150 State of Gardening in Ireland. 



Connected with this place is Beau-Pare, the residence 

 of Gustavus Lambert, Esq. The Boyne to a certain extent 

 separates the properties. From Slane- Castle to Beau-Parc- 

 House (about a mile) the banks of the river are high, bold, 

 and well wooded. The scenery, which is chiefly sylvan, is 

 grand and sombre. The river is here of considerable breadth ; 

 and its dark sluggish waters, aided by the perpetual gloom 

 thrown from the masses of spruce which overshadow it, tend 

 to give a solemnity to the place highly suited to the contem- 

 plative mind. Near the termination of this stretch of the glen 

 stands Beau-Parc-House, a small plain mansion. Had a cas- 

 tellated structure, with its towers and battlements, stood 

 frowning over the precipice, instead of the tame city-looking 

 building which here commands the whole of the scenery we 

 have hastily glanced over, how different would have been the 

 effect ! In nine tenths of the modern country residences, we 

 find buildings wholly unsuited to the localities of the place : 

 castles where there is not a single feature to warrant such 

 erections ; and Grecian buildings amid the wildest scenery. 

 These are serious faults ; but until landscape-gardening forms 

 a part of the education of professional architects, we may in 

 vain look for a remedy. Along the banks of the river we 

 observed a few trees of the ashen-leaved maple and entire- 

 leaved ash. The singularly yellowish-green pinnated leaves 

 of the maple and the entire dark leaves of the ash produce a 

 striking; contrast with those of the common trees around. On 

 the borders of a plantation the former might answer well when 

 a relief was necessary from heavy masses of oak, &c. : the 

 latter is a robust growing tree in any situation, and the leaves 

 are of a different shade from those usually planted. The 

 common varieties of the pine-tribe thrive uncommonly well 

 here, and a good many seedlings are raised from them for the 

 Dublin market, In those departments of this demesne, to 

 which our observations were more particularly directed, every 

 thing is in the best possible order. 



A little below the conflux of the Black-water with the 

 Boyne, there is an extensive range of young plantations, be- 

 longing to Fitzherbert and Richard Ruxton, Esqrs. Consi- 

 derable taste has been displayed in the disposition of the woods; 

 and it is pleasing to observe the care that is bestowed on them. 

 The plantations already add much to the beauty of the river 

 and the vicinity of Navan. Ardbraccan, the diocesan house 

 of Meath, is a few miles to the westward of Navan ; a resi- 

 dence in every way worthy so wealthy a benefice. During 

 the time of the two last incumbents, this place was kept in 



