ii6 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



Ranger's House had formerly belonged to Lord Chester- 

 field, and many of the famous letters to his godson are 

 dated from there. No special feature in the garden, 

 which was thrown open to the public with the Park in 

 1898, can be attributed to him. He was not, as Lord 

 Carnarvon's memoir of him points out, fond of the 

 country ; though he " took some interest in growing 

 fruit in his garden at Blackheath, he had no love for his 

 garden like Bacon " or Sir William Temple. There are 

 some fine trees in the grounds, especially a copper beech, 

 with a spread 57 feet in diameter, and a good tulip tree. 

 Queen Caroline, as Princess of Wales, was Ranger in 

 I 806, and lived in Montague House, since pulled down, 

 and the " Queen's House " was appropriated to the Royal 

 Naval School. At the same time the "Ranger's" was 

 inhabited by the Duchess of Brunswick, her mother, and 

 it was on her death that it was purchased by the Crown, 

 and Princess Sophia, daughter of the Duke of Gloucester, 

 came to live there as Ranger. The last royal personage 

 to stay in the house was the Duke of Connaught, when 

 studying at Woolwich ; and now it serves as refreshment 

 rooms for the numberless trippers who enjoy Greenwich 

 Park in the summer. 



The most recent changes in the Park have all been 

 improvements, and now it is beautifully kept. There is 

 much that is still wild, and the flora and fauna of the 

 Park would astonish many. Among the wild flowers 

 butcher's broom, spindle, and the parasites on the heather 

 and the broom, dodder and broom-rape are to be found, 

 and hart's-tongue, wall rue, polypody and male and lady 

 ferns. The list of birds that breed there still is a long 

 one : — 



