General Notices. 223 



is scarcely any head man on a gentleman's estate, who might not be instru- 

 mental in establishing a cheap library. The proprietor and his family, the 

 clergyman, and the medical man, will almost always be found ready to assist; 

 and, as to getting books, every body knows how cheap they now are every 

 where. — Cond. 



Taste. — I take taste (when not used for the sensation of the palate, which 

 is its proper signification) to be a metaphor to express that judgment which 

 each man forms to himself of those things which are not contained in any 

 certain rules, and which admit of no demonstration. Thus circles and equi- 

 lateral triangles allow of no taste, because they must be as they are ; but the 

 colours they are drawn in, or the materials they are made of, as they may be 

 varied, do depend upon fancy or taste. (^Gent. Mag., vol. viii. p. 81.) 



The Havipstcad public Library was opened in March, 1833, on the follow- 

 ing terms : — Shareholders, in whom the property is vested, are to make a 

 single advance of 1/., and pay 2^. Qd. or \s. quarterly. Quarterly subscribers 

 are to pay 2s. 6d. or 1*. at their option. Weekly subscribers are to pay Id, 

 Each class is allowed to take out one book at a time. A room was hired, 

 and the collection began with 200 volumes, and 15 subscribers. In three 

 months the subscribers amounted to 100, and the volumes to 1100. At the 

 present time,' Dec. 1833, there are 124 subscribers, and 1600 volumes of 

 sound English literature, excluding party works, in religion and politics, and 

 including the four quarterly reviews. All these works may now be read by 

 any inhabitant of Hampstead who can spare a penny a week. The objects of 

 the institution have been explained in a very interesting address by the Rev. 

 George Kenrick, from which we regret that we cannot spare room to make 

 an extract. Those who wish to establish similar institutions will find cata- 

 logues, with the laws prefixed, at the shop of Mr. Bumpus, Blue Posts, 

 Holborn. When a national system of education is established, we trust every 

 school will have a circulating library, maintained jointly at the expense of the 

 parish and of the readers. — Cond. 



The most curious Gardens in Europe, especially in Biitahi, about the Year 

 1 730. — The gardens of Versailles inimitable. Those at Kensington, regu- 

 gulated by Mr. Wise, afford as much variety as any in Europe, where water is 

 wanting. At Hampton Court, famous for exotics ; at Versailles, no grass- 

 work or gravel, " nor the beautiful ornaments of variegated hollies, which are 

 the glory of the English gardens." Gardens of Holland, without turf, gravel, 

 or evergreens ; famous for bulbs grown in peat earth and sea sand. The 

 gardens of Amsterdam exceed all others in variety of curious and useful 

 plants, from every quarter of the world ; next, that of Paris, under Antoine 

 Jussieu ; next, Leyden, under Boerhaave. The chief garden in England is that 

 of Badmington, " whose rarities were collected by that incomparable lady the 

 Duchess of Beaufort." The gardens belonging to Samuel Reynardson, Esq., 

 at Hillingdon, near Uxbridge; and the collection at Mitcham, raised by Mr. 

 Dubois ; and at Cheam, in Surrey, by the care and skill of that excellent 

 florist, the Hon. Lumley Lloyd, D.D. ; with which we must also mention that 

 numerous collection made by the ingenious Mr. Thomas Fairchild, at Hoxton, 

 from every one I have yet named both at home and abroad. {^Bradley's Works 

 of Nature, 1721, p. 189.) 



" My curious friend, Samuel Reynardson, Esq., of Hillingdon, near Ux- 

 bridge, has raised several new kinds of peaches and grapes from seeds." Pears, 

 apples, &c., raised from seeds in Devonshire, Herefordshire, and other parts 

 of England, and continually afford new varieties. The gardens of the neat 

 houses exceed all others in Europe for variety of wholesome produce ; herbs, 

 salads, early cucumbers, cauliflowers, melons, winter asparagus, &c : the best 

 school for a kitchen-gardener; though Battersea affords the largest natural 

 asparagus, and the earliest cabbages. The gardens about Hammersmith 

 famous for strawberries, currants, gooseberries, &c. Mr. Millie, at North 

 End, affords cherries, apricots, &c., some months before the natural season. 

 (/6iaf., p. 181— 191.) 



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