550 Domestic Notices: — England. 



from below the present surface of the soil, and some do not divide till 

 they rise 7 ft. or 8 ft. above it. One of the largest is hollowed out by fire, 

 and affords a cabin to shelter a husbandman. The tree, if it can be con- 

 sidered a single plant, is certainly the largest in the world. Among other 

 travellers who notice it, is a Frenchman, who describes it, with some truth, as 

 " un temple de verdure surmonte d'un dome pret a toucher les nues." When 

 the Turks encamp in this valley, the hollow of tiiis great tree affords a mag- 

 nificent tent to the seraskier who commands them, with all his officers. But 

 what renders the tree an object of more than usual interest is, that M. I 'e 

 Candolle conjectures that it must be more than 2000 years old ! Though it 

 has become such an object of admiration to recent travellers, Gillies takes n > 

 notice of it, nor even Tournefort, whose botanical pursuits would naturally 

 lead him to do so." (Dr. Walsh's Residence at Cojistanmople.) 



Art. II. Domestic Notices. 



ENGLAND. 



English Gardens visited hy Foreigners. — Every year, we are happy to ob- 

 serve, increases the intercourse between British gardeners and those of the 

 Continent ; and, we believe, the same remark might apply to the followers of 

 most other arts and trades on both sides of the water. There never was a 

 time when German was so universally studied in England, and English in 

 Germany; and this is always paving the way for what will arrive, sooner 

 perhaps than most people imagine, the prevalence of one language (? the 

 English) in all civilised countries. There are now two young gardeners from 

 "Vienna resident in the neighbourhood of London, for the purpose of studying 

 their art : one of them is the son of a court gardener, and the other of a 

 nurseryman. The gardener of Prince Metternich, M. Riegler, who has 

 studied his business for several years both in France and Holland, has just 

 left the country, after having been here upwards of two months, and having 

 made a tour to Oxford, Blenheim, Nuneham Courtenay, Stowe, Birmingham, 

 Chatsworth, Manchester, Liverpool, and Woburn, accompanied by an inter- 

 preter ; and the whole solely at his master's expense. M. Riegler was much 

 struck with Blenheim, Nuneham Courtnay, Chatsworth, and Woburn Abbey ; 

 but, of all the places in the neighbourhood of London which he saw, he was 

 most gratified with a view of Syon, procured for him through his ambassador. 

 The establishment of Messrs. Loddiges also excited his admiration ; " the 

 palm-house giving hira an idea of the tropics, and the arboretum of an 

 American forest." The culture of the different nurseries he also speaks of 

 as excellent; and he purchased about 130/. worth of plants, a list of which 

 we have seen. All of them are of the rarest and most expensive kinds, and 

 one of them at a price of 30 guineas. M. Riegler kindly favoured us with a copy 

 of the notes which he made on his tour, with a view to his German friends ; 

 from which we may probably, at a future time, give some extracts. — Cond. 



Kensington Gardens. — We have often felt pain at the idea of any particular 

 class of society being shut out from places of public recreation or amusement; 

 and, from the locality of our habitation at Bayswater, the exclusion of livery 

 servants from Kensington Gardens has often forced itself upon our attention. 

 These servants, we know very well, are, as a body, lower in the moral scale 

 than most others. They are idle, and pampered with food ; and are conse- 

 quently insolent to all but their employers, to whom they are abject slaves : 

 or, if they are hard worked, it is in attending their masters or mistresses, by 

 waiting for them during the night ; a kind of service which has a tendency to 

 demoralisation, by obliging the parties to have recourse to stimulants, both to 

 pass the time, and to keep themselves awake. Nevertheless, the way to lessen 

 the demoralisation of livery servants is not to stigmatise them as a class, by 

 excluding them from any thing enjoyed by the rest of society, but rather by 

 making no difference respecting them. The time, we think, is now arrived 



