BIRTH OF SIR R. HILL, HAWKSTONE.

3

upon as a promoter of the truest welfare of his country. I shall also interweave with his personal narrative, much that will throw light on the remarkable steps by which we have progressively reached the unparalleled state of religious zeal and knowledge, which distinguishes us as a nation in these energetic, but too divided times.

Sir Richard Hill was the first offspring of the marriage of his father Sir Rowland Hill with Jane, daughter of Sir Brian Broughton, of Broughton, Baronet, by whom he had ten children. He was born on the sixth day of June, 1732, at Hawkstone, where his name will be long remembered with pleasure, not only for the unique embellishments he added to its romantic scenes, but for the benefits he conferred upon those over whom his influeuce extended. Nature has lavished her choicest beauties on that lovely spot; and no where can we find an equal variety of all that gives interest to the landscape, within the limited compass of a single park. It is never traversed without surprise and admiration; but it has the still higher attraction of having been the home of the pious and the brave.

Though I felt yesterday," says a popular tourist,' writing from Hawkstone, "perfectly blasé of parks, and thought I could never take any interest in them again, I am quite of another mind to-day, and must in some respects give Hawkstone the preference over all I have seen. It is not art, nor magnificence, nor aristocratical splendour, but nature alone, to which it is indebted for this pre-eminence; and in such a degree, that, were I gifted with the power of adding to its beauties, I should ask, What can I add ?" So commanding is the situation of this enchanting ground, that from the lofty

Tour of a German Prince.

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HAWKSTONE.

GROTTO ROCK. TEMPLE OF PATIENCE.

column erected to the memory of a distinguished ancestor of the Hills, the first Protestant Lord Mayor of London, the eye can wander at pleasure over fifteen counties, or rest upon the curious rocks and woods mingled with the richest pasturage, immediately beneath it. "Three sides of this wide panorama rise and fall in a constant change of hill and dale, like the waves of an agitated sea, and are bounded at the horizon by the strangely formed jagged outline of the Welsh mountains, which at either end descend to a fertile plain shaded by thousands of lofty trees, till, in the obscure distance, it blends with a white misty line-the ocean." From the height before mentioned, the spectator looks down upon fantastic groves of trees mingled with the boldest rocks, which seem to have been thrown up at intervals, by some vast effort, from the bowels of the earth. Between these, grassy valleys form the most luxuriant meadow land, harmonizing beyond all expression with the gigantic masses of grey stone, streaked with pale coppery green, which tower majestically all around. Out of a hanging wood of venerable beech trees crowned by a thicket of black firs,' rises the celebrated" Grotto Rock," on whose caverns Sir Richard Hill expended much of his ingenuity. Its summit is reached by a long winding path in the steep wood, which conducts to the door of a dark passage in the rock, and he who has courage to grope his way for nearly a hundred yards in perfect darkness, through this narrow entrance, is suddenly rewarded by finding himself in a vaulted chamber incrusted with shells and minerals, sparkling in a thousand hues, shed on them, through coloured lights placed in the fissures of the rock above. The interior of this grotto spangled

1 I regret to say that many of these noble trees were blown down by the severe gale at the beginning of this year.

SWISS BRIDGE. TERRACE. RED CASTLE.

