SOME CORNISH GARDENS. 221 



sown ; and I noticed a robust young Pinus insignis 

 which had started business on his own account, and 

 was thriving prosperously ; not only are there flowers 

 of all denominations alpine, herbaceous, or shrubs, 

 from bulbs, vernal, festival , autumnal, and hybernal, 

 lilies from minimum to maximum (giganteum twelve 

 feet high), for Mr. Boscawen was one of the first who 

 grew them al fresco ; not only to this charming site, 

 which commands exquisite views of the river below, 

 and of the oak woods beyond, and to this genial 

 climate, in which the Lapageria flourishes on his 

 walls, and the standard peach tree fruits in the open, 

 has he brought all things bright and beautiful, but he 

 has arrayed them with a consummate grace of con- 

 gruity ; there he holds his own against all comers 

 slugs, rabbits, hares, outlying deer, ungenial seasons ; 

 and there he has established, and long may he enjoy, 

 the most perfect example of a wild garden, which, as 

 I believe, is to be found in England.* 



THE GARDEN AT POBTHGWIDDEN. 



I WOULD observe of Cornish gardens generally, that, 

 favoured as they are, in their glens and glades and on 

 their sunny slopes, by climate and culture, nature 

 and art, they present a striking contrast, which much 

 enhances their beauty, with the moorlike and mono- 

 tonous scenery of the country through which you pass 

 to see them. A Cambridge don, inviting Dr. Whe- 

 well to. visit him in Cornwall, is said to have given 

 to that illustrious scholar this direction: "When 



* Both he and his brother, Lord Falmouth, have since died 



