10 



GARDENS OLD AND 



classic style, 

 and the raised 

 verandah was 

 specially 

 arranged to 

 give an out- 

 look over the 

 garden. The 

 presence of 

 marble vases 

 and urns, and 

 of gleaming 

 statuary, 

 contributes to 

 the effect. 

 D e c i m u s 

 Burlon, Lord 

 H o vv d e n ' s 

 architect, as 

 iswell known, 

 carried out 

 the improve- 

 ments at 

 Hyde Park in 

 1825, and 

 designed the 

 facade at 

 Hyde Park 



Corner, and the triumphal arch. He intended to place upon the 

 latter a quadriga, but the authorities lifted aloft that strange 

 equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, now removed, 

 which is said to have provoked from a French officer the 

 exclamation, " Nous sommes venges," and was always a 

 vexation to the architect. Burton was a master of the classic 

 style, and at Grimston Park applied it very successfully to 

 domestic architecture. The gardens were laid out by Mr. W. 

 A. Nesfield, and were ornamented with marble statuary and 

 vases to adorn the long walks and the terraces. It has long 

 been a custom for the gods and goddesses of antiquity to 

 display their manly strength and womanly beauty in English 

 gardens, and several well-known figures after Canova and 

 other artists may be seen in our pictures. In the great 

 Emperors' Walk, twelve marble busts of the Caesars, upon 

 tall pedestals, with sombre yews, flank the way to a temple, 

 wherein a large bust of the great Napoleon, the modern 

 Cresar, stands. The arrangement may be compared with that 

 at Brokenhurst Park in Hampshire, which is also, but in a 



THE FLORAL TERRACE. 



different 

 ma n n e r , 

 adorned with 

 the busts of 

 the Cassars. 

 Nesfield, the 

 gardener, was 

 a remarkable 

 man, who, 

 after fighting 

 his country's 

 battles as a 

 subaltern of 

 the 95th in 

 the Peninsula 

 and Canada, 

 became an 

 artist and an 

 excellent ex- 

 ponent of the 

 old water- 

 colour school, 

 and then 

 turned his 

 attention to 

 landscape 

 and classic 

 garde ning, 



and did excellent work at St. James's Park, Kew Gardens, 

 Arundel, Trentham, Alnwick, and other great places, Grimston 

 Park being a good example of his style. 



The place was bought, with the manor of Selby and the 

 domains of Londesborough, by the first Londesborough. This 

 peer was the second surviving son of the first Marquess of 

 Conyngham, and took the name of Denison under the will of 

 his maternal uncle, who bequeathed to him immense wealth. 

 Altogether, Lord Londesborough possessed upwards of 60,000 

 acres in Yorkshire, and was well known on the Turf, although 

 his horses were not very successful in the great events. He 

 was a piominent Yorkshireman, an enthusiastic antiquary, 

 vice-president of the Archaeological Institute, and president 

 of the Numismatic Society. His Lordship added much to the 

 interest of Grimston Park. When he purchased the mansion 

 he also became the owner of a remarkable collection of 

 armour and ancient art work, which was described and 

 beautifully illustrated in a volume entitled " Miscellanea 

 Graphica," by Mr. F. W. Fairholt, the antiquary. Lady 



THE ENTRANCE GATES. 



