poet; it was purchased of his family by Mrs. Bent, for the purposes expressed in her will, as before mentioned.

Near Amersham is GREAT MISSENDEN, formerly a benedictine monastery; at the Dissolution it was leased to Richard Greneway, and afterwards to Richard Hampden, Esq. clerk of the kitchen. After having been possessed in 1553 by John, duke of Northumberland, and in 1573, by the earl of Leicester, it was purchased by the famous Sir William Fleetwood, the active recorder of London, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, an antiquary and historian, who made Missenden his residence. It continued in his family till the commencement of the last century, after which it was put into chancery, and purchased under a decree of that court by James Oldham Oldham, Esq. an eminent ironmonger in Holborn, the present possessor.

PETERLEY HOUSE, belonging to lord Dormer, is now an academy in Great Missenden parish.

CHALFONT ST. GILESS, twenty-three miles from the metropolis, was the residence of Milton, during the plague in London, in 1665. The house in all probability, from its appearance, remains nearly in its original state. It was taken for him by Mr. Elwood, the Quaker, who had been recommended to the blind bard as one that would read Latin to him for the benefit of his conversation. Here Elwood first saw a complete copy of Paradise Lost, and having perused it, said, "Thou hast said a great deal on Paradise Lost, but what hast thou to say to Paradise Found?" This question suggested to Milton the idea of his Paradise Regained. Near this place Sir Henry Thomas Gutt has a seat called Newland Park; and the late admiral Sir Hugh Palliser, bart. a seat called the Vache, now the property of James Grant, Esq.

At the Vache was born Dr. JAMES FLEETWOOD, a persecuted divine during the Civil Wars; he afterwards died bishop of Worcester, in 1683.

The church contains memorials for the Fleetwood and Clayton families, and a monument for the admiral Palliser. VOL. V. No. 121.

30

Here

Here also was buried, without any memorial, Dr. Francis Hare, bishop of Chichester, who died at the Vache, in

1740.

We now cross a pleasant country till we arrive at

BEACONSFIELD,

a small market town, twenty-three miles from London, situated on a hill, and supposed to derive its name from the word beacon, a signal well known, in consequence of its situation being high, although not near the sea-coast; it is reckoned one of the most healthy situations in the kingdom. It consists of several good well-built houses, and contains four streets, which are in the form of a cross. The streets are extensive and wide; the principal street is in the road leading from Uxbridge to Wycomb, being the high road to Oxford, and is nearly three quarters of a mile in length: the part east is called London End, and the part west is called Wycomb End; that on the right, which leads towards Aylesbury, by the name of Aylesbury End; that on the left, being the road towards Windsor, is called the Windsor End. On the right hand side of Windsor End is the church, which belonged formerly to the monastery of Burnham. In the middle of the town is the market house, which is a low building. A market is held weekly on Wednesday; and two fairs, chiefly for cattle, viz. on Candlemas Eve and Day, and on Ascension Day. The soil in general is of a gravelly kind, the water exceeding good and plenty.

The church is a neat structure of flint and square stones, and consists of a nave, aisles, and chancel, with a tower and small spire, at the west end. The principal object of the inside of this edifice is a small plain tablet, with the following inscription:

"Near this place lies interred all that was mortal of the right honourable EDMUND BURKE, who died on the 9th of July, 1797, aged 68 years. In the same grave are deposited the remains of his only son, RICHARD BURKE, Esq. representative in parliament for the borough of Malton who died on the 2d of August, 1794,

aged

米

aged 35. Of his brother, RICHARD BURKE, Esq, barrister at law, and recorder of the city of Bristol, who died on the 4th of February, 1794."

In the churchyard, a table monument of white marble records the memory of the poet WALLER. On each side is a Latin inscription. That on the west expresses, that "he had so improved his native language, that should the Muses cease to renounce Greek and Latin, they would be in love with the English."

The substance of the inscription on the east side, is to this effect:

"EDMUND WALLER, to whom this marble is sacred, was a native of Coleshill, and a student at Cambridge. His father was Robert; his mother of the Hampden family. He was born the 30th of March, 1605. His first wife was Anne, only daughter and heiress of Edward Banks. Twice made a father by his first wife, and thirteen times by his second, whom he survived eight years he died the 21st of October, 1687." + .

