554 



JOURNAL OP HOETIOULTDBB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ December 28, 1876. 



seven years passed in laying the foundation of olassioal know- 

 ledge ; and he was rapidly rising to a high station amongst 

 his schoolfellows, when, as he expresses it, " My father thought 

 proper to put the stopper in my vial of classic literature, 

 having determined to make me a rich rather than a learned 

 man ; perhaps wisely considering that if Solomon himself had 

 not been the richest the world would scarcely give him oredit 

 for having been the wisest man." Large fortunes were at that 

 time made by the exportation of the Norwich manufactures ; 

 and his father imagined, that by sending him abroad and 

 directing his education in a new channel, he might in time 

 rival those fortunate men who die possessed of £100,000. In 

 the summer of 1764, therefore, his father and sister accom- 

 panied him from Harwioh to Helvoetsluys, that the foundation 

 of his future greatness might be laid by his learning Dutch in 

 a sohool in Holland. 



The school in which he was placed by his father was situated 

 in the small village of Workum, and here he passed what 

 would have been oalled a miserable twelvemonth by anyone of 

 less buoyant spiritB than his own ; but he was one of those 

 enviable beings who are so well described by Wordsworth as 

 peculiarly— 



" Blest with a kindly faculty to blunt 

 The edge of adverse circumstances, and turn 

 Into their contraries the petty plagues 

 And hindrances with which they stand beset." 



And his oheerful endurance was rewarded by a fortunate oeour- 

 renoe about this time, which made an entire change in his 

 situation during the remainder of his stay in Holland. 



With Mr. Zachary Hope of Rotterdam had been plaoed a 

 sum sufficient to defray his school expenses ; and a half-yearly 

 payment had regularly been remitted by him to Workum, with 

 some general inquiry as to the health and progress of the little 

 Englishman. For this civility it was deemed necessary that 

 the young gentleman should call and express his thanks. To 

 most boys of thirteen this would have been an awful under- 

 taking, but he possessed a naturally frank and open disposition, 

 which, combined with the advantage of a strikingly handsome 

 person, seldom failed to prepossess strangers in his favour. 

 Perhaps these advantages were aided by the interesting situ- 

 ation of a boy thus thrown upon the kindness of strangers. 

 From whatever oause it arose, however, this call of civility 

 ended in an invitation to remain two days ; and during that 

 short time he became so great a favourite that it was declared 

 " impossible to part with young Repton :" and thus for five 

 months he was domesticated in Mr. Hope's family, a sharer in 

 all the advantages of education with his only son, enjoying 

 every pleasure and luxury which wealth could procure, and 

 honoured by the friendship of other branches of that numerous 

 and respectable name whioh, both at Amsterdam and Rotter- 

 dam, had established a kind of rank whioh vied with the 

 proudest families of other countries. 



For more than thirty years success beyond his hopes attended 

 him in the profession of landscape gardening he had marked 

 out for himself ; and in the exercise of which he not only felt 

 pleasure, but frequently had the power of promoting it in others. 

 And to these blessings was added that of health, whioh had 

 never known a day's interruption till the unfortunate night of 

 January the 29th, 1811 ; when returning with his daughters 

 from a ball given by Sir Thomas Lennard, his carriage was 

 overturned, owing to an accumulation of snow in the road, he 

 received an injury in the spine from which he never entirely 

 recovered. For many weeks this accident confined him to his 

 bed, deprived of all power of motion. In a situation so trying 

 to one of his active disposition his mind still retained its 

 energy, and his patient endurance of suffering and cheerfulness 

 of spirits never deserted him for a moment. It was many 

 months ere he was able to resume his usual pursuits; and 

 there is little doubt that the loss of his aooustomed exercise 

 laid the foundation of that complaint which for the remaining 

 years of his life occasioned him at times great agony, and 

 which his physician pronounced to be angina pectoris. It was 

 well known to himself (and he did not conceal it from those 

 most dear to him), that the termination of this disease would 

 be as sudden as it must be fatal ; but the stroke was so long 

 delayed that hope had almost raised a doubt in the minds of 

 bis friends as to the truth of that awful fate which he himself 

 never forgot was hanging over him. On the morning of the 

 24th of March, 1818, he came down to breakfast, not more 

 unwell than usual (the act of dressing had for some time been 

 attended with a few moments of spasm in the chest), but he 

 no sooner reached the breakfast room than he fell into the 



arms of his servant, and expired without a groan. So instant- 

 aneous was his death, that before his son could hasten from 

 the adjoining room his spirit had fled. 



Perhaps there is no stronger proof of Mr. Eepton's love for 

 the beauties of nature than the wish he had latterly expressed, 

 that his remains might be deposited in a " garden of Roses." 

 To gratify this innocent fancy he himself selected the small 



Fig 80.— Humphry Kepton 



enclosure on the south side of the picturesque churoh of 

 Aylsham in Norfolk. A simple Gothio monument records hiB 

 name and age, followed by some lines written by himself — 



" The tomb of Humphry Eepton, who died March 24th, 1818. 

 " Not lite the Egyptian tyrants — consecrate, 

 Unmixt with others, shall my dust remain ; 

 But mouldering, blended, melting into earth, 

 Mine shall give form and colour to the Rose ; 

 And while its vivid blossoms cheer mankind, 

 Its perfum'd odour shall ascend to heaven." 



For the above memoir we are indebted to the introduction 

 to Mr. Loudon's edition of Mr. Repton's works. His profes- 

 sional publications were " Sketohes and Hints on Landscape 

 Gardening," 1795 ; " Observations on the Theory and Practice 

 of Landscape Gardening," 1803 ; " Inquiry into the Changes 

 of Taste in Landscape Gardening," 1806; "Designs for the 

 Pavilion at Brighton," 1808 (though these designs are said 

 to have met the approbation of the Prince of Wales, and 

 were, like the building afterwards erected by Nash, in a fancy 

 oriental style, they were not adopted) ; and " Fragments on 

 the Theory, &c, of Landscape Gardening," 1816, in which he 

 was assisted by his eldest son. 



MESSRS. JAMES VEITOH & SONS' NUESERIES, 



COOMBE WOOD, PUTNEY VALE, FULHAM. 



" Veitch's " is a name familiar nearly to every gardener in 

 Britain, and represents a business of almost world-wide repu- 

 tation. The firm is, however, commonly thought of in con- 

 nection with the rich collection of exotic plants at Chelsea, 

 — the immense stook of Orchids, the choice " pitchers," and 

 the almost bewildering miscellany of ornamental-foliaged and 

 flowering plants more or less tender, more or less rare, and 

 every one of them appearing as if it received special attention 

 ministering to its health and cleanliness. But attractive, 

 varied, and extensive as is Chelsea, it is but one section of the 

 business of the " great firm." 



My glanoe was a rapid one, extending over three nurseries 

 during one of the dullest and shortest of days. Commencing 

 at Coohbb Wood I found not only a nursery of considerable 

 extent well stooked and well furnished, but a nursery extremely 



