ARBOURS. 



The pretty drawing of a rustic summer-house in the last Number of 

 The Florist, and the invitation to those who may be inclined to offer 

 suggestions on the subject, tempt me to make a few remarks upon 

 this species of garden decoration, in which, as in other matters con- 

 nected with horticulture, public taste has of late years made consi- 

 derable advances. What absurdities, in the shape of castles, ruins, 

 and grottoes, we can all of us remember ! Revolving seats, in which 

 the stranger was tempted to place himself, and after a sufficient 

 number of rapid revolutions, turned out, to amuse the lovers of the 

 practical joke ; old Dutch summer-houses placed on the garden- wall, 

 without shade or shelter ; — these, and such-like eccentricities, have 

 passed away ; but others have succeeded them ; and the severe critic 

 may still find ample exercise for his craft upon the various forms 

 and fashions of seats — from her most gracious Majesty's splendid 

 summer-house in Buckingham Palace garden, adorned by the magic 

 creations of Eastlake and Maclise, to the old post-chaise body 

 stuck at the end of a little smoky allotment in the floricultural region 

 of Bethnal Green. Every lover of his garden, however, will have 

 his arbour ; how gaily the poet Cowper describes the small summer- 

 house in which so many of his inimitable letters and charming poems 

 were written ! He says : " I write in a nook that I call my boudoir ; 

 it is a summer-house, not much bigger than a sedan-chair, the door 

 of which opens into the garden, that is now crowded with pinks, 



