of the family. By an inscription on the base of the pillar, it appears, that he was the first protestant lord-mayor of London, and that he served that high office in the second year of Edward VI.

From the Monument we were conducted to what is called The Temple, a neat octagon room, with light Gothic windows, a gilt ball and fane at the top, and most delightfully situated on the brow of a hill, and encompassed, except on the front, with thick bowers of trees and shrubs.

From hence we began to feel it a long way to the ruins of the Red-castle; till lately it was thought that only a part of one of the circular towers remained, with what is termed The Giant's Wall; lately, however, upon the falling down of some old trees, another complete circular tower has been discovered; it has been cleared out, and the still existing wall is about three or four feet above the solid rock upon which it rests; sęveral pieces of the connecting walls are also now traced.

Descending from the castle, we came into a wild, deep glen, in one part of which stands an urn upon a pedestal, inscribed to the memory of one of the family, likewise of the name of Rowland. He was possessed of Hawkestone in the time of the civil wars. Being a firm adherent to Charles I. his house was plundered by the Parliament's forces, while its owner hid himself in this sequestered spot. Here, however, he was discovered, and, for a while, confined in the Red-castle.

Near this glen is a chasm in the rock, which is terminated by a cavern grated with iron, which is called the Lion's Den; to render this idea more lively, the figure of the king of beasts is placed withinside the grating.

Soon after this we reached the common level of the park, and were conducted to a narrow slip of green turf, seemingly cut out of the wood in which it lay, and terminated with a cottage built in exact conformity with the descriptions our navigators have given of Otaheitan residences. It is paved with black and white pebbles, and, besides its rude matted seats, has various articles of the civil and military dress of that people ranged against its sides. The long narrow lawn before it has a canoe lying, bottom upwards, billets of wood, and other articles scattered about, to render the whole more like what it professes to be, a 66 scene in Otaheite."

We were greatly pleased but heartily tired with our ramble. The house, which we understand has nothing peculiar about it, we did not enter; it appears to be sufficiently large, and gives one the idea of substantial comfort, rather than idle parade. A flag which waved above its roof, indicated that its respectable owner was then at home. The character of Sir Richard Hill is well known; courtesy and benevolence are eminently his; and several of the ornaments of Hawke, stone are not only proofs of his taste, but, what is infinitely better, of his wish to provide constant

and virtuous employment for the poor about him, This is, undoubtedly, the truest generosity, as it relieves the poor man without sinking him into mendicity and vice.

Between Wem and Hawkęstone are two houses that ought to be mentioned.

The first lies on the left hand; it is now merely a largish farm-house, but it goes by the name of Leyton-hall, and is said to have belonged to one Bannister, with whom the Duke of Buckingham took refuge after he had been proclaimed a traitor by Richard III. Here, tradition reports, the duke worked as a gardener, but soon fell a victim to the avarice of Bannister, who could not withstand the reward that was offered for the discovery of his unfortunate guest. Buckingham was betrayed, and decapitated; and it was remarked of Bannister, that neither he nor his descendants ever prospered afterwards.

The other house, 'that demands notice, is an ancient mansion, pleasantly situated, and in good repair, called Soulton-hall. It contains some curious painted glass in the windows, and some valuable family pictures, and is now the residence of a branch of the Corbett family.

The parish church of Weston, close by which the road to Hawkestone turns, is a peculiarly neat structure. In this parish, the venerable Philip Henry frequently exercised his ministerial labours, in trying times, and at great personal risk; and in this neighbourhood, and about Whitchurch, to

which we go next Friday, lived many families, who were eminent in their day for singular piety, benevolence, and virtue. For such, I know, you entertain a high veneration, and lament, with me, that, in so many instances, their descendants should have suffered the blandishments of wealth and fashion to seduce them into the paths of vice, and make them act as if they were ashamed of having sprung from such pious and holy ances

tors.

This is the last letter you will have from this place; from Chester, I hope, I shall find time to address you; in the interim, may health and every comfort attend you and your's.

Vale, vale.

P. S. To-morrow, four of a party, who have arrived since we came to this seat of hospitality, set out for Ireland, no longer the sister kingdom, but one of the Imperial cluster of British Isles; and, on the following day, our son, daughter, and child precede us into Cheshire, though not into the same part of it-thus the " caravansera fills and empties; and what is this world but a caravansera upon a large scale ?”

LETTER VI.

Chester, July 25, 1803.

DEAR MADAM,

W E left the rural abode, and the uniform affection of Pym's Farm at the time mentioned in my last, and had rather a sultry ride to Whitchurch. On the right hand of the road we remarked Danford-hall, the property of Mr. Benyon, as it was of his ancestors in the times of both the Henrys, Philip and Matthew. This gentleman, I find, is an exception to the remark that I made in my last, relative to the descendants of many of the worthies of those days, and I record it to his honour.

We reached Whitchurch about one o'clock, and were very cordially received by our kind friend, with whom the visit was arranged a day or two before.

WHITCHURCH is a handsome, clean, and populous town; Friday, being its market-day, we saw it in a state of considerable animation. Here, also, we saw some more of those volunteers which have since become so numerous in every part of the kingdom, and which, I trust, under God, will be a grand mean of repelling our enemies, should they carry their threats of invasion into effect.