GARDENS OLD AND Nf-W. 



THE NORTH FRONT. 



This younger line of Cordells altered the house, made the 



moat semi-circular, and put sashes in the windows. Sir Robert 



was succeeded by his son 



and grandson, after which the 



title became extinct. But 



Margaret Cordell married Sir 



Charles F rebrace, in whose 



family it remained till it 



was purchased by Sir Harry 



Parker (sixth baronet) in 1786. 



since which date that dis- 



tinguished family has con- 



tinued to live there. 



We have left an account 

 of the gardens until the last. 

 ;md it shall be brief. They 

 are simple and beautiful, with 

 ample lawns and superb beds 

 and borders of flowers. There 

 is no elaboration, and the 

 masonry terrace and formal 

 parterre are absent. There 

 is no certainty that they 

 ever were there. The land 

 has been levelled, and on 

 the north side the lawn is 

 raised, with a slope to the 

 ditch and a brick wall at its 

 margin. The character of the 

 gardens will be best gathered 

 from the pictures. There is 

 great structural completeness 

 about the setting of the 

 house, from the gates and 

 lodge, where the octagon 

 turrets of the Hall are 

 repeated, to the magnificent 

 bowling green pavilion. Tin- 

 double gate-house, with its 

 fine background of trees, is 

 excellent, while the pavilion rHE 



is a most 

 approached 



notable garden-house, or octagon of brick, 

 by a steep flight of steps, and entered by an 



Ionic porch It has two 



levels, and the house is high, 

 the windows being intended 

 to give a wide view over 

 the landscape. Each side is 

 surmounted by a gable, and 

 each gabie and interspace by 

 a brick finial. The old brick 

 garden wall and border lead- 

 ing to this pavilion are a 

 beautiful instance of the grace 

 of congruity in which antique 

 building and modern garden- 

 ing agree. B'oad spaces of 

 grass seem an appropriate fore- 

 ground to the red brick houses 

 of East Anglia, and glorious 

 flower borders their right 

 accompaniment. The sundial 

 challenges the stranger as he 

 approaches the porch, and i> 

 a very pleasing and elegant 

 example of the garden 

 monitor. Melford Hall is 

 distinguished by the presence 

 of old trees in its neigh- 

 bourhood, and they make, 

 with the old house and its 

 simple gardens, a fine picture 

 of an East Anglian mansion. 

 Melford is a house of which 

 the county of Suffolk is 

 justly proud. The builder 

 was a Suffolk man of much 

 con equence, and the present 

 owners have maintained the 

 traditions of the place with 

 honour and distinction for 

 many generations. 



