160 CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIS FAMILY. 



acquainted ; on which account I crossed Wiltshire in a N.W. 

 direction, over the Marlborough downs by Chippenham and 

 Malmesbury, and concluded my first day's journey at Minchin- 

 ampton, by which means the vale of the Severn and the Mal- 

 vern hills were brought into my reach. The day had fa- 

 vour'd me much ; but in the dusk of the evening clouds arose 

 from the S.W., and scuds of small rain came on, which, had 

 they continued the next day, would have effectually prevented 

 my sight of the prospects I had promised myself the next 

 morning. I was seized with a terrible qualm, and could not 

 help thinking of our friend Ajax's prayer 



Aos S' o(j)6a\fji.oi(riv edfadat 



My fears, however, were vain ; and the first object I saw on 

 Tuesday morning was Venus shining very bright thro' a hole 

 in the window-shutter. My ride this day was delightful, by 

 Stroud and Painswick to Gloucester. Exquisite indeed is the 

 prospect from the hills above the Severn, of the river, the city 

 of Gloucester, the Worcestershire hills, and the Welsh moun- 

 tains. In the afternoon I set out for Malvern, and made Lid- 

 bury in my road, to visit the county of Hereford : that even- 

 ing I crossed the hills, but in the dusk; so that the prospect was 

 undistinguishable. On the Wednesday morning the weather 

 again favour'd me, and from my chamber window at Great 

 Malvern I saw the sun rise behind Bredon hill. I then 

 ascended the hill, and saw all that part of the island in one 

 great map beneath me, from Clifton hill above Bristol to the 

 Wrekin near Shrewsbury, and from the S.W. parts of North- 

 amptonshire to Radnorshire mountains. My satisfaction was 

 much increased by having with me a very intelligent director, 

 whom I met with at Malvern, and who pointed out to me the 

 objects in view, and told me their names. Whether these 

 views, however, are superior to those from Black-down and 

 Leith-hill I am by no means certain. From Malvern I went 

 homewards thro' Worcester, Birmingham, Coventry, and 

 Leicester but saw nothing remarkable except the view from 

 Lickey, a high ridge above Bromsgrove, from whence an im- 



