encounter in a trip out of town. It consists principally of one long street, in the centre of which is the church, an ancient structure with a fine embattled tower and lofty spire, and containing two noticeable monuments, by Nicolas Stone, to the two Sir Charles Morrisons. But, if Watford itself be scant of attraction, ample amends are made by a certain large domain at the north-west of the town, called Cashiobury, the seat of the Earl of Essex, and said to have been anciently the residence of the Kings of Mercia. The mansion once belonged to the monastery of St. Alban's, and is still, though much modernised by Sir Jeffrey Wyatville, a fine specimen of the castellated buildings of yore. There is within, besides some rare articles of vertu, a good collection of modern paintings, which are shown to visitors throughout the year, on Mondays and Thursdays, from 11 till 5. The park is an extensive tract of woodland, well kept, and laid out in the best taste, with a sort of Swiss summer-house on the banks of the Grand Junction Canal, by which it is intersected. We need hardly remind the reader that one of the favorites of our early playgoing days, sweet Kitty Stephens," of musical memory, afterwards became the Countess of Essex. Grove Park, adjoining, is the residence of the Earl of Clarendon.

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Seven miles from Watford is St. Alban's, twenty-one miles from town, and so venerable that, even in the time of the Romans, it was an ancient city. The ground about here is full of historical recollections. It was here that, in 1066, Fritheric, abbot of St. Alban's, compelled the Norman Conqueror to concede some important privileges. Here, in 1455, was fought the famous battle in which the Duke of York defeated Henry VI., and took him prisoner; and here, six years afterwards, the Yorkists, under the king-making Earl of Warwick, were defeated by the Lancastrians under Queen Margaret, and the king liberated. But, regardless of other attractions, we stroll first to the old Abbey, which, even in its present decadence, exhibits conspicuous signs of its former power and grandeur. The Abbey of St. Alban's is now 600

feet long, 174 feet wide, and 65 feet high. The elevation of the great tower is 174 feet. Offa the Great, King of Mercia, was its founder in 795, and dedicated it to Alban, a native of Verulam, who had been a soldier at Rome, suffered martyrdom for his faith, and, being the first Briton who had been put to death for his religious opinions, was called "England's first martyr." From this period the ancient Verulam of the Romans was thence called St. Alban's. For more than seven centuries the Abbey flourished in great splendour; its buildings, erected from time to time, causing it to resemble a town rather than a religious house. The kings of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were frequently entertained in its magnificent apartments, and its annual revenue was estimated at £2,500-an enormous sum in the days when a fat oxen was purchaseable for a few shillings. This immense establishment has now dwindled to a few scattered walls, a gatehouse, and the present parochial church, which, at the destruction of convents, was purchased by the corporation. In consequence of some large masses of the Abbey battlements falling in upon the roof, in 1832, the whole fabric was put under repair, at an outlay of nearly £20,000, and it now presents an edifice equal in magnitude as well as decoration to some of our largest cathedrals. Here may be seen the monuments of many illustrious men, particularly those to St. Alban himself, Sir John Mandeville, one of our earliest travellers, who well earned the privilege of seeing "strange things," and the "good Duke Humphrey" of Gloucester, brother of Henry V., whose hospitality still lingers in the memory of those who have no other dinner invitation. But there is yet another shrine, to which a pilgrimage must be made. The great Lord Chancellor Bacon-whose residence was Gorhambury House, now the seat of the Earls of Verulam-lies buried in the ancient church of St. Michael's, under a marble tomb, where his effigy in stone records his world-wide fame, with the simple inscription of "Franciscus Bacon." The ruins of Sopwell Nunnery, where King Henry VIII. and Anna Boleyn

54

ABBOT'S LANGLEY.

used to come and have a quiet tète-á-tète to themselves, may still be seen on the south bank of the Verulam river. If the excursionist wishes to diversify his route home, we recommend to him a stroll of about five miles to King's Langley, where there is a station at which he can rejoin the railway. King's Langley was a part of the royal demesne, and there was anciently here a royal house, where Edmund de Langley, fifth son of Edward III., was born. This same prince lies in the old Norman Church on the hill, by the river side; and here, also, Richard II. was for a short time interred. Abbot's Langley is chiefly remarkable as the birthplace of Nicholas De Camera, better known as Nicholas Breakspeare, and who becoming Pope, as Adrian IV., is the only Englishman that ever assumed the Papal dignity. It is said, when a youth he endeavoured to obtain admission into the monastery of St. Alban's, but being rejected, on account of his incomplete studies, he went to Paris and applied himself to divinity. He seems to have well remembered the place of his nativity, for, when he attained the triple crown, he gave to the Abbot of St. Alban's a grant of precedence over all others. Should our companion like a ramble with his rod and line, he will probably go on to the Boxmoor Station, two miles from Hemel Hempstead, with its agreeable environs. Boxmoor can only boast of a few houses, but the words "Fishery Inn," on a plain but rural wayside hostel, will remind the disciple of Izaak Walton that he is close upon Twowaters-the junction of the Bulbourn and the Gade, a famous Hertfordshire locality for fly-fishing. Here he can await the arrival of the last train from Birmingham, and, having profited by the exercise of the "gentle craft," return in time to have the produce of his piscatorial skill prepared for supper, or to enjoy the more substantial chop, with its appendages, at one of the west-end refectories.