thread those labyrinths of elm and chestnut, or to sit down in the cool shadow of that long arcade which forms the basement story of the building next the river. The duke of Northumberland's generous disposition to gratify the public with a sight of his domains is well known, and we take this opportunity of expressing our sense of his kindness in granting us special permission to examine the beauties of the house and grounds, and so to gratify the longing which the river view of the beautiful spot had inspired in our mind. The turrets and towers, elements of castellated architecture, are hardly in keeping with Italian arcades, external stone staircases, and broad modern windows in double file all round; but passing over all that-for we are not disposed just now to be critical in such matterswe will walk to the grand entrance of the mansion, which lies on the opposite side facing the west. We have often thought, on entering the halls of our nobility, what an aspect of princely grandeur they wear; what indications of wealth and resources they offer; enough to stock the world with palaces, and in the persons of their owners to furnish mankind with an abundant supply of kings. As The entrance-hall of Sion House is of the most magnificent description; and, its magnificence apart, how light and cool and refreshing it is, with its columns and statues and marble floor, as one comes out of the hot air of a summer's noon. cending a few steps on the right hand, you reach the vestibule, which in fact seems to form part of the hall, and which is so famous for its thirty verd antique columns and pilasters, said to be alone worth twenty thousand pounds, and forming the largest quantity of that beautiful marble that can be found in any one mansion in Europe. The gladiator in bronze, the statues of the Roman emperors, and the classic figures standing round in stately order, carry one's thoughts to Italy, and that great old empire which covered the world, and to that proud, artistic, and luxurious civilization which it nourished and diffused, of which these the only part of the building in which there came over us any vivid recollections of the past history of the place and its illustrious occupants, those quaint-looking figures in the costume of the six teenth century certainly did bring before us personages and incidents coeval with the first building of the palatial edifice, and with times still earlier. There was originally a convent of nuns at Sion, suppressed by Henry the Eighth, after whose death the property was granted, by Edward the Sixth, to the Protector Somerset. All that was monastic here has long since disappeared; but it is curious to know that the sisterhood perpetuated their conventual existence in succession down to the early part of the present century, when they resided at Lisbon, in a nunnery which they called Sion House. The duke of Northumberland at that time visited them, and presented the ladies with a silver model of their old abode. "We still keep," said they, "the keys of Sion House." "I dare say," he replied; "but we have altered the locks since then." We have no time here to enter into the long story of these nuns of St. Bridget at Sion, their wealth and im portance, the alleged scandals of their house, the inquiries instituted before the dissolution, the result according to the report made by the commissioner, and such-like matters-some of them rather wearisome, and others very disgusting. marbles are monuments; for the verd antique pillars, they say, were found in the bed of the Tiber, and all the chiselled forms about us are redolent of Roman times. In the dining-room, too, these reminiscences are deepened by the mosaics from Adrian's villa, and the six beautiful statues copied from remains in the Vatican of Florence. Again they are refreshed by the antique tables in the drawing-room, brought from the baths of Titus. The chiaro-scuro paintings, the carving and gilding of the ceilings, and the rich silk damask with which the walls are hung, are in keeping with the antique classic taste which pervades this portion of the building. Now and then it seems to us as if we were in some Italian villa, at the age of the revival of ancient art; and we could fancy ourselves in the presence of some Lorenzo de Medici, rejoicing over the chaste adornments of his princely yet rural home. The long and noble corridor, extending the whole front of the house next the river, and fitted up as a library, tends to the continuance of our recollections of the same period; and we might imagine we saw the literary Florentine, with his learned associates, pacing up and down the extensive but narrow apartment, so well lined with costly books, and furnished with articles of comfort and luxury, conversing upon Cicero's philosophy, or upon what still more harmonizes with the spot, the pastoral poetry of Virgil. But we cannot help thinking of the imprisonThose windows in such thick succession, opening ment here of Catherine Howard, the wife of Henry upon the lawn and the river, with the gardens and the Eighth, three days previous to her execution, grounds