nd
in comparison like holding a candle to the sun. The village of Hagley is
a short distance from Bromsgrove, in Worcestershire, whence the
pleasantest route to the park is to turn to the right on the Birmingham
road, which cuts the grounds into two unequal parts. The house is a
plain and even simple, yet classical edifice. Whately, in his work on
Gardening, describes it as surrounded by a lawn, of fine uneven ground,
and diversified with large clumps, little groups, and single trees; it
is open in front, but covered on one side by the Witchbury hills; on the
other side, and behind by the eminences in the park, which are high and
steep, and all overspread with a lofty hanging wood. The lawn pressing
to the front, or creeping up the slopes of three hills, and sometimes
winding along glades into the depth of the wood, traces a beautiful
outline to a sylvan scene, already rich to luxuriance in massive
foliage, and stately growth. The present house was built by the first
Lord Lyttleton, not on, but near to, the site of the ancient family
mansion, a structure of the sixteenth century. Admission may be obtained
on application to the housekeeper; and for paintings, carving, and
gilding, Hagley is one of the richest show-houses in the kingdom.[2]

[2] _Show-houses_ is a very appropriate term for such of the
mansions of our nobility and gentry as are open to public
inspection. Hagley is extremely rich in treasures of art. A mere
catalogue of them would occupy the whole of our sheet; but we
must notice two curiously carved mahogany tables, which cost
L200.; four exquisitely carved busts of Shakspeare, Milton,
Spenser, and Dryden, by Scheimaker, and bequeathed to George,
Lord Lyttleton, by Pope; the portrait of Pope and his dog,
Bounce; a fine Madonna, by Rubens; several pictures by Vandyke,
Sir Peter Lely, Le Brun, &c. &c. the Gobelin tapestry of the
drawing room; the ceiling painted by Cipriani; and the family
pictures, among which is Judge Lyttleton, copied from the
painted glass in the Middle Temple Hall.

Much as the visiter will admire the refined taste displayed within the
mansion, his admiration will be heightened by the classic taste in which
the grounds are disposed. A short distance from the house, embosomed in
trees, stands the church, built in the time of Henry III.; with a
sublime Gothic arch, richly painted windows, and a ceiling fretted with
the heraldic fires o