the house pulled down: the site of it, now a ploughed field of about six acres, where parts of the ancient moats are yet visible, is still called Stoughton gardens. Stoke church, consisting of a nave, chancel, and north aisle, is a plain building of the ordinary stone of the country. The nave is about forty-three feet in length; the chancel, which is handsomely wainscoted, thirty-two: the former is separated from the north aisle by two fluted columns of oak. At the west end is an embattled tower of large hewn stone, with flints intermixed, and furnished with three bells, on each of which is the inscription, in old English characters: Bryan Eldridge made mee. 1620. At the east end of the north aisle is Stoughton's chapel, built almost entirely of flints, and separated from the chancel by two Gothic arches. The handsome organ in the nave is the gift of the late William Aldersey, Esq., to whom a monument is erected against the north wall, executed by Flaxman, which represents a woman standing, her arms reclined on an urn, her face resting on and hidden by them; with the inscription following: "This monument was erected by Harriet Aldersey, in grateful remembrance of the most affectionate of husbands, William Aldersey, Esq., of Stoke Park, a place formed by his taste, enlivened by his cheerfulness, made happy by his bounty, and better by his example. He departed this life the 30th of May, 1800, aged 64 years. "More would you have? go ask the poor he fed, "Whose was the hand that rais'd their drooping head? "Whose voice, like his, could charm all care away? "The Good how honour'd, and the Kind how dear!" Woodbridge House, in Stoke, is the property of John Creuzè, Esq., high sheriff of the county in the year 1788. Quitting Guildford for Ripley, a road to the left leads to SEND, a parish of which Ripley itself is a chapelry. Here, on the banks of the Wey, formerly stood Newark Priory, of which a part of the church only is now remaining. The stones of the other buildings have been found useful for mending the roads, and the whole would, in all probability, have been demolished, but for the taste of Sir Richard Onslow, father of Earl Onslow, the present proprietor, whose interposition preserved this remnant of the pile erected by our religious ancestors. The foundation of Newark Priory is ascribed to Ruald de Calva, and Beatrix de Sandes, his wife, who, in the reign of Richard I., reared the edifice for Black or Regular Canons of the order of St. Augustine. At the dissolution, the site of this monastery, with its possessions, were granted by Henry VIII. to Sir Anthony Brown, whose descendant, Lord Montacute, in 1711, sold the estate to Sir Richard Onslow, above-mentioned. Near the church is Send Grove, a very pleasant seat, built by the late Lieutenant-general William Evelyn. It became, by marriage, as it continues, the residence of Mr. Sergeant Onslow. RIPLEY, five miles and three quarters from Guildford, and nearly twenty-four from London, is a village in a single street, pleasantly situated on the side of Ripley Green, at the west end of which is the chapel, a small building, consisting of a nave and chancel. It has been said by some, that Ripley was the birthplace of Sir George Ripley, a famous alchymist, and Carmelite friar, of the fifteenth century; but this has been disputed by Bishop Tanner, who informs us that he was a native of Lincolnshire, and by Bishop Gibson, who, in his additions to Camden, says he was of Ripley in Yorkshire. Proceeding to Cobham, Ockham Park, in the parish of the same name, lies to the right: it is the seat of Lord King, by whose ancestor, Sir Peter King, created Baron King of Ockham, it was purchased of the Sutton family in 1711. Many improvements, in the modern style, have been here recently made. The celebrated philosopher, William Ockham, who flourished in the fourteenth century, was a native of this place. At one period he held, but at a future time renounced, the dogmas of the famous Duns Scotus. He travelled to the court of the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria ; supported by whom, he boldly asserted the independence of all upon the pope in regard to temporals; and this with such effect, that his holiness, whose censure he had formerly incurred by pleading for the poverty of the clergy, absolved him from excommunication, and gave him the title of the Invincible Doctor. He died in 1330, and was interred at Munich, in Bavaria. Approaching COBHAM, on the right is Hatchford, the seat of Miss Saltonstall; and Pointers, that of Thomas Page, Esq., lord of the manor. We cross the Mole at the foot of Pain's Hill, the river here dividing the parish of Cobham from that of Walton on Thames. Cobham Park, late the seat of Harvey Christian Combe, Esq. who purchased it of Lord Carhampton, situated on the south side of the parish, was formerly called Downe Place, from a family who lived here for successive generations. The church is a plain neat building of chalk-stone, with a tower at the west end (over which is a spire covered with oak shingles), in which are five bells and a clock. Sir Humphrey Lynde, the learned author of Via Tuta, was a native of this place. ESHER, three miles and a half from Cobham, and sixteen from London, is a village chiefly remarkable for its contiguity to Claremont, for too short a period the residence of the late lamented Princess Charlotte of Wales. Sir John Vanburgh, famed for a peculiar style of architecture, here first erected a low brick house, without the advantage of a prospect, which he designed for his own residence. Thomas Holles Pelham, Earl of Clare, and afterwards Duke of Newcastle, bought it of Sir John, added a magnificent room for the entertainment of large companies, when he was in administration, increased the grounds by farther purchases, and adorned the park with plantations under the direction of Kent*. On a mount in the park, he erected a building in the shape of a castle, * Horace Walpole, speaking of the mode introduced by Kent in landscape-gardening, says, "that his ideas were rarely great, was owing to the novelty of his art. The features in his landscapes were seldom majestic; he aimed at immediate effect. A small lake edged by a winding bank, with scattered trees that led to a seat at the end of the pond, was common at Claremont, and other of his designs. At Esher, "Where Kent and Nature strove for Pelham's love," the prospects more than aided the painter's genius; they marked out the points where his art was necessary or not, but thence left his judgment in full possession of all its glory." on the front of which appears-" And Clare Mont be the name, 1715." The prospect from the summit of this building is extremely fine, extending over a great part of the county of Surrey: during the lifetime of the Princess it was used as a conservatory; a plan which has been subsequently abandoned, and a more eligible spot selected for that purpose. The mount is of considerable elevation, and its wooded surface renders it a pleasing object in the grounds. After the Duke's decease, the estate was purchased by Lord Clive, the conqueror of India. When setting out on his last voyage, he gave directions to Mr. Browne, well known for his taste in landscape-gardening, but who himself considered his skill still greater in architecture, to build him a house, and model the grounds, without any limitation as to expense. He performed the task much to the satisfaction of his lordship, though at the cost of more than 100,000l. The site of the mansion is well chosen, commanding various views of the water and plantations in the park. It forms an oblong square of 44 yards by 34. On the ground floor are eight spacious rooms, besides the hall of entrance, and the great staircase. In the principal front a flight of thirteen steps leads to the grand entrance, under a pediment supported by Corinthian columns. After Lord Clive's death, in 1774, the estate was sold for not more than one third of what the house and alterations had cost, to Viscount Galway; who disposed of it to the Earl of Tyrconnel; who again sold it to Charles Rose Ellis, Esq.; and of the latter it was purchased for her late Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Wales, on her marriage with his Serene Highness the Prince of Saxe-Coburg, who still resides here. During the summer of 1818, his Serene Highness, VOL. I. D |