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which it unfolds. It is a delightful little spot, and all the surrounding circumstances are happily suited to it by that taste and spirit of appropriation, so necessary to the arrangement of art and the decoration of nature.

The tomb, the cavern, and the cottage, must now be repassed, as well as the great arch, in order to gain the terrace, which leads to the northern side of the place: it is of considerable length, and stretches on above those swelling prominences, which rise with such a bold effect from the wa⚫ter. On the bank that shelters it from the east, are trees of every growth, with plants and shrubs of every odour; beneath it is the Thames flowing on with a tempered current; beyond it is the town of Henley, with its stately tower and beautiful bridge; while before it is a various extent of prospect, combining objects of uncommon variety, and which receives the contribution of several counties.

This enchanting walk leads to the margin of a deep and expansive glen in the front of the house, another feature full of intrisic charm, and independent of exterior circumstance. It is not so bold as to exclude beauty, and so beautiful as to exclude grandeur. It is of great breadth at its top, nor is it narrow in the bottom. On three sides it shelves down from wood and lawn in graceful undulations: on the fourth is the Thames: the whole is clothed with the softest verdure; and a rustic habitation on the descent of the northern declivity gives to the scene a pastoral character.— The natural and expected accompanyments are flocks of sheep, or herds of the larger cattle, or of deer, the most ornamental animal of our country: they may, indeed, be said to constitute the embroidery of sylvan scenery. One of the incidental beauties of such a valley is derived from a sunny-day, and the playful change of shadows, which must be occasioned by the inequalities of its surface. But it so happened that when we stood on the lawn above it, the day was gloomy; the sun did not appear even to give it a momentary gaiety; no fleeting clouds above produced their fleeting shadows below; no sheep hung adown its steeps;

PARK PLACE."

nor did herds occupy the bottom; yet with little external accession from art, nature or accident, it communicated to › our minds the mingled emotions of surprize and pleasure. Such a feature must every where be beautiful; but, on the banks of the Thames, where nature has worked with so soft a pencil, it may appear to verge towards the sublime.

The Park is not distinguished by any striking circumstance: it consists only of an extensive flat, sprinkled with trees, and forms a fine approach to the house; and by its unvarying appearance encreases the contrast of those varieties which succeed to it. The entrance is from the turnpike road on approaching Henley bridge.

Thus have we endeavoured to trace, for we attempt no more, the principal beauties of Park Place, which may be said, as it ought, and as truth demands, to owe their first creation and subsequent improvements to the late possessor of it. But Field Marshal Conway did not only consider the application of art to the embellishment of the territory around him; he also amused himself with directing his attention to the productions of it. Agricultural experiments, and chemical experiments, have also shared his mind, his purse, and his patience. A distillery was erected by him near the river, not far from his plantations of lavender, which he successfully cultivated; and to the extracting oil from that fragrant shrub, its operations are said to be at present confined.

He had began, it seems, a very extensive plan of chemical elaboration, but that was the project of his active mind, which did not afford him the gratification he expected, and was discontinued before his death. A little Tuscan villa, of uncommon elegance, and a very charming example of architectural simplicity, was built on the spot, for the Field Marshal's chemical professor; and which a royal professor of taste and sentiment might be happy to enjoy.

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On an appropriate eminence, beyond the northern part of the ornamented grounds, is a Druidical temple, which presents a singular but curious and interesting object to certain parts of Park-Place, as well as to the adjacent country. This ancient structure was presented to Field Marshal Con-way by the inhabitants of Jersey, of which island he was Governor, and where it was erected at the remote period when the Druids reigned there, as well as in Britain.-It was accompanied with an inscription, that enhanced the offering by the unaffected language of respect and veneration.

Cet ancien Temple des Druides,
deouvert le 12 Août, 1785,
Sur la Montagne de St. Helier,
dans l'isle de Jersey,

a été presenté par les habitans
à son Excellence le General Conway,
leur Gouverneur.

