258 PITT, MARQUESS WELLESLEY, ST. JOHN. 



Wellesley shewed his fondness for flowers almost 

 to the last moment of his life. The conservatory 

 of that great statesman at Kingston House was a 

 blaze of beauty, even in Winter ; and not a long 

 time before he died, he mentioned to me the great 

 delight it afforded him. 



The celebrated St. John, Lord Bolingbroke, 

 was also a lover of gardens. When he resided on 

 his beautiful estate, called La Source, near Orleans, 

 the taste he shewed in its adornment is said to have 

 been exquisite. He calls it " his Hermitage ;" 

 and in mentioning the small river Loiret, which 

 has its source near his residence, he says, " I have, 

 in my wood, the biggest and clearest spring in 

 Europe, which forms, before it leaves the park, 

 a more beautiful river than any which flows in 

 Greek or Latin verse. '* Like Shenstone, he placed 

 inscriptions in his grounds. When he resided at 

 Dawley, Pope, in one of his letters to Swift, says, 

 " I now hold the pen for my Lord Bolingbroke, 

 who is reading your letter between two hay-cocks; 

 but his attention is somewhat diverted by casting 

 his eyes on the clouds, not in admiration of what 

 you say, but for fear of a shower. As to the re- 

 turn of his health and vigour, were you here, you 

 might enquire of his hay-makers; but as to his 

 temperance, I can answer, that for one whole day 

 we have had nothing for dinner but mutton broth, 

 beans and bacon, and a barn-door fowl. Now his 



