136 



GAR DUNS OLD AND Nl-W. 



t!i.-y bring an element of classic charm, which seems all in 

 harmony, though its architectural character is not the same. 

 The north porch has a singular fascination in its Italian grace 

 and style, its sculptured aJornments of heraldry and strap- 

 work, its ardies, niches, and pilasters, and, indeed, combined 

 with the terracing and the stairway, makes a picture of true 

 domestic beauty, th? garden foreground add.ng the final charm. 

 The delicacy of the constructional work is surpassed in few 

 places, and Cranborne Manor House deserves to stand as an 

 architectural triumph of the time. Over the sou h porch, 

 upon which old horse-shoes hang for luck, may be seen the 

 scales of Justice, and Mercy, a female figure, these having 

 allusion to the former use of the great hall at Cranborne for 

 judicial purposes when the baronial and other courts of 

 Cranborne Chase were held there. At the east end they still 

 point cut the dungeon where the offenders on such occasions 

 were ofte.i c nfined. Thus does the place take us back to 

 the old days of forest law an i b.ironial jurisdiction. 



In a house with such goodly external features, it is 

 pleasant to find corresponding attractions within, and at 



taste of successive ages, is very impressive, and it will be 

 seen how well the structure falls into those green surroundings. 

 Its terrace is worthy of Haddon Hall. That feature is great 

 in all the annals of garden ng, the place from which extensive 

 prospects were surveyed, and terraces appear in many forms 

 in the illustrations in these pages. But rarely shall we find 

 anything to surpass, in simple and beautiful character or 

 appropriateness to its surroundings, the te race at Cranborne 

 Manor. The garden below is full of colour and sweetness, and 

 tall hardy flowers margin the de.ightful pathways of turf. The 

 bowling alley, called to new popularity in the revival of that 

 ancient game of skill, brings back the gay cavalier and the 

 gentlemen of the powdered wig and clouded cane, and the 

 laughter of the ladies of long ago. 



Now there are few more attractive spots in any garden 

 than a well-shaded bowling green, amid its hedges and trees. 

 William Lavvson, "the Isaac Walton of Gardening," who 

 wrote about three centuries back, like all Englishmen of his 

 time, loved the bowling alley, where, in friendly contest, men 

 might pass the evenings of summer. " To have occasion to 



A BACKGROUND OF YEW. 



Cranborne Manor House no disappointment awaits those 

 privileged to enter. It was a place fit for kings, and kings 

 have often visited it. James I. was here on August ijth, 

 1609, and killed several bucks in the chase, and again in 

 August, 1621, dating thence three letters to his " sweete 

 boys," who were then at Madrid on the business of the 

 Spanish maniage. Charles I. was at Cranborne also, but in 

 far different circumstances, on October i4th, 1644, during the 

 Civil War, when Waller had been defeated at Cropredy 

 Bridge and Essex had surrendered in Cornwall, but when the 

 n-conJ battle of Newbury was to darken the Royal fortunes. 

 Cranborne Manor House has still " King James's Room," with 

 an ancient bedstead and tapestry, :md Queen Elizabeth's 

 saddle is among its treasures. Out of the mullioned windows 

 have looked along the garden alleys, and over the fair courts 

 where the old-fashioned flowers grew, men whose names are 

 great in history and fair ladies remembered still for their 

 charms. 



The picturesque grouping of the buildings, marking the 



exercise within your orchard," he says, " it shall be a pleasure 

 to have a bowling alley." True, being "more manly and 

 more healthful! " or so he thought it he would have preferred 

 "a payre of buttes, to stretch your arms"; but we no longer 

 have butts in our gardens in these days, and those are 

 fortunate who can lay out so sweet a place for their diversion 

 as that good alley in the garden at Cran orne. 



The ivy-grown entrance lodge, with the arch rising 

 between these two densely vested structures set diagonal-wise, 

 has an individual charm of its own. It d serves to be n >ted 

 as a suggestion among houses of the class. We do not know 

 anything quite like it. Perhaps, if the ivy did not cLthe the 

 arch so closely, the structural features might be a little better 

 seen, but we shall go a long way before we find so pleasant 

 an entrance to so beautiful a place. The opportunities lor 

 originality are many, and the garden-maker, even if he foil >\v 

 the traditional style of his choice, may venture from the 

 beaten track to create some beauty or interest to his mind ; 

 and it is not tj be denied that this entrance to Cianboriie 



