Villa Uesideyices. 551 



X,owther, is fine ; but the place, at present, in consequence of 

 the numerous alterations going on, is in a state of confusion. 

 Carlton Hall might easily be made something of. The 

 hot-houses, improperly placed in the middle of the garden, 

 are rearranged in a superior manner, under the direction 

 of Mr. Lauder, an intelligent young man, a master of his 

 profession, and are heated, as before mentioned, by hot water. 

 The park at Netherby is too much crowded with single trees 

 in front of the house ; but the kitchen-garden is renovating 

 by Mr. Dodd. The chimneys of the mansion are raised in 

 architectural forms, to supersede the necessity of chimney- 

 pots ; an improvement which we heartily recommend. 



The faults of mansion residences between Manchester and 

 Dumfries are of the same general character as those men- 

 tioned (p. 397 — 399.) as belonging to those between Man- 

 chester and London: — the entrance on the wrong side; an 

 attempt at extensive pleasure-ground ; too many single trees; 

 coarse edgings ; and general want of order and keeping. 

 These evils, we think, have increased rather than diminished, 

 as we have advanced ; with the single exception of the edges 

 of walks and roads, which, in a few places before enumerated, 

 are partially what we think they ought to be. 



Villa Rcsidctices. We have found a few of these very 

 perfect ; viz. Hoole House, Lady Broughton's ;. the villa of 

 Mr. Barber, at Grasmere; Mrs. Starkey's villa, at Bowness; 

 the poet Wordsworth's, at Rhydal ; and the garden of Mr. 

 Tong's cottage, near Garstang. We regret the want of room 

 to describe these places. Lady Broughton's is chiefly cele- 

 brated for a lawn, varied by flower-beds, and terminating in 

 rockwork, in imitation of Swiss glaciers. This rockwork 

 contains one of the best collections of alpines in Britain ; 

 admirably managed by the gardener, Mr. Welsby, who has 

 promised us a list of them. The margins of the beds and of 

 the walks at this place are exactly as we could wish them. 

 The cottage and grounds of Mr. Barber of Grasmere are 

 decidedly the most perfect things of the kind we have ever 

 seen : notwithstanding the greatest temptation to indulge in 

 extravagant fancies, nothing of the kind is to be found ; and 

 one wonders how it happens that the whole has escaped the 

 common fate of even the finest places, viz. that of having 

 some part incongruous with the rest. Mrs. Starkey's villa, at 

 Bowness, is perfection's self, as far as it goes ; for, though the 

 area of the grounds is not much larger than that of the 

 magnificent library at Eaton Hall, they contain more beauty 

 and variety than the whole of the hundred acres of pleasure- 

 ground at that great dull place. Rhydal Mount is a pastoral 



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