King Edward, being engaged in profecuting, by arms, his right to the crown of France, caufed the French motto, Honi foit qui mal y penfe, to be wrought in gold letters round the garter; declaring thereby the equity of his intention, and, at the fame time, retorting fhame and defiance upon him who fhall dare to think ill of the juft enterprise in which he had engaged, for the fupport of his right to that

crown.

In the Little Park an old oak is faid ftill to exift, by the name of Herne's oak. Thofe who would investigate the fubject we must refer to Mr. Gilpin's Foreft Scenery. is thus celebrated by Shakspeare:

There is an old tale goes, that Herne, the hunter,
Sometime a keeper here in Windfor Forest,
Doth all the winter time, at ftill midnight,
Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns;
And there he blafts the tree, and takes the cattle;
And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain
In a moft hideous and dreadful manner.

It

Merry Wives of Wind. At IV. Sc. 4.

The Great Park, already mentioned, lies on the fouth fide of the town, and opens by a noble road in a direct line to the top a delightful hill at near three miles diftance. This road leads, through a double plantation of trees on each fide, to the Ranger's Lodge. William, Duke of Cumberland, greatly improved the natural beauties of the park, and rendered this villa worthy of a prince.

The Belvedere, on Shrub's Hill, is a triangular building, with a tower at each corner. It is encompaffed by a fine plantation of trees, forming a delightful rural fcene. The noble piece of water in the valley underneath, was formed at a great expence, and, from a fmall current, is rendered capable of carrying barges and boats of pleafure. Over this water Duke William built a bridge of curious architecture, being one arch, 165 feet wide in the clear, which is five feet wider than the Rialto at Venice. This piece of water terminated in a large and beautiful cafcade; but, a few years ago, the pond-head blowing up, the rapidity of the torrent did fuch material damage to the bridge, that

the whole was obliged to be entirely taken down, and rebuilt with five arches to it. About half a mile from this bridge is the Chinese Ifland, fo named from the building on it, after the Chinese manner; and near this pond is a beautiful grotto.

Befide thefe improvements, the Duke laid out the raceground on Afcot Heath (which is within the limits of Windfor Foreft already mentioned) at a large expence. In this extensive foreft are feveral towns and villages, of which Wokingham, or Oakingham, near the centre of the foreft is the principal; and though the foil is generally barren and uncultivated, it is finely diverfified by hills and vales, woods and lawns, and delightful villas. Binfield, in this foreft, was the native fpot of Pope; here he compofed his beautiful poem, "Windfor Foreft;" and, on one of the trees, in a wood, in this parish, is cut this infcription:

"HERE POPE SUNG."

WINDSOR, OLD, a village on the Thames, between New Windfor and Egham, is adorned with feveral handfome villas; particularly, Lord Walfingham's, at the foot of Prieft's Hill; The White Houfe, the property of William Pitt, Efq. of Eton, and refidence of Rice James, Efq. Bowman's Lodge, late the feat of Warren Haftings, Efq. now of Henry Griffiths, Efq. Crawley House, the feat of Henry Ifherwood, Efq. Lord of the Manor; and Grove Houfe, the feat of Lady Onflow, built by Mr. Bateman, uncle to the prefent Lord Bateman. Some curious Gothic chairs, bought at the fale here, are now at Strawberry Hill. See Grove Houfe.

WOBURN FARM, the feat and beautiful ornamented farm of the Hon. Mr. Petre, near Weybridge in Surry, is in the occupation of Lord Loughborough. It contains 150 acres, of which 35 are adorned to the higheft degree; of the reft two thirds are in pasture, and the remainder in tillage. The decorations are communicated, however, to every part; for they are difpofed along the fides of a walk, which, with its appendages, forms a broad belt round the grazing grounds, and is continued, though on a more contracted fcale, through the arable. This walk is properly a garden: all within it is a farm.

Thefe

Thefe enchanting fcenes were formed by the late Philip Southcote, Efq. and exhibit a beautiful fpecimen of the ferme ornée, of which he was the introducer, or rather the inventor; and him, therefore, the Poetical Preceptor of English Gardening thus apostrophizes, immediately after his eulogy of Mr. Kent:

On thee too, Southcote, fhall the Mufe beftow
No vulgar praife: for thou to humbleft things
Couldft give ennobling beauties; deck'd by thee,
The fimple farm eclips'd the gardens' pride,
Ev'n as the virgin blufh of innocence
The harlotry of art.

MASON.

WOKING, a village, in Surry, to the S. W. of Ripley. Henry VII repaired and enlarged the manor-house, which had been the inheritance and refidence of his mother, Margaret Countefs of Richmond, who died here. Fine brick foundations, and the shell of a guard-room, are ftill remaining.

