Leaving the kitchen-garden we now pass on to the pleasure-ground, once somewhat limited, but recent additions have very much increased its extent. Unrestricted criticism would in this case be an unjust interference, as no one can with any degree of certainty predict the effect while there is little more to guide us than bare forms. This much, however, can be said with truth, that there is every appearance of Mr Cox having caught the requirements of the ground; that what he has done, and is doing, are, I believe, best suited to give character to the place, which is by diversity of application.

Mr Cox has a flat surface to deal with - there is not a rising line to relieve the eye. The god of monotony holds supreme power. True, there is one redeeming feature, - the Malvern Hills rising in the distance, which are objects of great beauty throughout the surrounding country - seen at a distance of more than forty miles. But there is no middle distance, the want of which dwarfs extension and everywhere begets an idea of restriction, but withal when finished will have a pleasing effect. One of the principal features will eventually be an avenue 400 yards long of Picea nobilis, planted 20 feet apart; and should the trees grow equally, it will be worth the labour of trudging many miles to see. But unfortunately the habit of this Conifera is somewhat uncertain; even seedling plants form no exception. We often see it planted in groups, each individual equally vigorous when young; but, from some cause not easily explained, a portion slacken their pace, become stunted, and will not move on, pertinaciously opposing every effort to push them onwards.

We now reached the mansion-house, a brick building, in some respects of an architectural mixture, unpretending in appearance, of considerable dimensions, having lately received considerable additions, and flanked by a moat on one side - things now nearly numbered with the past. The flower-garden has lately been remodelled and extended - a pretty geometric design - and very carefully planted, particular attention having been paid by Mr Cox in the arrangement and harmonising of the different shades of colour. Amongst Lord Beauchamp's extensive improvements, he has considerately provided excellent school accommodation for the poor; and more than that, has built a handsome and commodious church for the use of the parish.

Having still a journey of nine miles to traverse by road ere I could reach my resting-place for the night, necessity compelled me to part with my kind and indulgent friend, Mr Cox, who, with his amiable wife, had rendered my visit so very agreeable. I now started for Eastnor Castle, the residence of Earl Somers; and as my route lay through the town of Malvern, a passing notice may not materially interrupt the thread of my narrative.

Malvern cannot with propriety be called a town. The designation would be more truthful by describing it as an assemblage of detached villa residences bristling on the hill-side. I understand that it contains some first-class educational establishments; but its reputation rests not upon either classical or mathematical acquirements, but as a curative emporium for every shade of disease, whether imaginary or real - consequently Malvern represents every phase of the medical profession.

Ascending bit by bit, I had now reached the summit of an outlying spur of the Malvern Hills, which, like the entire group, is a kind of granite composed of quartz, felspar, and hornblende, or what geologists term "a syenitic formation." Standing on this jutting point, we have the extensive vale of Worcester lying at our feet, its cathedral tower and spires rising above every other object. Before proceeding further, let us think for a few minutes and contemplate the incessant movements of fixed and immutable laws that have taken place in this world of ours, and which are now as active as they have been through vast cycles of ages that are past - essentially the same as those now in progress. This vale, now teeming with human industry, once formed a gulf of the sea that separated England from Wales; and were it to subside, even to the depth of a hundred feet, the whole would again become submerged. There is no want of evidence that we have here an ancient sea-bottom, and that the temperature is now greatly reduced, arising from the fact that the fossil remains of the hippopotamus, the rhinoceros, and marine animals which now only exist in warmer latitudes, have been found in the alluvial deposit.

By directing the eye across to the opposite side of the vale, it catches the northern range of the Cotteswold Hills, formed of argillaceous limestone and marl. They, too, have been wholly or in part, at some unknown period, covered with water, attested by their physical outlines, consisting of boldly-marked promontories and deeply-receding bays; and we might extend the evidences by saying that this formation is found to be embedded with marine shells, and is also the last resting-place of the ammonite, the belemnite, with a great variety of other fossil forms. Here have also been discovered the remains of that marvellous creature, the lizard fish, or ichthyosaurus, possibly the most savage reptile that ever existed, possessing a very peculiar combination of structure. Any description of mine would very inadequately represent so complex a form, still I cannot help noticing some of its most prominent characters. For instance, it possessed the teeth of the crocodile, the snout of the porpoise, the head of a lizard, the paddle of a whale, and the vertebras of a fish.

Not less curious in form is the plesiosaurus, found in the same locality, uniting various types of organisation peculiar to the former, but with this difference, that the neck is very much longer, while the back and tail have the properties of a quadruped; so, in some respects, it may be said that these two reptiles form an intermediate link between fishes and mammals. Whoever feels an interest in these curious creatures, and desires to become acquainted with their external form, cannot do better than consult the figures given by Water,house, as they faithfully represent the exact conformation.

Posterior to this era the scene completely changed - the sea was driven back by some mysterious agency, probably by an upheaval in one part and a depression in another, which gave possession of the dry surface to the hyena, the elephant, and other wild animals, whose remains have been discovered in this locality.

Possibly there is nothing that yields more real pleasure than to possess a knowledge of the flora of the district, the eventful changes that the earth's crust has undergone, and its extinct organisms, in the country through which we pass during our pedestrian journeys. Night had now nearly enclosed creation by her sable mantle; so ruminating over the preceding details, somewhat chilly and rather wet, I pushed onwards to Eastnor Castle, and so soon as I got under the hospitable roof of Mr Coleman, his amiable and kind-hearted wife ministered to my necessities, which made me easily forget the toil and anxiety of the past day. Alexander Cramb.

Tortworth Court.

(To be continued).