104 CHAPTER V. STROLLINGS. Though only few possess Patrician treasures, or imperial state; For him the spring Distils her dews, and from the silken germ With blooming gold, and blushes like the morn. AKENSIDE. INFLUENCE OF NATURAL SCENERY.-GEORGE OF VISITS VARIOUS SPOTS OF THE THISTLE. A YOUNG man such as has been already described enjoying highly the choicest literature, and not merely the general survey, but the minute inspection of the natural world, would have thought himself strangely incarcerated if, while spending the days of seven long years in Birmingham, he had only his morning and evening walk to his father's house at Ashted. It was, however, his special gratification to enjoy, from time to time, various rambles, sometimes on foot, and at others in all kinds of vehicles, which had no inconsiderable influence on his present and subsequent course. His father having a sister, residing first at Inkberrow, and afterwards at Stock Green, in Worcestershire, used to pay her an annual visit, and on these occasions George accompanied him. The distance from Birmingham, twenty-six miles, was generally performed on foot. During these excursions, he greatly enjoyed the conversation of his father, and became specially prepared for long excursions alone. Malvern was visited more than once. What scenes of beauty and luxuriance are unfolded to the view in that favoured region! The eye looking forth from a window of the Priory, may well be charmed. A richlywooded amphitheatre expands, with white villas peeping between the trees. On the right is the old Abbey Church, and just in front, are lovely flower-gardens tastefully arranged. The trees and the turf are deliciously green, while wall-flowers crown the tops of the walls and the summits of the out-buildings. Beautiful white houses and picturesque cottages nestle amidst luxuriant trees. The meadows so green are profusely decorated with rainbow-hued flowers. The hops climb the lofty poles, and repay their support by the beauty of their thread-like tendrils and pendant green or yellow fruit. Orchards of apples and pears are in luxuriant blossom. The antiquarian, the geologist, the botanist, the lover of nature, may all revel here in objects of pure and elevated delight. Then, who that has been there, can forget the summit of the Beacon, with its prospect, reached by a precipitous and winding ascent of nearly two miles? To the north, in the foreground, is the North Hill, and far away behind, the Wrekin, Clent Hills, and the Beacon, over Dudley Castle. To the right are the Lickey Hills, Littleton and Mickleton Hills, with the rich vale of Evesham, while Broadway Hill and Cleave Hill are eastward. To the south are Cottiswold, the British Channel, the Herefordshire Beacon, and the Forest of Dean; and, on the west, the Black Mountains of Wales, Hargist Ridge and Warren Mount. From one point may be seen eleven counties, three cathedrals, and a hundred parish churches. Though Warwickshire has no lofty hills, yet the whole county is occupied by gentle elevations, with intervening vales of great richness and beauty, while through them flows the Avon, with its tributaries, the Swift, the Sow, the Leam, the Dene, the Stour, and the Arrow. The county of Worcester, too, has, on the eastern and western sides, two nearly parallel ranges of hills, which partly bound and partly intersect it, and is traversed not only by the Avon, but the Teme, the Salwarp and the Severn. Here choice fruit grows in the hedgerows, tempting the hand of the passer-by; there is fine timber, too, the elm however predominating in such situations, and growing where it has room to a large size. Woods and plantations of oaks and ash, also, meet the eye, the underwood forming valuable coppices. In many of the parks and pleasure-grounds surrounding the seats of the nobility and gentry there were, and are still, many splendid trees preserved for ornament, and the whole country, when viewed from an eminence, appears thickly timbered and of surpassing richness. A great pleasure was it, therefore, to our young friend to wander through the by-paths, and bridle roads, the meadows, the woods, and the upland slopes by which he was surrounded; visiting the shady nooks, resting on the stiles, seeking shelter beneath the foliage of the wide-spreading oak, stopping on the stones bestrewing the brook, and musing on the waters as they rippled over the pebbly shallows, and tracking intently the course of the humble bee, the flitting of the dragon fly, or the swallow darting hither and thither with surprising velocity. "Give freedom and fresh air," he said, "to a grateful spirited perambulator, and his wants are well nigh supplied. He can cheerfully dispense with dainty meats and a sparkling glass, who finds a well-spread feast on every blackberry-bush, and a delicious draught in every running stream. To attempt to describe the delights of wandering to those who know them not, would be vain; to those who do know them it would be unnecessary. For myself, so great is my enjoyment in the open air, that take away the tinkering and fortune-telling, the hedge-pulling and hen-roost robbing of a vagabond life; in short, remove immorality and disgrace from the calling, and give it some profitable object, and I could be well content, for a season, to wander like a gipsy!" Thus we find him proceeding to Leamington; then Warwick was visited. To use his own words: "As we were on terms of intimacy with the steward's family of Warwick Castle, I had frequent opportunities of visiting that princely pile. To gaze on the famous porridge pot in the porter's lodge, to mount the stone steps of Cæsar's Tower, and to linger in the armoury was my delight. I roamed around the castle amid the stately cedars, whose broad, flaky foliage spread far and wide, sweeping even the very ground. I saw in the spacious apartments the portraits of renowned men. I handled the buff jackets and coats of mail worn by warriors of other days; and gazed on the costly curiosities from distant lands, spread in profusion before me." Warwick Castle is undoubtedly, one of the most interesting remains of feudal grandeur in the kingdom. He rambled also to Guy's Cliff, carried along the edge of open and extensive grounds; by the side of shady plantations, terminated by a lofty and beautiful stone arch, leading into the court which is hewn out of |