424 Landscape Gardening 



ing locusts on the very day on which he was born in the 

 Newburgh garden, smiled upon his success and shared it. 

 He owed them a debt he never disavowed. Below his house 

 flowed the river of which he so proudly wrote in the preface 

 to the "Fruit-Trees" - "A man born on the banks of one 

 of the noblest and most fruitful rivers in America, and whose 

 best days have been spent in gardens and orchards, may 

 perhaps be pardoned for talking about fruit-trees." Over the 

 gleaming bay which the river's expansion at Newburgh 

 forms, glided the dazzling summer days; or the black 

 thunder-gusts swept suddenly out from the bold highlands 

 of West Point; or the winter landscape lay calm around the 

 garden. From his windows he saw all the changing glory 

 of the year. New York was of easy access by the steamers 

 that constantly passed to and from Albany and the river 

 towns, and the railroad brought the city within three hours 

 of his door. It brought constant visitors also, from the city 

 and beyond; and scattered up and down the banks of the 

 Hudson were the beautiful homes of friends, with whom he 

 was constantly in the exchange of the most unrestrained hos- 

 pitality. He added to his house the working-room commu- 

 nicating with the library by the mysterious door, and was 

 deeply engaged in the planning and building of country- 

 houses in every direction. Among these I may mention, as 

 among the last and finest, the summer residence of Daniel 

 Parish, Esq., at Newport, R. I. Mr. Downing knew that 

 Newport was the great social exchange of the country, that 

 men of wealth and taste yearly assembled there, and that a 

 fine house of his designing erected there would be of the 

 greatest service to his art. This house is at once simple, 

 massive, and graceful, as becomes the spot. It is the work 

 of an artist, in the finest sense, harmonious with the bare 

 cliff and the sea. But even where his personal services 

 were not required, his books were educating taste, and his 

 influence was visible in hundreds of houses that he had 

 never seen. He edited, during this year, Mrs. London's 

 ''Gardening for Ladies," which was published by Mr. John 

 Wiley. No man was a more practically useful friend to 



