GARDENS OF CELEBRITIES 
paint it under some such aspect. Ultimately my drawing was made 
in late October, when the spot looks much as in February, for 
‘** The sedge has withered from the lake 
And no birds sing.” 
Earlier in the year the pretty little moor-hens and the larger 
water-fowl disport themselves gaily in the pool; and the peacock 
makes its margin its haunt, furling and unfurling its brilliant 
plumage fanlike in the sunshine. The fine strut of the bird over 
the lawns at Chiswick is natural and excusable when his gorgeous 
tail can sweep the turf; but it is ludicrous after the moulting 
season, when seemingly all unconscious of the deplorable change 
in his appearance, he often parades the grounds, dragging after 
him the one miserable, mangy feather which is all that is left in 
his tail ! 
It would, however, be unfair to Kent to let the reader suppose 
that the Chiswick House grounds are melancholy. They are far 
from being so; here and there the designer deliberately struck the 
chord of sadness, and worked in the minor key, but for the most 
part they are charmingly cheerful, and I can conceive of a delightful 
week’s holiday spent entirely in the shady groves and sunny glades 
of these delectable gardens. 
The trees are magnificent, and very varied. No words can 
exaggerate the exquisite beauty in early summer, when the green 
of the young leaves is fresh, of the very long avenue of limes, 
which leads from one principal gate to another : nor of the striking 
aspect of the south front of the house, when, if one proceed a little 
farther, it bursts upon one’s view through a double avenue of giant 
cedars and limes. Beneath the cedars are ranged terminal busts, 
antique vases, and recumbent animals, carved in stone. Lord 
Burlington brought from abroad much fine sculpture, some of which 
has no doubt been removed to Chatsworth and elsewhere, by the 
Dukes of Devonshire who have succeeded him: a good deal, 
however, still remains ; notably, there are some lovely flower-vases 
of fine Greek workmanship, in the Italian flower-garden. 
The serpentine lake is over 2,000 feet long by 60 feet wide. Water 
from the Bollo Brook supplies it, the overflow finding its way into 
the River Thames. The lake is spanned by the handsome stone 
bridge before referred to, and at its lower extremity by a wooden 
one. We cross the stone bridge and follow the footpath on the 
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