arriage-drive stand finely from their
background. Behind the house is the terraced garden which Evelyn himself
made, and beyond it a streak of water running between wooded banks away
to the blue dimness of Leith Hill. John Evelyn shall describe Wotton as
he knew it:--

"The house is large and ancient, suitable to those hospitable times,
and so sweetly environed with those delicious streams and venerable
woods, as in the judgment of strangers as well as Englishmen it may
be compared to one of the most pleasant seats in the nation, and
most tempting for a great person and a wanton purse to make it
conspicuous. I will say nothing of the air, because the pre-eminence
is universally given to Surrey, the soil being dry and sandy; but I
should speak much of the gardens, fountains, and groves that adorn
it, were they not generally known to be amongst the most natural,
and (till this later and universal luxury of the whole nation, since
abounding in expenses) the most magnificent that England afforded."

Between Wotton and Westcott is The Rookery, once the home of David
Malthus, father of the historian and economist. The name of David
Malthus hides behind his more famous son's; but he was a translator of
the _Sorrows of Werther_ and of _Paul and Virginia_, who deserves
memories of his own. He lies in Wotton churchyard.

From Wotton one might go on by Abinger Hammer to Gomshall, but the
natural round, perhaps, and certainly one of the loveliest walks in the
county, is by Abinger Hatch and Friday Street to Leith Hill. But by
neither way must anyone walking by these roads miss the Crossways, a
mile west of Wotton Hatch, with its perfect little farmhouse and the
stream running through the fields past Abinger Mill. The Crossways
farmhouse--perhaps Mr. Meredith had the name in his mind when he
imagined the most gracious of his heroines--is of all the Surrey
farmhouses I know the most fascinating. It lies behind a high wall,
which runs round a square little garden; you peep through a gateway
covered with ivy, and find an old lichened, weatherworn house, with
ornamented brickwork and latticed windows, a house which Evelyn's
grandfather may have known, and would find to-day unaltered. Crossways
farm is most like Slyfields, the old Jacobean house near Bookham, but it
is smaller, and is, I think, perfect, whereas Slyfields is a fragment.
Crossways, besides its delightful front, has a fine chimn