prospects. The uplands are thickly sprinkled with villas and residences, embowered among lofty trees, and speaking aloud of the graceful enjoyments of genteel life. On the river numbers of light wherries and cutters glide swiftly by, and stout horses tow briskly along the gaily painted pleasure-boats, from which as they pass break the sounds of soft or merry music, or the light laughter of hearts at ease. Altogether our river perhaps nowhere else presents such an air of graceful and holiday cheerfulness. On a bright summer's afternoon it has hardly the semblance of belonging to this hard-working country of ours.

And there before us are the pleasant groves of Nuneham-Courtnay, with Oxford holiday-seekers of all classes the most favourite resort. And no

wonder. It lies at an easy distance from the city, being about five miles by the road, and not more than seven by the river; and as the row to it is one of the pleasantest on the Thames, few make an aquatic excursion from Oxford without Nuneham serving as the goal; and it deserves the favour in which it is held. Few parts of the river are pleasanter, and fewer of the parks along its banks are so beautiful in themselves, or afford so rich a variety of views. Some have not scrupled to assert that it is the most beautiful place by the Thames, but this is an exaggeration which its loveliness does not need.

We must stay awhile here. Its history is soon told. At the Domesday Survey it belonged to Richard de Curci.* It afterwards passed to the

* So says the Earl of Harcourt in his 'Account of Nuneham;' but from the terms of Domesday-Book it rather ap

family of the Riparys, or Redvars: Mary, youngest daughter of William de Redvars, Earl of Devon (surnamed Harcourt), married, in 1214, Robert de Courtenay, Baron of Okehampton, by which marriage the manor was probably transferred to the Courtnays, and thence assumed the name of Nuneham-Courtnay. From them it passed through several hands, till, in 1710, it was purchased for 17,000l., by Simon, first Earl of Harcourt, and Lord Chancellor of England. It is now the property of the present Archbishop of York, who assumed the name of Harcourt upon succeeding to the Harcourt estates on failure of the male line.

The house is not remarkable for beauty or picturesqueness, but it has a somewhat imposing effect from its size, and the simplicity of its form. It was erected by the first earl from a design by Leadbeater, but underwent much alteration and enlargement under the superintendence of Brown during the time of the second earl. It consists of a rather handsome stone front, uniting by curved corridors to projecting wings; the back-front is different in character, having a bold bow-window in the centre, supported by Ionic columns. The rooms are described as being numerous, spacious, and of good proportions, being elegantly decorated and furnished, and containing an extensive collection of sculpture, paintings, and other works of art and objects of virtù. The paintings are mostly by the old masters; the modern pictures are principally by English artists, and amateurs of rank. Among them are several portraits of persons illustrious for their victories by pears that the property of De Curci was Newnham-Murren, near Wallingford.

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the sword or the pen: of the latter, the portrait of Pope by Jarvis, accompanied by a letter of Pope's respecting it, is perhaps the most interesting. One of the rooms is called the Tapestry Room, from its having held a curious set of three maps of the counties of Warwick, Worcester, and Oxford, nearly eighty feet square, worked by the needle. Gough, who has described them in his Topographical Antiquities,' says that they are the earliest specimens of English tapestry-weaving, which art was first introduced into England by William Sheldon, in the reign of Henry VIII. The Sheldon arms, and the date, 1588, are worked on each. They were presented to Lord Harcourt by Horace Walpole, who purchased them at a sale of the effects of a descendant of William Sheldon, at Weston in Warwickshire.* There was another piece of tapestry in one of the rooms not less interesting, it being the work of Mary Queen of Scots: the subject is an allegory, with figures of Justice, Wisdom, &c., with their emblems. It was long preserved at Windsor, and was given to Lord Harcourt, in 1805, by George III.

But the park is the grand attraction of Nuneham. It was laid out by Capability Brown; and as it now appears, gives a favourable notion of his talent; but nature has no doubt since his day re-assumed her pre-eminence here, and added somewhat of wildness to the "grace" he was

*These maps, I am informed, are now in the Theatre of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, to which society they were presented by the Archbishop of York some years ago. It is probable that some other of the objects described as being in the house may have been removed. I have not seen the interior of the building.

so renowned for bestowing. The grounds are extensive, consisting of 1200 acres, well stocked with large trees, and the surface greatly varied. Tall and steep banks, hung thickly with rich foliage, contrast with deep dells; on the slopes are welldisposed groups of lofty and spreading elms, and the uplands are crowded with close-set plantations. From the higher parts of the park the prospects are wide and rich on every side. Oxford, with its spires and domes, the sombre tower of Iffley in front and the woods of Blenheim beyond, is on the north; to the east are the hills of Buckinghamshire, stretching away from their union with the Chiltern Hills of Oxfordshire till they are lost in the distance. Southward and westward is the long range of the Berkshire downs, including the White Horse, and Faringdon Hill with the circular clump which crowns its summit; two or three villages are seen in this direction, and a tall spire marks the site of Abingdon; while the beautiful stream, sparkling in the sunshine and dotted with swift-moving boats, adds a new life and beauty to all the rest. As he strays about the park, now across the broad clear glades, and now among its glens, and by the wooded banks which dip into the river, the visitor will scarcely deem that Horace Walpole overpraised it when, in his somewhat pedantic way, he pronounced it to contain " scenes worthy of the bold pencil of Rubens, and subjects for the tranquil sunshine of Claude de Lorraine."

The pleasure-grounds and flower-garden near the house were once considered almost unrivalled. They are not only stored with plants and flowers, but at every turn are statues, busts, or tablets, with poetic inscriptions from Lucretius, Metastasio,