Surrey: Painted by Sutton Palmer; Described by A.R. Hope MoncrieffMoncrieff, A. R. Hope (Ascott Robert Hope)
History
Surrey: Painted by Sutton Palmer; Described by A.R. Hope Moncrieff
Moncrieff, A. R. Hope (Ascott Robert Hope)
Surrey (England) -- Description and travel
All this fair country has been used for sepulchres since, above the
heaths trodden by funeral processions and cheerful warriors of our day,
were heaped tumuli where long-forgotten chiefs "quietly rested under the
drums and tramplings of three conquests." The neighbourhood has some
notable recent graves, besides those in the great gathering. Over the
common to the west of Brookwood Cemetery is reached Pirbright, where,
near the east end of the churchyard, Henry Stanley lies at rest beneath
a huge block of rough stone, an appropriate monument for him whom the
natives styled "stone-breaker," in admiration of his masterful dealing
with difficulties. At Frimley, on the Surrey border, is buried Bret
Harte. A little to the south of this, beside Farnborough station, on a
wooded hill rises a far-seen dome, miniature of that which covers the
great Napoleon at Paris, this one crowning a Benedictine Abbey built to
enshrine the tombs of Louis Napoleon and his ill-fated son. On the other
side of the line is the home of the Empress who, one might think, had
little reason to love sights that should sorrowfully remind her how many
a French mother's son may have been spared through her untimely loss.
Yet here this bereaved exile was neighbour to our chief national
manufactory of martial death.
To reach Aldershot Camp, one crosses the Blackwater, the parting of
Surrey and Hants, where the last great English prize-fight was fought
between Sayers and Heenan on a meadow chosen for convenience of dodging
either county's police. The quarters extend for miles about the
high-road running on from Farnborough station to Farnham, the North and
South Camps being divided by the transverse line of the Canal. The bulk
of the Camp is on Hampshire ground, but its ranges shoot into Surrey,
where, on the Fox Hills or the Romping Downs, peaceably-minded strangers
may be challenged by Roderick Dhus in khaki starting from copse and
heath, or find themselves beset by the invisible rattle of skirmishers
practising the game of war. Across a projecting tongue of Hants we come
back into Surrey again; anyhow, it is not straying far from our theme to
take a glance at this great military station.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account