of water, or lake, within its inclosure. But the home, pleasure, and garden grounds are chiefly worth notice; where skill, beauty, and neatness are equally manifest. The most venerable ornament is am huge chesnut-tree, probably as remarkable for antiquity as size, it having been mentioned (according to Sir Richard Atkins) in King John's days, six centuries ago, as the wonder of the neighbourhood, and measuring, at present, at the foot, fifty-seven feet in circumference. A friend of the noble owner has lately paid the following poetical tribute to this father of the woods, engraved on a copper plate affixed to its trunk:

"This tree supposed to be 600 years old, Jan. 1st, 1800.

"May man still guard thy venerable form

"From the rude blast, and the tempestuous storm; "Still may'st thou flourish through succeeding time, "And last, long last, the wonder of the clime."

The votarist, however, might have added at least two centuries to the supposed age of the chesnut; and a more happy turn, it should seem, ought to have been given to the jeu d'esprit, by an allusion to the successive generations which had been swept away during the vigour

of the uninjured tree; and by a comparison be tween the modes of domestic life, and the rude magnificence exhibited in the adjoining mansion during the feudal times; and the elegant comfort, and polished courtesy, that it at present displays under the auspices of its respectable possessor.

As we approach Wickwar, the mineralogy of the country becomes interesting, its basis for some miles exhibiting that species of ponderous stone, or barytes, called sulphate of stron tian; a substance which, till within these two years, had been esteemed a white lyas. Coal, also, comes in again at this part in profusion, and traces of calamine and lead ore are discovered in the neighbourhood. The name of the little town is derived from the Saxon pic wic, village, and the noble family De la Warr, who became possessed of this manor in the reign of Richard I. and held it till the seventeenth century, when it was purchased by Sir Robert Ducie, and transmitted, with the other demesnes of that family, to the present Lord. It is a borough by prescription, but has long lost the substantial privilege of returning members to the Senate; and retains the vox et præ

terea nihil, except the farce of a mace being carried before its mayor and twelve aldermen on festal days.

Of the same titular dignity is Chipping-Sodbury, five miles nearer Bath, a town made corporate by Charles in 1681, but disfranchised in 1688, at the request of the inhabitants. It bears the disgrace of having been stained by the blood of a martyr, in the cause of the Protestant religion, John Pigott, who was offered up at the stake, a victim to the bigotry of Queen Mary; and is said to have afforded a singular instance of the vengeance of Heaven on religious persecution, in the person of Dr. Whittington, vicar-general, who, having condemned a woman to death for heresy, was gratifying his barbarity with a view of her torments, when a bull bursting from a neighbouring pasture, rushed into the midst of the assembled spectators, and without attempting to injure any of them, proceeded to the Doctor, and with one stroke of his horns tore out his entrails.

About four miles from Chipping-Sodbury we reach Pucklechurch, dignified by Camden with the name of Villa Regia, but having long since

dropped all appearance of royalty, and degenerated into a village. A little to the east, on the road to Dirham, is a rising ground, with some unintelligible earth-works, said to be the scite of the palace which the Saxon Kings of this part of Britain occasionally inhabited; and here tradition also tells us, the murder of King Edmund happened, who was slain by Leof. "While he sat at table," says the historian, "celebrating the feast of St. Augustine, at "Pukelkurk in Glocestershire, he espied

amongst the crowd a notorious fellow, called

Leof, whom he had banished for theft and rapine. He immediately commanded his "server to seize the presumptuous thief, who

had thus intruded himself even into the royal presence; but perceiving that this officer was "not able to manage the delinquent, he him"self started from the table, and pulled him to "the ground by the hair of his head. Leof "knowing that an ignominious death awaited

him, drew forth a dagger, which was con"cealed under his clothes, and while the king

lay upon him, sheathed it in the bosom of "his prince, who immediately expired. The "death of the murderer, whom the noblemen "immediately hewed in pieces, was but a poor

"atonement for the loss of such a valuable king, thus cut off in the flower of his youth."

We now approach the roots of Lansdown,. the great hill that rises to the north-west of Bath, and defends it from the cold blasts of that quarter. Near the northern foot of this elevation is the little village of Wick, picturesque in appearance, and remarkable for the romantic valley in its neighbourhood; a deep rugged glen, about three-quarters of a mile in length, which opens suddenly in a low country, and presents in its rocky sides and stony bottom a singular contrast to the richness and fertility of the adjacent parts. Through this hollow a little stream forces its way, flashing over a stony bed, and forming a pleasing addition to the scene. Of late years, however, the glen has lost much of its picturesque interest, by the introduction of several manufactories within its quiet sequestered windings, the din and bustle of which by no means harmonize with the features around. But in spite of the opposition. that taste may make to these encroachments of art, on a spot which Nature seemed to have marked for her own, policy is content to allow the propriety of the present application of the