Book I. 



GARDENING IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 



81 



gardens, and of planting and engrafting different kinds of fruit-trees. " (Scoticron. lib. xvi. 

 cap. 30.) 



355. I?i the middle of the ffteenth centwy, James III. is described by Pilscottie, as 

 " delighting more in music and policie (probably from the French polir, to remove, level, 

 or improve ; or from a corruption of se polir, to improve one's self, — levelling and smooth- 

 ing the grounds about a house, being naturally the first step after it is built), and build- 

 ing, than he did in the government of his realm." Tlie general residence of this mo- 

 narch was Stirling Castle ; and a piece of waste surface in the vale below is said to have 

 been the site of the royal gardens. Enough remains to justify a conjecture, that at this 

 early period they displayed as much skill as those of any otlier country. We allude 

 to a platform of earth resembling a table, surrounded by turf seats, or steps rising in gra- 

 dation, the scene, no doubt, of rural festivities. 



356. Ill the middle of the sixteenth century, the Regent Murray had a garden in the 

 neighbourhood of Edinburgh, which still- exists. It contains some venerable pear-trees, 

 a magnificent weeping thorn-tree of great age, and tlie remains of elm-bowers, which 

 have doubtless in their time sheltered the fair queen of Scots, but the interwoven boughs 

 of \vhich now appear in the shape of fantastically bent trunks, thin of spray and leaves, 

 {Hort. Tour, &c. p. 226.) 



357. There are va7ious i-eniains of gardens~of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Scotland. 

 At the palace of Falkland is a large square enclosure, on a dull flat, in which tliere 

 exist only a few stunted ash-trees, though the boundary stone wall is still a formidable 

 fence. The gardens of Holyrood House appear to have been exceedingly confined ; the 

 boundaiy wall only remains, and there are som.e indications of the rows of trees which 

 stood in the park, which seems to have extended to the base of the adjoining hill, Arthur's 

 Seat. The palace of Scone, we learn from Adanson, a poet of the seventeenth century, 

 was suiTounded by " gardens and orchards, flowers and fruits ;" and the park, in v> hich 

 are still some ancient trees, " abounded in the hart and fallow deer." Generally a few 

 old trees in rows adjoin the other royal residences, and oldest baronial castles ; but thev 

 give no indications of the extent to which art was carried in their disposition. 



358. During the seventeeiith century, a few gardens must have been fcrmicd in Scot- 

 land. About the end of this century, the grounds of the Duke of Hamilton vrere 

 planted, in all probability by a French artist. The design of Chatelherault, an orna- 

 mental appendage to the palace of Hamilton, is named after, and formed in imitation of, 

 the residence of that illustrious family in France, laid out by Le Notre. 



359. About the beginiiing of the eighteenth century, the Earl of Lauderdale is said to 

 have sent plans, sections, and sacks of earth from his domain at Hatton, to London and 

 Wise, in London ; and these artists, it is added, formed a plan, and sent down a gardener 

 to superintend its execution. Hatton is still a fine old place ; but has long changed its 

 possessor. 



360. English artists were called info Scotland during this century. Switzer, Laurence, and Langley 

 mention in their works, that they were frequently called into Scotland to give plans of improvement. 

 Switzer appears to have resided a considerate time in Edinburgh, as he there pubhshed, in 1717, a tract 

 on draining, and other useful and agricultural improvements. The Earls of Stair and Haddington (who 

 wrote on trees), both great planters, about this time, probably consulted them ; as would, perhaps, Fletcher 

 of Saltoun, the proprietors of Dundas Castle, Barnton, Saughton Hall, Gogar, and particularly Cragie 

 Hall, a residence laid out with much art and taste, and next in rank, in these respects, to Hatton. New 

 Listen, Dalkeith House, Hopeton House, and various other places near Edhiburgh, are also in Switzer's 

 style. New Liston and Hopeton House, planted, we believe, from 1735 to 1740, were probably the last 

 considerable seats laid out in the ancient style in Scotland. 



361. The modern style u-as f rst introduced into Scotland by the celebrated Lord JCames, 

 wl]o, some time between 1740 and 1750, displayed it on his own residence at Blair 

 Drummond. An irregular ridge, leading from the house, was laid out in walks, com- 

 manding a view, over the shrubs on the declivity, of portions of distant prospect. One 

 part of this scene was composed entirely of evergreens, and formed an agreeable winter- 

 garden. Lord Karnes did not entirely reject the ancient style, either at Blair Drum- 

 mond, or in his Essay on Gardening and Architecture, published in the Elements of 

 Criticism. In that sliort but compreliensive essay, he shows an acquaintance Avith tlio 

 Chinese style, and the practice of Kent ; admits both of absolute and relative beauty 

 as the objects of gardening and architecture, and from this complex destination, accounts 

 for that difference and wavering of taste in these arts, " greater than in any art that has 

 but a single destination." (Vol. ii. p. 431. 4th edit. 1769.) 



Lord Karnes's example in Scotland may be compared to that of Hamilton or Shcnstone in England ; it 

 was )iot generally followed, because it was not generally understood. That tije Elanents of Cr/ficism, 

 though long since obsolete as such, tended much to purify the taste of the reading class, tljcre can be no 

 doubt. Every person also admired Blair Drummond ; but as every countr}--gentlcman could not bestow 

 sulficient time and attention to gardening to be able to lay out his own place, it became necessary to have 

 recourse to artists ; and, as it happened, those who were employed had acquired only that habit of me- 

 chanical imitation which copies the most obvious forms, without understanding the true merits of the 

 original. In short, they were itinerant pupils of Brown, or professors in his school, who resided in Scot- 

 land ; and thus it is, that after commencing in the best taste, Scotland continued, till within the last 

 twenty years, to patronise tlie very worst. 



362. The grounds of Bttdding'ifon House may be referred to as a contrast to the style of 



