THE OUTER PARK. 113 



entirely free from decoration, and the effect of it, as seen looking 

 from the river side, imposing. It was built by the Marquis, whose 

 family name is Grosvenor, at a cost of $180,000 (36,000). The 

 designer was Thomas Harrison, an architect of note, who former- 

 ly lived in Chester.* 



By the side of the road we found an oratory, or small chapel, 

 building, and gardeners laying out grounds for a rural cemetery. 

 Beyond this we came to the great castellated edifice that I have 

 before spoken of, as the gateway to the park. Such we were 

 told it was, and were therefore surprised to find within only a 

 long, straight road, with but tolerable mowing lots alternating by 

 the side of it with thick plantations of trees, differing little from 

 the twenty-year old natural wood of my own farm, except that 

 hollies, laurels, and our common dog-wood, were planted regular- 

 ly along the edge. After awhile we pushed into this wood, to 

 see if we could not scare up the deer. We soon saw daylight on 

 the outside, and about twelve rods from the road, came to an 

 open field, separated from the wood only by a common Yankee 

 three-rail fence, which I had not expected to see in England ; 

 very poor it was, too. 



A stout boy, leaning heavily on the stilts, was plowing stubble- 

 ground. We jumped over and asked what crop the ground was 

 preparing for. The horses stopped of their own accord when we 

 spoke. The boy turned and sat upon the stilts-brace, and then 

 answered " Erdnow." 



The same answer, or some other sounds that we could not 

 guess the meaning of, followed several other questions. The 

 plow had a wooden beam, bound round with hoop iron. The 



* The main arch spans two hundred feet, and its height is forty feet, and there are two 

 dry arches, each twenty feet wide and forty feet high. From the surface of the water to 

 the road is over sixty feet. The parapet walls are three hundred and fifty feet long, with 

 a carriage-way and foot-path between, of thirty feet. 



8 



