FOREIGN NOTICES. 



575 



To an American, the rooks are, in their domesti- 

 city, a most novel and interesting sight, especially 

 when waddling about in the park, among the 

 sheep, and riding on their backs. Here, at Main- 

 head, the cawing of the rooks, and the bloating 

 of the lambs, all over the hill-sides and valleys, 

 fill the air with the most delightfully varied 

 sounds. 



The great features of this place, after the park, 

 arc the stables, — an immense pile of red stone, 

 built in imitation of a castle in Cumberland, 

 (which is in very bad taste. Ed.,) partly hid with 

 ivy, and producing a wonderfully hne elTect, and 

 a most charming old church in the park, covered 

 with ivy, and shaded on one side by a very fine 

 cedar of Lebanon, and on the other by a yew, 

 the trunk of which, at the base, is forty-eight feet 

 in circumference ! 



Near, or rather in the rear of the house, is a 

 hill, covered by magnificent cedars of Lebanon. 



Chichester, Sussex, April 19, 1849. — My last to 

 you was from Torquay, which we left on the lltli, 

 and have since been to Teignmouth, Exmouth, 

 and Exeter, where we managed to get outside 

 places upon one of the few mail coaches left in 

 England, — which, in the style and manner of the 

 coachman, the perfection of the carriage, and the 

 blood and grooming of the horses, quite equals, 

 if it does not surpass, my expectations. We drove 

 on this coach to Axminister, thirty-one miles, in 

 two hours and forty-eight minutes, — changing 

 three times. The coachman never once undoing 

 his whip, which he carried with the lash in a long 

 loop. 



Axminster being forty miles from any rail, is 

 now seldom visited, and comes among Howitt's 

 Nooks and Corners of England. You cant ima- 

 gine anything more old-stage-coachy tiian our inn, 

 '' The George," with its inn-yard, into which we 

 drove ; the kitchen, with its great settle before the 

 fire, and its range of bright pewter pots; the 

 chambers, as usual, redolent with diviity, — bed 

 and window curtains, toilet, etc., dimity, dimity. 

 When we walked through the town, there did not 

 seem to be over 30 people in it, — the old men in 

 small clothes, — the old women in their mob-caps; 

 none under 80 ; no children ; for all the people 

 looked as if they were born old. Our tea at the 

 old inn corresponded to our idea of its cleanliness. 

 A snug little parlor, curtains drawn — a bright 

 kettle hissing on a brighter fire — the nicest of 

 muffins, and the most extraordinary of rump 

 steaks ! 



The next morning we posted again to Dorches- 

 ter, where, taking the rail, we returned to South- 

 hampton, passing through some 20 miles of the 

 southern portion of the new forest, disturbing 

 many herds of deer. 



The succeeding day we took the steamer, and 

 in one and a quarter hours we were at Cowes, 

 where we lunched, anJ, taking post horses, we 

 passed, on our route, Osborne House, the marine 

 residence of Her Majesty, — not particularly inte- 



resting, and in a very disturbed state, from tho 

 process of converting some 300 acres of farm 

 land into park. Most of the plantations were 

 made during the winter and this spring, and were, 

 therefore, extremely like our improvements at 

 home. Every single tree, and ever clump were 

 protected by a circle of stakes, or wooden hur- 

 dles. And here let me remark, I have been very 

 much surprised in England, at the smallness of 

 the lawns. Even in many parks, several miles 

 in circumference, the mown lawn is not really 

 much larger than yours. I have seen many a 

 mansion, tlie front of which would extend 150 

 or 200 feet, with the same sized lawn as yours. 

 Outside of this comes a wire or hurdle fence, and 

 then a park of 50, 100, or 1000 acres. All this 

 park is kept short by deer, sheep and cows. The 

 division between tlie park and the lawn, immedi- 

 ately around the house, is by an iron fence; but 

 all the clumps, masses, imdergrowth, and small 

 trees, are invarialily surrounded by wooden hur- 

 dles or palings — in some instances higher than 

 the trees they enclose. 



We made a circuit of the Isle of Wight, which 

 is England in miniature, in four days, — visiting 

 every town, and, I believe, every place. We 

 passed many quaint old places ; that which pleased 

 us most was Northcourt, belonging to Sir Wil- 

 LOUGHBY Gordon, a fine old mansion, built in tho 

 reign of James 1st, with the date 1615 on the 

 shield over the door. It was built of gray stone, 

 and is now much covered with moss and ivy. The 

 house is in the pointed style, and stands upon a 

 raised bowling-green, or terrace, of exquisite turf, 

 which the old gardener, who had lived here 48 

 years, said he presumed had been laid the year 

 the house was built, and never broken up since. 

 It was mown once a week, and was nearly all a 

 fine moss and grass — as fine as the hair of one's 

 head. 



On one side of the house are quaint old " hang- 

 ing gardens," with walks or avenues of Yews, 

 210 years old, finely terraced, with gray stone 

 balustrades, and also with some peculiar terraces 

 of grass, — their corners rounded so as to permit 

 the turf walk to go over them. 



The gardens were only an acre and a half, 

 walled, but filled with curious old espaliers of ap- 

 ples and pears. One of these trained trees — a 

 Ribston Pippin — extended 56/ee<,and was plant- 

 ed by the old gardener in 1800. This tree was 

 only three feet high, trained with only three 

 branches on each side, that almost met; so hard 

 had they been spurred. The estate is 2000 acres; 

 but the park only 15 acres, — with majestic oaks, 

 running back up a hill till lost to sight. On one 

 side of the house is the finest Larch I remember 

 to have seen ; and on the other, a Norway Spruce. 

 The homeish little park, separated from the strip 

 of lawn by the invariable wire fence, was alive 

 with sheep and rooks. Take it all in all, the lat- 

 ter, from its size and snugness, pleased me hugely. 



This afternoon we have been to Goodwood, tho 



