200 THE BRITISH ISLES. 



moorisli tracts, but the greater part of the comity is devoted to agriculture and 

 market gardening. Hops are amongst its most appreciated productions. The 

 manufacturing industry, excepting within the limits of London, is but of small 

 importance. 



The river Wey, which pays its tribute to the Thames below Weybridge, 

 rises iu Wiltshire, and soon after it has entered Surrey flows past the ancient town 

 of Fani/mm, which boasts a stately moated castle, the residence of the Bishops of 

 Winchester, and carries on a brisk trade in hops and malt. The height to the 

 north of that town is occupied by the camp of Aldershot, whilst below it the Wey 

 passes Moor Park, where Dean Swift wrote his '* Tale of a Tub " and made love to 

 Stella, Lady Giffard's waiting-maid. Here also are the beautiful ruins of Waverley 

 Abbey. Between Furnham and Guildford the fertile valley of the Wey is bounded 

 on the north by the " Ilog's Back," a link of the Downs. The river first becomes 

 navigable at Godahning, which retains some portion of the stocking manufacture 

 for which it was formerly celebrated, and has recently acquired fresh importance 

 tlirough the transfer to it of Charterhouse School from London. Below this town the 

 Wey escapes through a cleft in the Downs. This cleft is commanded by the town 

 of Guildford, whose antiquity is attested by a Norman castle, a grammar school 

 datino" from the time of Henry VIII., and an interesting old church. Guildford 

 has an important corn market, and possesses large breweries. In the beauty of its 

 environs few towns can rival it, clumps of trees, carefully kept fields, ivy-clad 

 walls, and shady lanes winding up the hillsides, combining to form a picture of 

 rural beauty and tranquillity. Only a short distance to the north of the town we 

 enter a heathy district in the vicinity of TFoh'ng. Before leaving this south-western 

 portion of the countj^ there remains to be noticed the small town of Haslemcre, 

 close to the Hampshire border, which manufactures walking-sticks and turnery. 



Dorking, 10 miles to the east of Guildford, commands another gap in the 

 northern Downs, and is seated amidst much-admired scenery. Near it are Deep- 

 dene, the seat of Mrs. Hope, full of art treasures, and the "Eookery," where 

 Malthus was born in 1776. Dorking is noted for its fowls. The Mole, which flows 

 near the town, derives its name from a chain of " swallows " into which it 

 disappears at intervals. It runs past Leafherhead and Cohham, and enters the 

 Thames at Molesey, opposite Hampton Court Palace. 



Reigate, near a third gap in the Downs, which here bound the lovely Holms- 

 dale on the north, has deservedly grown into favour with London merchants as a 

 place of residence. Near its suburb Redhill are an Asylum for Idiots and the 

 Reformatory of the Philanthropic Society. Fuller's earth is dug in the neigh- 

 bourhood. 



Epsom, in a depression on the northern slopes of the Downs, was a resort of 

 fashion in the seventeenth century, when its medicinal springs attracted numerous 

 visitors. The famous racecourse lies on the Downs to the south of the town, and 

 not less than 100,000 persons have assembled on it on Derby Day. EiceU, a 

 small village near Epsom, has powder-mills. Near it is Nonsuch Park, with a 

 castellated mansion, close to the site of an ancient palace of King Henry YIII. 