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over with chrystals and imitative jewellery, seems almost a realization of the cave of precious stones described in the pages of Oriental fiction. At no great distance from this strange and illusive cavern, stands a fantastic summer-house called the "Temple of Patience," where visitors have to wait for the guide who is to conduct them to the "Swiss Bridge," which is thrown over a dizzy chasm, and trembles as it is crossed to a dark rock, twined about with branches of old trees and festoons of ivy, giving it the look of an ancient fortress impervious to the shocks of time, and bidding defiance to the elements. It is called "Reynard's House," having been the abode of a fox, who is said to have found a secure retreat in this castle of nature. Upon the same level, and not far off, the smooth. verdure of the "Terrace" invites to a gentler walk, after the fatigues encountered in climbing the steeps which lead to it; and here the eye may range across a vast expanse of country, strikingly varied in its features and rich in cultivation. Descending from this verdant spot, and passing the " Menagerie," the "Green House," and other curious adornments of the place, the next object reached, after traversing a region as singular as any before mentioned, is the sublimely situated ruin called the "Red Castle." This extraordinary place is thus described by the traveller, whose notice of Hawkstone has been before alluded to. "The decayed walls and the hewn rocky sides are of great extent. You can reach the interior only through a winding passage blasted in the rock. Out of this tunnel you emerge into a picturesque alley of rock with smooth high walls, over-arched with mountain ashes. On the side you perceive a cavern, the mouth of which is still closed with a rusty iron gate. Climbing rude steps in

6

LEGENDS OF THE RED CASTLE.

the rock, you reach the upper part of the ruin-a high roofless tower, in whose walls, fifteen feet thick, many trees, centuries old, have struck their roots, and in the interior of which is a well, which appears to sink down to the entrails of the earth. The massy and unshaken barrier around it, the lofty tower, through which the sky appears above, and the bottomless depth beneath, where reigns eternal night, produce an effect I never remember to have experienced. You see Hope and Despair allegorically united in one picture before you. The tower and the rock on which it stands, look down from a giddy height, in a perfectly perpendicular line, upon the valley, in which the huge trees appear like copse-wood."

This extraordinary ruin is not without its curious traditionary legends of the deeds of the fabulous knights of the castle. Two of these are called Sir Edward and Sir Hue, its supposed masters in the days of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. They were far from being gallant in their bearing towards the Lady of the Rock, who is reported to have had her dwelling on the lofty and romantic cliff which now goes by the name of the "Ravens' Shelf," one of the wildest spots in Hawkstone Park. Notwithstanding she was "a full curteous lady," these perilous brethren disinherited her of a barony of lands by their extortion, upon which she made complaint of them to one Sir Ewaine, who after a tournament in Wales where he smote down thirty knights, had come to her residence with his prizes, a jer falcon and white steed wrapped with cloth of gold, and accompanied by his "damosell" of threescore winters of age, with whom he had gone through many strange adventures. "Madam," said her doughty guest, "they He offered also first to entreat them

are to blame."

THE LADY OF THE ROCK. GIANT'S WELL.

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with fairness as a knight of King Arthur; but if this availed not, he was ready to "doe battaile with them" in defence of her right. "Gramarcie," said the Lady of the Rock. On the morrow they were summoned to speak with her; and "wit it well they failed not, for they came with a hundred horses," and vowed to Sir Ewaine, who spoke to them out of the lady's tower, that they would keep what they had. Upon this the brave knight offered to fight one or both of them; and it was agreed at length, that if he won them both "in plain bataille," the lady should have her lands again. The knights of the red castle departed and made themselves ready, and Sir Ewaine the same evening had "great cheere." The next day he fought both the foes of his hostess for five hours, who " wounded him passing sore that the lady of the Roche wend that he would have died." At length he "smote Sir Edward upon the helm, such a buffet, that his sword karved him unto his collar bone, and then Sir Hue abated his courage," and at length yielded unto Sir Ewaine, who of his gentleness received his sword and took him by the hand, and they went into the castle together. The lady of the Rock was "passing glad, and Sir Hue made great mone for his brother's death." Moreover the lady was restored unto her lands, and nursed her deliverer till he was "whole of his great hurts." 1

Also in the days of King Authur, two giants are said to have possessed the castle, whose names were Tarquin and Tarquinus; and from this tradition it is, that the donjon is called the "Giant's Well." Bishop Heber, when rector of Hodnet, loved to wander among the rocks and groves of Hawkstone, and collected tales

1 I am indebted for these legends to the kindness of Miss Jane Hill, the talented sister of Lord Hill.