Bury Hill. 593 



find no way of rendering them so interesting as by the use of his spare 

 exotics, especially the free-flowering Cape and Australian plants. Gentle- 

 men's gardeners in the country, who have abundance of showy green-house 

 things, such as pelargoniums, fuchsias, brugmansias, heliotropes, cinerarias, 

 celsias, &c., might give some of them to the cottagers on their masters' 

 estates, for the sake of ornamenting the roadside gardens. Snakes and 

 adders are occasionally seen in the grounds here ; but Mr. Woods has nearly 

 extirpated them, by giving 3d. for each of the former, and 6d. for the latter, 

 to his men. 



The only fault that we can find with Deepdene is, a want of high keep- 

 ing in the grounds near the house, and in the fruit and kitchen gardens. 

 We do not speak of the walks in the woods; these, and almost every 

 thing a furlong from the house, are just as they ought to be : the whole 

 place, indeed, may be called well kept; but it does not display that high 

 and polished neatness which the architecture of the house, and its sculp- 

 tured and classic appendages, seem to demand. The grass about the 

 house ought to be mown oftener, and a part of the walks and roads, espe- 

 cially in the focus of art and ornament, laid with Kensington gravel. The 

 walks in the kitchen and fruit gardens, being rather steep, we would form of 

 flagstones, placed on piers, with open joints, by which means they would at 

 all times be in perfect order ; whereas now, in consequence of the slope 

 and sandy soil, every shower deranges them. We are sure such walks, at 

 such a place as Deepdene, will be found cheaper in the long run than those 

 of gravel with box edges. These walks formed, and the addition we should 

 suppose of three garden labourers, would make all the difference between 

 Deepdene as it is now, and as it is in our beau ideal of what it ought to be. 



We do not speak of the sculpture gallery, because, greatly as we admire 

 its contents, and respect the high and cultivated mind that selected and 

 placed them there, we feel that we are incompetent to do it justce. Duly 

 to appreciate works of art of such extraordinary rarity and excellence as are 

 here assembled, would require more of the mind of the artist and the clas- 

 sical scholar than we can pretend to. All must feel the effect o fsculptures 

 and paintings to a certain extent; but this feeling, like every other, to be 

 made the most of, must be highly cultivated. The feeling which these, 

 sculptures excite in us, when viewing them, is that of reverencea nd awe at 

 the presence of so much mind; on leaving them, the idea presents itself of 

 the man who has shown his appreciation of such excellence, and we think 

 of him with profound respect. To say a word in the praise of either, we 

 do not think necessary. 



We were gratified by a view of the house in September, 1827, from 

 which much is to be learned, and in which the value of admitting light in 

 masses is well exemplified. 



Mr. Woods, who stuffs birds, and has formed a cabinet of the objects of 

 natural history found on the estate, has promised us, at some future time, a 

 general account of Deepdene, with a catalogue of its native productions, 

 animal, vegetable, and mineral, with which, we are sure, our readers will be 

 highly gratified. He is above our praise or reward; but we have, neverthe- 

 less, sent him a part of Jardin and Selby's Ornithology. 



Bury Hill; Robert Barclay, Esq. Aug. 15. — This is a fine old place, 

 simple and grand, like its excellent and benevolent proprietor. We cannot 

 do justice to the whole residence at present, and therefore shall confine 

 oui'elves to a very short notice of the kitchen-garden, well known to every 

 botanist in the world as a centre for the reception of plants from, and their 

 dissemination through, all countries. M. Otto of Berlin, who had lately 

 been here, told us he was more struck with the collection at Bury Hill than 

 with that of any private gentleman's garden he had ever been in, either in 

 this country or on the Continent. The hot-houses {fig. 123.) have a re- 

 markably mild and harmonious effect exteriorly, from being painted of a 



Vol. V. — No. 22. q q 



