GARDENS OLD AND M:7K 



billiard-room, where the table is made from the wood of 

 Kempenfelt's ill-fated " Royal George," and to the great suite 

 along the southern facade the bright and cheerful drawing- 

 room, the saloon, the library, and the breakfast-room, each 

 noble in proportions, rich in plenishings, and rare in pictures. 

 Then comes the projecting dining-room, entered through a 

 spacious hall, and adorned chiefly with statuary, and beyond 

 lies the new wing with the private apartments, those along 

 the great southern facade having the beaut, ful family dining- 

 room at one end, and the Duke's study at the other, with 

 the Duchess's boudoir, hung with fine family portraits, and 

 the Venetian Room. 



We, however, are content to look out from the noble 

 terrace, over that glorious ground of colour presented by the 

 pudens, to the further terrace, where Benvenuto Cellini's 

 Perseus lifts aloft the head we think of the great Florentine 

 flinging his dishes and porringers into the furnace to make 

 up the metal for the casting and to the lake, with its wooded 

 islets and the sylvan thickets that overhang. 



it was found possible to maintain the level of the lake by 

 conducting into it various sources of supply from the hills. 

 But the work of diverting the Trent was one of very great 

 labour, though all difficulties were overcome, and the river now 

 joins a culvert underground, being thus conveyed through the 

 grounds and out into its own channel lower down, and away 

 from the surroundings of the house. Needless to say, 

 Trentham, by this iireat work, has been made almost a 

 different place, and it is an illustration of the loving 

 care bestowed upon the domain, as well as of what can 

 be done to avert such dangers as threaten some fair place in 

 the garden world. Among other improvements recently 

 brought about is the rearrangement of the great con- 

 servatory. 



As the pictures show, the flower garden is of an essentially 

 formal character. This is especially true of the great garden 

 on the south side, but even lovers of landscape gardening will 

 admit that it is in excellent keeping with the house it adorns. 

 From the mansion, on this side, a splendid view is obtained, 



Copyright. 



"Country Life.' 



THE FRONT VIE\V. 



For Trentham is more famous, perhaps, for its gardens 

 than for itself. The situation is one of especial beauty. 

 Behind the house, indeed, to the north, a few miles higher up 

 the Trent, are those thriving towns of the Potteries, but 

 these do not obtrude upon the fair scene, and notwith- 

 standing their proximity, it is observed that plant life 

 is very robust, and certainly wholly satisfying to behold 

 in its varied forms. The aspect r.f the gardens and park 

 in summer, and, indeed, throughout the year, is extra- 

 ordinarily beautiful, and testifies to the ore bestowed upon 

 them by the noble owner. The pictures well illustrate 

 their special characteristics and merits. Perhaps no place in 

 England unless it be Chatsworth is so sumptuously laid out, 

 and since the present Duke of Sutherland came into possession 

 a great deal has been accomplished in adding further to the 

 beauties of the place. The chief work has been the cleansing 

 and purification of the lake. The Trent had grown foul by 

 ras'.n of the sewage of the great towns above, and it became 

 necessary to supply the \\ater irum another source. Happily 



the eye being carried over the beauti'ul formal foreground to 

 the ornamental water, from the margins of which the land 

 rises, clothed with woodland, to form a charming setting to the 

 picture. Especially glorious is this prospect of the Tittensor 

 Hills when autumn clothes the steeps with its resplendent 

 hues. 



A stone terrace, with a parapet or balustrade, extends 

 round the house, connected with a gallery, and as the visitor 

 paces this delightful walk, with charming alcoves and classic 

 canopies for statues here and there, he bjholds a magnificent 

 panorama of the valley of the Trent. But there is nothing to 

 exceed in beauty the great view from the south terrace, 

 already alluded to, with its acres of flower-beds, its myriads of 

 blooms gloriously massed for their colour, and the lake and 

 the wooded hills beyond. 



The flower garden calls for special notice. In its formal 

 character it may be classed as a. very fine example of the 

 Italian style. We have, as it were, three stages. First there 

 is the teirace garden, admirably figured in the pictures, with 



