XXVI MEMOIR. 



Ruxal England recognized its great value. Loudon said : 

 "It cannot fail to be of great service." Another said: 

 " We stretch pur arm acrdss the.,'hig water' to tiender 

 our Yankep coadjutdr an English shake and a cordial re- 

 cognition." ,These. welcomes frbiii those who knew what 

 and' why they welcomed,' founded Downing?s authority in 

 the minds of the less learoed, while the simplicity of his 

 own statements confirmed it. , From the pUhlication of 

 the "Landscape jji-ardening" until his death, he continued 

 tjO, be the chief American authority in rural art. 



> European honors soon began to seek the young gardener 

 upon the Hudson. He had been for some time in corres- 

 pondence with Loudon, and the other eminent men of the 

 profession., He wa,s now elected corresponding member of 

 the Royal Botanic, Society of London, of the Horticultural 

 Societies of Berlin, the Low Countries, &c. Queen Anije 

 of Deamayk sent him " a. magnificent ring," in acknow- 

 ledgment, of her pleasure in his works. But, Ssthe 

 years slowly passed, a sweeter praise saluted him than the 

 Queen's ring, nam:ely, the gradual improvettient of the na- 

 tional rural taste, and the universal testimony that it was- 

 due to Downing. It was found as easy to live in a hand- 

 some house as in one that shocked aU sense o^" propriety, 

 a,nd beauty. The/capaljilities of the landscape began to 

 develop then^seLyesto, the man -vyho looked at it from his 

 , ■windows, with Downing's books in his hand. Mr, Wilder 

 s^ys that a gentleman " who is eminently qualified to forrn, 

 an enlightened judgment," declared that much of the im- 

 provement that has taken place in this country during the 

 last twelve years, in rural architecture and' in ornamental 

 gardening and planting, may be ascribed to him. Another 

 gentleman, " speaking of suburban cottages in the West," 

 says ■.:"! asked the origin of so much taste, and was told 