of Kew on the other side, as if the entire and of the resting of that king's corpse on the prospect belonged to one domain, tempt us away same spot upon the fifth anniversary of that execueven from the books, and entice us to stand and tion. The funeral procession was very gorgeous, linger over the broad expanse of sunny green, full and the corpse reached Sion House at night, where, of repose, and yet pregnant with a soft poetic in- according to a Ms. in the Sloane Collection, the spiration, such as would have impelled our favour- leaden coffin, which had been tumbled about by the ite master of Roman song to have written another rolling of the awkward carriage on the rough roads, eclogue. The soft flowing Thames and its villa- wetted the pavement with the monarch's blood. A studded banks would have been the very thing to dog, the Ms. goes on to say, licked it up, in fulfil soothe the mind and to swell the strains of Virgil. ment of a friar's prediction, who likened Henry to Besides a large collection of books, ancient and Ahab, and threatened him with a similar fate. modern, you have, at one end, a number repre- Fuller ridicules the anecdote, as one invented by sented by imitation backs, bearing the titles of the Roman catholics, and perhaps he is right. lost classic works-a clever device to cover a pair At any rate, we do not need any doubtful legends of folding-doors, for such the apparent book-case to give horror to the end of the fierce and brutal really is, and to exhibit a catalogue of auctores Henry. Here lived lord Guildford Dudley and deperditi. The painting and gilding of this and the amiable lady Jane Grey, and hither came the the other rooms are remarkably fresh, though exe- dukes of Northumberland and Suffolk to press on cuted about thirty years ago, when very extensive her unwilling acceptance the fatal crown. She repairs, alterations, and improvements were made went from this calm retreat to the Tower, first as by the late duke. And here, in passing, we may a sovereign, then as a prisoner. There hangs an observe, that though Sion House is of ancient date, old picture of her; and, not far off, one of Edward having been founded by the Protector Somerset, the Sixth, as a little boy most clumsily apparelled; no part of the original structure is apparent. The and, near it, another of the Protector. They peowalls may be the same, and the general arrange-ple the place with the shades of those departed ment not entirely altered, but Inigo Jones had the remodelling of the mansion and as to its present state, it owes much to the architectural designs of Adams. We shall not enter into details relative to the private family apartments of the present duke, which are chiefly remarkable for their chaste ele gance and the valuable pictures which adorn the walls. But we must pause for a while in a plainlooking corridor on the opposite side to the library. It is full of memorials of the house of Percy. There are earls, and dukes, and other branches of the family, carrying you back to early times. In ones, whose names are so intimately interwoven with the early history of the house. Here, too, was the residence of Henry Percy, the ninth earl of Northumberland, to whom the domain was granted in 1604, and who afterwards suffered a long im prisonment in the Tower of London for his alleged participation in the gunpowder plot. Here, too, queen Anne lived a while when princess, the mansion being lent to her, during one of her quarrels with her sister Mary, by the duke of Somerset, who possessed it at the time in right of his wife, the only daughter of Joceline, carl of Northum berland. the estate. The gardens, it is said, "were inclosed by high walls before the east and west fronts, and were laid out in a very grand manner; but, being made at a time when extensive views were deemed inconsistent with the stately privacy affected by the great, they were so situated as to deprive the house of all prospect. To remedy that inconvenience, the Protector built a high triangular terrace in the angle between the walls of the two gardens, and this it was that his enemies afterwards did not scruple to call a fortification, and to insinuate that it was one proof, among others, of his having formed a design dangerous to the liberties of king and people." What a different place must this have been then from what it is now. Those old monastic or prison-like walls gave an air of miserable dulness and seclusion; and we do not wonder that the Protector wished to get above about his pent-in domain. The change in those grounds, once shut up as within a dreary fortress, now open to the gaze of a thousand wayfarers, is typical of a change in the state of civilization since the sixteenth century. The present duke has his lot cast in far better times than had the lordly founder of this house. We must now ramble into the gardens for a moment, to breathe the balmy air and drink in the fresh fragrance of flowers. Getting among the shady walks, and by a stream which crosses the park, memories of the long race of the Percys thickly crowd on us with manifold