DAWN OF LANDSCAPE GARDENING 225 



not forget a bench or seat of the famous Edraond Waller's the 

 Poet, which is so reverenced that, old as it is, it is never to be 

 removed, but constantly "repaired, like Sir Francis Drake's 

 ship. The present Waller is his grandson. All this fine 

 Improvement is made by himself or Aisleby, his father-in-law, 

 who had this house and the lands about it, in right of his wife's 

 joynture, but gave it up in the South Sea year to his Son-in- 

 law. There is a great deal more still to be done, which will 

 cost a prodigious sum, but this gentleman by marriage, South 

 Sea and his Paternal Estate [is able] to do what he pleases." 

 After such a charming description it is pleasing to find that Hall 

 Barn has been but little altered ; and a seat bearing the poet's 

 name remains to this day. 



Lord Percival was a capital correspondent, and some other 

 letters to Darnel Dering give his impressions of the gardens 

 he saw on his tour about England in 1723, thus : " To Wickham, 

 7 miles to Lord Shelburn's [we thought] he would by this time 

 have made some tolerable garden or cut fine walks in the 

 woods that cover the hills about him, but we were entirely 

 disappointed ; the wood is neglected ; the gardens which are 

 but 4 acres, without tast and neglected too, and the house 

 fourty times worse than Lady Bidulf's on blackheath." "Col. 

 Tyrrel's called Shotover (near Oxford) about two miles [farther 

 on] . . . There is plenty of wood and water about the house, 

 and both brought into the circuit of the garden, with regularity 

 and bewty. A large octogon bason on the west, and two 

 canals on the east ; the walks, parterres, terraces, and avenues 

 are agreably separated by groves of reverend oak, beech and 

 elm trees ; in a word, his garden is already compleated and yet 

 he still goes on to gratify his good tast." Lord Percival was 

 evidently a friend of Sir William Temple's nephew, as he refers 

 to him frequently in other letters. It is interesting to follow 

 the history of the garden at Moor Park. The following letter is 

 dated August 25th, 1724 : " Called on Jack Temple who fives 

 a mile from Farnham. ... It was purchased by the famous 

 Sir William Temple, who took great delight in it, and made part 

 of the garden, but this gentleman, his nephew, has greatly 

 added to it, and rendered it indeed a very pleasant seat. He 

 has the advantage of a branch of the River Wye, which is 



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