58 GAEDEN MANAGEMENT. 



generous sleep the sleep of death in a foreign grave ; and the moody man sits 

 on an imperial throne, and sways the destinies of a great people, — ^we had 

 almost said of the world. But with this we have no concera, — sub ximhra vitis 

 sui, — under the shadow of our own vine, let us see to our fruit-trees and 

 flower-beds. The gi-ounds of Goro House were of no great pretensions as a 

 garden, but its lawn and flower-beds were wonderfully attractive ; it had the 

 settled aspect of an old place, where everything was attended to without much 

 display ; the walks were well kept, shady, and winding, and some beautifully- 

 arranged groups of trees — arranged, however, more by Nature than by Art- 

 gave a park-like appearance to its moderate extent. The trees themselves 

 gave an ancestral appearance to this model of suburban residences. 



139. Jlany more of om- readers will remember the grounds in 1S51, when the 

 popular and good-humoured Adolphe Soyer was its Amphitryon. The changes 

 ho made were slight in themselves, but they must have conveyed a shock to 

 many who remembered the house and grounds as the perfection of elegance. The 

 star-spangled saloons and Sun Chamber of the fantastic Frenchman were a sad 

 desecration of the elegant drawing-i'oom and boudoir of the beautiful countess, 

 — the bizarre statues and fantastic fountains poor substitutes for the broad 

 walks and dignified ancestral trees of the former period. 



140. Another epoch in the history of this piece of gi'ound will bo remem- 

 bered by many as well as ourselves, — the morning when the knell was rung by 

 the axe at the roots of these trees. Down they went, not exactly in their 

 ** pride of place," for they had lost many of their charms ; but one feels the 

 fall of trees as a sort of admontio mortis. Then the stalwart navvy made his 

 appearance in these grounds, sacred to the Muses ; deep trenches were opened 

 all over its surface, and mysterious-looking pipes of crockery were scattered 

 about, which gradually disappeared in the bowels of the earth ; — the water, which 

 the fantastic tastes of M. Soyer had trained into so many bizai-re conditions, 

 was sent underground. The contractor's cart next made its appearance, and 

 ** matter " which the improver said was in the wrong, was conveyed to the right, 

 place. Slow but sure, like destiny, the contractoi-'s cart moved along, adding 

 its fi-eight to other accumulations, and shapely terraces began to snow them- 

 selves ; and then came the external walls, now forming the backs of the corridors, 

 and the scene, which had its own peculiar interest for us, was shut out from our 

 view, to burst upon it another day in all its glory of sloping banks, geometric 

 flower-beds, terraced esplanades, shady arcades, architectural canals and 

 basins, and, by-and-by we shall have to add, gushing cascades ; for this 

 spot is the site fixed upon tor the ornamental gardens of thq Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society. 



141. No spot could have been selected more suitable for a town, or I'ather 

 suburban garden, than the garden-grounds attached to Gore House. The 

 l^ortion appropriated to the Horticultural Society, which is three-and-twenty 

 acres, stretches away to the south 1,200 feet, by about 800 at its southern 

 extremity, sloping gently to the south, with a fall or 20 feet in its whole extent. 

 Tlie soil and subsoil were of the most favourable description ; the former a rich 



