SEPTEMBER 9.

We visited the waterfall, which is very high, and in rainy weather very copious.  There is a reservoir made to supply it.  In its fall, it has perforated a rock.  There is a room built for entertainment.  There was some difficulty in climbing to a near view.  Lord Lyttelton[1235] came near it, and turned back.

When we came back, we took some cold meat, and notwithstanding the
Doctor’s importunities, went that day to Shrewsbury.

SEPTEMBER 10.

I sent for Gwynn[1236], and he shewed us the town.  The walls are broken, and narrower than those of Chester.  The town is large, and has many gentlemen’s houses, but the streets are narrow.  I saw Taylor’s library.  We walked in the Quarry; a very pleasant walk by the river.[1237] Our inn was not bad.

SEPTEMBER 11.

Sunday.  We were at St. Chads, a very large and luminous Church.  We were on the Castle Hill.

SEPTEMBER 12.

We called on Dr. Adams,[1238] and travelled towards Worcester, through Wenlock; a very mean place, though a borough.  At noon, we came to Bridgenorth, and walked about the town, of which one part stands on a high rock; and part very low, by the river.  There is an old tower, which, being crooked, leans so much, that it is frightful to pass by it.

In the afternoon we came through Kinver, a town in Staffordshire; neat and closely built.  I believe it has only one street.

The road was so steep and miry, that we were forced to stop at Hartlebury, where we had a very neat inn, though it made a very poor appearance.

SEPTEMBER 13.

We came to Lord Sandys’s, at Ombersley, where we were treated with great civility.[1239]

The house is large.  The hall is a very noble room.

SEPTEMBER 15.

We went to Worcester, a very splendid city.  The Cathedral is very noble, with many remarkable monuments.  The library is in the Chapter House.  On the table lay the Nuremberg Chronicle, I think, of the first edition.  We went to the china warehouse.  The Cathedral has a cloister.  The long aisle is, in my opinion, neither so wide nor so high as that of Lichfield.

SEPTEMBER 16.

We went to Hagley, where we were disappointed of the respect and kindness that we expected[1240].

SEPTEMBER 17.

We saw the house and park, which equalled my expectation.  The house is one square mass.  The offices are below.  The rooms of elegance on the first floor, with two stories of bedchambers, very well disposed above it.  The bedchambers have low windows, which abates the dignity of the house.  The park has one artificial ruin[1241], and wants water; there is, however, one temporary cascade.  From the farthest hill there is a very wide prospect.

I went to church.  The church is, externally, very mean, and is therefore diligently hidden by a plantation.  There are in it several modern monuments of the Lytteltons.