A Visit to Chatsworth. 203 



• ty f form, all filled with plants in flower. The plants, 

 , - na j n pots, are taken away when out of flower, and replaced 

 , °hers, so that under the windows of the house they make 



perpetual flower garden. The formality of this arrange- 

 ent is broken by large plots of roses, and the whole garden 

 . f orm ed in terraces, in the Italian style, each fenced with a 

 stone balustrade. 



We must now walk on, or our time will not permit us to see 

 tae waterfall, which terminates one of the vistas. The 

 machinery of this is so good, and the deception so well man- 

 aged, that you see a broad sheet of water, apparently falling 

 500 or 600 yards, perpendicular, when it falls over only a suc- 

 cession of broad steps, from the top of a hill about 200 feet high, 

 being supplied with water from a resevoir of sixteen acres on 

 the top. The water is amply sufficient, and falls with great 

 force, occupying about three minutes in reaching the bottom, 

 and there disappearing as if by magic, being conveyed under 

 ground. Now we arrive at what will be, when finished, the 

 wonder of wonders, the new conservatory, situated in a se- 

 cluded spot, surrounded by magnificent oaks, which, sheltering 

 it from the winds, do not shade it from the sun. I cannot de- 

 scribe it. The centre is finished, and consists of one oblong, 

 oval dome, 60 feet high, 360 feet long, and 140 wide ; with 

 two wings, each 100 feet long, entered through an arch of 

 rock-work, as if going into a cave, but the entrance large 

 enough for a carriage to drive in, and a carriage road goes ac- 

 tually through the whole. The plants are all to be planted in 

 the soil, without pots, and some idea of its size may be formed, 

 when I tell you that the pipes for heating it would form a line 

 six miles long. I never saw anything so magnificent ; when 

 we drove into the park, the sun was shining on it, and we 

 took it for a sheet of water, surrounded by hanging woods. 

 Our time has been so taken up with this immense conservatory, 

 that we shall only be able to see the water garden on our road 

 to the house. This garden consists of weeping willows and 

 other trees, collected together in a clump, at a little secluded 

 spot, which, on a sudden, throw jets of water from the point 

 of every leaf, thus forming an artificial shower of rain ; but, 

 although very pretty, and certainly very ingenious, the trees 



