and the arches which it supported, and from having had wooden pillars substituted instead. On each side of the churchyard there are some venerable-looking alms-houses, with solid stone mullions to the windows. The parsonage stands between them, and is very primitive in its external appearance.

The village of Langley, or Langley Marys, is very much scattered, and contains some good residences. Langley Park has some fine and interesting trees, and some beautiful cedars. There is a temple commanding a view of Windsor Castle, built by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, who also made a green drive to the castle at the time of her favouritism with Queen Anne. The great Duke of Marlborough purchased the property from Lord Masham. It now belongs to Mr. Harvey.

The house is a square stone building, and the rooms are remarkably well arranged. It contains some good and interesting pictures,* some of them of the battles of the Duke of Marlborough. It was formerly the residence of the ancient family of Kedermister.

* Particularly a Holy Family by C. Maratti, a fine specimen of that master, and Sir Joshua Reynolds's picture of Mrs. Siddons as the Queen of Tragedy.

HORTON CHURCH AND CHURCH

YARD.

When I was yet a child, no childish play
To me was pleasing; all my mind was set
Serious to learn and know, and thence to do
What might be public good; myself I thought
Born to that end; born to promote all truth,
All righteous things.

PARADISE REG.

THE rural scenes of this part of Buckinghamshire have a peculiar interest in my mind from their association with the poetry of Milton. In the sequestered village of Horton the poet resided with his father and mother for some years, and it is believed, with every reason, that he wrote his Arcades, Comus, L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, and Lycidas, during that residence. His mother died there about the year 1638. In 1632 Milton came to Horton, and probably left it with his father at his mother's death, the former dying in his arms in 1647 in London.

It was chiefly for the purpose of seeing the resting place of the mother of the great poet that I visited Horton, and also to ascertain whether

there were any remains of the house in which she resided, nor was the visit an uninteresting one.

The village of Horton lies between that of Datchet and the town of Colnbrook. It contains but few houses, and consequently has but few inhabitants, but the generality of the houses belong to the wealthier classes.

The first sight of the church and churchyard is very striking. In the latter there are two fine yew trees, said to be male and female, and the thick walls, made of large massive bricks, are covered with ivy, and elder bushes growing against them. The church is a good specimen of the early English style of architecture. The Norman arch as you enter the church at Horton is extremely beautiful. The outer ornaments are zigzag, and the centre one a sort of back bone; I do not know what else to call it. The whole arch is in a fine state of preservation, and very curious. The thing of greatest interest in the church is the slab which covers the grave of the mother of the poet. Her name and the time of her death are inscribed on it. There is also an ancient font in the church, with a slight ornament on the upper rim. A portion of the churchyard wall is built of what are called in the neighbourhood Roman bricks. Milton came to Horton when he left the University of Cambridge; and we can well fancy