MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



269 



a vast city ; or, at the most, barely on the 

 borders of it. Here is a large, velvet lawn, 

 admirably kept, the surface gently undulating, 

 and stretching away indefinitely, (to all ap- 

 pearance,) on either side, losing itself amid 

 belts and groups and masses of shrubs and 

 trees, with winding walks stealing off, here 

 and there, in the most inviting manner, to the 

 right and left. At the end of the broad walk, 

 at the farther side of the great lawn, which 

 forms the central feature to the garden, stands 

 a noble conservatory of immense size, with 

 lofty curved roof; and on either side of it are 

 small hot-houses, full of all the novelties of the 

 day, and all the treasures of the exotic flora. 



There cannot be a finer contrast, in point 

 of tasteful arrangement and beauty of effect, 

 than that which this garden presents to the 

 arboretum at Derby. They were both formed 

 about the same time, and the extent is not 

 greatly different ; the whole area of this 

 place being only 18 acres.* Here, the ut- 

 most beauty, variety and interest are concen- 

 trated within these moderate limits. As you 

 enter, you are struck by the breadth and ex- 

 tent of the broad velvet lawn. As j^ou ram- 

 ble about the finely planted and well grown 

 walks, which form the border to this lawn — 

 now quite concealed from all observation in a 

 thicket of foliage — now emerging upon some 

 pretty garden vista, and again opening upon 

 a little separate nook, devoted to some single 

 kind of culture, as groups of Rhododendrons, 

 or American plants, or a flower garden set in 

 turf, or a rock-work filled with curious al- 

 pincs — you imagine you have been introduced 

 into some pleasure grounds of 50 acres, in- 

 stead of the moderate compass of less than 20. 

 The surface is most gracefully undulating, so 

 as to give that play of light and shade — those 

 siinny S7nifes, so pleasant in a lawn, and to 

 prevent your eye from ranging over too large 



* It <rains "Teally I'v being in llie midst of the Regenl's 

 Park, with its boundaries concealed by thickets, over which 

 the trees in tlie park make a pleasiigly indefinite background. 



a sweep at one time ; and though this varia- 

 tion of surface was, as I was told, wholly the 

 work of art when the grounds were laid out, 

 it has none of the stiff and hard look of the 

 surface in the arboretum at Derby, but is 

 charmingly like the most pleasing bits of na- 

 tural flowing surface. I cannot, therefore, 

 but believe that Mr. Marnock, the able 

 Landscape Q-ardener who laid out this place, 

 convinced me by this single specimen, that he 

 is a man of great skill and refined taste in his 

 art. I saw no new place, abroad, laid out in a 

 more entirely satisfactory manner. 



In order to give the garden a character and 

 purpose, beyond that of mere pleasure grounds, 

 (although enjoyment of it in the latter sense 

 is the main object,) a botanical arrangement, 

 and a medical arrangement of plants, are both 

 very well carried out here — I believe for the 

 use of the students of the London University. 

 But instead of bringing these scientific ar- 

 rangements into the pleasure ground portion, 

 which meets the eye of the ordinary visitor of 

 the garden, they are kept in one of the side 

 scenes — quite in the background; so that 

 though they add greatly to the interest, and 

 general extent of the garden when sought for, 

 they do not mar the beauty or elegance of its 

 conspicuous outlines. 



In the great conservatory, though the lar- 

 ger number of the plants were out in their 

 summer quarters, the whole effect was still 

 extremely pleasing, from the noble speci- 

 mens of certain showy summer -blooming 

 plants, growing here and there throughout the 

 open space, which was elsewhere turned into 

 a broad gravel walk. These were either gi- 

 gantic specimens of Brugmansias, loaded 

 with their great white trumpet flowers — enor- 

 mous scarlet (jeraniums, trained as pyramids, 

 10 feet high, and brilliant with bloom — rich 

 Passifloras, and other vines, climbing up the 

 rafters, or very finely grown exotics, in tubs 

 or large pots. 



