largest in the kingdom, with the single exception of Blenheim; the
cascade is, perhaps, the most striking imitation we have of the great
works of nature; and the grounds are arranged in the grandest style of
landscape-gardening. The neighbouring scenery is bold and rugged, being
the commencement of Bagshot Heath; and the variety of surface agreeably
relieves the eye, after the monotony of the first twenty miles from town,
which fatigues the traveller either upon the Bath or Western roads. At
the time when the public were allowed to visit Virginia Water, the best
point of entrance was at the gate at Bishopsgate; near which very pretty
village, or rather green, the Royal Lodge is at present situated. Shelley,
who had a true eye for the picturesque, resided for some time at this
place; and it would have been difficult for a poet to have found, in any
of the highly cultivated counties of England, a spot so full of the most
exquisite variety of hill and dale, of wood and water,--so fitted to call
forth and cherish the feelings upon which poetry must depend for its
peculiar nurture.

Bishopsgate is situated about a mile to the right of the western road
from London, after you ascend the hill beyond Egham. To the left, St.
Anne's Hill, the favoured residence of Charles Fox, is a charming object;
and upon the ridge which the traveller ascends, is the spot which has
given a name to Denham's celebrated poem. "Cooper's Hill" is not shut out
from the contemplative searchers after the beauties of nature; and,
however the prospect here may be exceeded by scenes of wider extent, or
more striking grandeur, certainly the _locale_ of the earliest, and
perhaps the best, descriptive poem of our language, is calculated to
produce the warmest feelings of admiration, both for its actual beauty
and its unrivalled associations. From an elevation of several hundred
feet, you look down upon a narrow fertile valley, through which the
Thames winds with surpassing loveliness. Who does not recollect the