sir Charles Is kam» '^21 



o- 



influence his future action. That he should of late 

 entirely have withdrawn from the Hunting-field is a 

 misfortune which may, however, be attributed to other 

 causes than indifference to the charms of the chase. 



That evil spirit " Agricultural Depression ^' has cleared 

 out from many a stable the too costly luxury of a hunter, 

 and in her flight across the broad acres of Northampton- 

 shire it would seem as though she had laid her hand on 

 the once well-filled boxes of the Lamport Hall stables. To 

 share the blame with this " evil spirit '^ are the cold and 

 damp of a Midland county winter, — evils which have 

 necessitated for Lady Isham the formation of a home 

 where a more kindly atmosphere gives hopes of an 

 immunity from aches and pains. 



To many, the loss of hunting and a forced absence 

 from home would mean a serious diminution of life's 

 enjoyments; to the owner of Lamport, however, 

 occupation indoors and out is so continuous, that there is 

 no time to find fault with '^ orders from above ; " and 

 whether in Wales or Northamptonshire, his only quarrel 

 is with the rapid flight of time. To him every plant that 

 grows, and every bird that flies, is an object of interest ; 

 and in his " Rockery," a home for Alpine Plants, unique 

 in structure and appearance, he finds a never-failing 

 source of amusement. 



This remarkable adjunct to a lovely garden, placed 

 stone by stone by his own hand, and tended by no other 

 — lest some rare tenant suS'er the fate of a common 

 weed — forms an object of pilgrimage to many a lover of 

 Horticulture, Rare and costly Plants from Alps, Apen- 

 nines and Pyrenees meet the eye in every corner, in 

 addition to which, " forest-trees " of Chinese minuteness 



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