ning of July, and the effect
of the heavy rains and warm sunny days since that time was to encourage
the energy of the tree in putting forth its second growth of leaves.
This second growth of delicate green almost covered the oaks in Cobham
Park, and effectually concealed the devastation of the caterpillars on
the old leaves. The effect was quite spring-like. Truly, as George Eliot
says, "Nature repairs her ravages."

[Illustration: Cobham Hall.]

Cobham Park is nearly seven miles round, and its exquisitely varied
scenery of wood and glade is conspicuous at the spot where the chestnut
tree called "The Four Sisters" is placed. There is a lovely walk from
Cobham Hall to Rochester through the "Long Avenue," so named in
contradistinction to the "Grand Avenue," which opens into Cobham
village. This walk, which slopes all the way down from the Mausoleum,
leads to a seat placed midway in an open spot where charming views of
the Medway valley are obtained. For rich sylvan scenery in the county of
Kent, this is surely unrivalled.

Admission to Cobham Hall, the seat of the Earl of Darnley (whose
ancestors have resided here since the time of King John), is on Fridays
only, and such admission is obtained by ticket, procurable from Mr.
Wildish, bookseller, of Rochester. A nominal charge is made, the
proceeds being devoted towards maintaining Cobham schools.

The Hall is a red-brick edifice (temp. Elizabeth, 1587), consisting of
two Tudor wings, connected by a central block designed by Inigo Jones.
The most noticeable objects in the entrance corridor are a fine pair of
columns of Cornish serpentine, nearly ten feet high, tapering from a
base some two feet square. The white veining of the steatite (soapstone)
is in beautiful contrast to the rich red and black colours of the
marble. These columns were purchased at the great Exhibition of 1851. An
enormous bath, hewn out of a solid block of granite said to have been
brought from Egypt, is also a very noticeable object in this corridor.

The housekeeper--a chatty, intelligent, and portly personage--shows
visitors over the rooms and picture-galleries. There is a superb
collection of pictures by the Old Masters, about which Dickens had
always something facetious to say to his friends. They illustrate the
schools of Venice, Florence, Rome, Netherlands, Spain, France, and
England, and were formed mainly by purchases from the Orleans Gallery,
and the Vetturi Gallery from Florence, and in