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nience. It is at present however exceedingly in dishabille, and the furniture feems to be the relics of the laft century. The family of the Thynnes cover the walls in great profufion. We rarely fee fo numerous a collection of portraits without one that is able to fix the eye.

Be the infide of the house and its contents however what they may, when we view it feated, as it is, in the centre of a noble park, which flopes down to it in all directions, itself a grand object, evidently the capital of these wide domains, it has certainly a very princely appearance.

Somewhere among the woods of this manfion, was first naturalized the Weymouth-pine. This fpecies of pine is among the most formal of its brotherhood; and yet the planter must confider it, in point of variety, as an acquifition. The patriarch-pine, Mr. Walpole tells us, ftill exifts, but we did not fee it.

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SECT. XI.

FROM Longleat we pursued our road through Froom to Wells. The first part of our journey presented nothing very interesting. As we approached Mendip-hills, the road divides; one branch leading over those high grounds, the other under them. We chose the latter, which afforded us, on the right, those hills for a back-ground; and on the left, an extensive distance, in which Glastonburytor, as it is called, is the most confpicuous fea

ture.

Our approach to Wells, from the natural and incidental beauties of the fcene, was uncommonly picturesque. It was a hazy evening; and the fun, declining low, was hid behind a deep purple cloud, which covered half the hemisphere, but did not reach the western horizon. Its lower skirts were gilt with dazzling fplendor, which spread downwards, not in diverging rays, but in one uniform ruddy glow; and uniting at the bottom with the

mistiness of the air, formed a rich, yet modeft tint, with which Durcote-hill, projecting boldly on the left, the towers of Wells beyond it, and all the objects of the diftance, were tinged; while the foreground, seen against so bright a piece of scenery, was overfpread with the darkest shades of evening. The whole together invited the pencil, without foliciting the imagination. But it was a tranfitory scene. As we ftood gazing at it, the fun funk below the cloud, and being stripped of all its splendor by the haziness of the atmosphere, fell, like a ball of fire, into the horizon; and the whole radiant vision faded away.

Wells is a pleasant town, and agreeably fituated. The cathedral is a beautiful pile, notwithstanding it is of Saxon architecture. The front is exceedingly rich, and yet the parts are large. In the towers, the upper ftories are plain, and make a good contrast with the richnefs of the lower. But this circumftance appears to moft advantage when the towers are feen in profile; in front there is too much ornament. In the infide the Saxon heaviness prevails more. The choir-part is in better taste; and the retiring pillars of the chapel be

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