little farther, at the foot of a fleep precipice, is another bench, with this line. "Divine oblivion of low thoughted care." This feat can only be meant as a resting place, or perhaps (more likely) for the purpose of contemplating the strange gothic wildness, that every way furrounds it: the defigner was always attentive to the minuteft object, and never faw even a tree, which struck his fancy, but he would either call it in, or honour it with a feat, as a mark of his approbation. place only looks upon the dreary hollow of those bold hills before mentioned, without the precincts of the farm, full of brambles, and a few scattered trees, on its furzy banks. This From hence the ground becomes fo exceeding steep, that the path is obliged to be cut zig-zag, along the naked fhelving banks, almoft in parallel lines, to ob obviate the difficulty of climbing the fummit. A very welcome feat here, on the highest ridge, offers itself in a delightful shade, where the eye turns again from gloom and melancholy, to the chearful haunts of the living; the sweeping lawn round the house, the house itfelf; and the Grange in the fertile valley, fweetly embofomed by dark lofty pines, are remarkably agreeable; fome peeps of water, and the rich rifing country beyond, grace the whole, and make it one of those prospects which the eye is never tired in looking at. On the back of this feat are these lines: hic latis otia fundis Speluncæ, vivique lacus, hic frigida tempe, Mugitufque boam, mollefque fub arbore fomni. That is, Leisure and ease, in groves and cooling vales, The fhady walk ftill continues in a very artless manner, boldly rifing among the fpreading trees, and at length opens to a long vifta, terminated by an old dufky building. This pleafing walk, though in a direct line, lofes much of its ftiffness by the gentle waving of the ground, and is of confiderable extent in the midft of the steep hanging wood, folitary, and impervious to the fcorching. rays of the fun; each fide is thickly planted with large trees and coppice wood, finely darkened with hollies and brushy entangled bushes; about the center of this umbrageous avenue, on a small eminence, is a handfome Gothic feat, which looks through a glade down the deep declivity, catching a noble fheet of water in the valley, and clofes with a lovely view of the Clent hills, which from hence form two delicious fwells, and perfect the fcene. The The dufky building, which is called The TEMPLE of PA N, at the extremity of the vifta, only looks back upon the walk, and has this infcrip tion, Pan primus calamos cera conjungere plures That is, 'Twas mighty Pan, To join with wax the various reeds began; WARTON. As this part of the Leafowes has been reflected upon for a regularity totally excluded from every fubjoining part of the farm, I fhall beg leave to afk, how this regularity could poffibly be avoided ? The nature of the ground is fuch, that had it been otherwife, it would be fantaftical and ridiculous: Suppofe it had taken a fweep along the ridge up to the Gothic feat, which is fcarcely practicable, the expence, the labour, and the art, which must have appeared in cutting the walk through the fides of the hill, would have been infinitely more ftiff and formal than the ftraight line itself; obvious. as a deviation from the fimplicity which accompanies all the reft may be, the prefent agreeable level hath its advantages, and capital ones too; it neither offends the eye, nor lends a farther affistance to tire the limbs, already jaded by the difficulty of climbing to the fummit of fo fleep a precipice. The path now again precipitately falls down the declivity among trees, and fhelving banks, regaining its former fimplicity, and the spectator is pleasingly amufed, with a total variation from every thing that appeared before. The walk paffes |