DECEMBER. 275 



whole length, or 1700 feet, faced with Bath stone, and crowned by 

 a massive and elegant balustrade. Several flights of broad steps lead 

 from this down to the second terrace, which is to be laid out in 

 flower-beds in grass, intersected in various directions by gravel-walks. 

 The basins for the numerous fountains with which it is to be orna- 

 mented are excavated, and will soon be completed. Two conspi- 

 cuous looking objects, in connexion with the palace, are the towers 

 for affording a fall for working the fountains. These are placed one 

 at each end of the building, and will, we believe, be carried some 

 280 feet in height. 



The main central walk, leading from the principal transept 

 through the two terraces, has been put into shape as far as where 

 the first great fountain in the park is to play; and the balustrading 

 along the top of the lower terrace-wall has been continued down the 

 sides of this walk as far as it is raised, and round the fountain, till it 

 terminates in two neat piers a little below the latter. The slopes 

 from the base of the stone- work down to the level of the surrounding 

 ground have been turfed, which has the effect of setting off the white 

 stone with which the terrace-walls are formed to great advantage. 

 All along the terrace-walls the little piers, which are 24 feet apart, 

 are to be surmounted by vases filled with flowering plants ; and we 

 understand that beds of sweet-smelling flowers are to be scattered 

 plentifully along the grassy bank below the first terrace, so as to yield 

 an agreeable perfume to visitors looking over the wall on the magni- 

 ficent gardens below, with their delightful groups of ornamental 

 shrubs, flowers, and fountains. A large tract of ground lying between 

 a natural knoll, or little hill, on the west side of the first great foun- 

 tain in the park, and the front of the terrace-gardens, has been laid 

 down in turf, or sown with grass-seeds, and completed ; and the walks 

 in this part of the grounds have been made and rough gravelled. 

 Various well-arranged clumps have also been formed and planted; 

 and altogether this side of the park, with its finely undulating sur- 

 face and broad glades of grass, begins to assume an interesting and 

 finished appearance. We observed that, in the planting, advantage 

 had been taken to place the clumps around trees which had previously 

 been growing upon the ground, thus giving the w r hole a more estab- 

 lished appearance than it could otherwise have had. On the top of the 

 eminence, or little knoll, just mentioned, we understand that it is pur- 

 posed to erect some kind of ornamental conservatory ; but its shape 

 or construction, we believe, is not yet determined upon. A number 

 of various-shaped flower-beds have also been formed along the sides 

 of the walks in the finished part of the ground ; and we are informed 

 that the whole of the margins of the walks are to be ornamented in 

 this manner, which, when they shall have been completed, and 

 covered with bright flowering plants, cannot fail to produce a charm- 

 ing effect. Before leaving this part of the grounds, we may mention 

 that the palace station, into which the railway from London Bridge is 

 to run, is being formed close on the western boundary of the park, 

 at a little distance from the palace, between which and the station 

 there is to be a glass covered way, so that the contents of the build- 



