ENGLISH GARDENS OF i6th, 17TH AND i8th CENTURIES 229 



Among the many delightful ornaments that go to make up the charm 

 of the eighteenth century garden the most satisfactory were the figures, 

 vases, and other ornaments formed of lead. The adaptability of this material 

 and the delicacy of its colouring make it eminently suitable for such objects, 

 and one can readily recall many instances of the fine effect produced by 

 the soft silvery-gray colour of a leaden figure against the rich green back- 

 ground of an old yew hedge. 

 Throughout the eighteenth 

 century, lead-work was very 

 much used in the large gar- 

 dens of the nobility as well 

 as in those of the smaller 

 manor-houses, and there is 

 no lack of good examples 

 still to be found in excellent 

 preservation, showing both 

 how extensive its use in 

 gardens has been, and its 

 lasting value in the English 

 climate. The making of 

 leaden statues was largely 

 undertaken by such workers 

 as Cheere and a Dutch 

 modeller Van Nost, who 

 towards the middle of the 

 century established himself 

 in St. Martin's Lane and 

 seems to have had a flourish- 

 ing business. His stock prin- 

 cipally consisted of classic 

 subjects ; Flora and Bac- 

 chus, Venus, Juno, Neptune, Minerva, were all represented, as well as 

 little leaden Amorini, such as those at Wilton known as " Lady Pembroke's 

 boys," and the fine series of groups at Melbourne Hall. Portrait statues 

 in lead are also frequently to be met with, as for example those at Wilton 

 and Wrest and of William III in the courtyard of Hoghton in Lancashire 

 and at Petersfield. These statues were sometimes picked out in colours or 



LEADEN AMORINI AT WILTON HOUSE. 



