of the weather at that important time, there is seldom any corn out in the fields after the first week of September. The wind blows most steadily from the west and south-west, seldom keeping long in any point between the north-west and north-east. In the spring, and frequently towards the end of autumn, the easterly winds prevail; and the weather is then cold and raw, with a drizzling moisture: but the greatest quantity of rain falls when the wind blows from the south-south-west, or south. The climate is deemed very healthy in most parts of the county, between the southern district, called the Weald, and the Thames, particularly near the northern foot of the chalk-hills. The dryness of the soil and atmosphere, and the entire freedom from the smoke of the metropolis by the prevalence of the westerly winds, have deservedly conferred the character of salubrity on this division of the county. Even in the Weald, where the surface is low, and the soil moist, diseases are by no means frequent, neither is the ordinary duration of human life abridged. SOIL. The soil of Surrey is extremely various, and by no means so clearly discriminated as in some other districts of the kingdom, the different kinds lying a good deal intermixed in small patches, especially in the northern part of the county. They may be reduced to the four general heads of clay, loam, chalk, and heath. The most extensive tract of uniform soil is that which extends along the whole southern border of the county, and forms what is denominated the Weald of Surrey; a district about thirty miles in length, and varying from three to five in breadth. This consists of a pale, cold, retentive clay, upon a sub-soil of the same nature: its surface is flat, covered with wood, and its elevation is said to be less than that of any other vale district in the island. The agricultural management of this soil not only requires a large capital, but also superior skill, attention, and activity, in order to make the most of the proper seasons for the different operations. Proceeding northward we come to a district of sandy loam, likewise stretching across the whole county, county, but on the east side seldom exceeding half a mile in breadth, till at Albury and Shalford it expands as far as Hascomb and Hambledon on the south. The richest part of this tract lies round Godalming; the soil is every where of great depth, and rests on a base of sand-stone, veined with iron ore. The most striking and remarkable district consists of the chalky downs, contiguous to the former. They lie nearly in the middle of the county, entering from Kent into Surrey by Croydon and Limpsfield where their width is about seven miles, and gradually narrowing as they proceed westward, till their termination near the border of Hampshire, where there is merely a narrow ridge, but little broader than the turnpike road. Along the elevated summit of the downs, particularly about Walton and Hedley, and between the Mole and the Wey, is a large extent of heath, which, for a considerable depth, divides the chalk of the northern from that of the southern compartment of the downs, though it is probable that they join at their base. Setting out from the eastern extremity of the downs, and proceeding northward, we find a variety of soils, but chiefly strong clay, streaked with sandy loam; and these, with patches of gravel, continue till near Dulwich, from which place, to the extremity of the county near Rotherhithe, is a strong unmixed clay. If we set out farther to the west, from Bansted downs, we find the chalk bounded by a long stretch of clay, by Sutton, Morden, and the east side of Merton, till we reach the loams of Putney heath, Wimbledon, and Mortlake. A similar line of soils, but with less extent of clay, before we reach the sandy loams, prevails, if we set out from any point of the downs between Bansted and Clandon; and the farther westward we proceed, the breadth of the clay soil that divides the chalk from the sandy loam decreases in proportion. From the northern borders of the clay to the Thames, the soil in general is sandy, intermixed, however, especially on the banks of the Mole and the Wey, with loam of different qualities and clay. It is difficult to conceive a worse kind of soil than that of the heaths of Surrey; and these unfortunately occupy a very large B3 large portion of the west side of the county. The whole tract from Egham to Ash is, with little exception, heath, or moorish soil, which is also of considerable breadth; for the space from Bagshot, through Chobham and Byfleet, to Cobham, Ripley, and Oatlands, is a series of dreary and almost irreclaimable heaths. The soil is similar on that line of the barren land which runs from Blackheath to Leith hill, and stretches from the vale of Albury to the beginning of the Weald, near Ewhurst. GENERAL APPEARANCE. The surface of almost the whole of Surrey, except the Weald, consists of gentle hill and dale. In some parts the hills rise to a considerable height, and present very bold and commanding views. The north-west corner of the county, near the Thames, has its surface varied by Cooper's hill and St. Anne's hill; both remarkable for the great extent of country which can be seen from them. The next eminence to the east, but at a greater distance from the Thames, is St. George's Hill; after which, proceeding down the river, the heights of Richmond, Putney, and