46 THE ROSE GARDENS OF HERTFORDSHIRE. 



This was the first object of striking beauty that we en- 

 countered, and although somewhat foreign to our subject 

 we cannot pass it unnoticed. Gratitude indeed demands 

 it, for although the day had but newly dawned, the shade 

 afforded by this archway proved most agreeable. It was a 

 true summer's morning in this respect all that could be 

 wished for and as we continued our journey we felt its 

 exhilarating influences. Nor did we venture to restrain 

 the mind from indulging in anticipated pleasures till it 

 revelled amidst the beauties it was soon to behold. It was 

 no secret that while Roses in many places were shrivelled 

 by the Fire King's scathing breath, or despoiled by 

 repeated attacks of insects, the summer of 1849 had 

 proved suitable to plants growing in the cool soil and pure 

 air of Hertfordshire, and it was agreed on all hands that a 

 finer bloom had rarely been witnessed. 



Passing Wormleybury, the seat of the late Sir A. 

 Hume, Bart., a great patron of gardening, we wound along 

 a shady lane, whose banks gleamed with the Foxglove 

 (Digitalis), Campion (Lychnis), and Catchfly (Silene), and 

 whose hedgerows were crowned with Nightshade (Solanum), 

 Roses, and Honeysuckles, the latter yielding up their odours 

 to the " incense-breathing morn." Such an agreeable road 

 led to the park lodge, and a few minutes more brought us 

 to the pleasure grounds. We entered with a light step and 

 a buoyant heart (the usual accompaniments of pursuits like 

 these), and proceeding along the terrace leading from the 

 mansion to the Rosetum we were much struck with the 

 beauty of the Climbing Roses trained on a south-west 

 wall, tastefully intermingled with various climbing plants. 

 The most remarkable of the Roses were Hybrid Chinese : 

 Fulgens and Blairii No. 2 ; Hybrid Bourbon : Victor Hugo ; 

 Multiflora : Russelliana ; Noisettes : Lamarque and La 

 Biche. Of other climbing plants we observed several of 

 the sweet-scented Clematis and Magnolias, a Wistaria, a 

 Gum Cistus, and a Lonicera. A few feet from the wall, 

 and running parallel with it, is a terrace-walk, gravelled 



