centre of Bucks is occupied by the Vale of Aylesbury, one of the richest and most fertile valleys in England, with corn-fields and meadows, and cherry orchards and pastures, about which are scattered scores of handsome cows. Bucks is a great dairy county, in which enormous quantities of butter are made and sent both to Oxford and to the London market. Sheep and oxen, hogs, ducks and geese, are also reared in great numbers.

Aylesbury, the county town, is a good-sized market-town, where lace-making is carried on. Lace-making is a common cottage employment in Bucks, and is carried on largely in the four towns upon the Ouse, Buckingham, Stony Stratford, Newport Pagnell, and Olney.

The Great Ouse has a very winding course in this county, amongst flags and reeds. Cowper, the gentle poet, whose house at Olney is still shown, tells us how he took a walk with his dog Beau, when—

and while the poet walked, Beau—


Beau, seeing his master's desire, plunged into the river, broke off a lily, and brought it to the poet's feet.

Cowper speaks of "the meads," for Ouse is bordered with broad meadows; the Ouse Valley is also a fertile corn-growing district.

Buckingham is an old town with a long history; Stowe, the grand seat of the Dukes of Buckingham, is near the town. The making of straw plait is carried on here and in many towns and villages on the Hertford border.

Paper is made in some towns at the foot of the Chilterns—High Wycombe, Chesham, and some others. About five miles south of Chesham is the village of Chalfont St. Giles, where Milton, the blind poet, stayed while the plague raged in London; here he revised his. great poem, 'Paradise Lost,' and wrote the story of 'Paradise Regained.'

The Chilterns, which cross the county, were once= clothed with a vast forest of beech and oak; many of them are now cultivated to the top, or are divided into pasture fields.

  1. Name two towns in this county which stand upon the Thames. What county lies on the opposite side of the river?
  2. What range of hills enters the county from Oxford? Into what county are these hills continued? Name three towns among the hills.
  3. What vale occupies the centre of the county? What town stands in the valley?
  4. What river drains the north of Buckingham? Name four towns upon the Ouse. Into what county does the Oose next enter?
  5. What counties surround Buckingham? In what part of England does it lie?