associations of English history-the memory quickening the imagination, and the imagination supplying materials for the judgment, and the whole issuing in divers moralizings that should improve the heart. But such old thoughts, and their attendant lessons, are so common and familiar that we must pass them by, leaving the reader to revive and arrange and follow them out in his own way. But we have reached the conservatory, which some years ago would have been termed a palace of glass; now, however, that name has received a higher appropriation, and the structure to which par excellence it belonged throws into the shade all other build-them, and enjoy the expanse of field and flood ings of this material. We are no botanists, but a walk in a green-house has for us indescribable charms. In addition to the beauties of form and colour which those rich exotics unfold, they have an indescribable power over the mind in the way of purifying our taste, and delivering us from the captivity of vitiating conventionalisms in reference to what is beautiful and fair. We get the judg Sion stands in the parish of Isleworth, and hard ment warped by familiarity with what is debased by the southern end is the village church. The in human art; but when the loveliness of nature structure is chiefly of red brick, hideous enough in -so fresh, so simple, so unpretending, so delicate point of architectural appearance, though said to -is revealed to us in the shape of flowers, and we be built in part after designs by sir Christopher can appreciate their unrivalled attractions, it is a Wren. No doubt the churchwardens had them wonderful schooling for our minds, and breaks the altered and spoiled according to order. The stone false spell which has fallen on us in view of what tower at the west end is very venerable, the old is tawdry and garish. The sight of flowers, the gray blocks of which are richly draped with folds loving sight of them, is the best thing in the world of ivy. There are several monuments in the to educate us in a taste that is unaffected, natural, interior; and in the register, according to Lysons, and pure. Then, as regards the palm-house and the are numerous entries of marriages and births, Victoria Regia, we might say something of them, interesting from the distinguished names to which but that their rivals in Kew Gardens opposite they relate. The union of two members of the surpass them. An obelisk, however, presented by house of Percy, or of a Cavendish with a Seymour, the Pasha of Egypt to lord Prudhoe, now duke or the birth of a Talbot, a lord Gray and Warke, of Northumberland, we must just mention, for its or an earl of Rivers, really has a sort of historical hieroglyphics are very distinct, and remind us of interest. And among the minutes in the vestry the astonishing advances made of late in the de-records, we may add some curious grants of licence ciphering of these signs. Nor can we omit to allude to two beautiful statues in white marble, one of a boy in repose which we saw as we entered, another of a boy in action which met us as we left the green-house. The one seems to exert a sort of mesmeric influence, so strongly were we inclined to sit down and slumber at the sight of that symbolic representation of repose; the other disenchants, and we felt braced up for a good walk or run on leaving the lad in stone as he stood ust preparing to unloose his dog and have a chase. At the other end of the gardens there is a rosary, now in preparation for great improvement, where, too, experiments are making in reference to the culture of some foreign fruits. There is, also, here a summer-house furnished with cases of stuffed birds. Not far from the rosary is a terrace by the water-side, and a rotunda-shaped building with a boat-house beneath. Here and elsewhere, all along the park which skirts the waterside, the extensive view is the great recommendation, and it recalls, by the force of contrast, a fact relating to the Protector Somerset, when he had to certain persons, soon after the Restoration, to eat flesh in Lent. Here is one given by William Grant, vicar of Isleworth, to Richard Downton and Thomasin his wife, "for the recovery of their health, they being enforced, by age, notorions sickness, and weakness, to abstain from flesh." An office for granting such licences was established in St. Paul's-churchyard in 1663, at which period Juxon, archbishop of Canterbury, granted one to sir Nathaniel Powell, bart., his sons and daughters, and six guests, whom he should at any time invite to his table to eat flesh in Lent; provided that they ate soberly and frugally, with due grace said, and privately to avoid scandal, and upon condition of giving thirteen and fourpence to the poor of the parish. But we must leave Isleworth church and step into our boat again, where the river towards Richmond opens upon us most invitingly. The wood grows richer, and the view shuts in, to gain in beauty what it loses in extent. All is rural here, till, nearing Richmond Bridge, we find ourselves amongst other objects, which will occupy our attention in the next paper. |