320 



The way to see well the extent and beauty of Moccas Park is from the 



back of a steady pony. You can then judge of the grent space taken up by 



the shoulder of the hill ; can see how by tree-removal a broad band of light 



might be let in here and there behind it, so as to throw out the foreground and 



throw back the hill — 



"A. gleam 

 Stretched o'er the tufted surface of the woods 

 Deepens the blackness of contiguous shade." 



This being done, the trees in front might be judiciously removed to suit it ; 

 now this dingle might be opened out ; that bit of the hill bared ; and as one 

 thiDg always leads on to another in the exercise of taste, the pleasure of gradual 

 improvement may long afford a delightful occupation. 



It is said that, many years since, on the south side of the Park, £20,000 

 worth of timber was felled at one time to meet some unusual expenditure. It 

 is just possible it may have been the effect of that terrible tree destroyer the 

 JSstus politicus, which your Commissioner has already shewn to be more fatal 

 to tree life than the Cossus limiperda, Zeuzcra cesculi, Sinoiendron cylindricum, 

 Dorcus paralklopipedus, and all the rest of the hard-named insects put toge- 

 ther. However this may be, the blank left was so terrible a grief to the owner 

 of that day that he resolved it should never happen again to the same extent, 

 so far as he could prevent it, and he therefore, instead of Oaks, planted trees 

 of all kinds, which our friend the timber dealer, with his chracteristic want 

 of politeness, might designate " rubbish." Not so by any means a visitor of 

 sentiment, who, with Cowper, would think 



" No tree in all the grove but has its charms 

 And each its charm peculiar." 



And as he wound up the hill beneath the varied trees he would admire them all 

 in turn, though he would long, ever and anon, for some break in the forest of 

 trees, to admit the distant landscape, always so charming there when a peep 

 can be got of it. It is due again to that prudent steward ; but the remedy 

 is easy, and with a judicious exercise of taste it may soon be said, 



" Here, waving groves a chequered scene display. 

 And part admit and part exclude the day ; 

 Here, interspersed, in lawns and open glades. 

 Thin trees arise, that shun each others shades." 



As the top of the hill is reached, however, the view becomes more fine, the 

 air more pure, the ride more enjoyable than there is time to tell — for the check- 

 string of the printer has long been pulled in vain. — Neither Merbage Point nor 

 Arthur's Stone may be visited, nor yet a word said of the varied scenery around, 

 albeit it offers the very perfection of Herefordshire scenery. 



On the very top of this hill, however, is a very respectable Oak some 9 or 

 10 feet in circumference, which must be noticed. It is visible in full size 

 from the Court, and was a great favourite with Lady Cornewall. "I would 

 not lose that oak," she said one day, "for a hundred pounds," and it has 



