292 Noies of a Tour in Oct. 1825. 



little variety of kinds of trees, the prevailing, and, indeed, almost 

 the only, tree being the beech ; and it is well known to the ad- 

 mirers of forest scenery, that of all forests one of beech is the 

 tamest. Notwithstanding this, there are some beech trees here 

 with straight clean trunks of upwards of 100 ft. in height; and 

 we hardly think these are to be equalled in the island. Let 

 the stranger enquire for the king and queen beech. All the 

 trees in the park seem to have been regularly pruned and 

 trained for the timber -merchant ; and form, in this respect, a 

 singular contrast to the beech trees in Eastwell Park. 



The surface of the park is not without considerable undula- 

 tions ; but these are not heightened or brought into effect in a 

 picturesque point of view by the emplacement of the wood. 

 There is, also, a total want of water. To make the park what it 

 ought to be, in correspondence with the house, water ought to 

 be brought by a steam engine and iron pipes from the nearest 

 practicable stream, and the valley to the left of the house flooded. 

 The approach from Dunstable would then pass over a bridge ; 

 and the pleasure-ground might be narrowed opposite the house, 

 and extended along the margin of this lake, or river, to any extent, 

 and with variations in the distant scenery, which our hasty glance 

 did not enable us to determine. In short, while the highest 

 degi'ee of art and expense has been displayed on the house, 

 scarcely anything has been done to the grounds to render them 

 a worthy accompaniment to such a splendid pile. 



Oct. IB. Wobiini Abbey. — Went round the park with Mr. 

 Forbes, the gardener, venerating that fine old drive through 

 evergreens, said to have been planted by Miller; and which is 

 commended by Repton in his Enquiry into the Changes of Taste 

 in Landscapc-Gardening ; 8vo; art. Drive. The large speci- 

 mens of the pine and fir tribe, especially the cedars, are gratifying 

 to the sight. The dark green hollies, with trunks of timber size, 

 with their shining leaves and coral berries, remind us of the 

 time of Evelyn, and his fine hedge at Sayes Court, which the Czar 

 Peter made gaps in, by having himself wheeled through it by 

 his attendants ; of the fine holly hedge in Sir Mathew Decker's 

 garden, at Richmond ; of those of Moredun, CoUington, and 

 Woodhouselee, near Edinburgh ; and of the miles of holly 

 hedges at Tyningham, in East Lothian. There are few trees or 

 shrubs, in our opinion, certainly no natives, that can compare in 

 di<»-nity and beauty with the holly. The common and Portugal 

 laurels in this drive are remarkably fine; and there is no want of 

 rhododendrons, junipers, and laurustinuses. Among the evergreen 

 timber trees, the cedars are most conspicuous. A considerable 

 number of silver firs, and Weymouth and other pines, have been 

 cut down since we visited the place for the first time in 1806. 



We turned out of the drive to the thornery, a most pictur- 



