has already been mentioned. It was evident from her statement that many alterations had taken place, that much of the old timber had been felled, and that many of the old seats had fallen into a state of ruin, and had not been restored. Still much remained to interest us; and we quitted the park full of pleasing thoughts and waking dreams of that period of our literary history, when Addison astonished and benefitted the world by the elegance and purity of his writings, and Pope delighted it with the sweetness, beauty, and harmony of his numbers.

Our next object was to discover the place which Lady Hertford called " Parlem Park;" and here the good old lodge-keeper came to our assistance, no one else appearing to have the least idea where it was situated, nor indeed had she, until we had read to her Lady Hertford's description of it. It is now known as "Ives's Farm," and is at the back of Ritchings Park. We returned through Colnbrook, and then turning to the right, came to "Parlem Park," which is about a mile from that town. We found it just as Lady Hertford had described it. There was the large moat round it, with the finest Abele poplars I have ever seen: trees on which rooks or herons might build their nests with safety. The house has, indeed, "a venerable appearance," and certainly, from its antiquity, Queen Elizabeth might have been nursed in it. The

upper story projects considerably, being supported by pillars, and having a covered way the length of the house, into which the windows of the sitting room look. The house appears to have been preserved with the greatest care, and nothing could be neater than its appearance. Then there was that sort of old-fashioned garden in front which I delight in the long grass walk-the espaliered apple trees, if I may call them so-the large tufts of lavender and box-the honest old English roses, now nearly exploded -the sun-dial, and other characteristics of a garden of bygone times. Mr. Ives, the present tenant of the property, kindly left his hay-makers in order to shew us about the place. On asking to see the cellar so minutely described in Lady Hertford's correspondence, Mr. Ives opened the door of an old building in the garden, nearly covered with yew and holly bushes, intermixed with honeysuckles in full blossom. We descended into it by the four steps Lady Hertford mentions, and found the walls of a great thickness. Four sloping openings from the angles of the walls threw a strong light into the centre. The roof was arched, and of an early style of architecture, possessing considerable beauty, and in the best state of preservation. The large iron rings were still firmly fixed in it as mentioned by Lady Hertford, one hundred years before we saw them. Whether this building had formerly been a prison,

the cellar of a convent, or a place for the temporary confinement of culprits, I must leave to better antiquaries than myself to decide. If the former, it would seem to set at defiance the possibility of escaping from it. It is now a cellar, and appeared to be amply stocked with good home-brewed ale, of which we were hospitably invited to partake. Parlem Park is altogether a place of considerable interest, and will repay any admirer of antient English residences the trouble of going to see it.

I cannot quit this immediate neighbourhood without referring to a scene I witnessed there this autumn (September, 1846). It was a harvesthome. Two brothers, real good English farmers, (and they may feel proud of the title), assembled their labourers, with their wives and children, to partake of a dinner, consisting of excellent meat, pies, and vegetables, plum puddings, of which I counted nearly fifty, and good ale. About two hundred persons sat down to this repast, grandfathers, fathers and children, some of whom had never done a stroke of work off the farm. It was altogether a pleasing sight. Nor should I forget to mention that previous to the dinner, the whole of the labourers had been assembled in what may be called a small humble chapel, which appeared to have been erected for the benefit of the agricultural population then met together. Here the prayers