perty of the duke of Queensberry, who transferred hither the pictures and furniture from his seat at Amesbury, in Wiltshire. The tapestry, which hung behind the earl of Clarendon in the court of Chancery, now decorates the hall of this house.

"There was formerly a park adjoining Richmond Green, called the Old or Little Park, to distinguish it from the extensive one, made by Charles I. and called the New Park. In this Old Park was a lodge, the lease of which was granted, in 1707, for ninety-nine years, to James duke of Ormond, who rebuilt the house, and resided there till his impeachment in 1715, when he retired to Paris. Soon after George II. then prince of Wales, purchased the re. mainder of the lease, which, after the duke's impeachment, was vested in the earl of Arran, and made the lodge his residence. It was pulled down about the year 1772, at which time his present majesty, who had resided in it, had an intention of building a new palace on the site. The foundations were actually laid; and, in the public dining room at Hampton Court, is the model of the intended palace. Not far from the site of the lodge stands the Observatory, built by Sir William Chambers, in 1769. Among a very fine set of instruments are particularly to be noticed, a mural arch of a hundred and forty degrees, and eight feet radius; a zenith sector of twelve feet; a transit instrument of eight feet; and a ten-feet reflector by Herschel. On the top of the building is a moveable dome, which contains an equatorial instrument. The observatory contains also a collection of subjects in natural history, well preserved; an excellent apparatus for philosophical experiments, some models, and a collection of ores from his majesty's mines in the forest of Hartz, in Germany. A part of the Old Park is now a dairy and grazing farm in his majesty's own hands. The remainder constitutes the royal gardens, which were laid out by Bridgeman in avenues, and afterward improved and altered to their present form by Lancelot Brown, the illustrious disciple of Kent, to whose exquisite taste in the embellish

ment of rural scenery the didactic poet paid this merited eulogy, while he was living to enjoy it:

Him too, the living leader of thy powers,

Great Nature! him the Muse shall hail in notes
Which antedate the praise true Genius claims
From just posterity. Bards yet unborn
Shall pay to Brown that tribute, fitliest paid
In strains the beauty of his scenes inspire.

MASON.

Instead of trim formality, irregular groups of trees adorning beautiful swelling lawns, interspersed with shrubberies, broken clumps, and solemn woods; through the recesses of which are walks, that lead to various parts of these delightful gardens. The banks, along the margin of the Thames, are judiciously varied, forming a noble terrace, which extends the whole length of the gardens; in the south-east quarter of which a road leads to a sequestered spot, in which is a cottage, that exhibits the most elegant simplicity. These gardens are open to the public, every Sunday, from Midsummer till toward the end of

autumn.

At the foot of Richmond Hill, on the Thames, is the duke of Buccleugh's villa. From the lawn a subterraneous communication with the pleasure grounds on the opposite side of the road, extends almost to the summit of the hill. Near this is the charming residence of the late lady Diana Beauclerk, who herself decorated one of the rooms with lilacs and other flowers, in the same manner as at her former residence at Twickenham.

On Richmond Green is a house belonging to viscount Fitzwilliam, whose maternal grandfather, Sir Matthew Decker, bart. an eminent Dutch merchant, built a room here for the reception of George I. In this house is an antient painting of Richmond Palace, by Vinkeboom; another, said to be the work of one of Reuben's scholars, is supposed to represent the lodge in the Old Park, before it was pulled down by the duke of Ormond. Richmond Green is surrounded by lofty clms, and, at one corner of it, is a theatre,

a theatre, in which, during the summer season, dramatic entertainments are performed.

The town runs up the hill; above a mile, from East Sheen to the New Park, with the royal gardens sloping all the way to the Thames. An elegant stone bridge, of five semicircular arches, from a design by Paine, was erected Pales 0828 here in 1777. The parish church was repaired and enlarged in 1750.

The summit of Richmond Hill commands a luxuriant prospect, which Thomson, who resided in this beautiful place, has thus celebrated in his Seasons:

Say, shall we ascend

Thy hill, delightful Sheen? Here let us sweep
The boundless landscape: now the raptur'd eye,
Exulting swift, to huge Augusta send;
Now to the sister-hills that skirt her plain,
To lofty Harrow now, and now to where
Majestic Windsor lifts his princely brow.
In lovely contrast to this glorious view,
Calmly magnificent, then will we turn

To where the silver Thames first rural grows.
There let the feasted eye unwearied stray:
Luxurious, there, rove through the pendent woods,
That nodding hang o'er Harrington's retreat;
And, sloping thence to Ham's embowering walks,
Here let us trace the matchless vale of Thames;
Fair-winding up to where the muses haunt

In Twitnam's bow'rs; to royal Hampton's pile,
To Claremont's terrac'd height, and Esher's groves,
By the soft windings of the silent Mole.
Enchanting vale! beyond whate'er the muse
Has of Achaia or Hesperia sung!

O vale of bliss! O softly-swelling hills!

On which the power of cultivation lies,

And joys to see the wonder of his toil.

Heav'ns! what a goodly prospect spreads around,

Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires,
And glitt'ring towns, and gilded streams, till all

The stretching landscape into smoke decays.

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Thomson's