Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/59

 12 s. vii. JULY n, 1920.'] NOTES AND QUERIES. 43 JOHN AIKIN'S EXCURSIONS. II. JULY 29-AuG. 5, 1803. IN the summer of 1803 John Aikin, whose tour of the preceding year appeared in inghamshire for Oxford and Oxfordshire and back through the Thames Valley and Surrey home to Stoke Newington. His narrative is as follows : > 29 July, Friday. What is the use of awe ather- glass if people will not take warning by it ? Nothing could indicate rain more plainly, and the sky also confirmed the prognostic, yet we set off in defiance of both. A pleasant ride with only a few threatening drops, to Watford, where we arrived before twelve. It then set in for a sober soaking rain, and we dined and drank tea at our inn, at a loss how to pass the time. ' Such an inauspicious setting out inspired gloomy ideas. At length, the rain abating, we resolved to get a stage forward at any rate. Our spirits mended, as soon as we were in motion, and it was not long before the rain ceased. Proceeded through Rickmans worth to Amersham a very fine country, richly wooded, with fertile vales, sloping eminences, corn-fields and every circumstance of rural scenery of the soft and cultured kind. A little sunshine would have enlivened the prospects, but they were pleasing even in the sober light under which we viewed them. Great part of the way was between hedges, of very fine foliage, but too much masking the views. Arrived at Amer- sham soon after eight, very glad that we had ventured to quit our prison at Watford. 30 July, Saturday. Rose early and saw all the fine scenery round us wrapt in gloom. After breakfast set out in a Scotch mist, which we found soon likely to give us a good wetting. We were however still more mortified at the veil it cast over the tract through which we past to Wycombe, which was skirted on one side with a beautiful line of beech wood, with fine forest glades re- minding us much of our rides in similar weather through the New Forest last year. Reached Wycombe with our upper garments almost wet through. How absurd to call this place High Wycombe when it is situated in a deep vale almost a mile in descent. But such a vale ! Nothing can be imagined more sweet and riant. It was too wet to walk, so we contented ourselves with a visit to the church, a fine old building, with monuments of the Petty family, and an altarpiece by Mortimer St. Paul converting the Druids ! ! ! The weather gradually cleared and we had the pleasure of seeing the dark mists scattering and the blue sky opening in the intervals. Got a dish of coffee and then proceeded. Thence along the vale to West Wycombe, all enchanted ground ! Hanging woods, rich corn- fields, Lord de Despenser's house, church and park, everything in the perfection of beauty with sunshine to view it. Leaving the vale, we passed a very heavy close road cut through a wood on an ascent, and came through a rough heathy tract to Stokenchurch. A little beyond, we suddenly arrived at a brow, that gave a prospect over a wide cultivated plain, and beyond it, a stretch of country, as far as the eye could reach, richly varied, and now chequered with all the play of lights resulting from a fine sunshine and a sky full of scattered clouds. It was all wonder and delight like the exercise of a new sense. The long woody and chalky steep by which we descended into the plain was itself a grand and romantic object. We are repayed for all our gloom and wetting ! Dined at Tctsworth. Thence to Oxford under a burning sun, the road not pleasant. Oxford 13 scarcely seen on this side till close upon it. The entrance, over Magdalen Bridge, and up the High Street, unrivalled in objects of beauty and singularity. But it is needless to describe a place so celebrated, and [of] which no description can give an adequate idea. After tea we took a most interesting walk among the principal colleges and public buildings, extending to Christchurch and Magdalen walks a most charming evening with full moonlight. The Christchurch avenue of elms, exceeding everything of the kind we had ever seen, afforded a singular comparison with the gothic architecture in its neighbourhood and made the first works of art dwindle to toys But art soon resumed its empire, and we returned from a long walk, with our imaginations filled with variety and grandeur. 31st Sunday. Spent the morning in rambles about Oxford, and saw the cniiside of everything worth seeing. Revisited Christchurch and Mag- dalen walks saw the chapel of the latter college, a most sumptuous piece of ecclesiastical decora- tion. Looked into St. Mary's and All Saints. After dinner, rode to Woodstock, the road uninteresting. But a drive round Blenheim park finished the day with the highest gratification we - had yet experienced. It seems impossible for - made grounds to be finer ; for nature has done little to the place ; and the grand piece of water, the sloping woods, the inequalities of surface, etc., are all the product of art. To lay out grounds in such a style is certainly no mean department in the fine arts. The evening sun greatly favoured our prospects. The palace is a wonderfully striking edifice. It is too much broken into parts and its magnificence is heavy and cumbroiis, but it is magnificence. The back front pleased us best. We find the inside cannot be seen till 3 o'clock tomorrow, and we think the time lost in waiting would overpay the sight. So we must content ourselves with the great landscape of wood, water, etc., instead of painted canvas or tapestry. August 1, Monday. After a farewell view of the entrance of Blenheim park, set out on our return to Oxford. On our arrival delivered a letter to Mr. Smyth of New Coll. who politely offered to be our conductor. Viewed the chapel of that college which has the finest painted windows in Oxford. They are of different times and artists. Those from Flanders are the finest in colouring ; but the grand West window repre- senting the Nativity from designs of Sir J. Reynolds and executed by Jervis, though sober in colouring, is beyond all parallel as a work of ait, and indeed for the grace and beauty of the figures is*scarcely to be equalled in painting.
 * N. & Q.' last week, set out through Buck-