162 
ing; and this has been managed fo as to 
produce the moft ftriking effects. The 
bottom of meadow is belprinkled with 
fine trees, partly following the windings 
of the river, partly forming rows or ave- 
nues, and partly {cattered without obvious 
order. The bold afcents, confifting of 
round knowls and amphitheatrical {weeps, 
are for the moft part left in their natural 
nakednefs ; but the ravines are filled up 
with fhrubs and trees, which {often all 
‘deformities, and add great foftnefs and 
richnefs to the whole. The fummit of 
the eminence is crowned by noble maffes 
of trees, expanding into full luxuriance, 
and appearing either as detached groups, 
or long connected ranges, according to 
the points whence they are viewed. In 
the midft of thefe, on the very edge of a 
commanding brow, the houfe is placed ; 
an edifice of ftriking, though not quite 
recular architecture, and well-fitted to 
reign over the domain in which it is 
placed. Some fine Jarches planted near it 
juft on the defcent ftamp it with fome- 
what of analpine charaéter,which itseleva- 
tion above the vale, and the great variety 
and extent of profpect vifible from it, 
enable it to maintain. ‘The level plain 
around the houfe is a lawn interfperfed 
with timber, chiefly beech,.difpofed either 
in grand clumps, or in fingle trees of vait 
magnitude, filling the eye with the gi- 
gantic rotundity of their forms. The 
planting is fo managed that the lawn 
feems to terminate all round in a clofe 
wood, of which the boundaries are not 
difcoverable. From the houfe extends a 
fort of terrace on the brow of the emi- 
nence, which at length leads to a thick 
plantation clothing the fteep fides of a 
precipitous declivity. Through this are 
led rides and walks, prefenting fylvan 
{cenes of exquifite beauty, in which the 
beeches, drawn up to a vaft height with 
ftraight unbranched trunks, acquire a 
charaéter of airy elegance, totally differ- 
ent from the maffy roundnefs of this tree 
when fuffered to expand without inter-— 
ruption. A very beautiful appendage to 
the planting of Norbury, not readily dif- 
-coverable by 2 ftranger, is a clofe walk 
round a coppice or plantation cn the back 
ef the park, formed of young trees, 
amofkg which the pendent birch 1s one of 
the moft frequent. This walk winds 
tound in the moft free and graceful curves, 
by whiclythe view is fucceflively loft in 
foliage, and again recovered in long 
reaches. The trees on each hand form 
a {kreen, juit thick enough to exclude fur- 
retuding objects, yet admitting a foit 
Defeription of the Scenery near Dorking, 
[ Sept. 
and checquered light, the effeét of which 
is rather cheerful than gloomy. In many 
places the trees arch over at the top. 
Here and there, in peculiarly happy fitu- 
ations, views are opened into the fur- 
rounding country, but thefe do not im- 
pair the leading character of the walk, 
which is that of perfe&t retirement. Ido 
not recolleést ever to have felt a fweeter 
emotion of the kind, than when accident 
firft led me to this fequeftered {pot. 
In the defcriptions of celebrated places, 
I-think the diftingétion is feldom clearly 
made between the fcenes they themfelves 
afford, and the profpects to be viewed 
from them. Yet this is a diftinétion 
obvious and material. Some fpots, if 
denuded of every ornament of their own, 
and left merely in a ftate of nature, would 
be eagerly reforted to as ftations whence 
furrounding beauties might be viewed te 
the greateft advantage. Others, like the 
fpots of verdure in an African defart, 
contain within themfelves all'the charms 
they have to boaft. The happieft fitua- 
tions combine both thefe circumftances ; 
but rarely in equal proportions. Norbu- 
ry-park, naturally a fteril foil, has been 
rendered, chiefly by exquifite {kill in 
planting, a fine objeét in itfelf; but the 
profpeéts from it are beauties gratuitoufly 
beftowed upon its local fituation, which 
perhaps moftly contribute to its pre-emin- 
ence among the feats in its neighbour- 
hood. From the houfes and the whole 
creft_ of the eminence on which it is placed, 
fucceflive views open of the fubjacent 
valley and the remoter diftances, fearcely 
to be paralleled for their gay variety and 
finifhed foftnefs. Northwards, Leather- 
head, with the variegated country beyond 
it extending towards Kingfton and Ep- 
fom ;—diretly oppofite, the charming 
village of Mickelham, backed by its fine 
green downs;—onwards tothe fouth-eait, 
the feat of Sir Lucas PEPYS, apparently 
lying upon the bofom of a fteep pine- 
clad hill, of truely alpine character ;— 
fomewhat further, Boxhill, prefenting its 
precipitous fide, partly difclofing bare and 
craggy {pots of chalk, partly clothed with 
its proper fhrub, of peculiar hue :—beyond 
it, the richly wooded eminences of parks 
and feats near Dorking, bending round 
to the fouth, and terminating an imter- 
mediate vale of perfe& beauty, divided ta 
the eye by the aid of planting into fparate 
portions, made more or Jefs extenfive at 
pleafure, and forming landfeapes which 
J fhould have called fingularly picturefque, 
had I not doubted of the power of paint- 
ing to give any adequate idee of feenes 
lying. 
