t 172 ] 



GARDENS 

 OLD-&NEW 



PANSHANGER, 



HERTFORDSHIRE, 



THE SEAT OF ... 



EARL COWPER. 



ANY memories crowd upon 

 the visitor to Panshanger, 

 that very stately mansion 

 of Earl Cowper in Hertfordshire, 

 a place possess : ng all the characteristic features of a great 

 house, and in particular having a very large and finely-timbered 

 park, with the pretty river Mimrarn running through the 

 midst of it, and a truly noble garden for its adornment. The 

 house is comparatively modern, and of the Gothic of the 

 beginning of this century a bad period, unfortunately, for 

 any house to have been built in and it is very famous for 

 its magnificent collection of pictures. It stands in a fine 

 position on the brow of a hill commanding a prospect of the 

 park, which lies between Cole Green and Hertingfordbury, 

 and of the surrounding country. The Cole Green estate 

 belonged early in the last century to one Elvves, a London 



merchant, and that at Hertingford- 

 bury to a Mrs. Culling ; but both 

 were bought by Lord Chancellor 

 Cowper, who built a house, after 

 the year 1740, in a favourable situation near Cole Green. 

 Later on, when considerable additions had been made to the 

 estate, the fifth Earl Cowper decided to erect the present 

 house on the higher ground. The noble collection of Italian 

 pictures had been made chiefly by the third Earl, who passed 

 a considerable part of his life in Florence. 



The present Earl Cowper takes very great interest in 

 the estate and its gardens, and our pictures reveal the 

 condition of perfection in which the latter are maintained. 

 The situation is favourable, for the park is picturesquely 

 undulated and the woodland fine, whilst the mansion presents 

 a most imposing appe.irance in its setting of varied green. 



Tilt TLkkACE GAKUEN. 



Country I ife." 



