I 



^I 



HOME OF A. J. DOWNma f 



yard. This path in fact divides the lawn ; as it approaches the house it runs down 

 toward the vineyard, leaving the greatest extent of lawn before the building, and 

 having accomplished this, turns again toward the west. A thick shrubbery runs 

 along the edge of the vineyard, between it and the path, arranged in such a way as 

 to give views of the river and the opposite shore without allowing the vine poles to 

 appear. The vineyard, seen in the plan, is a new one just in bearing, having been 

 planted three years this summer. It contains nearly a thousand vines, Isabellas and 

 Catawbas. ilr. Downing had a few other varieties scattered through the grounds ; 

 there is a fine specimen of the Ehinborongh near the office ; but he had none of the 

 more delicate varieties which requu-e artificial heat. Mr. Downing spoke at times of 

 removing his vineyard to another spot, and tm-ning the whole into lawn and orna- 

 mental gi-ound. To have done so would have added greatly to the beauty of the 

 place, and there is no doubt that with his love for lawns he would hardly have been 

 contented long with the small though beautiful one which he possessed. By careful 

 planting originally, and by regular mowings every fortnight, this garden is able 

 to boast a lawn whose velvet it will not be easy to rival on our river ; and whose 

 exquisitely tinted surface, shaded with clumps of trees and enriched with flower and 

 vase, was a real triumph in our adverse climate and beneath our scorching suns. 



In passing along the path which we have entered, you catch a glimpse through 

 the trees of the little Sundial with its motto, " Horas non nomero nisi Serenas'' 

 number none but sunny hours," and few others ever passed over 

 this happy place. When I first saw this dial the ice was on the 

 ground, and a httle hillock of snow upon the top of the pillar pre- 

 vented the sim from recording the hours. I brushed away the snow 

 to find the time. Mr, Downing was with me, and, I remember, 

 told me about some ancient dial he had seen when abroad. This 

 morning the first snow of the year is on the dial and on his grave. 

 Still further on, we come to that portion of the walk from which we 

 obtain the view of his house given in the frontispiece of this number. 

 In the foreground is the graceful and efiective cast of the Warwick 

 Vase, which forms the subject of the vignette at the end of the pres- 

 ent article, and which will give to many of our readers who have 

 heard of this celebrated production of antiquity an idea of its 

 exquisite decoration and fine proportion. Looking at the house 

 where we stand, and marking its bold yet unassuming architecture, and then refer- 

 ring to its plan as given in the drawing of the grounds, we venture to ask whether 

 such a building, erected as it was at the age of twenty-four, before Mr. Downing 

 had ever seen a private dwelling having the slightest pretension to elegance, and 

 when all his ideas of such matters were procured from one or two English books, 

 does not exhibit a native taste and refinement in the man. Many of our professed 

 architects who have had the advantage of years of study and travel, together with 

 the use of the best books, build houses which do not exhibit half the tasteful design g^ 

 nor the convenient and elegant arrangement of this young man's work. 



:rm 





