LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



533 



^ HittocT. the principal noblemen's seats in the ancient style, were 

 * T*'' laid out during this, the preceding, and part ot the lat- 

 ter reigns, or between the years 1660 and 1720. 

 Ctorce r Nothing of consequence appears to have been done 

 A. D. 171* to the royal gardens in the reign of George I. though, 

 near the end of it, Vanburgh was appointed surveyor of 

 T ^ K*" 1 * 11 * "<* w t* of the crown. In the succeeding 

 ' reign, Queen Caroline enlarged and planted Kensington 

 gardens, and formed what is now called the Serpen- 

 tine River, by uniting a string of detached ponds. This 

 was a bold step, and led the way to subsequent changes 

 of taite. Lord Bathurst informed Daines Harrington, 

 that fie was the first who deviated from the straight 

 line, in pieces of made water, by following the natural 

 lines of a valley, in widening a brook at H> skins, near 

 Colebrook ; aud that Lord Strafford, thinking it was 

 dona from poverty or economy, asked him to own 

 fairly how little more it would have cost to have made 

 it straight. 



Cannons, th magnificent seat of the Duke of Chan- 

 dot, is one of the principal places laid out in the an- 

 style in this reign. We are not acquainted with 

 the French artist who gave the design, but the execu- 

 was superintended by Or. HJackwell, a physician 

 and agriculturist of lome note. A* far as we have 

 been able to It-am, the last exteniive residence laid out 

 in the ancient style, in the kouth of England, was Ex- 

 ton 1'arlc, in Rutlandshire, finished about the year 

 1 Kent had already returned from Itiily, and been 

 employed as a painter and architect, and began to dis- 

 play hi genius a few yean afterwards, as a landscape 



lii this brief outline of the progress of the ancient 

 tyle in England, we have not had room to detail the 

 numerou* improvementi made by private individuals ; 

 preferring rather to notice what had been done in the 

 gardens of the court, which, a* they generally lead the 

 fashion in every country, may be 'considered as a to- 

 lerably exact index of the state of a nation's taste. The 

 reader who is desirous of tracing more minutely the 

 history of gardening ind laying out ground*, among 

 the landed proprietor* of England, will find himself 

 amply gratified by consulting The Btaulit* of Bug. 

 land <i*<i WaUt," a work in which is exhausted every 

 source of antiquarian and topographical research, up 

 nearly to the present time. 



" 1'ieful and decorative gardening, in the enrlv ages, are 

 " necessarily so much connected, that in our history of 

 the former art in .Scotland, we have necessarily em- 

 braced the greater part of what was known of the lat- 

 ter. We hate, therefore, to refer to the article HOR- 

 c, for some part of what might have here oc- 

 cupied our attention. From the early and long conti- 

 nued connection of this nation with the French, much 

 of the manner, style of living and of art, bears the 

 mark* of importation from that people. This is ob- 

 viou* to the moat indifferent observer, in the common 

 architecture and arrangement* of the towns built pre- 

 viously to the union, and not less so to the curious en- 

 quirer in that of the country seats and garden* of the 

 same period. 

 JaaM III. I '> earbeat distinct notice of a royal attention to 



; i90. garden* is well known ; James III. being blamed for 

 gating more in musick and.policie, (probably from 

 the French polir, to remove, level, or improve ; or 

 from a corruption of it polir, to improve one's self, le- 

 velling and smoothing the ground* about a house, be- 

 ing naturally the first itep after it is built,) and build- 



ing, than he did in the government of his realm." History. 

 (Pitscottie's Chronicles of Scotland, 1590.) The general S T~-'' 

 residence of this monarch was Stirling Castle ; and a 

 marsh in the vale below is said to ha\e been the site 

 of the royal gardens. Enough remains to justify a 

 conjecture, that at this early period they displayed as 

 much skill as those of any other country. We allude 

 to a mound of earth resembling a table, surrounded by 

 turf seats, the scene, no doubt, of rural festivities, and 

 an existing proof of the royal attention to the subject. 



At Falkland is a large square enclosure, on a dull 

 flat, in which there exists only a few stunted ash trees, 

 though the boundary stone wall is still a formidable 

 fence. The gardens of Holyroodhouse appear to have 

 been exceedingly confined ; the boundary wall only re- 

 mains, and there are some indications of the rows of 

 trees which stood in the park, which seems to have 

 extended to the base of the adjoining hill, Arthur's 

 Seat The palace of Scone, we learn from A damson, 

 a poet of the 1 7th century, was surrounded by " gar- 

 dens and orchards, flowers and fruits ;" and the park, 

 in which are still some ancient trees, " abounded in 

 the hart .aid fallow deer." 



Generally a, few old trees in rows adjoin the other 

 royal residences, and oldest baronial castles ; but they 

 give DO indications to what extent art was carried in 

 their disposition, till about the end of the 17th cen- 

 tury, when the grounds of the duke of Hamilton were 

 planted, in all probability by a French artist. The 

 design of Chateiherault, an appendage to that palace, 

 named after, and in imitation of, the residence of that 

 illustrious family in France, there can be little doubt 

 would be taken from the plan said to have been given 

 bv Le Notre, for the original residence near the town 

 of that name, in the department of Viennc. 



About the beginning of the 18th century, the Earl Gardens at 

 of Lauderdale is said to have sent plans, sections, and Ha " on - 

 sacks ofearJi, from his domain at Hatton, to London 

 and Wise in London ; and these artists, it is added, 

 formed a plan, and sent down a gardener to superin- 

 tend its execution. 



Switzer, Laurence, and Langley, mention in their 

 works, that they were frequently called into Scotland 

 to give plans of improvement. Switzer appears to have 

 resided a considerable time in Edinburgh, as he there 

 published, in 1717, a tract on draining, and other use- 

 ful and agricultural improvements. 



The Earls of Stair and Haddington, (who wrote on 

 trees, ) both great planters, before or about this time, 

 probably consulted them ; as would, perhaps, Fletcher 

 of Saltoun ; the proprietors of Dundas Castle, Barn- 

 ton, Saughtonhall, Gogar, and particularly Cragie-hall, 

 a residence laid out with much art and taste, and next 

 in rank, in these respects, to Hatton. New Listen, DaJ- 

 keith House, Mopeton House, and various other places 

 near Edinburgh, are also in Switzer's style. New Lis- 

 ten and Hopeton House, planted, we believe, from 

 1735 to J74 ), were probably the last considerable seats 

 laid out in the ancient style in Scotland. 



It is observed by the author of an " Essay on the Gardeni of 

 Rite and Progreit of Giirdrning in Ireland," (J. C. Ireland. 

 Walker in Tram. R. I. Acad vol. xiv. part 3d,) " that 

 Fynnes Morrison, a minute observer, who travelled 

 through that kingdom in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 

 doe* not once mention a garden, as appertaining either 

 to a castle or to a monastery ; he only observes, " that 

 the best sorts of flowers and fruit.s arc much rarer in 

 Ireland than in England ; which, uotwithstanding, is 



