Surry great Hollows, then rifing Grounds again, so that the Prospect is continually changing, as you walk over it; and (if we may guefs by what this Gentleman has already done) the Whole will be laid out conformably to the natural Situation of the Ground; and when the Plantations, which are already made, are grown up, it will be a delightful Place; and this upon a Spot of Ground, which lay almost neglected, before this Gentleman became poffeffed of it; fo that whatever is here laid out, will be intirely an Improvement, fince without it the Land would have produced very little Rent to the Proprietor. And would the Gentlemen who inclofe large Tracts of Land into Parks, follow this Gentleman's Method, of inclofing fuch Land as is of little Value, and improve it, by making a good Sward upon it, their Eftates would be greatly benefited by it.

The Houfe which at present is on the Spot, is fmall, being what Mr. Hamilton found built on it by his Predeceffor; to which he has only added one handsome Room on the Backfide, which is elegantly fitted up, and furnished with good Pictures: but as there are so many better Situations for an Houfe in the, Middle of the Park, it is fuppofed he will erect a new Manfionhoufe, answerable to the Defign of his Plantations. This Gentleman has lately planted a Vineyard there.

At Byfleet near Cobham, is the handfome House of the late Lieutenant-General Cornwall. The Rev. and ingenious Mr. Spence has made neat Improvements to a fmall Place in the General's Neighbourhood, which fhew what can be performed, ata fmall Expence, by a Man of Tafte, as he is known to be.

The River Mole, which rifes near Darking, paffes along by the Side of this Park, and in its Courfe ferpentizes about in fo pretty a manner, that you frequently lofe Sight of it; and by its Windings makes the Courfe almoft four Miles within the Compafs of this Inclofure. Indeed this River is very narrow, and in dry Weather the Current is flow, and the Water not well

coloured,

coloured, which, it must be allowed, takes off from its Beauty; yet there is room for great Improvements, by floping off the Banks, fo as to have a better View of the Water; and in many Places, by taking away fome of the little Projection of the Banks, it may be widened, fo as to appear confiderable at fome Distance; which, if done, will add much to the Beauty of the Place.

Near Cobham is the House of Mr. Bridges, which is built in a fingular Tafte, fomething after the Model of an Italian Villa, but very plain on the Outfide. The Apartments within feem very commodious, and the principal Rooms are elegantly fitted up, the Cielings being gilt, and all the Members are richly ornamented: the Offices below are very convenient, and judiciously contrived to answer the Purposes for which they were defigned. But what chiefly ftruck my Curiosity on feeing it, was a falfe Story contrived on each fide of the House, taken from the Difference in the Height of the Side-rooms, from those principal Apartments: and these are converted into long Galleries, with a small Apartment at one End, which affords a Communication between them. In the Attic Story are good Lodging-rooms, which are well laid together; fo that for the Size of this House, there is hardly any other near London, which has more ufeful and elegant Apart

ments.

The Situation of it is on an Eminence, fo that it commands the Profpect of the adjacent Fields, which are kept in very exact Order; and there is a Declivity from the Houfe to the River Mole, which paffes along by the Side of this Gentleman's Garden: and here it appears much more confiderable than in any other Part of its Courfe; for Mr. Bridges has taken away fo much of the Earth of the Banks, as to make the River, in fome Places, four or five times broader than it naturally was, fo that it makes an handfome Appearance. And by the Side of the Water, he has difpofed the

Earth

Earth into a natural Slope, with a broad Grass-walk, planted with fweet Shrubs on each Side; and at the End of the Walk is a fine Room, which has a View of the Water lengthwife, and is a fweet Retreat in hot Weather, being fhaded by large Elm-trees on the South-fide, and having the Water on the North and Eaft-fides, which renders it very cool and pleasant. This Houfe is fituated about half a Mile from the pubJic Road to Portsmouth, and is fo much hid by the Trees near it, as not to be seen until you rise on the Common or Heath beyond Cobham, where, in feveral Parts of the Road between that and Ripley, you have a fine View of it. On the Left-hand of the great Road to Guilford, before we reach Ripley, is Ockham, the Seat of the Right Hon. Lord King, whofe Park joins to the great Road. This was purchased by the Chancellor when he was Sir Peter King; the House was greatly repaired and beautified by the late Lord; and the prefent Lord has made great Improvements in the Park Gardens, fo as to render it as pleasant as any Seat can be, where there is a Want of Water.

