146 



GARDENS OLD AND A'ff. 



D o w n i n 

 the water- 

 meadows some 

 miles out of 

 Dorchester the 

 clustered gables 

 and battlements 

 of Athdhampton 

 nestle under the 

 s p r e a d i n g 

 houghs of a great 

 cedar, and in the 

 secluded courts 

 there can be 

 heard the gentle 

 coo of pigeons 

 and the conver- 

 sational putter 

 of falling water. 

 The place was 

 once the h jine 

 of the Martins, 

 a respectable 

 Dorsetshire 

 family, wli .se 

 fortunes have 

 long ceased to 

 be connected 

 with the place 



of its origin and continuance for eight generations. Then 

 the place passed into otlur hands, and some ten years 

 ago a gentleman fro.n London purchased ail of it that 

 money could buy, to enjoy the retirement and old-world 

 charm of the Dorsetshire country, which the magic pen of 



Copyright 



THE EAST SIDE. 



Thom.is Hardy 

 h.is made so 

 familiar. The 

 prospect before 

 t'.ie reconstruc- 

 tor must liave 

 been inspiring. 

 A thick' forest of 

 larches, no part 

 of any original 

 design, grew Lip 

 to the very 

 windows of the 

 house; but there 

 were other 

 tilings far more 

 promising. To 

 start with, a 

 lofty fourteenth 

 c e n t LI r y hall, 

 with a root of 

 carved oak, 

 formed the mam 

 block of the 

 building, and 

 from its western 

 end there stood 

 oLit at an angle a 

 t hr ee-storied 



Tudor wing with chained martens on the gabl.' ends. These 

 two blocks were in good preservation, and cjuld be left intact. 

 From the other end of t'.ie hall, and receding from it at right 

 angles, later additions, of no particular character, had been 

 built, and some Elizabethan windows used again in them. 



"CmiKtry Lije." 



Copyright. 



THE LILY POND AND LAWN. 



"Country Lift.' 



