SION 



grounds a cedar of Lebanon of such mighty girth that it almost 

 looks as if it might have been contemporary with it, if cedars 

 had been known in England when the Lord Protector made 

 his unfortunate building venture. But it is generally agreed that 

 Evelyn introduced the cedar to England. He mentions in his 

 " Sylva," published in 1664, that he had received " cones and seeds 

 from the mountains of Lebanon." The Sion cedars were probably 

 planted about 1670. 



With regard to the cypresses which still abound at Sion, Dr. 

 Turner, physician to Edward VI. and to his uncle, the Lord Pro- 

 tector, who dedicated his work " The Names of Herbes," to the 

 Duke, and dated it from Sion refers to them as then growing there 

 plenteously. And Gerarde, in his " Herball," published in 1597, 

 remarks of the cypress, that there " are trees of it at Sion, a place 

 neare London." But of still greater historical interest are the 

 Sion mulberry trees ; for they include what is reputed to be the 

 oldest mulberry tree in England, said to have been introduced from 

 Persia in 1548. However this may be, and however greatly old 

 gardens such as those of Sion may have changed in the course of 

 their history, little or no change has taken place in the manner of 

 growth of their trees. We may be pretty sure that Tudor elms 

 and beeches, and Tudor cypresses and oaks, looked to our ancestors 

 much as their descendants do to us. Ancient or otherwise, they 

 bore the normal aspect of their descendants of like age to-day, and 

 in all probability they were planted, or have planted themselves, 

 very near the spot in which their ancestors flourished ; for does not 

 the baby acorn always lie close to the mother oak ? 



The great attraction of Sion, however, apart from its historical 

 associations and the romantic history of its owners, is not the trees, 

 magnificent as they are, nor the beautiful gardens and unsurpassed 

 conservatories : these are rivalled elsewhere. It is its situation on 

 the bank of the Thames, the stream which, while it irrigates the 

 park and grounds by means of its tributaries feeding on the way a 

 beautiful miniature lake must always, even in monastic days, 

 when the surrounding land was nearly open country, have given 

 to it peculiar distinction and charm. It certainly does so now. 

 From no point does the stately house look so well as from the river ; 

 and standing on the towing-path by the river-gate of the Royal 

 Gardens of Kew, one gets an excellent view of the east front of the 



99 7* 