The Parish-Church stands almost oppofite to the House; and in the Church-yard is a Tomb erected over a Grave, in which is depofited the Corpfe of a Carpenter of this Place, with the following merry Epitaph upon the Tomb-ftone:

JOHN SPONG, died November 17, 1736.
Who many afturdy Oak has laid along,
Fell'd by Death's furer Hatchet, here lies Spong.
Pofts oft he made, yet ne'er a Place could get,
And liv'd by Railing, tho' he was no Wit.
Old Saws he had, altho' no Antiquarian,
And Styles corrected, yet was no Grammarian,
Long liv'd be Ockham's premier Architect,
And, lafting as his Fame, a Tomb t' erect,
In vain we feek an Artist such as he,
Whofe Pales and Gates were for Eternity;

So

So here he refts from all Life's Toils and Follies,
Oh! fpare, kind Heaven, bis Fellow Lab'rer Hollies.

At the North-eaft End of this Range of fine Seats, is Leatherhead, a little Thoroughfare-town, with a Stone-bridge over the Mole; which is fo called, from its remarkable Sinking into the Earth, at the Foot of Box-hill, near a Village called Mickleham, and working its Way under Ground like a Mole, rising again at or near this Town of Leatherhead; where its wandering Streams are united again, and form a pretty large River, as they were before, running together under Leatherhead Bridge, and from thence to Cobham; and fo it pursues its Course to the Thames, which it joins at Molefey, which, doubtless, takes it Name from the River.

And here I cannot but take notice of an unaccountable Error, into which all the Writers I have met with have unwarily fallen, on account of this little River hiding itself in the Earth, and finding its Way underground, from the Foot of Beechworth, or Betfworth Caftle,near Box-hill, and then rifing again at Leatherhead, as above; as if the Water had at once ingulf'd itself in a Chasm of Earth, or funk in a Whirl-pit. The great Camden has not a little contributed to this Error in his Account of it; but as he is in fome meafure fet right by an Obfervation and Note in the laft Edition of his Britannia, by the Right Rev. Continuator, I fhall have the lefs Occafion to infift upon the Matter; and fhall therefore refer to them.

The Town of Darking is eminent for several things worth Obfervation; as, firft, for the great Roman Highway, called Stony-Street, which paffes through its Church-yard Secondly, for a little Common or Heath, called the Cottman Dean, or the Heath of Poor Cottages (for fo the Word fignifies) belonging to the Town; and where their Alms-houfe ftands, which fome learned Physicians believe to be the best Air in

Eng

Surry. England: Thirdly, for Mr. Howard's Houfe and Garden, called Deepden; which stands in a small Valley, environed with steep Hills on every Side: The Levelground about the Houfe was laid out into pleasant Walks and Gardens, which were planted with a great Variety of Exotic Trees and Plants, and the Hills were planted with Trees on every Side, excepting the South Afpect, which was planted with Vines; and formerly there has been fome tolerable good Wine made there, tho' the Hill is so steep, that it is very difficult to walk up it. At present the Gardens and Vineyard are neglected, and many of the Exotic Trees have been deftroyed. On the Summit of the Hill, above the Vineyard, is a Summer-house, from which, in a clear Day, you may difcern the Sea over the South-downs, near Arundel.

The Market of Darking is the most famous in England for Poultry, and particularly for the fatteft Geefe and the largest Capons. They are brought hither from as far as Horsham in Suffex; and it is the Bufinefs of all the Country, on that Side, for many. Miles, to breed and fatten them up; and some are fo large, as to be little inferior to Turkeys: I have feen them fold from 4s. to 4 s. 6d. each, and weighing from 4 to 5 or 6 lb. apiece.

On Holy Thurfday here is alfo a Fair, chiefly for Lambs, and the greatest in England of that Kind. I have paffed over the fo much celebrated House of Mr. Evelyn at Wotton, near Darking, not that it is not worth Notice, but because so many others have faid fo much of it.

From Box-bill, and particularly from this Part of it, is a fair View, in clear Weather, quite over the Weald of Suffex to the South-downs; and, by the Help of Glaffes, the Town of Horsham, Ashdown Forest, the Earl of Egremont's House at Petworth, and the Southdowns, as they range between Brighthelmftone and 'Arundel, may be plainly feen; befides an unbounded Profpect into Kent.

But