From London to Lands End | Page 3

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This etext was prepared by David Price [email protected], from
the 1888 Cassell & Company edition.

From London to Land's End

Sir,
I find so much left to speak of, and so many things to say in every part
of England, that my journey cannot be barren of intelligence which way
soever I turn; no, though I were to oblige myself to say nothing of
anything that had been spoken of before.
I intended once to have gone due west this journey; but then I should
have been obliged to crowd my observations so close (to bring
Hampton Court, Windsor, Blenheim, Oxford, the Bath and Bristol all
into one letter; all those remarkable places lying in a line, as it were, in
one point of the compass) as to have made my letter too long, or my
observations too light and superficial, as others have done before me.

This letter will divide the weighty task, and consequently make it sit
lighter on the memory, be pleasanter to the reader, and make my
progress the more regular: I shall therefore take in Hampton Court and
Windsor in this journey; the first at my setting out, and the last at my
return, and the rest as their situation demands.
As I came down from Kingston, in my last circuit, by the south bank of
the Thames, on the Surrey side of the river; so I go up to Hampton
Court now on the north bank, and on the Middlesex side, which I
mention, because, as the sides of the country bordering on the river lie
parallel, so the beauty of the country, the pleasant situations, the glory
of innumerable fine buildings (noblemen's and gentlemen's houses, and
citizens' retreats), are so equal a match to what I had described on the
other side that one knows not which to give the preference to: but as I
must speak of them again, when I come to write of the county of
Middlesex, which I have now purposely omitted; so I pass them over
here, except the palace of Hampton only, which I mentioned in
"Middlesex," for the reasons above.
Hampton Court lies on the north bank of the River Thames, about two
small miles from Kingston, and on the road from Staines to Kingston
Bridge; so that the road straightening the parks a little, they were
obliged to part the parks, and leave the Paddock and the great park part
on the other side the road--a testimony of that just regard that the kings
of England always had, and still have, to the common good, and to the
service of the country, that they would not interrupt the course of the
road, or cause the poor people to go out of the way of their business to
or from the markets and fairs, for any pleasure of their own whatsoever.
The palace of Hampton Court was first founded and built from the
ground by that great statesman and favourite of King Henry VIII,
Cardinal Wolsey; and if it be a just observation anywhere, as is made
from the situation of the old abbeys and monasteries, the clergy were
excellent judges of the beauty and pleasantness of the country, and
chose always to plant in the best; I say, if it was a just observation in
any case, it was in this; for if there be a situation on the whole river
between Staines Bridge and Windsor Bridge pleasanter than another, it
is this of Hampton; close to the river, yet not offended by the rising of
its waters in floods or storms; near to the reflux of the tides, but not
quite so near as to be affected with any foulness of the water which the

flowing of the tides generally is the