September 3, 18C8. ) JODRNAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



171 



ol the " New Bath Guide," and who from boyhood and over 

 more than fourscore years was " a fellow of infinite jest." In 

 him humour had by far the mastery of discretion, and I wish 

 there was room to spare in your columns for the burlesque 

 declamation which conferred upon him rustication instead of 

 an M.A. degree. He even rendered his wit hereditary, for his 

 son in " The Pleader's Guide " satirised legal proceedings by a 

 detail of the arguments of Counsellors Botherum and Boreum 

 in the case of John-a-GuU r. John-a-Gudgeon. Who amongst 

 your readers, besides old spiders of literature like myself, ever 

 read the "New Bath Guide?" Yet its wit still sparkles, and 

 doctors, presumed Cantwells, and fashionable manners, even 

 when out of date, are always subjects for palatable ridicule. 

 Its author died at Harnage in 1805, and this epitaph, extracted 

 from his volume, might have been inscribed on his monu- 

 ment : — 



" Farewell ! may the turf where thy cold reliques rest 

 Bear herbs, odoriferous herbs, o'er thy breiist ; 

 Their heads Thyme and Sage and Pot-Marjorara wave. 

 And fat be the gander that feeds on thy grave." 



Passing on, still beneath noble trees and among an under- 

 wood of evergreens, the visitor will reach a wicket, and there, 

 in its " God's Acre," stands the church, of which the accom- 

 panying is the portrait. 



Elevated, as a church should be,it crowns a hill's summit, 

 and between some of its neighbouring trees looks out, as such 

 beacons should, across a wide landscape, here bounded in the 

 twenty-mile horizon by Salisbury Plain. Its architecture is 

 simple and graceful, and the Ivy embraces and clings to it as 

 Ivy always should to a church, if I could have my taste satis- 

 fied, for it is ever green, and thus at once savours of the loving, 

 confiding, and everlasting. Passing to the interior, the same 

 all-fittingness there prevails : no exclusive pews, no decorations, 

 yet all things in the perfection of neatness. 



But few commemorative tablets are on the walls ; yet among 

 them one records the resting-place of old John Thorpe, the 

 antiquary, one of the rare exceptions of a son celebrated in the 

 same field where his father had been his distinguished pre- 

 decessor. How few clerical fathers have clerical sons ? but 

 how many of them contribute to our naval and military lists ! 

 However, John Thorpe, the antiquary, and author of the 

 " Eegistrum Koffense," or Rochester Register, was the father 

 of the John Thorpe whose remains are in this churchyard, ani 

 he, too, published a volume of Rochester antiquities, entitled 

 " Custumale Ivoffense." He would deserve a record in the.se 

 pages if only because a friend records that he was " skilful ami 

 curious in his garden, intelligent and commimicative in his 

 library." And he merits a record in any page that tells of 

 where a true christian gentleman rests from his labours. The 

 last years of his life were passed in Chippenham, and I do not 

 wonder that he should direct his last resting-place to be here 

 I should have done the same, though not for the reason assigned, 

 by an old lady, " It looks so healthy."* 



Beneath that temple-like tomb shown in the drawing was 

 interred another " man of his time ;" but his celebrity was 

 derived from intelligent dealings with the wealth of the present, 

 not with the old remnants of the past. There lies David Ri- 

 cardo, the eminent political economist. He died in the prime 

 of life, at his seat in Gloucestershire, yet he, too, desired to 

 rest here, for the heart clings to the desire, even when ceasing 

 to pulsate, to be retained near those it loves, and Ricardo's 

 clung to his daughter, whose husband was then the master of 

 Harnage. 



It seems strange that a man who was in early life a Jew, who 

 married a Quakeress, and then joined the Unitarians, should 

 finally repose in a graveyard of the Trinitarians. But, what- 

 ever may have been his final creed, he was during the thirty 

 concluding years of his life noted for his unflinching integrity, 

 and ho deserves the admiration of his countrymen for being 

 the early advocate of the freest competition in every branch of 

 industry, and of dealing with all nations on fair, and liberal 

 principles. 



Descending from the eastern end of the church and crossing 

 the road the visitor may pass into the rectory. It is in perfect 

 unison with the church ; so is its garden, its hen-roost, and its 

 pigeonry. I was privileged to cross the threshhold of that rec- 

 tory, and I might tell of the genial welcome, the heart-lit 

 smiles, and the firm hand-pressures that greeted me ; they 



were bestowed on me by " WiLTsnir.E Rector " and his familyi 

 and this his rectory is Hardenhuish. 



The parish is small, and the incumbent's emoluments no 

 more than £90 a-year. so that " Wiltshire Rector " might 

 reply, as did ene of his brethren, " I have no living, but I 

 have a starving near Chippenham." No one better deaerveg 

 better preferment, and no one would more rejoice to hear that 

 he had obtained it than would his friend — G. 



POMOLOGICAL GLEANINGS. 



Sdmmer BEnRRE d'Aremberg.— We have often heard from 

 the hps of Mr. Rivers a flattering account of this new seedling 

 Pear of his, which fruited for the first time two or three years 

 ago ; but from the fact of it being an early Pear, and soon past, 

 circumstances have hitherto prevented us from forming our 

 own opinion of its merits. Fortunately this season some of 

 the fruit have reached us in perfect condition, and from those 

 now before us we furnish a figure and description of this new 

 iruit. The size, as will be seen by the figure, is not large, and 



* The following is a translation of the inscription on the tablet: — 

 "In the eastern part of the graveyard now rests John Thorpe, M.A. and 

 F.A.S. Born in the parish of Saint Margaret, in the city of Rochester, in 

 the year 17ir,, and died August 2nd, a.d. 17;I2, in the hope of a joyful 

 reeujrection only through the merits of Christ." 



the form is somewhat turbinate or short obovate, even in its 

 outline. Skin of a lemon colour, slightly veined with cinnamon- 

 coloured russet, with a patch of the same here and there, and 

 particularly so round the stalk. Eye very small, frequently 

 wanting, and set very deeply in a deep and narrow basin. 

 Stalk upwards of an inch long, and inserted in a small round 

 cavity. Flesh tender, melting, juicy, brisk, and with a tine, 

 sprightly, vinous, and perfumed flavour. The fruit does not 

 keep long, as it rots at the core shortly after being gathered ; 

 but the variety is a desirable sort at this season, and it gathered 

 before it is perfectly ripe it will, no doubt, keep much longer 

 after being gathered. 



The Summer Beurre d'Aremberg was raised by Mr. Rivers 

 from the old Beurre d'Aremberg, and the tree forms naturally 

 a perfect pyramid, is hardy, and a great bearer. 



Alexandra or Alexandra Noblesse Peach.— We have 



had an opportunity of seeing and eating fruit of this season, 

 and find that all our former favourable impressions of this ex- 

 cellent Peach have been confirmed ; and there is no doubt but 

 that it is in respect of the fruit, one of the finest Peaches in 

 cultivation, and as regards the tree, one of the hardiest. Unlike 

 the Noblesse, to which the fruit bears a close similarity, the 

 tree is not subject to mildew, and the leaves are furnished with 

 round glands, whereas in the Noblesse they are glandless. 



We have received from Mr. Rivers a seedUng Plum, 



marked No. 7, which bears a close resemblance to the true 

 Nectarine Plum. It is round, purple, and of good flavour. It 

 cannot be called a dessert sort, but is a productive and early 

 bearer, like those two valuable varieties of which Mr. Rivers 

 sent us fruit ; also, it will be valuable as a market and culinary 



