(J HE NT. 55 



who accompanied us in our walk, was in a still more mise- 

 rable plight as to clothing than the intendant of the Capu- 

 chin's garden at Bruges ; he had no stockings, and strad- 

 dled along with heavy sabots or wooden clogs on his feet, 

 the mere wearing of which would certainly prove a heavy 

 punishment to a gardener of Scotland. He spoke only Fle- 

 mish ; so that our means of communication were very li- 

 mited: we could, however, from his handiworks, easily 

 discover that he was far from being thoroughly acquainted 

 with his business. 



In place of walls or hedges, the fences here, and in most 

 other gardens in the Low Countries, consist merely of canals 

 or broad ditches full of water. These are very effectual 

 for the only purpose for which they are wanted, the ex- 

 clusion of intruders,-— shelter not being required ; and they 

 are, at the same time, very pleasing, as the view of the coun- 

 try around thus remains uninterrupted. These canals were 

 at this time ornamented with the flowers of arrowhead (Sagit- 

 taria sagittifolia) and of the frog-bit already mentioned, two 

 aquatics which are rare in Britain, but here extremely 

 common. They abound with fish, especially carp, which we 

 could see every where swimming about, some of them of 

 considerable size, and " silvered o'er with age." In the 

 lawn near the house, stands a fine specimen of the decidu- 

 ous cypress (Cupressus disticha), about 20 feet high, and 

 with a stem more than 3 feet in circumference. The wal- 

 nut-trees were here covered with fruit, and had made strong 

 shoots, of more than two feet, this season. Several very 

 fine specimens of the variegated elm attracted notice ; 

 they are grafted on the common elm, and are more than 

 30 feet high. In the bois of this villa is a serpentine walk, 

 about 300 feet long, covered with hornbeam trained to a 

 vaulted treillage. This leads to an artificial cave, which is 



