232 A BOOK ABOUT THE GARDEN. 



able than ours ; but Belvoir in its vernal loveliness 

 excels them all ! 



There are, of course, many gardens more extensive, 

 having a longer succession and a more varied display 

 of beauty, such as Mons. Dognin's glorious grounds 

 at Cannes, overlooking the Mediterranean, or those of 

 the Duke of Buccleuch at Drumlanrig, but as a 

 spring garden, to be visited in March and April, I claim 

 for Belvoir a reginal (if I were a Eoman Catholic I 

 should say a papal) supremacy. The position is 

 perfect sunny slopes, " green and of mild declivity," 

 or steep and stony, suggesting alpine plants and path- 

 ways, with grand old trees, evergreen and deciduous, 

 over which, as you walk on the higher ranges of the 

 gardens, you see the lake beyond, and through, which as 

 you wander below, the picturesque towers of the castle. 



The arrangement of the beds, banks, groups is 

 perfect also ; colour just where it is most effective, of 

 every hue, but always in congruity ; no gaudy glare 

 to frizzle your eye-lashes ; no sensational contrasts, 

 which seem to say, " Now, did you ever ? " but an 

 exquisite freshness, brightness, unity, repose. With 

 the exception of a brilliant crimson rhododendron, 

 who, I must say, gave me the idea of having, in the 

 parlance of our day, " a good deal of side on," though 

 he was only there on sufferance as an old inhabitant 

 of that part of the garden before the spring flowers 

 came, I did not see a flower or shrub which could 

 have found a more happy home. 



And, apropos of arrangements and felicitous dis- 

 posals, there was uppermost that day in my garden 

 thoughts the glad conviction that the right man was 



