INTRODUCTION xix 



corrugations of the stem, supporting a dense mass of branches 

 that sweep the ground and form an arbour two hundred and 

 thirty-eight feet in circumference. John Cockburn casually 

 alludes to it. ' By east the Yew Tree,' Bell is ' to thin out 

 many of the fruit trees now for their thickness hinders their 

 bearing.'' It now forms the chief ornament of the flower 

 garden, a bit of ornamentation which the practical Cockburn 

 deemed superfluous, for in all the correspondence flowers are 

 never mentioned. Some time after 1816, when the dowager 

 Lady Hopetoun came to reside at Ormistoun, she enlarged 

 his modest mansion of 1745, and formed the parterres at the 

 expense of his beloved garden. 



Mr. John Hamilton, head forester on the estate, has secured 

 for me a manuscript which throws much light on the garden 

 and its history. It was put together in 1816 by the gardener, 

 James Smith, at the request of Sir George Mackenzie of Coul. 



' Ormiston Hall, in East Lothian, is situated near the western 

 confines of the county, and twelve miles east by south from Edin- 

 burgh. The only garden here prior to 1770 was the old one near 

 the mansion-house. It cannot be ascertained when the garden was 

 made out, but from a date ^ over one of the doors it must have 

 stood one hundred and eighty years. The first trees for this 

 garden had been selected with great care from the cider and 

 other fruit districts, and was probably the best sorts then culti- 

 vated in the island.^ The trees grew to a large size, and pro- 

 duced very abundant crops, so much so that about 1740 several 



^ Over a gate entering the garden is a stone with an inscription, thus : — 



/ S D \ 



/G.C. M.tA 



/ 1636 \ 



It refers to the great-grandfather of John Cockburn, Sir George, and his wife 



Dame Margaret Touris, of the old family of Touris of Inverleith. 



^ It will be a surprise to many to find such evidences of culture as gardens in 

 Scotland early in the seventeenth century. In the Privy Council Register a com- 

 plaint is dealt with (1621) under the Act against destroying trees, to the effect 

 that ' men broke down the dykes of the orchard [garden] of Lethem at night 

 replenisht with plenty of fruict of all kyndis, growand and hingand, climed 

 trees and shooke down the fruit and broke the branches. ' 



