THE UNIVERSAL FAMILY PAPER FOR INTER-COMMUNICATIONS ON 



NATURAL HISTORY-POPULAR SCIENCE — THINGS IN GENERAL, 



Conducted toy WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammersmith,— 



Author of the Familiar and Popular Essays on "Natural History;" "British Song 

 Birds;" " Birds of Passage ; " "Instinct and Keason;" " Tue Aviaky," &c. 



"the OBJECT op our work is to make men WISER, without obliging them to turn over folios and 



QUARTOS.— TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING AS WELL AS READING."— EVELYN. 



No. 35.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 28. n . __ ^ R ™ '^: , ,, 



MXiA u"^^ j Q r ^ m Monthly Parts, Price Is. Id. 



HOLIDAY RAMBLES. 



THE BANKS OF THE LEA. 



The signal has gone forth ! Man and 

 boy, chick and child, gentle and simple, — 

 all who have one shilling to spend, have fled 

 incontinently from London in search of 

 fresh air and amusement. May they find 

 both, and return home like giants re- 

 freshed ! Whoever is now found tarrying in 

 this filthy City, unless of stern necessity, 

 deserves what Shakspeare calls " a good 

 whipping." At all events, he must say 

 nothing about " taste." 



To assist such of our friends as can afford 

 but little time to ramble far away, we select 

 to-day from a charming book, called " Ram- 

 bles by Rivers," a very picturesque descrip- 

 tion by James Thorne of the River Lea. A 

 ramble, under such guidance, and by such a 

 river, only wants a few hours, — a few shil- 

 lings, --a merry heart, — a joyful coun- 

 tenance, and a resolution to be " happy." 

 No English word could express better, what 

 we here mean to convey. It gives all care 

 the go-by ; and loosens the reins of a tightly- 

 confined head. So, — be happy, good folk, 

 while you may ! 



We will now say something about the 

 Lea. We all know it ; we all love it ; and 

 wish that summer lasted all the year round, 

 that we might always be in the enjoyment 

 of a walk by its streams. 



Scarcely another river of the like extent 

 and size, could be found to yield to the book- 

 ish perambulator so abundant a harvest of 

 associations as the Lea. Few could surpass 

 it in the objects and places of interest that 

 are to be found in proximity to its banks ; 

 and if it affords not many very striking fea- 

 tures of landscape scenery, it presents 

 several of extreme loveliness : such as made 

 one, who has described many of them with a 

 delightful zest, think, " as he sat on a prim- 

 rose bank and looked down the meadows, 

 that they were too pleasant to look on but 



; ' turn his pre- 

 in a wish, he 



only on holidays," and then 

 sent thoughts into verse ;" 

 adds, " I'll repeat to you — 



I in these flowery meads would be, 



These crystal streams should solace me," &c. 



The source of the Lea cannot be readily 

 reached from a railway. The nearest station 

 is at Leighton, on the Birmingham line, 

 from whence it is about eight miles across a 

 fine country. Perhaps a still pleasanter 

 way, though somewhat longer, is to leave 

 the railway at Tring, and, mounting the 

 hills above Aldbury, to go across Ashridge 

 Park (a place worth looking at), and by 

 Little Gaddesden and Dagnal to Dunstable. 

 Over these hills the pedestrian will be ac- 

 companied by the music of thousands of 

 larks, and in return for their melody he 

 may (if he please), when he reaches Dun- 

 stable, regale his palate with a dish of them. 

 A lark, as cooked at the principal inns in 

 that' town, is said to form a most delicious 

 morsel. But we only speak by report, for 

 although it is a main principle with us in 

 travelling to taste whatever the place we are 

 in is famous for — so that we reckon it a mis- 

 fortune that, led astray by the advice of a 

 dietist, we did not touch brawn when at Can- 

 terbury, and we can remember no similar 

 omission — and though we should have little 

 sympathy for even a tee-totaller who should 

 abstain from a mouthful of " Glenlivat o' 

 the sma' still," in rambling over the High- 

 lands, or in crossing the moors — we confess 

 we could not bring ourselves to order a dish 

 of the little aerial warblers, whose harmony 

 we had just been listening to with so greedy 

 an ear. The visitor should not pass through 

 Dunstable without looking at its really mag- 

 nificent church — only a portion, however, of 

 the ancient conventual church — with its rich 

 Norman doorway and windows, whose ela- 

 borate carvings are unfortunately much de- 

 faced, though still retaining much beauty ; 

 and he should, if he can, obtain a sight of 

 the fine font in the interior. From Dun- 



Vol. II. 



