estate to the late George Prescott, Esq. but in the intermediate time, the Park had been divided, and converted into farms. Three years afterwards, when the houses which now form Theobalds Square, were erected, every remaining vestige of the Palace was destroyed. About the same time a new Park, of 205 acres, was inclosed by Mr. Prescott, who also built a handsome brick Mansion, on a rising ground, about a mile north-west from the site of the Palace, and at a short distance from the New River, which runs through the grounds.* THEOBALDS PARK is now the property and residence of Sir George Beeston Prescott, Bart. grandson of the purchaser.

WALTHAM CROSS, a hamlet in Cheshunt Parish, derives its name from one of those elegant stone CROSSES, which the pious affection of Edward the First occasioned him to erect in memory of his beloved and faithful consort, Queen Eleanor. This lamented female was daughter to Ferdinand the Third, King of Castile and Leon, and had been married to Edward from motives of state policy; yet, contrary to the common issue of matches so made, she conceived a very ardent attachment for her husband, and is reported to have saved his life by sucking the poison from a wound which he received by the hand of an assassin in the Holy Land. She died, deeply regretted by the King, in November, 1291, at Hardeby, near Grantham, in Lincolnshire. Her bowels were interred in Lincoln Cathedral; but her body was brought to London, and deposited in Westminster Abbey. At each of the places where it had been rested during this journey, namely, at Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Dunstable, St. Alban's, and Charing,† Edward afterwards erected a Cross, of which, only those at Geddington, Northampton, and Waltham, now remain.

* This Account of Theobalds is wholly derived from Lysons' Environs, Vol. IV. p. 29–39.

Now Charing Cross; but then only a village between London and Westminster.

WALTHAM CROSS is the least perfect of the three; though the Society of Antiquaries have twice interested themselves in its preservation: once in 1721, and again in 1757, when Lord Monson, the then Lord of the Manor of Cheshunt, at the request of the Society, communicated by letter from their Secretary, Dr. Stukeley, surrounded the base with brick-work: it was originally surrounded by a flight of steps, like those at Geddington and Northampton; but these have been long removed. The upper parts are also greatly mutilated: much of the foliage is defaced, and the pinnacles and battlements are broken. The form of the Cross is hexagonal: it is separated into three stories; the middlemost of which is open, and displays statues of Queen Eleanor. Each side of the lower story is divided into two compartments, beneath an angular coping, charged with shields pendant from different kinds of foliage, and exhibiting the arms of England, of Castile and Leon, quarterly, gules, a castle, Or; and argent, a lion rampant, purpure; and of Ponthieu, Or, three bendlets, azure, with a border, gules: the colors are obliterated. Over these compartments is a quatrefoil; and above that, a trefoil, filling up the space to the point of the whole. The pediment of each compartment has been richly adorned with foliage; and the spandrils are sculptured with eightleaved flowers in lozenges: the pannels are separated by purfled finials, divided by two niches. "The cornice over the first story is composed of various foliage and lions' heads, surmounted by a battlement pierced with quatrefoils. The second story is formed of twelve open tabernacles in pairs, but so divided that the dividing pillar intersects the middle of the statue behind it: these terminate in ornamented pediments, with a bouquet on the top; and the pillars that supported them are also purfled in two stories. This story also finishes with a cornice and battlement, like the first, and supports a third story of solid masonry, ornamented with single compartments in relief, somewhat resembling those below, and supporting the broken shaft of a plain The statues of the Queen are crowned; her left hand holding a cordon; and her right, a sceptre, or globe." This Cross

cross.

*Vetusta Monumenta, Vol. III.

stands

stands close to the Falcon Inn, which has been built up against it, in the angle formed by the high road, and another road, which branches off towards Waltham Abbey.

The pleasant village of AMWELL, which is situated to the south-east of Ware, has the name of Emme-welle in the Domesday Book; an appellation supposed to have been derived from Emma's Well, a spring of pure water, which issuing from the hill on which the Parish Church is situated, now forms part of the New River. This eminence, and the pleasing scenery it presents, have been celebrated in a sentimental poem by the late John Scott, Esq. of AMWELL HOUSE, which is now the property and residence of J. Hooper, Esq. who married the daughter of Mr. Scott. The poet, after an excursive view of the surrounding country, returns to the immediate neighbourhood of Amwell, and pourtrays the landscapes it affords with great exactness.

How picturesque the view, where up the side
Of that steep bank, her roofs of russet thatch
Rise mix'd with trees, above whose swelling tops
Ascends the tall Church tow'r, and loftier still
The hill's extended ridge! How picturesque,
Where, slow beneath that bank, the silver stream
Glides by the flowery Isle, and willow groves
Wave on its northern verge, with trembling tufts
Of osier intermixed!

On the Isle here mentioned, a tribute of respectful homage has been recently paid by Robert Mylne, Esq. to the genius and patriotism of SIR HUGH MIDDLETON, who first conveyed the New River to London, in despight of difficulties that exhausted his fortune, and for a time rendered all his efforts fruitless. Several mournful trees are planted here; and in the centre is a votive urn, standing upon a pedestal, surrounded by a close thicket of evergreens. An inscription is engraven on each side of the pedestal; that on the south is as follows: