162 
O X F 
mount, a crypt, and the (hell of one of the original 
towers, which is a fquare maflive ftrudture, lighted by a 
few' loop holes only, and having a projecting baftion-tur- 
ret at one angle, through which a narrow ftaircafe leads 
to the top of the caftle. It now conftitutes part of the 
gaol. 
Forest Hill is the name of a fmall village fituated on 
a pleafant hill, about three miles from Oxford, and w'as fo 
called becaufe it formerly lay contiguous to a foreft, which 
has fince been cut down. Milton chofe this place of 
retirement after his firft marriage ; (fee vol. xv. p. 404.) 
and he defcribes the beauties of his retreat in that fine 
paffage of his L’Allegro : 
Sometime walking, not unfeen, 
By hedge-row elms, on hillocks green, 
While the ploughman, near at hand, 
Whittles o’er the furrowed land ; 
And the milkmaid fingeth blithe, - 
And the mower whets his fcythe ; 
And every thepherd tells his tale 
Under the hawthorn in the dale. 
Straight mine eye hath caught new pleafures, 
Whiilt the landfcape round it meafures 5 
Buffet lawns, and fallows grey, 
Where the nibbling flocks do ftray; 
Mountains, on whole barren bread: 
The lab’ring clouds do often reft ; 
Meadows trim, with daifies pied, 
Shallow brooks, and rivers wide; 
Towers and battlements it fees, 
Bofom’d high in tufted trees. 
Hard by a cottage-chimney ffnokes 
From betwixt two aged oaks, &c. 
“ It was neither the proper feafon of the year, nor time 
of the day, (fays Sir Wm. Jones, in his account of a viiit 
to it,) to hear all the rural founds, and fee all the ob-_ 
jefts, mentioned in this defcription ; but, by a pleating 
concurrence of circumftances, we were fainted, on our 
approach to the village, with the mufic of the mower and 
his fcythe; we faw the ploughman intent upon his la¬ 
bour, and the milkmaid returning from her country em¬ 
ployment. As we afcended the hill, the variety of beau¬ 
tiful objefts, the agreeable ftillnefs and natural fimplicity 
of the whole fcene, gave us the higheft pleafure. We at 
length reached the fpot whence Milton undoubtedly 
took moll of his images ; it is on the top of the hill, from 
which there is a molt extenfive profpedt on all fides : the 
diftant mountains, that feemed to fupport the clouds, the 
villages and turrets, partly fliaded with trees of the fined 
verdure, and partly raifed above the groves that fur- 
rounded them ; the dark plains and meadows of a grey- 
ilh colour, where the flieep were feeding at large; in 
Ihort, the view of the ftreams and rivers, convinced us 
that there was not afingle ufelefs or idle word in the 
above-mentioned defcription, but that it was a mod ex- 
aft and lively reprefentarion of nature. Thus will this 
fine paffage, which has always been admired for its ele¬ 
gance, receive an additional beauty from its exaftnefs. 
After we had walked, with a kind of poetical enthufiafm, 
over this enchanted ground, we returned to the village. 
“ The poet’s houfe was clofe to the church ; the great- 
eft part of it has been pulled down, and what remains 
belongs to an adjacent farm. I am informed that feveral 
papers, in Milton’s own hand, were found by the gen¬ 
tleman who was laft in poffeflion of the eftate. The tra¬ 
dition of his having lived there is current among the vil¬ 
lagers ; one of them lhowed us a ruinous wall that made 
part of his chamber; and I was much pleafed with ano¬ 
ther, who had forgotten the name of Milton, but recol¬ 
lected him by the title of The Poet. It muff not be 
omitted, that the groves near this village are famous for 
nightingales, which are fo elegantly defcribed in the 
Penferolo. Moft of the cottage-windows are overgrown 
with fweet-briars, vines, and honeysuckles; and that 
O R D. 
Milton’s habitation had the fame ruftic ornament, we 
may conclude from his defcription of the lark bidding 
him good-morrow, 
Through the fweet-briar, or the vine. 
Or the twifted eglantine ; 
for it is evident, that he meant a fort of honey-fuckle by 
the eglantine; though that word is commonly ufed for 
the fweet-briar, which he could not mention twice in the 
fame couplet.” 
Nuneham-Courtenay, the feat of the earl of Har- 
court, is near Oxford. At the general furvey, this ma¬ 
nor belonged to Richard de Courcy; afterwards to the 
family of Riparys, or Redvers. Mary, youngeft daugh¬ 
ter of William de Redvers earl of Devon (who, as well 
as his uncle William, was furnamed de Vernon), married 
Robert de Courtenay baron of Oakhampton, in 1214. It 
is probable that by this marriage the manor of Nuneham 
palled into the family of Courtenay, and thence affumed 
the name of Nuneliam-Courtenay. After them fucceeded 
(the Pollards) fir John Pollard, of Devon. From thence 
it came to Mr. Audley, of the Court of Wards, called 
the Rich Audley. From him to Robert Wright bifliop 
of Lichfield, whofe fon, Calvert Wright, fold it to John 
Robinfon, of London, merchant (temp. Oliver Crom¬ 
well)', knighted in 1660 by king Charles II. and made 
lieutenant of the Tower. From the Robinfons it de- 
fcended to David earl of Wemys, (who married Mary, 
daughter and co-heirefs of fir John Robinfon, bart.) 
from whom it was purchafed in the year 1710, by Simon, 
firft lord Harcourt, lord-high-chancellor of England. 
The houfe was built by the firft earl, but has fince been 
much altered and enlarged (by the addition of a court of 
offices, &c.) according to the plans of Mr. Brown-, it 
ftands in a park of fix miles and a half in circumference, 
well wooded, and containing near twelve hundred acres, 
in which are fcenes worthy of the bold pencil of Rubens, 
or to be fubjefts for the tranquil funfliines of Claude. 
The gardens contain thirty-eight acres, and (except the 
terrace and flower-garden) were laid out by Mr. Brown. 
From the centre window of the breakfaft-room round the 
fiouth fide of the garden, and back again, is half a mile 
and fixteen poles. From the fame place along the ter¬ 
race round the hill, at the termination of it, and back 
again, is a mile and a furlong. 
The church is a beautiful building of the Ionic order, 
in the ftyle of an antique temple; it was ereCted in the 
year 1764, at the foie expenfe of Simon earl of Harcourt, 
who gave the original delign, which afterwards received 
a fmall alteration from Mr. Stuart. The principal por¬ 
tico, which conlifts of fix columns, has no communica¬ 
tion with the church, but ferves for a feat in the garden ; 
the public entrance is on the oppofite fide, and that to 
the family-pew through the femicircular portico at the 
weft end. The infide was furniflied and decorated by the 
late earl. The altar-piece, which reprefents the parable 
of the Good Samaritan, was defigned and painted by Mr. 
Mafon. The piece of tapeftry at the weft end (which is 
framed like a pi&ure) reprefents the chiefs of the twelve 
tribes of Ifrael at the paffover. 
Stanton-Harcourt is a village about feven miles 
from Oxford, fituate between the two roads leading to 
Farringdon and Whitney, and was once the refidence of 
the family of the Harcourts; but the manfion no longer 
appears in its former fplendour. The chapel is ftill pre- 
ferved by the prefent lord, with a great deal of attention 
and care. The interior part of this edifice, which was ap¬ 
propriated to the fervice of divine wor/hip, is ftill entire; 
and the antique decorations of the ceiling preferve inci 
great degree their original form and appearance ; it was 
adjoining the great hall, from whence there was a com¬ 
munication to a door oppofite the altar, over which was 
a window enriched with ftained glafs, reprefenting the va¬ 
rious quarterings borne by the Harcourts, and alfo por¬ 
traits of diftinguilhed perfons of that family. But the 
painted 
