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Windsor Great Park to Reading. Among some good houses here, is the handsome seat of Mrs. Hervey.

EPPING, a town in Essex, 16 miles from London. The markets, which are on Thursday for cattle, and on Friday for provisions, are kept in Epping-Street, a hamlet about a mile and a half from the church. The butter made in this part of the county, and known in London by the name of Epping butter, is in particular esteem, and sells at a higher price than any other. Indeed it is a downright luxury. See Copped Hall.

EPPING FOREST, a royal chase, extending from Epping almost to London, was anciently a very extensive district, and, under the name of the Forest of Essex, included a great part of the county. It had afterward the name of Waltham Forest, which has long yielded to its present appellation. To this forest, that of Hainault, which lies to the south-east, was once, it is supposed, an appendage. Both these forests are adorned with many seats and villas. A stag is annually turned out on this forest, on Easter Monday, for the amusement of the London sportsmen. But this sport of the Cockneys has latterly much declined. Indeed this last Easter Monday there appears to have been no diversion at all. Hainault Forest.

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EPSOM, properly Ebbesham, a town in Surry, 14 miles from London. Its mineral waters, which issue from a rising ground near Ashted, were discovered in 1618, and soon became famous; but, for many years past, they have been neglected, and the public rooms are gone to decay. Horse races are annually held on the neighbouring downs. The town extends about a mile and a half, in a semicircle, from the church to Durdans, the seat of Mrs. Kenworthy. There are many fine seats in the neighbourhood, beside Durdans; as a seat on Woodcote Green, belonging to William Northey, Esq. lord of the manor; Woodcote Park, the late Lord Baltimore's, now the seat of Lewis Tessier, Esq.; and Pit Place, so called from its situation, being in a chalk-pit. It was built by the late Mr. Belcher, and is a very whimsical but elegant retirement. The last proprietor, Mr. Fitzherbert, made great improvements in it: the drawing-room, conservatory, and aviary, in parti cular, are supposed to be the most beautiful of the kind in Surry. It is now the property of Mr. Jewd wine. Epsom

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has a light and airy appearance, and stands in a pleasant situation.

ERITH, a village in Kent, on the Thames, 14 miles from London. In this neighbourhood formerly stood the abbey of Lesnes. The Spire of Erith is noticed in the following picturesque manner by Mr. Bloomfield in his Wild Flowers:

O'er eastward uplands gay or rude,

Along to Erith's ivied spire;

I start with strength and hope renew'd,
And cherish life's rekindling fire.
Now measure vales with straining eyes,

Now trace the church-yard's humble names,
Or climb brown heaths abrupt that rise,

And overlook the winding Thames!

See Belvedere House.

ESHER, a village on the road to Guildford, 16 miles from London. See Claremont.

ESHER PLACE, the seat of the late Right Hon. Henry Pelham, and now of his daughter, Miss Pelham, is a Gothic structure of brick, with stone facings to the doors and windows. It was anciently one of the seats of the prelates of Winchester, was built by Bishop Wainfleete, and greatly improved by Cardinal Wolsey, when he held that see in conjunction with those of York and Durham. The whole was rebuilt by Mr. Pelham, in the same style as the original, and after the design of Kent, except the two towers in the body of the house, which belong to the old structure. In one of these towers is a very curious winding staircase, which has excited the admiration of many eminent architects.

This noble mansion is situated in a low vale, on the banks of the river Mole, which is approached, by a circular sweep, through a declining lawn. This river winds pleasantly through the grounds, and forms a very beautiful piece of water. On the left, entering the park, at some distance, the ground takes a serpentine form; and the heights being planted with clumps of firs and other trees, have a rich and bold effect. On a further advance, to the right, the eye is attracted by a fine open country. An elegant summer-house, situate on the most elevated spot in the park, commands a variety of rich and pleasant prospects. Among the nearer views, are Rjchmond Hill,

Hampton Court, Harrow on the Hill, Windsor Castle, the windings of the Thames, &c. and, on the other side, are Claremont, and other fine seats. Another building, called The Bower, is overhung with ivy, the massy foliage of which is at once beautiful and picturesque. Almost every step affords a new and pleasing object; and, to enrich the scene, the river frequently presents itself through the trees, or in full view from an open space; and it is again obscured by the intervention of some object, perhaps not less pleasing.

These enchanting scenes are immortalized in the charming poetry of Thomson:

Esher's groves,

Where in the sweetest solitude, embrac'd

By the soft windings of the silent Mole,

From courts and senates, Pelham finds repose!

And the unassuming muse of Dodsley has seated the Genius of Gardens,

In the lovely vale

Of Esher, where the Mole glides, lingering; loth
To leave such scenes of sweet simplicity!

The philosopher too will here find subjects of meditation; especially when he is disposed to reflect on the stability and vanity of all earthly grandeur. To this place (then called Asher) was the magnificent Wolsey commanded to retire, just after he had perceived, for the first time, that he had for ever lost the favour of his sovereign; and the great master of the human heart has made him give utterance to his feelings in this affecting exclama

tion:

Nay, then, farewell!

I have touch'd the highest point of all my greatness;

And, from that full meridian of my glory,

I haste now to my setting! I shall fall

Like a bright exhalation in the evening,
And no man see me more!

The world that had paid him such abject court during his prosperity, now deserted him (all but the faithfel Cromwell) on this fatal reverse of fortune. He himself was much dejected with the change, and from the

same turn of mind which had made him so vainly elated with his grandeur, he felt the stroke of adversity with double rigour:

In full-blown dignity see Wolsey stand,

Law in his voice, and fortune in his hand :

To him the church, the realm, their pow'rs consign,
Through him the rays of regal bounty shine:
Turn'd by his nod the stream of honour flows:
His smile alone security bestows.

Still to new heights his restless wishes soar;
Claim leads to claim, and pow'r advances pow'r;
Till conquest unresisted ceas'd to please,
And rights submitted, left him none to seize !
At length his sov'reign frowns-the train of state
Mark the keen glance, and watch the sign to hate.
Where'er he turns, he meets a stranger's eye;
His suppliants scorn him, and his followers fly.
Now drops at once the pride of awful state,
The golden canopy, the glitt'ring plate,
The regal palace, the luxurious board,
The liveried army, and the menial lord!
With age, with cares, with maladies oppress'd,
He seeks the refuge of monastic rest.
Grief aids disease, remember'd folly stings,
And his last sighs reproach the faith of kings!

JOHNSON.

ETON, a village on the Thames, in Bucks, opposite. Windsor, famous for its royal college and school, founded by Henry VI. in 1440, for the support of a provost and seven fellows, and the education of seventy youths in classical learning. It consists of two quadrangles; one appropriated to the school, and the lodging of the masters and scholars; in the midst of which is a copper statue of the founder, on a marble pedestal, erected at the expence of Dr. Godolphin. In the other quadrangle are the apartments of the Provost and Fellows. The library is one of the finest in England. The chapel is a stately structure, apparently by the same hand who designed King's College, Cambridge. At the west end of this chapel is a marble statue, by Bacon, of the "ill-fated Henry."

The seventy King's scholars, as those are called who are or the foundation, when properly qualified, are elected, on the first Tuesday in August, to King's College in Cambridge, but are not removed till there are vacancies in that

[graphic]

Eton College.

Published June 4 1906, by Scatcherd & Letterman, Ave Maria Lane.

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