494 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTTJKE AND COTTAGE GASDESTEE. 



[ December 28, 1S63. 



ladyship calls it." ■' And is it natui-al or artificial ? " we in- 

 quired. " It's all her ladyship's own work, sh- ; she did it all 

 herself." 



At this moment Lady Peai-son, who is Mrs. Clarke's 

 mother, and who resides at Welton, entered "the wilder- 

 ness," and received us with every mark of kindness and 

 welcome. We were now in a fau- way of knowing more 

 about the wOdemess, the history of wliieh is as follows ; — 



Some years ago, when Lady Pearson came to reside with 

 Major Clarke^ she requested that she might have a piece of 

 ground in any waste corner where ehe might do just what I 



she liked, and with no one to interfere with hei-. Beino- * 

 lady of great taste, with a correct eye for the beautiful, and 

 withal of great mental as well as physical activity. Lady 

 Pearson set about creating — not adapting, nor altering, 

 but — Uterally creating this -wilderness," which now abounds 

 with so many fine landscape effects. The spot v/hich is 

 now occupied with the subject of oiu- engraving was formerly 

 a sort of rubbish-corner in the i>axk adjoining the higii road 

 and the vUlage ; and the building, which everybody would 

 take for a rustic cottage, was, and we believe is still, the 

 end of a stable or sooie such structure. How the scene hae 





beea changed our readers can imagine from our artist's 

 representation of it. But this is only one corner of " the 

 wilderness." 



Following the path which leads past the cottage and 

 xmder the rustic bridge we followed the stream, and 

 bearing round to the right we encountered a scene of far 

 greater extent and of a bolder character. In the foreground 

 is a Swiss cottage with its rxistic gallerj- and overhanging 

 roof; and here her ladyship has an aviary of rare and in- 

 teresting birds, a museiim, and picture gallery. The scenery 

 aU round this cottage is varied and beautiful in the ertreme; 



the water is skilfully tlisposed ; here as a miniature lake 

 with a sinuous and now and then rotu-ing outline, and there 

 running ofi' in a lively babbling stream, making music as it 

 flows. Still continuing our course beyond the Swiss cottage 

 we enter a bold rocky region rising precipitouslv all round, 

 the monotony being broken by the advancing and reth-ing 

 outline, the shady nooks, and the tasteftl style :n which it 

 is planted. All natural effects are here represented. En- 

 I trances to caverns, by the fidelity of theii- representation, 

 seem as if they penetrated far into the hill, and attract the 

 curioxis merely to find that they are not a yard in depth. 



