204 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



does this terrace make for a walk when the birds, piping 

 in the early mornings of summer, fill the lovely valley 

 with song. It is a scene of repose and beauty, and 

 from this vantage point we may ascend on the right to 

 a lovely flower garden on the hill. Here, again, on 

 the terrace, the space of grass is margined by a 

 balustrade like the last, which is a masterpiece of 

 garden architecture in hard stone. The style is quite 

 unique, and the work is said to have been " done by 

 an Italian," though the character is so germane to the 

 soil. Fringing the terrace wall, and rooted in the 

 stone, are flowering bushes and wall plants, lending a 

 final charm. From this grass terrace we descend by 

 another segmental flight, the grandest of them all, 

 and floral like the rest, to the third level, to examine 

 certain objects which, from above, have already 

 aroused our curiosity. These are two admirable 

 statues of lead, representing Mars and Minerva, and 

 having granite monoliths as pedestals. Both the 

 Cornish houses included in this volume give examples 

 of classic figures, such as the age of Anne dressed 

 them, and produced in the metal so well handled 

 by the craftsmen of the day. Our old gardens 

 have no more charming features than their lead- 

 work, so much better suited to our climate than the 

 white marble of the South, and which gives quaint- 

 ness to these deities of the classic age. Truly this 

 progression downward from terrace to terrace through 

 the gardens of Newton Ferrers has a rare and 

 singular fascination. There are terraces elsewhere, 

 and even segmental stairs and leaden statues, but 



in few places is there so striking a combination. 

 Here is a garden that derives much of its endow- 

 ment of beauty from its surroundings. On the height 

 is the realm of flowers, radiant and fragrant all the 

 summer long ; clinging to the terrace walls is a 

 wealth of beautiful things ; below is a more wooded 

 region entered between lofty gateposts, with the 

 attraction of water, and the old bridge on the way to 

 Newton is a picturesque feature. The country here- 

 about is hilly, almost mountainous, very impressive in 

 character, with something even of grandeur, and it 

 frames the house and gardens in most lovely and 

 harmonious fashion. This country of the Lynher 

 and the Tamar is one of the most interesting in the 

 West of England. The Tamar may be traced, with 

 increasing delight, upward from Saltash, by Pentillie 

 Castle and Cotehele, to Morwell Rocks and the foot 

 of Hingston Down ; and the Lynher from the head 

 of the Hamoaze to Newton Ferrers and the neigh- 

 bourhood of Callington. The high road runs on the 

 lofty hills between them trom Saltash to the place 

 last named, passing through St. Mellion, where is 

 the church of St. Melanius, a picturesque edifice of 

 Decorated and later times, containing the memorials 

 of the Corytons of Newton Ferrers in the seventeenth 

 and eighteenth centuries, the latest of them being that 

 of Sir William Coryton, who died in 1711, a portly 

 gentleman represented in a large lapelled coat, tightly 

 buttoned, with a large, full-bottomed wig. To this 

 gentleman, we believe, Newton Ferrers owes much of 

 its earlier attractions. 



ACROSS THE HIUDGE TO NhWTON. 



