658 Notes on Gardens and Cuunirij Seat's : -^^ 



of gardening ; in fact, he may be said to be devoted to the 

 former, having a workshop close to the house, in vi^hich 

 several engineers are constantly employed. The turning 

 lathe in this shop is moved by a steam-engine of exquisite 

 workmanship. 



Taplow House, Pascoe Graifell, Esq. — The house is situ- 

 ated half-way down the same high bank on which is placed 

 Taplow Court, Park Place, Clietden, Hedsor, and a number 

 of other line places, commencing at Richmond, and extending, 

 on the same side of the river, to near Reading, where the 

 banks become level on both sides. The house is here, very 

 properly, entered from behind ; and the view from the prin- 

 cipal rooms commands the Thames and Windsor Castle. The 

 grounds are not very extensive ; but the lawn slopes most 

 beautifully, and it is judiciously varied by choice trees and 

 shrubs, and beds of flowers, the latter of the rarest and most 

 beautiful kinds, assiduously and successfully cultivated, and 

 kept in the most exquisite order by the gardener, Mr» 

 Springall, who has been in that capacity here for thirty years, 

 and has planted nearly every tree, and laid out every bed. 

 The first view of the lawn front of the house, bosomed as it 

 is in verandas covered with creepers and in banks of flowers, 

 as seen from a dark walk near the lodge, through which 

 strangers are introduced, operates like enchantment. We 

 never were more delighted with anything in a small place. The 

 first wing of the house is only one story high, and contains a 

 suite of rooms, including a library, shaded by a skeleton 

 veranda. By this term we mean a veranda that, instead of a 

 close roof, has merely the wall plate, and a slight rafter from 

 the top of each prop. These members are entirely covered 

 with vegetation in great luxuriance, and chiefly by the Vir- 

 ginian creeper. The railing of a balcony in front of the 

 dining-room is similarly covered, as is the veranda over it. 

 The central part of the basement of the house may be de- 

 scribed as embosomed in rockwork and flowers in pots and 

 vases. On one end of the house is a beurre d'Aremberg pear 

 tree, 30 ft. high, covered with fruit. Turning round before 

 the steps which descend from the drawing-room to the lawn, 

 the latter is varied by beds of flowers which lose themselves 

 among trees, shrubs, and glades in every direction, but so far 

 below the eye, that, when looking at them, the distant scenery 

 is not taken into the landscape. Raising the eye, we catch 

 the Thames and Windsor Castle between the tops of the 

 trees. The walk proceeds in a winding direction till it 

 reaches a straight walk shaded by elms, the simplicity of 

 \\hich contrasts finely with the variety and intricacy of the 



