fifty per cent.; and the foreign wood is now universally preferred for
engravings. The trees on Box Hill are, however, again flourishing,
although their value is rather problematical.

For the information of the home tourist, perhaps, I ought to mention
that Box Hill stands about 22 miles on the left of the road from London
to Worthing, Brighton, and Bognor, and about 2 miles N.E. of the town of
Dorking. The road from Leatherhead hence is a constant succession of
hill and dale, richly clothed with wood, interspersed with elegant
villas in all tastes--from the pillared and plastered mansion, to the
borrowed charm of the _cottage orne_. The whole of this district is
called the Vale of _Norbury_, from the romantic domain of that name,
which extends over a great portion of the hills on the right of the
road. Shortly before you reach Box Hill, stands _Mickleham_, a little
village with an ivy-mantled church, rich in Saxon architecture and other
antiquities. You then descend into a valley, passing some delightful
meadow scenery, and the showy mansion of Sir Lucas Pepys, which rises
from a flourishing plantation on the left. In the valley stands Juniper
Hall, late the seat of Mr. Thomas Broadwood, the piano-forte
manufacturer. In the park are some of the finest cedars in England. On
again ascending, you catch a fine view of Box Hill, and the
amphitheatrical range of opposite hills, with one of the most
magnificent _parterres_ in nature. This is called, by old writers, the
_Garden of Surrey_.

You pass some flint-built cottages, and quitting the road here, the
ascent to Box Hill is gradual and untiring, across a field of little
slopes, studded with a few yew-trees, relics of by-gone days. The ascent
further down the road almost amounts to a feat, assisted by the
foot-worn paces in the chalky steep. Here this portion of the hill