General Remarks, 515 



above one or two noblemen's places highly kept; and even 

 one of these vv^ill no longer be an exception to the general 

 rule, since pecuniary difficulties have occasioned eleven gar- 

 den labourers to be discharged from it at once. The noblest 

 place in Britain, perhaps in Europe, Blenheim, is going 

 rapidly to decay. Before entering the great gates at Wood- 

 stock, the stranger sees two trees (an ash and a sycamore), 

 each 4 ft. or 5 ft. high, growing out of crevices in the stone 

 piers. When the gates are opened, he observes half the 

 lake turned into a morass covered with rushes. Advancing 

 to the house, he finds jiart of the architrave over the eastern 

 gateway fallen down ; and, if he goes as far as the cascade, 

 he will find that the head or dam is no longer in a state to 

 retain water; and that, of course, the lake is not so full as it 

 ought to be by five or six feet. The duke's private garden, 

 of which we think very little, we shall speak of hereafter in 

 detail.* Almost the only highly kept gardens which we saw 

 were those of small proprietors, professional men, merchants, 

 or bankers. Of these, we must give the decided preference, 

 for beauty and keeping united, to the following, which we put 

 down in the order in which we saw them : — Drayton Green, 

 near Acton, Mrs. Lawrence ; Taplow House, near Maiden- 

 head, Pascoe Grenfell, Esq. ; Bishop's Stoke, near South- 

 ampton, the Rev. Thos. Garnier ; the garden of the Misses 

 Garnier, near Wickham ; and Redleaf, near Tunbridge 

 Wells, William Wells, Esq. The last was by far the most 

 beautiful, and, except the garden of the Misses Garnier, 

 the most perfectly kept, of all the places which we saw. 

 There are a number of gardens which approach to the above, 

 some in point of high keeping, others in scenic beauty, and 

 some in both united ; but they have all something about 

 them which prevents our giving them unqualified praise. 

 Among the most beautiful, and at the same time highly 

 enriched, places which we saw, after Redleaf, was Mont- 

 real, near Sevenoaks ; but the house and kitchen-garden 

 are unworthy of the pleasure-ground. Littlecot Park, near 



* Let not this view of the decay of noblemen's gardens induce gardeners 

 in want of places to despair. Every gardener who has seen much service 

 knows that a situation under a rich tradesman, merchant, or small landed 

 proprietor is productive of far more comfort to him than one under a 

 nobleman ; where so many intermediate persons come in between him 

 and his employer, that he is at all times liable to misrepresentation, and to 

 be discharged without even an opportunity of explanation. As far as we 

 have observed, the pay given to their head gardeners by men who are them- 

 selves in business is as great as, in many instances greater than, that given 

 by noblemen. As the country goes on improving, the small places will 

 greatly increase, and, with them, a taste for gardening, and situations for 

 first-rate gardeners. 



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