HALL BARNS, at Beaconsfield, is celebrated as the seat of Waller the poet. It is remarkable that this great man, who was born at Coleshill, as before related, bought a small house toward the decline of life, with a little land, on his natal spot; observing, "that he should be glad to die, like the stag, where he was roused." This, however, did not happen." When he was at Beaconsfield," says Johnson," he found his legs grow tumid: he went to Windsor,

*The son and brother of Edmund Burke.

+ This celebrated poet died at Beaconsfield, in 1687, at the age of eighty-two. The above handsome monument was erected to his memory, by his son's executors, in 1700, on the east side of the churchyard, near the family vault, where an old walnut-tree is remaining, at the west end of the monument, inclosed within the iron rails around the tomb. Part of the branches hanging over the spiral pillar that rises from the monument, has a pleasing effect, and happily illustrates the rebus alluded to in the family arms, which is a walnut leaf. The Latin inscription on the monument is by Rymer, editor of the "Fœdera," and is to be seen in every edition of Waller's works. He is celebrated for the tenderness and softness of his poetical effusions.

where Sir Charles Scarborough then attended the king, and requested him, as both a friend and physician, to tell him what that swelling meant. Sir,' answered Scarborough,

your blood will run no longer.' Waller repeated some lines of Virgil, and went home to die. As the disease increased upon him, he composed himself for his departure; and calling upon Dr. Birch to give him the holy sacrament, he desired his children to take it with him, and made an earnest declaration of his faith in Christianity. It now appeared what part of his conversation with the great could be remembered with delight. He related, that being present when the duke of Buckingham talked profanely before king Charles, he said to him, "My lord, I am a great deal older than your grace, and have, I believe, heard more arguments for atheism than ever your grace did; but I have lived long enough to see there is nothing in them, and so I hope your grace will."

The manor of Beaconsfield formerly belonged to the Windsor family, and afterwards became part of the possession of Burnham priory; that and Hall Barns now belonging to Edmund Waller, Esq. of Farmington, in the county of Glo. cester, and is at present occupied by Mr. Maxwell. Among the pictures are two portraits of the poet in early and admired life; also the portrait of a lady, supposed to be his favourite Saccharissa.

BUTLER'S COURT, formerly called Gregories, was another seat of the family of Waller, but recently acquired much celebrity as the seat of the late right honourable Edmund Burke: it has great similarity in front to the queen's palace, and is situated in a country, where the prospects are diversified by a profusion of beautiful inclosures, a continual interchange of hills and vallies, and a number of beech and coppice woods, The apartments contain many excellent pictures, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and some valuable marbles.

This residence, it is asserted, became the property of Mr. Burke through the friendship of the marquis of Buckingham and earl Verney; whose munificence enabled him to

make

make the purchase, through which he was furnished with an elegant retreat, and enabled to pursue his studies unembarrassed by want, and free from those perplexing cares by which the operations of genius are too frequently retarded *.

WILTON PARK, the elegant seat of Mr. Dupré, near Beaconsfield, formerly belonged to the family of Basill. It is built of Portland stone, in a beautiful situation, from the design of the late Mr. Jupp, surveyor to the East India Company, by the late governor Du Pré, but finished by Mr. Du Pré's widow. Many of the fine pictures here were purchased from the celebrated collection of Mr. Purling.

DENHAM, two miles from Uxbridge, belonged, in 1299, to the abbott and convent of Westminster, and after the Dissolution was granted to the family of Peckham; after the decease of Sir George Peckham, in 1586, it was seized for a debt to the crown. The manor, rectory, &c. were granted, in 1596, to William Bowyer, Esq. and purchased of his family by Sir Roger Hill, sheriff of the county in 1673; by a female descent they became the property of the family of WAY. The house is a large brick building, erected by Sir Roger Hill; the chapel fitted up with mantled wainscot and carving; the windows ornamented with armorial bearings in stained glass. The library contains a curious representation in painting of the House of Commons, probably of that in 1679, in which Sir Roger was member for Amersham.

DENHAM COURT is the property of Sir George Bowyer, hart. son of the late gallant admiral Bowyer, created a baronet in 1794, during the life time of his elder brother, Sir William.

DENHAM DURDANTS was the property of the family of Durdant, from the year 1259 till 1414, after which it belonged to the Savoy Hospital, and was given by Edward VI. to the citizens of London, towards the endowment of St. Thomas's Hospital, in Southwark.

The parish church contains many fine monuments, particularly for Agnes Jordan, last abbess of Sion; to the me

* Britton and Brayley's Beauties of England, Vol. I. p. 391.