CYMBELINE AND IMOGEN 3 



— all around the country is full of ancient 

 British earthworks. It is generally believed that a 

 deep and lovely indentation in the Chalk Hills is 

 the spot where Cymbeline and his Court lived. 

 This portion of the hill is covered with a deliciously 

 short velvety sward, and verifies properly the 

 modern appellation of ' Velvet Lawn.' On its east 

 side rises abruptly a wonderfully perfect British 

 camp, with a somewhat deep fosse or ditch 

 thoroughly enclosing it ; and rising- sheer from the 

 base is one of the most beautifully shaped conical 

 hills on the whole Chalk range, whilst on the top 

 are two additional smaller camps, and within a 

 quarter of a mile towers the highest of the Chilterns, 

 called ' Coombe Hill ' ; this is about 900 feet above 

 the sea, and commands a view of the country for a 

 distance of nearly thirty miles. From its summit 

 can be seen to the north and west portions of the 

 counties of Warwick, Gloucester, Northampton, 

 Oxford, Bedford, Hertford, Berkshire, and Wilt- 

 shire ; and to the south Middlesex and the Surrey 

 hills, with the Crystal Palace clearly visible. The 

 most fertile part of Bucks lies at its foot, with the 

 county town of Aylesbury. 



The ' yEgilsbireg ' of the Saxons, surmounted 

 by its fine old twelfth-century church in the centre 

 of the vale to which it gives its name — I have not 

 the power to describe the beauties of this splendid 

 inland view. Some years ago from this spot I was 

 showing a young American gentleman, who was 

 visiting me, the beauties of this neighbourhood, with 



B 2 



