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GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



died before him, and towards the end of his life he, 

 by his own petition, was also created Marquess de 

 Grey, with remainder to his eldest daughter, Lady 

 Jemima Campbell. But even so the title lapsed, only 

 to be revived in favour of the Countess de Grey. 

 Her nephew, Thomas Philip, third Lord Grantham, 

 succeeded to the title as the first Earl de Grey and 

 Baron Lucas. It was this Earl who in 1836 built the 

 existing house, created the formal gardens imme- 

 diately adjoining it, and added much garden architec- 

 ture ; but before doing this he removed entirely the 

 beautiful old house, one of the finest we had of the 

 William III. type, ranking with Belton and Petworth. 

 It had a front of nineteen windows, consisting of a 

 centre with well-decorated pediment and cupola, 

 and of projecting ends relieving the flat of the 

 intervening body of the house. Before it, was an 

 ample forecourt, and behind were two parterres 

 having fountains in their midst. The Duke of 

 Kent's house stood where the great fountain now is, 

 and it was the Duke who made the various canals, 

 laid out the 100 acres of pleasure-ground, planted 

 the greater number of the avenues and the orna- 

 mental timber, and built the exquisite pavilion at 

 the canal end and the house on the bowling green. 

 Thus Wrest embraces practically the gardens and 

 grounds of two mansions, the first that of the 

 Duke of Kent, and the second the buildings now 

 standing. 



When building his house Earl de Grey also 

 built the walled gardens, intending them to be one of 

 the attractions of his demesne. The walls are of 

 grey brick, to which time has given a very pretty 

 pearly tint, making a pleasing background to the 

 climbing plants which decorate them. The gateways, 

 of very fine design, are of brick and a warm stone. 

 In the small entrance garden, before the head- 

 gardener's house, is a wistaria, of such a size that 

 were the limbs allowed to grow it would probably 

 reach for looyds. each way. The stem, which is 

 double, is curious. The original plant is not more 

 than 3in. in diameter, while a secondary sucker has 

 developed into a trunk like a small tree. The 

 wistaria festoons the crests of many of the walls. In 

 the fruit garden it is seen to great advantage, while 

 below are trained white deutzias, jessamines and roses. 

 The exit from the gardens leads to the strangers' 

 gate, which opens from the park into a long grass 

 vista, flanked for looyds. by the garden wall, almost 

 to the foot of which the grass extends. The whole 

 length of the wall is covered with roses and other 

 climbers. Between this fine vista and the house 

 is another enclosure, walled and entered by beautiful 

 gates, known as "my lady's garden." In this the 

 sculpture, which is so freely distributed over the 

 whole of the grounds of Wrest, makes its first 

 appearance, in the form of statues of children, by 

 Bauerscheit, dated 1729. This motif, very French in 

 style, reappears in nearly all the gardens and on the 

 terraces, the gay little white marble figures being 

 engaged in every form of frolic. The west end of 

 the house with the terrace forms the east side of this 

 garden, from which, running southward, is the rose 

 garden. A word should be said here as to the " lay- 

 out " of the principal mass of formal gardens. The 

 chief and central one is the Italian garden, which 

 extends for the full width of the house front. It 

 is a good example of the revival of the style which 

 the landscape school sought to eradicate, and is 



not unlike the " parterres of embroidery " which 

 Kip shows in connection with the old house 

 already mentioned. The present Italian garden 

 is flanked on either side by a raised turf platform 

 running at right angles to the facade of the house, 

 and on the smooth turf stand in the centre two rows 

 of ancient trees. Parallel with that on the west, and 

 between it and the long vista of the walled gardens, 

 is the rose garden. Very properly it depends for its 

 main adornment on the roses themselves, except that 

 in the centre of the long parallelogram is a group of 

 mermaids supporting a vase, mermaids denichees from 

 their old place in a fountain, and forced to sit and 

 contemplate roses instead of water-lilies. 



The coup d 'tell from the south terrace should be 

 studied in reference not only to the view of the west 

 end of the terrace here shown, but also with reference 

 to the south front of the house, and the general view 

 across the Italian garden down to the long canal and 

 the pavilion. From the house to the latter must be 

 at least a mile ; and the pleasure-grounds extend 

 nearly half a mile beyond that, through the walks and 

 groves laid out by the Duke of Kent. But far 

 beyond the formal garden, and on either side, out of 

 the direct line of view, are wide lawns, pleasaunces, 

 great trees, walks, orchards, garden-houses and an 

 orangery, which form part of the general design. 



The important part played by statuary in all this 

 will be evident from the photographs here shown. 

 Most of the figures are exceedingly fine, though there 

 are some of no great merit. The general effect is 

 admirable in a stately garden of this kind. The 

 statues emphasise the sense of space. The house 

 is built of a warm-coloured stone, and the 

 window-frames are not painted, but gilded in the 

 fashion which prevailed in the eighteenth century 

 at such palaces as Holkham and Chatsworth. This 

 gives to the whole a very bright and gay appearance, 

 bowered as it is among the deep greenery of a 

 very humid climate, for the great area of trees 

 and grass at Wrest, lying for the most part in a 

 shallow depression among low hills, and watered by 

 the canals and pools filled by an everlasting spring, 

 attracts and retains moisture. The result is seen in 

 the wonderful growth of the trees in the lower 

 pleasure-grounds. Their age is uncertain, but their 

 size gigantic, and the regularity of their growth a 

 source of constant wonder. The finest ash trees in 

 England are in the park, and there are beeches which 

 shoot up for 4oft. without a branch, as round as 

 flutes, and as thick as the pillars of Baalbec. The 

 " lay-out " of the Italian garden was all designed by 

 Earl de Grey himself. There are ancient men still 

 working in the gardens who remember him pegging 

 out all the designs with pins and tape. The design is a 

 most elegant conventionalisation of themes suggested 

 by the growth of flowers and plants, those near the 

 terrace being suggested by the tulip and those further 

 off by other floral themes. The whole is elaborately 

 bordered out in box, and the effect is very good. The 

 statuary in this garden numbers among its principal 

 pieces four magnificent groups, more than life-size, 

 cast in lead. The details may be gathered from the 

 photographs here shown, but beyond the fact that 

 they were bought in Holland, very little seems to be 

 known of their history. These principal groups have, 

 by a most unfortunate mistake, been covered with 

 paint at some distant date. Apart from the loss of 

 the beautiful tint and tone which lead left to itself in 



