We give a sketch of a Portsmouth row which resembles in narrowness
those at Yarmouth, and in Crown Street there is a battered,
three-gabled, weather-boarded house which has evidently seen better
days. There is a fine canopy over the front door of Buckingham House,
wherein George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was assassinated by John
Felton on August 23rd, 1628.
[Illustration: Gable, Upper Deal, Kent]
The Vale of Aylesbury is one of the sweetest and most charmingly
characteristic tracts of land in the whole of rural England,
abounding with old houses. The whole countryside literally teems with
picturesque evidences of the past life and history of England. Ancient
landmarks and associations are so numerous that it is difficult to
mention a few without seeming to ignore unfairly their equally
interesting neighbours. Let us take the London road, which enters the
shire from Middlesex and makes for Aylesbury, a meandering road with
patches of scenery strongly suggestive of Birket Foster's landscapes.
Down a turning at the foot of the lovely Chiltern Hills lies the
secluded village of Chalfont St. Giles. Here Milton, the poet, sought
refuge from plague-stricken London among a colony of fellow Quakers,
and here remains, in a very perfect state, the cottage in which he
lived and was visited by Andrew Marvel.
Pages:
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105