having been the abode of one of our great poets, philosophers or statesmen, I must deposit myself in a jingling fly, cross the country at a slow pace, and at a considerable expence, and then find myself at what was once a flourishing inn, in a room chilled for want of fires and customers, and with poverty and desolation staring me in the face. This is one of the consequences of railroads, and one of the reasons why I dislike them; so having vented my spleen against. them, I will proceed to give a short account of two places of no common interest which I visited at the latter end of last autumn (1845). Our road lay through a very pleasing country, amid those woody lanes, and beechen coppices and orchards which distinguish the southern parts of Buckinghamshire, and render them beautiful both in the spring and autumn of the year. We passed through the little sylvan hamlet of Farnham, and soon afterwards the road descended through broken banks, overshadowed with beech and oak. As we approached Beaconsfield, the country presented the appearance of an agreeable and cultivated landscape. Our first object was to see the monuments of Waller and of Burke.--The former is in the churchyard. It is formed of white marble, over which a covering of dark stone in imitation of a pall or curtain is drawn. On the top of this rises a small obelisk, supported by skulls, and overshadowed by a large walnut tree, which is the crest of the family, and which might otherwise be considered an uncommon tree to be found in consecrated ground. From the churchyard we went to see HallBarns, the residence of the poet. We found it to be a handsome square brick-house, ornamented with pilasters, and stone dressings to the windows, and surrounded with the scenery of a park, diversified with undulated ground and plantations. The gardens retain much of their original character, consisting of broad terrace walks of gravel or grass, sheltered by lofty screens of laurel and yew. A small lake, in the formal shape of the time, is seen at the bottom, with a banqueting house at the upper end of it, surrounded by an extensive lawn, and adorned with temples and summer-houses. At the extremity of the walk, we entered a wood of beeches and laurels, and hollies, in which the ground is much varied, and the walks conducted with taste, so as to shew with advantage both the immediate and more distant views. From two of these points, long vistas are seen leading in different directions, amongst which the most striking is one, in which several avenues of lofty beech, fringed with fine laurel hedges, meet in the central point, where is an open temple, supported by Corinthian pillars, dedicated to Venus. The whole grove is surrounded with a broad grass terrace, commanding views into the park and the surrounding scenery. The design is pleasing and elegant, formed after the taste of those times which admitted a more regular and systematic plan than would be approved of in the present day. In short it was one of those scenes decorated by the hand of taste in which we might suppose Milton's Comus, or the Faithful Shepherdess to have been acted, as the Aminta and Pastor Fido were in the more genial and luxuriant gardens of Italy. Amid these elegant and cultivated scenes, Waller lived in the enjoyment of a handsome fortune, and with sufficient leisure to devote his thoughts and time to the art from which, in the oblivion of his political struggles, he has obtained immortality. The beautiful grove near his house, the creation of his own taste, was the peculiar scene of his daily wanderings. Here, in a more shady and sequestered dell, is shewn the poet's favorite rock-built seat. Here he had the power, according to the fancy-feeling of the moment, or the season of the year, of varying his walks in sun or shade; and we can, without difficulty, picture in our minds the imagery he represents when he says While in the park I sing, the listening deer They bow their heads, as if they felt the same. The style and character of these groves partake of that artificial taste which delighted in formal avenues, and regular vistas, decorated with temples, adorned with statues, and bounded by fences of perennial verdure, yet they possess a beauty of their own, and please by the skilfulness of the composition, and the agreeable harmony of the different parts. It may be here mentioned that the inscription on Waller's monument was written by Rymer, the editor of the Fœdera, and which Dr. Johnson said he hoped would be rescued from dilapidation. A portion of it is now nearly obliterated, and the inhabitants of Beaconsfield would do well if they would have it properly restored. It is as follows Heus Viator, tumulatum vides Edmundum Waller, qui tanti nominis poeta, et idem avitis opibus inter primos spectabilis, musis se dedit et patriæ. Nondum octodecennalis, inter ardua regni tractantes, sedem habuit à burgo de Agmondesham missus. Hic vitæ cursus, nec oneri defuit senex, vixitque semper populo charus, principibus in deliciis, admirationi omnibus. Hic conditur, tumulo sub eodem, rarâ virtute et multâ prole nobilis uxor Maria ex Bressyorum familiâ, cum Edmundo Waller conjuge charissimo, quem ter et decies lætum fecit patrem v filiis et filiabus viii quos mundo dedit et cœlum rediit. Edmundi Waller hic jacet id quantum morti cessit; qui inter poetas sui temporis facile princeps, lauream quam meruit adolescens octogenarius haud abdicavit. Huic debet patria lingua, quod credas, si Græcè Latinèque intermitterent musæ loqui, amarent Anglicé. Hoc marmore Edmundo Waller, Mariæque ex secundis nuptiis conjugi, pientissimis parentibus, pientissimè parentavit Edmundus filius. Honores benè merentibus extremos dedit quos ipse |