1 86 Gleanings in Old Garden Literature. 



us, " is very small, bears ill, and I think 

 but a Bawble." 



Of the gardens of his contemporaries he 

 has not anything to say, except (and the 

 exception is worth a good deal) that of the 

 Countess of Bedford at Moor Park, in 

 Hertfordshire, on which he dilates, from early 

 and affectionate recollection, with evident 

 zest. 



"The perfectest Figure of a Garden I ever saw, 

 either at Home or Abroad, was that of Moor-Park 

 in Hertfordshire, when I knew it about Thirty Years 

 ago. It was made by the Countess of Bedford, 

 esteemed among the greatest Wits of her time, and 

 celebrated by Doctor Donne." 



A minute picture of Moor Park follows ; 

 and Temple takes occasion to remark that, 

 as regards gardens in general, the form to be 

 preferred is, in his opinion, an oblong on a 

 slope. 



Separated from the great philosopher of the 

 age of Elizabeth and James I. by an interval 

 of about a century and a half, HORACE 

 WALPOLE, better known to the generality of 