WOODFORD, a village, eight м. F. L in the road to Epping, has fome agreeable villas, on each fide of the road, which command fine prospects over a beautiful country. The moft worthy of notice are, Woodford Hall, clofe to the church, the feat of John Goddard, Efq. Profpect Houfe, the property of John Moxon, Efq. and the houfes of Job Mathew and Robert Preston, Efqs. Governor Hornby's elegant houfe is fituated between Woodford Hall and Profpect Houfe; but it is in the parish of Walthamstow. A mineral fpring, which rifes in the foreft, at a little distance from the Horse and Groom, was formerly in great repute, and much company reforted to drink the waters, at a house of public entertainment called Woodford Wells; but the waters have long loft their reputation; and the houfe having been converted into a private one, was occupied by the late Lt. Col. Hudson, and is now the property of Mr. Prefton See Hearts.

In the churchyard is an elegant monument to the memory of fome of the family of the unfortunate Sir Edmundíbury Godfrey, whofe murder excited fuch agitation in the reign of Charles II (See Primrose Hill) and cf whom it ought to be recorded, that in the great plague in

04

1666,

1666, he expofed his life to danger, for the good of his fellow citizens, by remaining in London, and faithfully difcharging his duty as a magiftrate. This monument was defigned by the late Sir Robert Taylor. It confifts of a Corinthian column, with the bafe and capital complete : the fhaft, which is of coloured marble, was brought from Italy; the bafe and capital are of white marble; and the whole coft 1500l.

In the church-yard is a remarkable large yew-tree, fuppofed to be the finest in England.

WOODFORD BRIDGE, a village in the fame parish, nine M. F. L. in the road to Ongar. It is fituated on a fine eminence, forming a very picturefque appearance. Near the Bridge, over the river Roding, is a neat pump, of excellent water, brought thither, in 1776, at a great expence, by the proprietor of the estate, for the accommodation of the poor inhabitants; and not far from this is a manufactory of artificial ftone. Near this village is Ray House, the feat of Sir James Wright, bart. and a pretty villa, built by Cæfar Corfellis, Efq. on the fite of a house that had been the refidence of Mrs. Eleanor Gwin, mother of Charles firft Duke of St. Alban's. Not far from Woodford Bridge, but in the parish of Barking, is Claybury Hill, the feat of James Hatch, Efq. See Luxborough.

WOODLAND HOUSE, the villa of John Julius Angerftein, Efq. on the north fide of Blackheath, toward Charlton. The face of the building is a beautiful stucco. The front, which has a handfome portico, is enriched by a niche on each fide, containing elegant ftatues, reprefenting the young Apollo and the Dancing Fawn. Immedi

ately over each niche is a circular baffo-relievo, with a femicircular window in the centre. The gardens communicate with a small paddock, and command the fame beautiful profpect as Westcomb Park, of Shooter's Hill and the Thames.

WOOLWICH, a market-town in Kent, nine м. F. L. is fituated on the Thames, and is famous for its fine docks and yards, (where men of war are built, and the largest have, at all times, fufficient depth of water to ride in safety) as alfo for its vaft magazines of great guns, mortars, bombs, cannon-balls, and other military ftores. In the

lower

lower part of the town, is the Warren, where upward of 7000 pieces of ordnance have been laid up at one time. Here alfo is the house where the engineers prepare bombs, carcaffes, and grenades. In this town is a royal military academy, in which young officers, called Cadets, are inftructed in fortification. The church was rebuilt in the reign of Queen Anne, as one of the 50 new churches.

For fome years paft, two or three hulks have been moored off this town, for the reception of convicted felons, whose number has sometimes amounted to 400. It is remarkable, that part of this parish is on the Effex fide of the Thames (where there was once a chapel, and where now stands a house called "The Devil's House,") and is included in the county of Kent.

WROTHAM, a market town in Kent, 24 M. F. L. has a large church, in which are 16 stalls, supposed to have been made for the clergy, who attended the Archbishops of Canterbury, to whom the manor formerly belonged, and who had a palace here, till Abp. Iflip, in the four-teenth century pulled it down, and built another at Maidftone. Several pieces of antiquity have been dug up here, particularly fome military weapons

WROTHAM PARK, near Barnet, in the parish of Had. ley, in Middlesex, the magnificent feat of George Byng, Efq. was built by his great uncle Admiral John Byng. The views from the house and park are very fine. The estate probably took its name from the town of Wrotham, in Kent, where the family had been fettled upward of 200 years, before John Byng, Efq. father of George, first Viscount Torrington, difpofed of the family eftates in that place.

H

APPENDIX.

BARKING.

ERE was a famous nunnery, founded in 675. It ftood on the north fide of the churchyard; and a gateway, and a confiderable part of the wall, are still visible. See Woodford Bridge.