44 



GARDENS OLD AND NFW. 



Taylor can now be found there. We do not now trace the 

 touch of ancient Adrian Gilbert's quaint fancy and curious 

 hand there. Yet old yews are in the gardens which 

 probably belong to those early times of classic Wilton, and, 

 lingering in "the yew tree's shade," it is pleasant to remember 

 how the cutter and pleacher of trees worked out his 

 picturesque fancies there of yore. He did not enjoy the 

 advantages of these days, for the florist, with his new charms, 

 has tempted the gardener, we may say, out into the fuller 

 sunshine. 



It has always been the happy fortune of Wilton to remain 

 in the hands of those who have valued it. The Herberts have 

 been the patrons and lovers of everything good in art, so that 

 the choicest adornments have been chosen to beautify their 

 home. Judicious planting, the laying out of broad stretches 

 of turf, the addition of architectural features and of appropriate 

 statuary, and a fine conception of what gardens should be, have 

 contributed to make the surroundings of the house peculiarly 

 satisfactory. 



The country tends to be flat, but there is the charm 



as the reader will anticipate, the features are all Italian. 

 There are gay masses of colour in these beds, with stone 

 edgings and green margins, ranged about the fountain ; 

 there is the contrast of rich and glorious foliage ; there are 

 the terrace walls and statues of the style, all conceived in the 

 finest taste, without a jarring note to break the classic 

 spell. Then, on the south side, with equal dignity, we 

 find green stretches of lawn, with stone-edged flower-beds 

 at the nearer margin, to set off the stateliness of the 

 splendid pile. 



Amid the many aspects of formal and natural gardening 

 that grace this princely abode, the leading characters will be 

 discerned in the rich greensward and masses of trees which 

 enframe or relieve the rest. One particularly noble feature 

 is the group of ancient cedars of Lebanon, planted about 

 the year 1631, and older even than the monarchs of Warwick 

 and Goodwood. They were, in fact, probably the earliest 

 cedars planted in England ; and thus we linger, with pleasant 

 thoughts of those who dowered us with these beautiful 

 trees, beneath their sombre shade. Of course the storms 





Copyright. 



THE ANCIENT CEDARS. 



Country Life.' 



of water, for the rivers Nadder and Wily of which one 

 bounds the park, and the other separates the pleasure 

 grounds from the kitchen gardens add grace to the scene. 

 How the opportunity has been seized of throwing a classic 

 character over the place, may be seen in the picture of the 

 fine Palladian arcaded bridge, designed by Inigo Jones, which 

 was built by Henry, Earl of Pembroke, for the crossing 

 of the Nadder. 



Successive hands have, indeed, enriched the sur- 

 roundings of Wilton with new attractions. The place owes 

 much to the taste and judgment of Catherine, Countess of 

 Pembroke, daughter of Count Woronzow, who died in 1856, 

 and whose noble monument is in that surprisingly beautiful 

 l.ombardic church at Wilton, a vision, as it were, of the 

 Renaissance of Northern Italy, erected by Lord Herbert of Lea, 

 her son. This lady, in the changes she effected in the 

 gardens, was guided much by the advice of Sir Richard 

 Westmacott. 



There are several styles of gardening at Wilton, giving 

 variety and character to the grounds. Near the house, 



of years have thinned the venerable growth of these 

 monarchs, but others have been planted to bear them 

 company and to maintain the history of the pioneer cedars 

 of Wilton. 



Here is a lesson that should be learned to think of 

 the future, and where, in forest or copse, the decay of Nature 

 sets in, to plant the vigorous shoots that shall speak to later 

 generations of the character and beauty of the things we are 

 now delighted to behold. 



From the Italian garden we may pass along a pleasant 

 walk between lofty yews, relics of the old garden of Isaac de 

 Caus and Adrian Gilbert, to the building known as Holbein's 

 Porch, a stone structure which formed part of the old house. 

 Sir Richard Westmacott had much to do with the planting 

 of the shrub groups, and there is a broad walk running at 

 right angles to the east front, 3Ooft. long, and terminating 

 in a stone seat clustered with yew, which also was his. 

 Wherever we go, however, something will please us, and it 

 is much, indeed, to view the noble spire of Salisbury from 

 the gardens of classic Wilton. 



