MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



221 



grounds, gives almost the tmiuilt and excite- 

 ment of a freshet in the wilderness to this 

 most exquisite combination of garden and 

 natural scenery. 



licaving the point — where you take in, 

 without moving, all this magical landscape — 

 you wander through flower gardens, and 

 amid pleasure grounds, till you reach a more 

 wooded and natural looking paysage. The 

 fountains, the carefully polished Italian gar- 

 dens, are no longer in view. The path be- 

 comes wild, and, after a turn, you enter upon 

 a scene the very opposite to all that I have 

 been describing. You take it for a rocky 

 wilderness. The rocks are of vast size, and 

 indeed of all sizes ; with thickets of Laurels, 

 Rhododendrons and Azaleas growing among 

 them, Ivy and other vines climbing over 

 them, and foot-paths winding through them. 

 From the top of a rocky precipice, some 30 

 feet high, dashes down a waterfall, which loses 

 itself in a pretty meandering stream that 

 steals away from the foot of the rock. Nothing 

 can well look wilder or more natural than this 

 spot ; and yet this spot, the " rock-garden," of 

 six acres, has all been created. Every one of 

 these rocks has been brought here — some of 

 them from two or three miles away. It is just 

 as wild a scene as one finds on the skirts of some 

 wooded limestone ridge in America. Though 

 it was all made a few years ago, yet now that 

 the trees and shrubs have had time to take 

 forms of wild luxuriance, all traces of art are 

 obliterated. The eye of the botanist only, de- 

 tects that the masses of laurels are rare Rho- 

 dodendrons, and that beautiful Azaleas of the 

 Alps* nudce the underwood to the forest that 

 surrounds it. 



You wish to go onward. We will leave 

 the rock-garden by this path, on the side op- 

 posite to that which we entered. No, that, 

 you see, is impossible ; a huge rock, weighing 



* Azalea, or, rather. Rhododendron hirsutum and ferrugi- 

 neitm; two beautiful sorts, perfectly hardy. 



50 or 60 tons, exactly stops up the path and 

 lies across it. Your companion smiles at 

 your perplexity, and with a single touch of 

 his hand, the rock slowly turns on its centre, 

 and the path is unobstructed ! There is no 

 noise, and nothing visible to explain the mys- 

 tery ; and when the rock has been as quietly 

 turned back to its place, it looks so firm and 

 solid upon its base, that you feel almost cer- 

 tain that cither your muscles or the rocks 

 themselves obey the spell of some unseen and 

 supernatural wood spirit. 



One of the greatest beauties at Chatsworth 

 lies in the diversity of surftice — the succes- 

 sion of hill and dale, which, especially in the 

 pleasure grounds, continually occurs. This 

 variation ofl'ers excellent opportunities for the 

 production of a succession of scenes, now high- 

 ly ornate and artistic, like the flower gardens, 

 now romantic and picturesque like the rocky 

 valley. And as we continue our ramble, af- 

 ter entirely losing sight of the wild scene I 

 have just described, we enter upon another 

 still different, — a wide glade or opening, 

 like an amphitheatre, in the midst of a fine 

 grove of trees. An immense palace of glass 

 rises before us. Its curved roof, springing 70 

 feet high, gleams in the morning snn ; and 

 you would be at a loss to conceive for what 

 purpose this vast structure was intended, 

 did you not see, as you approached by the in- 

 distinct forms of the foliage, that it encloses 

 another garden. This is the great conserva- 

 tor}', which is 300 feet long, and covers rather 

 more than an acre of ground. Through its 

 midst runs a broad road, over which the DuKK 

 and his guests occasionally drive in a carriage 

 and four. All the riches of the tropics are 

 grown here, planted in the soil, as if in their 

 native climate ; and a series of hot- water pipes 

 maintain, perpetually, the temperature of 

 Cuba in the heart of Derbyshire. The sur- 

 face is not entirely level, but there are rocky 

 hills and steep walks winding over them ; and 



