VISITING THE GARDENS 197 



below the Syon Vista opening across the ferry 

 from the Palm House, beside the artificial lake 

 that might be mistaken for a river. Open-eyed 

 youngsters hang by the pond with its colony of 

 wild-fowl, on the other side of the Palm House. 

 Family parties stroll through the chambers of the 

 " Palace," empty but for a sprinkling of pictures 

 and relics of royalty. Certain visitors, on hot 

 days, one observes to spend much time in and 

 about the refreshment pavilion, towards which 

 Tommy Merton's eyes will be observed to 

 wander, while Harry Sandford listens attentively 

 to a lecture on the adjacent cedars, whose 

 seeds may have been brought home by Bute's 

 adventurous mother-in-law, and their branches 

 to-day wear no air of "sighing for Lebanon." 

 The official restaurant, not quite so "popular" 

 as those outside, stands beyond the Palm House, 

 in an open glade leading up to where the 

 Pagoda's towering intrusiveness marks the way 

 to the Lion Gate at the further corner on 

 the Richmond road. Perhaps fewest visitors 

 show the preference of Richard Jefferies, so 

 true a lover of Nature, who casts his vote 

 for what might strike some of us as the most 

 commonplace show of the Gardens, by the 



