The Gogmagog Hills, or, as they were more anciently termed, the “Pleasant Hills of Balsham,” would in most parts of England be looked upon as little better than hillocks, but Cambridgeshire is not famous for its mountains, and in their present position these hills lift their heads proudly over every thing which lays claim to the same name in their immediate neighbourhood. They are one of the favourite objects of pilgrimage to the Cambridge Student, on account of the rich and extensive views which are seen from their summit.

The most agreeable approach to the hills is by the lower road through Cherry-Hinton, which, with the clear limpid stream that skirts it, and the soft turf of the pasture meadows over which it leads, is in Summer one of the prettiest walks about Cambridge. But the more direct road lies along the high-way to Linton—dull, straight, and dusty as any road may well be, yet it leads to the loftiest part of the Gogmagogs, where, on the right, under a tuft of trees, by a simple turn on the bench which some kind hands have placed there, we may enjoy almost at one view the wide panorama extending from the extensive level of Cambridgeshire, with the Minster of Ely as its central and principal object, to the rich and well wooded county of Essex.