52 Recollections of a Gardening Tour. 



rising boldly in front; so that the spectator, finding himself in a 

 commanding position, and looking down on the one cemetery, 

 and up towards the other, has his mind filled with the subject 

 to the exclusion of every other idea, and feels, in short, the 

 effect on his mind to be sublime. 



Before entering the cemetery gates, the first thing which 

 struck us as remarkable was the totally different character 

 from what they are in every other British cemetery that we have 

 ever seen, of the tombs and gravestones, even at a distance: 

 there appears to be no mean, trivial, or vulgar forms among 

 them ; the trees among which they are scattered being what 

 may be considered large rather than small, and, at all events, 

 having nothing of the character of young trees, the appearance 

 recalled to mind some of the descriptions of the cemeteries of 

 antiquity. 



The Necropolis is entered by a magnificent archway and 

 gates, over which is the following inscription : — 



THE NECROPOLIS, 



OR 



ORNAMENTED PUBLIC CEMETERY, 



WAS CONSTRUCTED BY 



THE MERCHANTS' HOUSE OF GLASGOW, 



IN THEIR PROPERTY, 



TO SUPPLY THE ACCOMMODATION REQUIRED 



BY A RAPIDLY INCREASING POPULATION, 



AND, BY EMBELLISHING THE PLACE OF SEPULTURE, 



TO INVEST WITH MORE SOOTHING ASSOCIATIONS 



THAT AFFECTIONATE RECOLLECTION OF THE DEPARTED 



WHICH IS CHERISHED BY THOSE WHO SURVIVE. 



A.D. MDCCCXXXIII. 



" E'en from the tomb the voice of Nature cries." 



A carriage road commences at this portal, and gradually 

 ascends the hill in a winding direction, so as to exhibit every 

 part of the cemetery to a stranger, without obliging him to quit 

 his carriage. Having reached the summit, we may either re- 

 turn by the same road and gate, or by another road which leads 

 to a gate on a different side of the hill. The principle on 

 which the line of road is traced out is determined by the 

 character of the surface and the end in view, and is therefore 

 unexceptionable. The trees are scattered over the ground at 

 irregular distances, in the manner of a natural grove, but here 

 and there they are more or less grouped, so as to produce 

 occasional scenes of darkness and gloom. There are but few 

 evergreens, but these, we were informed, would not grow ; even 

 some old Scotch pines had a scathed appearance. The natural 



