Hoghton Tower. 



211 



to the building called HOGHTON TOWER, antiquated, 

 spacious, (now in great measure a semi-ruin,) and of the 

 period of Queen Elizabeth. The stone was obtained 

 from a quarry in the adjacent park, which " in former 

 tyme," says the old chronicler, was " so full of tymber 

 that a man passing through it could scarcely have seen 

 the sun shine at mid-day." Trees still adorn it with 

 their stately towers of verdure, but no portion can any 

 longer be called forest-like. From the slope in front of 

 the ancient gateway we see the 

 estuary of the Ribble, and the 

 sea, glorious in the sheen of sun- 

 set ; on the left, the Welsh moun- 

 tains ; in front, those of the Lake 

 district, and upon the right, Pen- 

 die. Hill and its noble adjuncts. 

 Towards the right of the gate- 

 way, we find access to ferny pre- 

 cipices ; and by going to the back 

 of the Tower, may enter a covert 

 of young beech-trees, green as 

 a child's heart, during those 

 few fair weeks in early sum- 

 mer while their leaves are still translucent, and make 

 arbours of vegetable lace. At this period the leaf is 

 fringed with fine white hairs, by July every hair has 

 disappeared, and the leaf becomes thicker and darker 



