(Fig. 210. A ground plan, explained to a lady, who confessed that she did not understand either a plan or a map.]

middle is a fountain, the basin of which is about ten feet wide; the orange lines are gravel walks; the little patches of red and green represent roses, and other flowers, in beds or baskets, standing on the neatest mown grass; and the four circles may be berceaux, with hoops to support creepers, or they may be grass plots with vases or statues. I am aware that this will cause some alarm to those who fancy all NATURE at variance with ART, and who will exclaim, that it is going back to the old fashioned formal gardening of former days: I answer, by reminding them, that I am not now describing a landscape, but a garden; and "A GARDEN IS A WORK OF ART, USING THE MATERIALS OF NATURE."

Among the infinite variety of flowers which adorn the garden, there are some so minute, that they require being lifted from the ground to meet the eye, and some so formed, that they should be raised even above the eye, to shew their beauties (such as the fuchsia, the American cowslip, and other pendulous plants): to provide for these, we will suppose four beds of fossils, or flints, or rocky fragments, for the reception of that interesting class of plants which requires such a soil and situation; these are described on the plan by purple and yellow. As occasional spray from a fountain might wet the gravel-walk, it should be neatly paved with pebbles round the basin.

On that side of the flower-garden which fronts towards the south, is a house for peaches and strawberries. On the side opposite, and in some degree corresponding, is a row of posts with hoops to train creepers, and an architectural gate communicating with the park, betwixt two projecting lines of shrubbery, which are meant to consist of every kind of thorn, towards the park to the south, and American plants towards the garden to the north. This attention to north and south is very essential, since everything in a flowergarden depends upon its exposure, and, therefore, I must refer you to the compass to ascertain the aspects, of which that to the north is cold, sunless, and gloomy; that to the south is hot, genial, and cheerful; that to the east partakes of both, but requires shelter in spring; and that to the west is exposed to more stormy rains and winds than any other; and, therefore, we will suppose the flower-passage, marked No. 3

on the plan, to be defended from the west by a flued wall, and on the side next the flower-garden by glass in spring, but removable in summer; the glass roof may remain constantly. The whole inside of this roof is covered with a wide trellis, to support vines and other climbing plants.

Another sketch [fig. 211] represents this flower-passage terminated by a statue of Flora, which conceals the point of junction in two large looking-glasses placed behind it. In

[Fig 211. Passage, covered with trellis-work and vines, with a flower-border on each side, and behind the statue of Flora a large mirror, as shewn in the plan, fig. 210, at k.]

this mirror are repeated all the objects in the passage; nor is the deception discovered, till, on a nearer approach, we find that we can proceed no further in that direction. The passages to the right and left lead to the fruit-houses, or to an aviary at the back of the mirror.

By the help of the plan, let us go back again to the flower-passage, No. 3. No. 4 is the orangery, which is lighted from the roof, and receives only the morning and evening sun, that at noon being impeded by the position of the mansion to the south; but an orangery does not require so much sunshine as a hot-house; and, in the summer, the orange-trees in tubs are placed in front of the house in the two quarters of a circle described on the plan.

The magnificent library, or living-room, consists of three compartments, with a fire-place in each, and a flue near the windows of the bow: the centre is fifty feet by twenty-eight, opening into two recesses, or tribunes, of different shapes, fitted up in very different manners; one being for music-books and instruments, the other for books of prints and portfolios of drawings; and both joined to the large library by a screen of columns, or at pleasure separated from it by drapery and curtains. All this is repeated by a large mirror over the fireplace, which, aided by three apertures for stained glass above the level of the bookcases, prevents this end from being deficient in light, and gives to the whole an air of united cheerfulness, magnificence, and novelty.

On leaving these new rooms, Nos. 6, 7, and 8, we enter the old suit of apartments, Nos. 9, 10, and 11, now opening into each other by large folding doors; and from the spot marked x we have two enfilades, one of about three hundred feet, but, in fact, by the mirror of Flora, rendered indefinite; and the other of about seventy feet, along the two greenhouses, through the entrance-porch, and terminating either by a statue or fountain, or doubled by another mirror at

the end.

On the plan are distinguished, by a light brown wash, the grounds for use and not for ornament, being invisible from the house; and by a green wash, those which are visible from the principal rooms, consisting of landscape and park scenery, where the cattle are prevented from breaking the windows by a dwarf terrace-wall, richly dressed with flowers, which forms the foreground, or frame, of the picture. So magnificent and complicated a plan may, perhaps, appear ideal, but it actually exists, although I have never seen it since I made the plan on the spot.

To explain this, I will relate the following fact. The proprietor called at my door, and took me to the place, to ask my opinion about adding a new room of large dimensions to an old house. I described, by a pencil sketch, the general idea of this annexed plan, with which he was so much pleased, that he desired me, the day following, to explain it to a gentleman, who, I afterwards discovered, was a clerk of the works to an eminent architect. The pencil sketch was all

that I was ever permitted to deliver, from which the whole was immediately carried into execution, without having yielded me either emolument or fame, or any other advantage, except the useful lesson-not to leave a pencil sketch in the hands of a clerk of the works. Under such circumstances, I hope I may be excused for claiming my share in a design which I have often heard commended as the sole production of the late proprietor's exquisite taste. He certainly made it all his own: but there was not a single idea which I had not furnished.

"Detur suum cuique."

[Let every one have his due.]

FRAGMENT XXVI.

EXTRACT FROM A RECENT REPORT OF A PLACE NEAR

THE CAPITAL.

ONE of the most magnificent places in this country, which furnishes examples for the geometric style of gardening, has so recently been submitted to my opinion, that little time has yet been given to the development of plans, to which I shall, therefore, not allude by name; but, in a few years, I trust, there will be no reason for regretting that the following sketches [figs. 212 and 213], and extract from the report, have been allowed to form a part of this volume, intended to record some of the most striking and important of those designs which I have had the honour to deliver.

INTRODUCTION.

CONCERNING THE STYLE AND CHARACTER OF

If the fashion of gardens could be altered with the same ease as the fashion of dress, or furniture, it would be of less consequence how often it was varied, or by what caprice or whim it was dictated; but the original plan of this place must ever be strongly traced in many parts, though a century has elapsed; and it is impossible to be quite obliterated, in conformity with more modern styles. It is, therefore, an object worthy of consideration, whether the original, or the more