Roehampton, attract the eye, and farther to the east, the rising grounds about Norwood and Dulwich. Across the middle of the county the downs, rising with a gentle slope from the north, and broken in their eastern division into deep and waving vallies, form a striking object, and give variety to the appearance of the county. Towards the northern border of the downs, Sandersted hill, near Croydon, affords a rich and majestic view. From Box hill, Bansted downs, and Hedley heath, the prospects are also singularly commanding and diversified. To the south of the downs the surface of the county rises in the hills that overhang the Weald, near Oxted, Godstone, Reygate, and Dorking. As we approach the western extremity of the county, these hills cover a greater breadth; and near Wonersh, Godal. ming, and Peperharrow, covered with a rich foliage, and waving, with a graceful line, into intermediate vallies, watered by the dif ferent branches of the Wey, they present the most picturesque prospect that Surrey can afford. On Leith hill, to the southwest of Dorking, Tilbuster hill, near Godstone, and Gratewood hill, near Godalming, the views are very extensive; but perhaps there is no part of the county in which the appearance of the richly wooded vale of the Weald is more strikingly pleasing than on the road from Albury to Ewhurst. After toiling up the deep and barren sands to the south of Albury, that present no object on which the eye can repose, even for a moment, we suddenly come to the southern edge of the hill, whence the whole extent of the Weald, clothed with wood, appears to the south, with an occasional peep of the sea, through the breaks of the Sussex Downs, which form the back-ground: on the south-west appears the rich and finely varied country about Godalming, backed by the wild heaths that stretch across from Farnham to Haslemere. Sometimes on a clear night the shadow of the moon is to be seen glancing on the waves of the English Chaunel, forming a singular and romantic feature in the prospect.* WATERS.-The principal rivers of this county, including the Thames, which only washes its northern border, are the Wey, the Mole, and the Wandle. The Wey rising on the border of Surrey, south-west of Haslemere, first takes its course by Liphook in Hampshire; again entering Surrey it runs eastward to Godalming and Guildford, having been joined at Shalford by a stream, which rises in the commons to the south of Wotton, and which, though small, supplies a great number of mills, besides embellishing the grounds of many gentlemen in its course. From Guildford the Wey passes north-eastward to Woking, leaves the town at a small distance on the north-west, then proceeds to Weybridge, to which place it gives name, and there discharges itself into the Thames. The Mole is formed by the union of several springs rising on the southern border of this county and in the forest of Tilgate, in Sussex, which, in the parish of Horley, southward of Reygate, compose a considerable stream. It flows at first through a flat and rather uninteresting country, till it approaches the great barrier of Downs, which extends across the county. Near Dorking, B 4 Stevenson's View of the Agriculture of Surrey, p. 40. which which it leaves on the south-west, it enters one of the defiles of these Downs, and traversing a romantic valley, washes the foot of Box-hill in its progress to Letherhead. Here the Mole makes its exit from among the hills, and winding through a range of commons by Stoke, almost encircles the village of Cobham, and proceeds to Esher. Here all the beauty of this river ceases, and it winds through an uninteresting flat to East and West Molesey, till its conflux with the Thames opposite to Hampton Court. This river has long been celebrated for a peculiarity, which has been much represented, or misunderstood, even by modern writers, and still more by those of ancient date. "The Mole," says Camden, "coming to White-hill, (now called Box-hill,) hides itself, or is rather swallowed up at the foot of the hill there; and for that reason the place is called the Swallow: but about two miles below it bubbles up and rises again; so that the inhabitants of this tract, no less than the Spaniards, may boast of having a bridge that feeds several flocks of sheep." On this statement the Rev. Mr. Manning makes the following comment, in which he has explained the true character of the phænomenon.* "From this fabulous account, plainly founded on an idea suggested by common report, the reader might be led to imagine that the river actually disappears, forms a channel beneath the surface of the earth, and at a certain distance rises again and pursues its course above-ground. The truth of the matter seems, however, to be this: The soil, as well under the bed of the river, as beneath the surface on each side, being of a spongy and porous texture, and having by degrees become formed into caverns of different dimensions, admits the water of the river through certain passages in the banks and bottom. In ordinary seasons, these receptacles being full, as not discharging their contents faster than they are supplied by the river, the current sustains no diminution: but, in times of drought, the water within these caverns being gradually absorbed, that of the river is drawn off into them, and in proportion to the degree of drought, the stream History of Surrey, Vol. I. Introduction, p. 3. is |