1:34 ENCOMBE 



plantation crossed our path, when, the temptation being 

 too strong to resist, I levelled my Manton, and the bird 

 dropped. Upon my friend's informing me that the 

 stranger Avas Lord Eldon, I ran and picked up the bird, 

 and, with a slight obeisance, begged his Lordship's accep- 

 tance of it. 



"Oh, no, sir," said his Lordship — "keep the bird, I 

 pray ; 'twas a fair shot, and you are entitled to it." 



So saying, he turned to my friend, and conversed with 

 him on the growth of Swede turnips, which had only 

 recently been cultivated in that district. He then went 

 in at the white gate that leads down to the mansion, 

 wishino' us o-ood mornino;. 



In the following spring or summer, I revisited this spot 

 with a few friends of both sexes, in a carriage, and enter- 

 ing by the same white gate, I found it required some 

 little experience and care, as we drove down the steej) 

 declivity, planted on either side Avith thriving trees of 

 every variety, that completely envelojoed the mansion, 

 from whose chimneys no smoke issued to tell of its where- 

 abouts, so that we did not discern it till we were fairly in 

 the stable-yard. Leaving our carriage and horses to the 

 care of an attendant, after viewing the house, whicli was 

 an unpretending specimen in the Grecian stvle of archi- 

 tecture, very meanly furnished, we Avalked through the 

 grounds. They lay in a deep ravine, formed by two hills 

 or heights— one of which is called St. Alban's Head, 

 properly St. Adhelm's — and are terminated by a slight 

 iron pallisade, from base to base, which the tide constantly 

 washes, and through which we had a full view of the 

 British Channel. 



