fruits, and flowers, which he thinks this then-intended gar- 

 den ought to be furnished with ; and a small bit, or a piece 

 or parcel, of which once most sumptuous garden, Plot gives 

 us. " Altho' (says Rea) our country cannot boast the be- 

 nignity of that beautiful planet which meliorates their fruit 

 in Italy, France, and Spain; yet, by reflection from good 

 walks, well gravelled walks, the choice of fit kinds, we may 

 plentifully partake the pleasure, and yearly enjoy the benefit, 

 of many delicious fruits: as also the admiration and delight 

 in the infinite varieties of elegant forms, various colours, and 

 numerous kinds of noble plants, and beautiful flowers, some 

 whereof have been heretofore handled by a renowned person 

 of your name; but since his time, nature hath discovered 

 many new varieties, not known to former ages, as I hope 

 shortly will appear in your own collections, gloriously adorning 

 your spacious garden, which I wish may correspond, both in 

 fashion and furniture, with that noble structure to which it 

 appertained!. Accept then, my honoured lord, this humble 

 offering, which may possibly live to do you service, when I 

 am dust 'and ashes, and, according to my highest ambition, 

 remain as a testimony of my sincerest gratitude for the many 

 favours I have received from your honour, your most accom- 

 plished lady, and that noble family from whence she is de- 

 scended. I should here add my prayers for your honour's 

 preservation, did I not reserve them for my morning sacri- 



bient air, which I conceive to conduce very much to the constant health and 

 long lives for which our county hath always been famous. We do commonly 

 devise a shadowy walk from our gardens, through our orchards (which is the 

 richest, sweetest, and most embellished grove) into our coppice woods, or 

 timber woods." Dr. Beale does not praise the whole of their land. He 

 describes some as " starvy, chapt, and cheany, as the basest land upon the 

 Welch mountains." He makes amends, however, for this, for he describes 

 the nags bred on their high grounds, as very different from our present 

 hackney-coach horses ; they " are airey and sinewy, full of spirits and 

 vigour, in shape like the barbe, they rid ground, and gather courage and 

 delight in their own speed." 



