Water Works is the first object that catches the eye. It is nearly 150 feet high, and is ascended by 120 circular iron steps. The engines propel 30,000 gallons of water every minute to the Paddington main to supply the metropolis. More in the town, and nearly opposite the gas-works, is Sir Felix Booth's famous distillery, said to be the largest in the world: £420,000 is annually returned to Government for duty alone, and 500 oxen are fattened on the grains. There are some large establishments here for various purposes, particularly Hazard's brewery and Rowe's soap manufactory. Osterly House, originally erected by Sir Thomas Gresham in the reign of Elizabeth, was rebuilt in 1760, and is now the residence of the Earl of Jersey. There are some magnificent rooms in the interior. Crossing Brentford Bridge, a narrow turning to the left will conduct us to Sion Park, where is a spacious though plain mansion, occupied by the Duke of Northumberland. In 1440 there was a convent on the site, which is said to have had a subaqueous tunnel under the river, terminating at Kew; and scandalously alleged to have enabled the monks, on the other side, to pay sly visits to the fair sisters of St. Bridget. After the manor had been granted in 1604 to the Earl of Northumberland, the mansion afforded a temporary shelter to the children of Charles I., and here Queen Anne resided before she ascended the throne. At the southern extremity of Sion Park we pass through a small wicket into the pretty village of Isleworth, where the excursionist, if he feel so disposed, can cross the Thames by ferry for a penny, and proceed to Richmond by the banks of the river. (See Richmond.)

Isleworth Church is ancient, with a picturesque tapestry of ivy about the tower. An extensive tract of highly cultivated market-ground lies about here, and hence the metropolis derives an immense vegetable supply. A road through Smallbury Green conducts us to Hounslow, a town which has almost relapsed into insignificance since the opening of the Great Western Railway. The inns are shorn of all their

former glory, and it has been calculated that 1,800 horses have been taken off the road from this place alone. In the High Street is Trinity Church, built in the Italian style. Hounslow Heath, the terror of travellers fifty years ago, is now harmlessly devoted to the dwellings of peaceful householders. The powder mills of Curtis and Harvey are to the south of the town, in the midst of a copse of fir trees. There are barracks for cavalry, that are wont to exercise on the open grounds adjacent. Sunbury, an agreeable village on the banks of the Thames, is about three miles from the powder mills.

Should opportunity offer, we can specially commend a walk of four miles from Hounslow to Harlington, a little village by Cranford Bridge, where there is an old church with a fine Norman porch. In the churchyard is a venerable yew tree, said to have been growing in the year 1729, with a trunk even then measuring twenty feet in circumference. It was sixty feet high, and according to a local poet, one John Saxy-who perpetuated its fame in verse-could have sheltered beneath its branches a troop of horse-guards. Viscount Bolingbroke was very partial to this spot, and D'Oyley House, where he resided, has still a wing remaining, to attest the stability of the Viscount's mansion. We are now three miles from the Southall Station, and can proceed thither by Cranford Park, where the late Countess of Berkeley lived and died, and so return by the Great Western Railway to town. Cranford and West Drayton are not worth extending the walk in a more northerly direction, and if the excursionist goes from Harlington round by Norwood, a short mile and a half from the Southall Station, he will be fully recompensed by the seclusion of this primitivelooking village, which contains a church built five centuries ago, and noticeable for its wooden belfry and tiled roof. The route home, by the Great Western Railway, has been already indicated in our previous excursion.

Should the Fulham Road have been approached through Knightsbridge, instead of from Chelsea, it should not be for

D

gotten, as we pass Sloane Street, that Han's Place, close by, is somewhat remarkable for the number of eminent authoresses who have there resided, amongst whom have been Lady Caroline Lamb, Lady Bulwer, Miss Mitford, Miss Emma Roberts, and Letitia Landon, the "L. E. L." of poetic memory. Brompton has long been the favorite abiding-place of actors and authors. At Brompton Square (No. 22), died George Colman "the younger," in October 1836, aged 74. A little beyond the square is Brompton New Church, in which John Reeve, the Adelphi Momus, was consigned to his last home. His tomb is to the back of the church, on the left, and close to the pathway. By the "Admiral Keppel," in the Fulham Road, is a row of houses called Amelia Place, in the last of which Curran died, in 1817. The tavern called the "Goat-in-Boots" has a sign touched up, if not painted, by George Morland, the eccentric but clever artist. The odd appellation of the inn doubtless arose from the Dutch legend, "Mercurius is der Goden Boode" (Mercury is the Messenger of the Gods), which has been twisted into an English shape as we at present behold it.

