L 



175 



by his activity and good seamanship, he surrounded half the French fleet, sunk 

 one ship, blew up three, and captured four. The French admiral, Count de 

 Grasse, was taken prisoner and sent to England. This victory was a critical one. 

 It saved Jamaica, rejoiced the heart of his country, and deservedly won for him 

 a barony, £2,000 a year pension, and a monument in St. Paul's. 



If time and space permitted, it would be a pleasure to tell how in 1759 Admi- 

 ral Rodney destroyed the boats and stores prepared at Havre for the invasion of 

 England; how in 1780 he defeated the Spanish fleet oflE Cape St. Vincent, destroy- 

 ing four of their ships, taking four, and allowing only four to escape, whilst the 

 Admiral Don Langara was also taken prisoner and sent to England ; and how he 

 did many another brave and gallant action : but it may not be. The pictures of 

 the Admiral himself and his battles must be passed by, and all other pictures and 

 objects of vcrtu there, and so too, must the two fine stufifed black bears which 

 guard the inner door of the hall, or the skins and heads of the many deer, bison, 

 and other animals that have fallen to the ixjwer of his successors — for local mat- 

 ters only must be dwelt upon by Woolhope men on excursions. The fine female 

 white-tailed eagle, Ualiaetus albicilla, which was captured in the park seven or 

 eight years ago, is quite within the scope of the Club. This magnificent bird was 

 observed in the park for some days and wiis at length trapped. It is now well set 

 up by Shaw, of Shrewsbury, in a glass case in the hall, and stands over three feet 

 in height. In the hall too is another old Herefordshire memento, in the shajie of 

 a flag all gi'een and gold, "Stretford, Cyder free from tax,'' the flag which was 

 used doubtless in the general rejoicings through the county that took place when 

 Mr. Velters Cornewall had succeeded in getting that tax taken ofiF, and thus made 

 himself so popular. 



The four handsome long ten pounders on the lawn, highly ornamented Span- 

 ish guns, bearing on them the dates of 1754-5 and 175G (2), were passed by and the 

 way taken by the pine grove to the large pools. The park is very well undulated, 

 has many fine trees about, and is very picturesque, but all the eyes of the botan- 

 ists were quicklj' centred on the water plants on the pool, which were only too 

 abundant. There was a fine patch of the white water lily, Ni/mphcca alba, in the 

 full perfection of early bloom. Like the sacred lotos of the Nile, the flowers of 

 the white water lily arise and expand as the sun gains ascendency, close towards 

 evening, and thus remain through the night reclining on the bosom of the water, 

 or actually sink beneath its surface, till revived by the return of day, when again 



"The water lily to the light 

 Her chalice rears of silver bright. " 



Scott. 



And many pretty poetical fancies are buUt on this habit of the plant. The other 

 plants noticed were Myriophyllum spicatum. Ranunculus circinatus, Polyr/onum 

 amphibium, Alisma Plantacio, Potamo'jeton crhpus and luUans, Arundo phraymitis 

 and Typha angustifolia. Newman in his work on British ferns mentions Berring- 

 ton Pool as a habitat of Lastrea Thclypteris, but this marsh fern was not observed, 

 nor was there time to make any search for it. 



The Heronry on the island created great interest, and some half-dozen of the 



