AVe introduce a specimen from Elvaston Castle. It is an old clip])e(l Yew, 

 funiiiiiir an arl)or 14 feet square, and 18 feet liij^li. Il was moved twenty-five 

 miles nniny years ago, and is supposed to be u))wards of one hundred years old. 

 It is one tree, the stem running nj) tlie centre, and is jjcrhaps one of the best 

 examples of the topiary treatment extant. 



Though some might object to the figures on the top, a l)ush or tree, in this 

 manner, so as to form a bower, or shelter, is not impro}»er ; it is allowal)le to make 

 utility the subject of ornament, a rule founded in nature and reason ; few objects 

 are more interesting than an arbor made by training the limbs of a weeping ash, 

 grafted high up, or trimming a yew into a useful shape. IJox-trees and bushes 

 are sometimes thus treated, to the great amusement of young persons. 



Fantastic topiary work may be said to have been killed by Pope, who wrote 

 the following satirical article in the Guardian, No. 173. Our readers will pardon 

 the si)acc it occui)ies for its information and humor. After describing the Garden 

 of Alcinous from Homer's Odi/ssey, he goes on : — 



" How contrary to this simplicity is the modern practice of gardening ! We 

 seem to make it our study to recede from nature, not only in the various tonsure 

 of greens into the most regular and formal sha[)cs, but even in monstrous attempts 

 beyond the reach of the art itself. We run into sculpture, and are yet better pleased 

 to have our trees in the most awkward figures of men and animals, than in the 

 most regular of their own. 



' Here interwoven branches form a wall, 

 And from the living fence green turrets rise ; 

 There ships of myrtle Scail in seas of box ; 

 A green encampment yonder meets the eye, 

 And loaded citrons bearing shields and spears.' 



I believe it is no wrong observation, that persons of genius, and those who are 

 most capable of art, are always most fond of nature ; as such are chiefly sensible, 

 that all art consists in the imitation and study of nature. On the contrary, ])eople 

 of the common level of understanding are principally delighted with the little 

 niceties and fantastical operations of art, and constantly think that finest which is 

 least natural. A citizen is no sooner proprietor of a couple of yews, but he enter- 

 tains thoughts of erecting them into giants, like those of Gnild-ilall. I know an 

 eminent cook, who beautified his country-seat with a coronation dinner in greens ; 

 where you see the champion flourishing on horseback at one end of the table, and 

 the queen, in perpetual youth, at the other. 



For the benefit of all my loving countrymen of this curious taste, I shall here 

 publish a catalogue of greens to be disposed of by an eminent town gardener, who 

 has lately applied to me upon this head. He represents, that for the advancement 

 of a politer sort of ornament in the villas and gardens adjacent to this great city, 

 and, in order to distinguish those places from the mere barbarous countries of gross 

 nature, the world stands much in need of a virtuoso gardener who has a turn to 

 sculpture, and is thereby capable of improving upon the ancients of his profes- 

 sion in the imagery of evergreens. My correspondent is arrived to such perfec- 

 tion, that he cuts family pieces of men, women, or children. Any ladies that 

 please, may have their own effigies in myrtle, or their husbands in horn-beam. 

 He is a i)uritan wag, and never fails when he shows his garden, to repeat that 

 passage in the Psalms : ' Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine, and thy children 

 as olive branches round thy table.' I shall proceed to his catalogue, as he sent it 

 for my recommendation. 



idara and Eve in yew ; Adam a little shattered by the fall of the tree of 

 ledge in the great storm ; Eve and the serpent very flourishing. 



