GARDENS OF CELEBRITIES 
virgin forest in which, as yet, the footsteps of man have never 
laid a trail, nor his axe hewed its way. It may be picturesque— 
it often is; but with landmarks lost, flower-beds overrun and choked 
by weeds, lawns, once trim, now rank and coarse, walks grass- 
grown, hedges unclipped, terrace-steps and balustrades (where 
there is stone-work), moss-grown and mouldering, fountains 
quiescent, pools half stagnant—its picturesqueness is melancholy. 
There is in such a garden an ever-present sense of loss and absence, 
almost of death ; for too plainly has the tending hand been with- 
drawn, the guiding mind removed. Like Lord Bacon, “I am 
speaking now of gardens that are Prince-like”; that even in 
desolation may retain some beauty—but, for the untidy small 
garden, there is nothing good to be said! Bacon, in that notion 
of his of a ‘‘ Prince-like garden,”’ sets much store upon “‘ Decent 
Order”’; and although he advises that, in a large acreage, a portion 
should be ‘‘ framed as much as may be to a Natural Wildernesse,”’ 
this wilderness is to be deliberately planned, and not due to 
neglect. ‘‘ Order is Heaven’s first law,” and it is a sine qué 
non in an enclosed garden, differentiating it from the field, and 
the common land, which lie beyond its pale. But, because the 
beauty of the ‘‘ Greene Grasse kept finely shorne”’ is greatly 
enhanced by contrast, wherever there are wide lawns to 
be mown, as at Chiswick, Fulham, Lambeth and Sion, there 
should be wild bits left of set purpose to be a playground, as 
it were, for Nature, wherein she may riot and do just what 
she likes. 
‘** Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too,” says Cowper. 
It is to the sixth Duke of Devonshire the gardens owe the very 
beautiful conservatory which is shown in the illustration. It is 
remarkable for its great length, and for having been the first 
important work undertaken by Joseph, afterwards Sir Joseph, 
Paxton, whose talent the Duke discovered when Paxton was a 
mere boy in his employment. It is unnecessary to remind anyone 
that Paxton, born in 1801 of quite humble parentage, rose from 
the modest position of an under-gardener in the Arboretum at 
Chiswick, to be superintendent of the Duke’s gardens at Chats- 
worth, and manager of his Derbyshire estates ; and that he designed 
the palace of crystal in which was held the first great international 
exhibition. 
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