EXCURSION IV.

STOKE NEWINGTON - STAMFORD HILL

THE NEW

RIVER-TOTTENHAM-ENFIELD-WALTHAM CROSS-CHES

HUNT-RICHARD

CROMWELL-BROXBOURNE-IZAAK WAL

TON-HODDESDON-HERTFORD-PANSHANGER-AMWELL

WARE-HATFIELD.

Our next excursion is in a northerly direction, and may be comfortably accomplished in a day, with the aid of omnibuses and short stages, interspersed with a little pedestrianism. Taking a conveyance from either the Bank or Bishopsgate Street to Stoke Newington, which is three miles from Shoreditch, we may first alight to look at the church, an interesting antique structure, with some curious monuments. At a house in Church Street, more prominently venerable than the rest, Daniel De Foe resided, and is said within those very walls to have written "Robinson Crusoe." There is no necessity for another word to enchain the attention of the spectator-the old building becomes in a moment encompassed with a halo of glory, and the familiar associations inseparably linked with the Desert Island come thronging up around us as we gaze. A little further on Mrs. Ireton, the daughter of Cromwell, once lived, for in her day this was the fashionable suburb; and a few doors beyond, at a house somewhat similar in its primitive aspect to that we have pointed out as De Foe's, the kindhearted Dr. Watts fixed his dwelling. Howard the Philanthropist what a noble distinctive adjunct to a name!-Dr. Aiken, Mrs. Barbauld, and others of similarly peaceful literary pursuits, were long inhabitants of these precincts, and it is just the kind of tranquil locality one would fancy them to have chosen. At the back of the church is a lane lined with lofty trees, known as "Queen Elizabeth's Walk," and at the end is

a building where she is said to have held her assignations with the Earl of Leicester. Abney Park Cemetery, on the site of the Manor House belonging to Sir Thomas Abney, the intimate friend of Dr. Watts, is set apart for Dissenters, and has some grounds neatly laid out. Stamford Hill, overlooking the pleasant valley of the Lea, is a little further on, and amongst its elegant villas is one belonging to the Rothschilds'. Near here is the New River reservoir, which supplies London with water. During the thirty miles of its course, it is crossed by 215 bridges. The descent not being great enough, a huge steam pump is kept going night and day, which forces it up to the summit of the highest houses. Sir Hugh Myddleton, the originator of this noble scheme, fixed upon two springs in Hertfordshire for the source, one near Ware at Chadwell, the other at Amwell. After many delays, the work was commenced on the 20th of February, 1608. In about five years it was completed, and in 1622 the skilful and enterprising "citizen and goldsmith" was knighted. For eighteen years afterwards it yielded no dividend, and then but a trifle; now a share is worth £14,000. About thirty million gallons of water are daily distributed through the pipes of the company.

On the high road between Hornsey, Tottenham, and Southgate, is Wood Green, as charming a spot as its sylvan name implies, and one of the many rural nooks with which the environs abound. On one side of the Green a district church of stone, in the early English style, with a bell gable, has been lately erected in excellent taste. Here is the Asylum of "The Fishmongers' and Poulterers' Institution," of which the first stone was laid by Lord Morpeth in June, 1847. It is a cleverly designed building, of the Elizabethan character, and the central portion especially, with its towers and vanes, very effectively picturesque. The plot of ground attached comprises nearly four acres, so that there will be ample room in this happy haven for the peaceful enjoyment of those who may seek in it a retreat from the storms of life and consolation in beclouded old age. On the opposite side of the church (as appears from