336 Notes on Gardens and Country Seats : — 



hedges of box ; and quaintness in the continuance of the over- 

 conspicuous and superfluously high stone bridge, and the nume- 

 rous temples and statues. The obeHsk, also, with the gilt sun 

 over it, and the monastery with its spire-like chimney top, 

 might be adduced in support of this opinion. However, the 

 basis of the whole remains the same as it was originally ; and 

 with a certain degree of remodeling in the walks and in the 

 undergrowths, for the place is rendered monotonous by the pre- 

 valence of laurel, and the addition of modern choice trees and 

 shrubs, Stourhea'd might still hold its rank as one of the first in 

 the island. The walks are everywhere too narrow, and too 

 unmeaningly devious in their lines of direction ; they are also 

 too deeply sunk in the soil, though the latter may be a fault of 

 neglect. The head of the water near the stone bridge should 

 be concealed by low growths, and the bridge reduced to a low 

 structure, because at present it is so conspicuous, as actually to 

 prove a deformity in the landscape. Of late years, a number of 

 rhododendrons have been distributed over the groimds ; but 

 they are dotted in too equidistant a manner, and in a few years, 

 if they are not removed, will destroy all breadth of effect in the 

 lawn. It would have been better to have substituted them for 

 part of the common laurels, which, as we have before observed, 

 are much too abundant for scenery of so limited an extent, and 

 which give a sameness to the woods unworthy of a place pre- 

 senting in other respects so much beauty. Two thirds at least 

 of these laurels ought to be removed, and their place supplied 

 by rhododendrons and other American shrubs ; and by box, 

 holly, and yew. This would be nothing more than acting in 

 the spirit of the original planter, laurels being, about the mid- 

 dle of the last century, as choice as rhododendrons are now. 

 These points attended to, and the ornamental buildings put into 

 thorough repair, the valley of lakes at Stourhead would form a 

 scene of great and unique beauty. Nothing can be finer than 

 the first impression made by the water a few paces within the 

 entrance from the inn. The guide-book informs us that we 

 ought to enter from the lawn front of the house; but this we 

 found impracticable. The church and churchyard are pleas- 

 ingly situated on a sloping bank, and the churchyard is one of 

 the best kept which are to be seen in England. Roses and other 

 flowering shrubs are planted against the church ; cypresses and 

 other trees are sprinkled among the graves, and the grass is 

 kept as smooth as any lawn.. The tombs of the Hoare family 

 are in an open chapel at one end of the church, and the tombs 

 of their stewards at the other, the latter containing the re- 

 mains of three generations of the same family. The fence is 

 a sunk wall with its perpendicular side towards the church, so 

 that at a short distance there appears to be no fence at all, and 



