12 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



the house passed to Henry Bowes Howard, Earl of Berkshire, 

 and descended through female heirs to successive owners. 

 It appears to have been well cared for throughout its history, 

 but never more so than now, when it possesses the old-world 

 quaintness that conjures up before us the very spirit of the 

 older time. Before we pass out into the garden, we may, in 

 fancy, be privileged to drink the ancient toast from a goblet 

 called a "constable," filled with " a unique and bitter com- 

 pound of the genus of ale," while, as custom dictates, we 

 stand on one leg "Luck to Levens while the Kent flows! " 

 There is a portrait at Levens of M. Beaumont, " professor 

 of the topiary art" to James II., who created the gardens 

 under the direction of Colonel Graham. They seem to have 

 been begun about the year 1701, and have the quaintest 

 charm, in their trim and grotesque character, that can be 

 imagined. There are old-world formal gardens in many 

 places still ; Scotland has yet some dear old pleasaunces, like 



yew, and bushes cut into globes and cones, or even into 

 judges' wigs and grotesque birds, shall we have no glow of 

 floral beauty ? Levens is a standing demonstration to the 

 contrary, for its ancient topiary work is associated with 

 flowers in great and varied profusion, which are enhanced in 

 effect by the dark greens of the trees and bushes. Evidently 

 the law maxim, " Inclusio unius est exclusio alterius," has no 

 force in the verdant and floral courts of the gardening world, 

 and, then, so enthusiastic a lover of the "natural" style of 

 gardening as Batty Langley, who was a boy when Levens was 

 designed, included cones of evergreens among the adornments 

 of his " beautiful rural garden." 



The terrace in front of the house commands a fine view 

 of the noble country in which Levens lies. From the eastern 

 end of the terrace extends the formal garden. There Nature 

 and Art have certainly worked hand in hand, and the abundant 

 fecundity of one has been matched by the patient labour and 



Copyright. 



FROM THE SOUTH. 



' Country Life. ' 



that sweet region at Tully Veolan, where Rose Bradwardine 

 walked with Waverley. There are recent gardens of the old 

 character, too. But, go where we will, we shall find nothing 

 in its kind to rival ancient Levens. No other place in England 

 possesses so much old and curious topiary work. In the intro- 

 duction to this volume something of the history of topiary 

 gardening in England is told. From mere quaintness gresv its 

 extravagance, it became fashionable in extreme developments, 

 and the bitter satire of Pope and others killed it entirely. But 

 the topiarius is an ancient functionary in the garden, who was 

 known even to Pliny, and throughout his history he has 

 certainly invested his verdant realm with a great deal of 

 curious charm. Levens is the happiest example of his skill 

 that England possesses, and is happily illustrative of a point 

 that must be insisted upon that the adoption of one masterful 

 feature of gardening Joes not involve the banishment of the 

 charms of others. Because we have trim borders of box or 



extraordinary skill of the other. Colour and the quaintness of 

 peculiar beauty crowns the conjoint work. It is an ideal and 

 grotesque world we enter when we tread tile pleasure-place 

 of Colonel Graham and of M. Beaumont, the gardener who 

 came from France. Fantastic forms rise in yew, strange and 

 remarkable, as far as the eye can reach a peacock here, 

 a huge umbrella-like construction there, an archway, a 

 lion and a crown, a helmet bigger than any man could wear, 

 and a host of other such creations, all shaped out of the 

 "ductile yew," except that some of the smaller adornments 

 are in box. A bewildering world of gardening, some may say ! 

 We rest in a green arbour, shaped after the fashion of a 

 judge's wig, to wonder what some strange animal or figure 

 can be. " At last," says Mrs. Bagot, in an account she has 

 written of this marvellous pleasaunce, " I see you pause in 

 bewilderment over some weird contorted figures of box, which 

 form a complete circle round a small rose garden. Are they 



