_Brentford._
The ancient and nearly deserted barony of Brentford still contains, in its
monuments and antiquities, vestiges of former splendour. The horse-trough
opposite the "Bell and Feathers" is to the antiquarian a most particularly
interesting _morceau_; the verdure of age has defaced it in part, but
enough still remains to prove that our ancestors had made no mean
proficiency in the rustic style of architecture. The reservoir, which
contains the sparkling element so grateful to that noble animal, is
modelled from the celebrated sarcophagus in the British Museum; and the
posts which support it are evidently Doric. On the outside of it are
several nearly obliterated specimens of carving, as well as drawings in
chalk.
Nearly parallel with the horse-trough, as you go down "Maud's Rents," is
that useful, and indeed indispensible, triumph of hydraulics, the pump.
The taste and science displayed in its execution do credit to the engineer;
and the soil in which it is imbedded, being argillaceous, partially
encrusted with strontian, reflects equal honour on his geological
attainments.
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