THE 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE, 



OCTOBER, 1842. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. Notices of some Gardens and Country Seats in Somerset-? 

 shire, Devonshire, and Part of Corntoall. By the Conductor. 



Aug. 29. — London to Nettlecombe Court, the Seat of Sir John 

 Trevelyan, Bart. The greater part of the country, as seen 

 from the rail-road, is rich and varied ; and from Paddington to 

 Maidenhead it is in many places delightful. 



At Hanwell, where the rail-road is on a high embankment, 

 we look down upon a parsonage surrounded by grass fields, 

 and with gardens and shrubberies, all the walks and other 

 details of which were so distinct, with their lights and shadows, 

 that we could not help comparing them to a map. There is a 

 degree of satisfaction in tracing the resemblance of nature to art, 

 as well as there is in tracing that of art to nature. The country 

 roads seen here and in other places crossing under the embank- 

 ments of the rail-road seem, in a great measure, to have lost 

 their use and importance ; and they remind us that the progress 

 of all improvement involves the deterioration or ruin of some- 

 thing of the same kind that had gone before. Thus, the lower 

 class of vegetables prepare the way for the higher ; and soils are 

 formed by the disruption and mixture of strata, and their dis- 

 integration by the weather. 



At the Slough station, a large inn in the Italian style has 

 been recently built, and surrounded by some acres of pleasure- 

 ground badly laid out. The house, however, is admirably 

 finished and fitted up within ; and there is a regulation respect- 

 ing the servants which it is to be wished were adopted every 

 where, and which, there is no doubt, will eventually become 

 general : this is, that nothing is to be paid to the servants by 

 travellers ; the whole expense being included in the bill. 



Near Reading, Caversham House, celebrated by the immortal 

 author of Obs. on Mod. Gard., has a magnificent appearance ; 

 having been greatly enlarged by the present proprietor, Mr. 

 Crashaw. The scenery beyond Reading includes occasional 

 glimpses of the Thames, and is remarkably umbrageous and 



3d Ser.— 1842. X. I I 



