280 



Notes of a Tour in OeL 1825< 

 32 



gardens. The latter are said to have been laid out by Le Notre; 

 and an interesting isometrical view of them is given in Kip's 

 Views of the Seats of the Nobility and Gentry^ from which 

 fig. 32. has been reduced. Of Cashiobury, Evelyn observes : 

 *' No man has been more industrious than this noble lord (Essex), 

 in planting about his seat, adorned with walks, ponds, and other 



rural elegances The gardens are very rare, and cannot be 



otherwise, having so skilful an artist to govern them as Cooke, 

 who is, as to the mechanical part, not ignorant in mathematics, 

 and pretends to astrology. There is an excellent collection of 

 the choicest fruit. My lord is not illiterate beyond the rate of 

 most noblemen of this age." [^Bray's Memoirs.) 



" My lord," Evelyn informs us, " assisted in pruning the trees 

 himself:" and the gardener he alluded to (Moses Cooke) was the 

 author of The Manner of Raisings Ordering, and Imiproving Forest 

 Trees, published in 1675; who afterwards became a partner in the 

 famous nursery at Brompton Park. In the dedication of his 

 work, Cooke compliments his master on his " honour's great un- 

 derstanding in, and love to, the subject of" trees. He adds : "For, to 

 your eternal praise be it spoken, there is many a fine tree which 

 you have nursed up from seeds sown by your own hands." Suc- 

 ceeding proprietors seem to have been equally attached to Cashio- 

 bury and planting, with the subject of Moses Cooke's praises; so 

 that the character of the place for planting and gardening has 

 continued to increase rather than to diminish. 



We entered the park through a recently erected Gothic gate- 

 way and lodge, built, as we were informed, from the proprietor's 

 own designs. The style was that sort of Elizabethan Gothic 



