the adjoining rivers. The hare might be followed by the fleet greyhounds, and the stag chased by the staunch sleuth-hound.

On approaching the house, it is impossible not to be struck with its very ancient appearance. There was the rude porch, the primitive windows, the curious gables, all betokening the architecture of bygone times. In the inside were the huge oaken timbers, the low roofs, and the grotesque carvings. Two of the windows of the bed rooms contained some stained glass of the arms of a king of England of an early period, but I was not sufficiently versed in heraldry to determine which of them. It is, however, evidently of great antiquity.

But what struck me most were two enormous walnut trees at the back of the house, measuring at three feet from the ground twenty-four feet in circumference, and still flourishing. If King John held a parliament under the Tortworth chesnut in Gloucestershire, he might well have done the same under the trees in question. They are, indeed, noble trees, and I believe the largest of the species in England.

It is evident, from the old foundations, and the appearance of the adjoining ground, that this was a very considerable place in former times. It is also curious that an under ground passage has been traced for some distance from the house

leading directly towards Windsor Castle. In this passage some very early specimens of English pottery have been found, and which are now in the possession of Mrs. Buckland, the tenant of the farm. Similar specimens were discovered in the foundation of the oldest house at Kingston on Thames, one of which I now have. With reference to the underground passage, I recollect the late Sir Jeffery Wyatville informing me that he had discovered, and traced for a short distance, an underground passage at the lower part of the round tower at Windsor Castle leading in the direction of the one already mentioned, and that there was an old tradition of such a one existing. Should this ever prove to be the case, the projector of the celebrated Thames Tunnel cannot claim the merit of originality.

I must not forget the huge oak beams and rafters in the garrets of this house. Their size is quite enormous, and they appear perfectly sound, although they must be of a very ancient date. Mrs. Buckland, who shewed us everything, and entertained us hospitably, informed me that her family had resided on the farm some two or three hundred years. She has one of those good old English names I delight in. Boc is Saxon for beech, and also bucken, from whence we have Buckinghamshire, in which county these trees

abound.

HURLEY AND LADY PLACE.

Be it remembered, the monastery of Lady Place was founded at the time of the great Norman Revolution, by which the whole state of England was changed.

Hi motus animorum, atque hæc certamina tanta,
Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescunt.

Be it also remembered, that in this place, six hundred years afterwards, the revolution of 1688 was begun.

INSCRIPTION IN VAULT AT LADY PLACE.

THERE is something extremely pleasing in the drive from Maidenhead to Hurley and Marlow. It was very many years since I had passed along this portion of the road to Oxford, and I could not but call to mind the stories which were current in my youth of the danger of being robbed in travelling through Maidenhead Thicket. Many of the fine beech trees, which composed this thicket, have now been felled, as well as the hollies and other bushes, but enough still remains to form a pleasing landscape, and to break the monotony of the surrounding common. On quitting the thicket, the road leads to the top of a hill, commanding fine views, and which are continued nearly to Hurley Bottom. The noble woods

C

of Harleyford, the seat of Sir William Clayton, are seen to great advantage on the higher grounds opposite, as well as those of Mr. Scott Murray ; and the beech woods to the right and left of the road, as we wound down the hill, and looked over their embrowned tops to the distant landscape, added greatly to the charm of the scenery. In our descent, the prospect was continually contracting, and then opening again, until we arrived in the retired little village of Hurley.

Our object in visiting it was to see the church, in which some antiquities, deserving of notice, were said to exist. We found that the church had formerly been the chapel of a Benedictine monastery; remains of which, to a considerable extent, still exist. The north side of the church forms one side of a quadrangle, which is enclosed on the three others by ancient walls, and what was originally the refectory of the convent. At the westward are two fine circular Norman arches; inside, and near the communion table, is a monument to the memory of some of the Lovelace family in the time of James the First; but the most curious relic of antiquity is a stone which seems to have covered a coffin of similar materials, and which has on it, in sculptured relief, a design, which we believe to have been the subject of much doubt among the antiquaries; while it is not known in what locality the stone was

found, or about what time it was brought into the church for preservation.* Adjoining to the walls of the churchyard, and to the buildings described,

large enclosure, now a meadow, but which once formed the ornamental grounds and gardens of Lady Place. The mansion, which was pulled down a few years since, was built by Sir Richard Lovelace about the year 1600. He was the first Lord Lovelace of Hurley, a companion of Sir Francis Drake, and the mansion was erected with the money gained in his expedition. To this nobleman Shirley dedicated his "Lady of Pleasure."

The last proprietor of Lady Place was the brother of the unfortunate Admiral Kempenfelt, who perished in the Royal George. The only parts of the structure which remain, are some of the cellars or vaults underground, and which are built on stone pillars and groined arches; nor can we help approving the taste and feeling which has preserved them from destruction; for a tradition exists, that here the secret meetings were held for

*See note in Gent. Mag., Vol. X., New Series. It is to be regretted that the very interesting monument of the Lovelace family in Hurley Church, which is now fast falling to pieces, is not restored.

The old sexton informed us, that in making a vault near the communion table lately, for one of the Clayton family, several leaden coffins of the Benedictine monks were discovered, one of which measured nine feet in length, and three feet across the widest part.