228 A BOOK OF ENGLISH GARDENS 



infinitely more delightful than all the little labyrinths 

 of the most finished Parterre." 



Notwithstanding his new principles in Gardening 

 if it is his Garden at Bilton, in Warwickshire, 

 he describes it must have possessed great charm, 

 and can have been little marred by the faults of the 

 style he admired. He writes: " It is a confusion of 

 Kitchen and Parterre, Orchard and Flower Garden, 

 which lie so mixed and interwoven with one another 

 that if a foreigner who had seen nothing of our 

 country should be conveyed to my Garden at his 

 landing, he would look upon it as a natural wilder- 

 ness, and one of the uncultivated parts of our 

 country. My flowers grow up in several parts of 

 the Garden in the greatest luxuriancy and profusion. 

 I am so far from being fond of any particular one by 

 reason of its rarity, that if I meet with any one in a 

 field which pleases me I give it a place in my 

 Garden." 



It is doubtful whether Addison was allowed by 

 his imperious Countess to put any of his views into 

 practice in the Garden at Holland House, as most 

 probably the two held different opinions on this 

 subject as on most other points. The marriage did 

 not prove a happy one, and some wit cleverly 

 remarked, " Holland House, although a large house, 

 could not contain Mr. Addison, the Countess of 

 Warwick, and one guest Peace." 



In 1719 Addison died it is said of a broken 



