44 
Stewart’s, Lord Cavans, &c. Sir Home 
Popham, now on an expedition to 
South America, has also a house here. 
The houses, howeve1, are manifestly de- 
teriuvrated in value, from the impolitic 
Telinquishment of aright of road through 
Oatland’s Park; many are either in 
decay or untenanted. At — Robinson's, 
esq, a beautiful curve of the Wey pre- 
sents a picture which has an exquisite 
effect. 
I entered Oatlands, by the road lead- 
ing from Weybridge. The Newcastle 
Arms (a couple of greyhounds, sur- 
mounted by a ducal coronet) are suffi- 
ciently apparent on the gate to mark 
its former lord. The steeple of Chert- 
sey church, peeping through the wood- 
Jands on the left, calls up at once ideas 
connected with the romantic. Saw 
some inferior crops of barley, and as I 
advanced the deterioration increased. 
The Norfolk system does not seem to 
have been adopted; the soil light— 
the farming bal. His Royal Highness 
keeps several teams, and appears to be 
a worse farmer than his father. 
Proéeeding along the road, I observed 
the stables," which deserve peculiar 
mention, as heightening and varying 
the view, and forming a respectable 
pile of buildings, on the right. On 
the left, from “ foliage green,”’ through 
‘the trees; appears the house, which, 
however, will be viewed comparatively 
without admiration, for the numerous 
bearings of royalty it exhibits no more 
of than the plain mansion of an English 
gentleman usually does. 
I had been for some time in sight of 
two adjoining flocks of sheep, pasturing 
on a lawn which had not been exposed 
to the plougl—a - measure, however, 
which, I liave observed, tends to facili- 
‘tate ameliorations. They were attend- 
ed by a shepherd and a boy, who were 
to keep them separate from the culti- 
vated parts. One division consisted of 
the Wiltshire breed, and tlie other of the 
-real Spanish; the latter belongs to 
the King, and has been sent here for 
‘the benefit of the pasture. It consists 
of eight score and seven; they have 
been three years in England; the ex- 
ertions for their improvement have not 
been checked, and they breed pretty 
well, having had sixty lambs this sea- 
son. Incidentally may be noticed, in 
obtaining an acquaintance with the 
structure and habits of these animals, 
that the fleece is better, but less bulky 
than the English, the carcase mani- 
festly less. 
Stephensiana.—No. F. 
(Feb. f, 
The Duke has lately stuecoed the 
front, so as to resemble stone when you 
a it, but it looks like brick at a 
istance. To overcome this disadvan- ° 
tage. and produce an effect more strik- 
img and adorned, it onght tobe a few 
shades lighter. In the front, next the 
canal, the casteHated gothie architec- 
ture is attempted, the parapet wall ex- 
hibiting square interstices modelled as 
battlements. The modern bow-window, 
however, | cannot pass without repre- 
hension—it accords but ill with that 
mode of building, and must anavoida- 
bly break the chain of fts combination. 
I visited Oatlands again on Sunday the 
27th ; the Duke and Duchess were at 
dinner ina tent near the kouse. Here E 
saw some gentlemen agreeably amusing 
themselves instarting boys and girls to 
run round the trees. 1 followed some 
company along the canal which I had 
heard so much of—but in pronouncing 
on its merits, I must confess I was 
greatly disappointed. It isinsignificant 
in point of breadth ; the water is bad ; 
it has none of that playful rapidity 
which is an essential characteristic of « 
running stream, being covered with 
broad-leaved weeds, and possessing the 
appearance of a stagnant pool. To me, 
wealth appears to have been employed 
witha profusion of diligence, but not 
with sufficient taste and judgment, as 
the Thames is seen from various parts 
¢f the park, and a building might have 
been erected with the happiest effect of 
commanding the whole sweep of this 
. river, from Sunbury to Staines. 
‘To give it every advantage, I search- 
ed out the best possible view—such f 
found, and am firmly persuaded is that, 
when the eye traces the broad water, as 
it is called, along its extent, discerns 
Walton bridge behind a grove of trees, 
through which it is supposed to mean- 
der. A fancy, warmly excited, is call- 
ed in to suppose this to be the Thames, 
emptying itself through the arches in 
the distance, but the want of a pellucid 
current, on this occasion, precluded 
the range and expansion of my imagi- 
nation. 
The Duke of Newcastle, grandfather 
to the present minor Duke, erected the 
grotto, aud cut the Serpentine canal, 
otherwise called the Broad Water. at the | 
bottom of the terrace. The latter was 
almost a needless expence, as, from the 
vicinity of the Thames, it could not be 
introduced with any great effect—the 
former a ridiculous one. The water is 
not brought from the river, pipes mae 
i lai 
