9 
gardener was in attendance, with directions to have the foun- 
tains played, and to show the fine gardens and park, the 
mansion and its chapel, refulgent with gorgeous stained glass 
of the Renaissance period, and its cupola, with gilt sheathing, 
glittering like a meteor in the distance. 
The park, which is of great extent, has many beautiful 
conifers and clumps of rhododendron, then in full flower. The 
tropical conservatory, terraces, sculpture, and artfully contrived 
vistas, were all greatly admired, as well as the massive gnarled 
butts of many “brave old oaks,” scattered about the demesne, 
which carried the mind back many hundreds of years into 
the past. 
After the study of the Walsall quarry, at the west foot of 
the Abberleys, the ascent had to be faced, but the slope was 
easy, and the summit of 800 feet was soon reached. Here, 
with the Survey map spread out, the grand extent of the 
prospect, with its chequered lights and shadows, presented a 
scene of rare beauty and interest: here met the eye, directly 
in front, the towns of Kidderminster and Stourport, at the 
entrance of the Severn valley, each capped with its canopy of 
smoke, drifting to the eastward, where rose the Lickey hills. 
To the left of the spectator was the little town of Bewdley, 
on the silver Severn, and stretching out beyond the Forest 
of Wyre, shorn of its ancient dimensions, but marking and 
masking the Shropshire coal-field. Well off to the west, along 
the sky-line, were the Clee hills—the Brown Clee and its 
companion the Titterstone Clee—to which our Gloucester streets 
and roads are indebted for the tough basaltic rock which forms 
the material of their metalling. In the far distance could be 
discerned, though dimly, the igneous rocks about Church 
Stretton, the Longmynd and the Stiper Stones. Eastward of 
this line arose the Wrekin, with Shrewsbury lying central, 
Bridgnorth nearer, and from thence the valley winding north- 
wards to Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale. Turning from this 
glorious and instructive view of Salop, and descending, is 
seen that aspect of the Malvern range to which the eye of 
the dweller near Gloucester is unaccustomed, namely, the 
