NOVEMBER 225 



the months when his master came from town. From 

 his point of view this was a most praiseworthy object, 

 and no doubt gave great satisfaction. It was copied, for 

 the v same reasons, by most of the great houses in England. 

 But what was really unfortunate, and can only recall the 

 old fable of the ox and the frog, was the imitation of this 

 system in all the gardens of England, down to the half- 

 acre surrounding a vicarage, or the plot of ground in 

 front of a suburban residence. The ox, as we know, was 

 big by nature ; and when the frog imitated him, it was 

 flattering to the ox, but the frog came to grief. So I 

 think to this day, if bedding-out is ever tolerable, it is on 

 the broad terraces facing large stone houses, with which 

 we have nothing to do here. Where it becomes in- 

 tolerable, and perhaps it is hard to blame Paxton for this, 

 is in the miniature Chatsworths, with their little lawns 

 and their little beds, their Pelargoniums often only 

 coloured leaves, like the Mrs. Pollock their dwarf Calceo- 

 larias, their purple Verbenas, and their blue Lobelias; 

 where the lady is not allowed to pick, and where the 

 gardener, if he is masterful and gets his own way, turns 

 the old herbaceous border in front of the house into that 

 terrible abomination called ' carpet-bedding.' Paxton 

 was a very remarkable man in his way. When taken up 

 by the Queen and the Prince Consort, he built in 1851 

 that wonderful and ever-to-be-remembered glass case, 

 in Hyde Park, the first general International Exhibition, 

 which enclosed two large elms. Poor trees ! how they 

 hated it! Their drooping autumnal appearance is my 

 strongest childish remembrance of that Exhibition. 

 Paxton was knighted by the Queen, and partly built the 

 Crystal Palace at Sydenham with the remains of the 

 Hyde Park Exhibition. 



1835. Culpepper's 'Complete Herbal.' A republica- 

 tion of his original ' Epistle to the Reader ' is dated from 



Q 



