176 Gleanings in Old Garden Literature. 



between Pollard's School and Ingestry 

 House. Kirke's ground was contiguous 

 to that of Hale or Cromwell House, and 

 Kirke used to point out an ancient gateway 

 communicating with the latter, through 

 which he was fond of telling visitors 

 that Cromwell used to pass on his way 

 to London, the site of the nursery in 

 his time being, according to tradition, 

 used as an exercise ground for his body- 

 guard. Those whose associations connect 

 them with other outlying portions of the 

 metropolis, when it was still a city encom- 

 passed by villages, as mine do me with Old 

 Brompton, will readily call to mind similar 

 spots in the north, south, and east of 

 London, now no more. But I may mention 

 Middlemist's Cape Nursery at Shepherd's 

 Bush, where many novelties from the North 

 African flora were exhibited, the proprietor 

 having resided there during many years ; and 

 the Arboretum at Paddington, to which it is 

 said that the earliest consignment was made, at 

 the end of the last century, of the American 

 vegetable marrow, at least, of our variety of 