Four des siecles caché aux regards des Mortels,
Cet ancien monument, ces pierres, ces autels,
Ou le sang des humains, offert en sacrifice,
Ruissela pour des dieux qu'enfantoit le caprice.
Ce monument, sans prix par son antiquité,
Temoignera pour nous à la postérité,
Que dans tous les dangers Cesarée eut un père,
Attentif et vaillant, genereux et prospère:
Et redira, Conway, aux siécles avenir,
Qu' en vertu du respect dû à ce souvenir,
Elle te fit ce don, acquis à ta vaillance,

Comme un juste tribut de sa reconnoissance.

This ancient temple lay concealed on the summit of an high hill, near the town of Saint Helier, in the island of Jersey, in the summer of 1785. It was entirely covered with earth, having the appearance of a large tumulus; and was discovered by workmen who were employed by the Colonel. of the Saint Helier militia, to level the ground, for the more

PARK PLACE.

convenient exercise of his corps. Of the time when, or on what occasion it was thus secreted, there can be no serious hope of any authentic information. Of the existence of such a building, the inhabitants of the island had no idea. No records of any kind made allusion to it, and no antiquarian researches had awakened the least suspicion that this place had been a seat of Druidical retirement. Conjecture is equally baffled when it attempts to give any clue for the reasonable gratification of curious enquiry. That this ancient structure was purposely and carefully buried, is evident from the situation in which it was found; and no better reason can be assigned for its having been thus entombed, than a pious wish in the Druids themselves, to preserve their altars from the profanation of the Romans, from whom they had suffered, at different periods, very barbarous persecutions.

There can, indeed, be little doubt of that people having obtained possession of the island, not only from its Latin name Casarea, but from other Roman vestiges, which have been sometimes found in it. Roman coins have, from time to time, been collected by the well-digger and the ploughman; and within this temple itself, two medals were discovered; one of the Emperor Claudius, and the other so defaced by time, as to be altogether illegible.

This curious structure measures sixty-five feet in circumference, and is composed of forty five large stones, each of them about seven feet in height, from four to six in breadth, and from one to three in thickness; and contains six perfect lodges or cells. The supposed entrance or passage faces the east, and is fifteen feet in length; four feet and upwards in breadth, and about four feet in height; with a covering of rude stones, from eighteen inches to two feet thick.

In the removal of this curious temple from Jersey, all the parts were marked with such care, as to be correctly placed in their original form and precise direction, when they were re-erected on the charming spot which is now

distinguished by them. In the eighth volume of the Archæologia, published by the Society of Antiquaries, a particular account is given of this venerable, ancient, and curious structure. In its appearance and general form, it bears a strong resemblance to Stone-henge, the wonder of the Wiltshire plains, and which has excited so much learned, toilsome, and ingenious disquisitions among several of our antiquaries, without being able to come to any final decision as to the age or object of those singular and wonderful remains of the early art, and the remote antiquity of Britain.

It must have been obvious to the reader, that this description of Park Place has been written, as the Italians express it, con amore, with a fondness for the subject. This we acknowledge, but we are not afraid to challenge those who have seen it, to controvert the truth of our narrative; and we are not afraid to anticipate the acknowledgment of those who may hereafter visit the place we have described, with our description in their hands. Nor shall we apologize for the small addition we are about to make to this place, in giving a slight sketch of that excellent and distinguished man, who employed his leisure, in forming the place, which has given so pleasing an occupation to us.

Field Marshal Conway was the younger brother of the late Earl of Hertford. His profession was the army; but he first became an object of public attention in a civil capacity, when he was appointed secretary to the Marquis of Hartington, on his appointment to the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, in the year 1753; where his amiable manners, and general character seemed to soften the asperity of those who were most violent in their opposition to that government, which it was his duty to support. Indeed in his civil employments he may be said to have been more generally known; as must ever be the case in a constitution like our own, where the army is a subordinate engine of state, when an individual blends them both in himself. Marshal Conway had never been appointed to the care of any important military, ser

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