INTRODUCTION 
xv 
residence of the Princess Dowager of Wales and of her son, 
George III. Here he gave Lord Bute his dismissal, his children 
were brought up, and two of his sons, William IV. and the 
Duke of Kent, were married in the presence of the dying Queen 
Charlotte. 
And the impress of this history remains on Kew. The various 
domains which compose it have been alternately united and dissevered. 
But in its main features it still remains as George III. left it, though 
it has been perfected and refined in its details. The Royal influence 
and atmosphere persist. It is the stately garden of a great personage, 
though that is now the British people and no longer the sovereign. 
I had the honour of showing it to the late Queen Isabella of Spain, 
and her Majesty said at the end of her visit, “It is in keeping with 
your country — spacious, and with nothing mesquin .” And a Prime 
Minister remarked to me, “ Our countrymen are fond of disparaging 
their institutions ; but Kew, at any rate, is one they need not be 
ashamed of.” 
In truth, it possesses the grand manner which can be inherited 
but not acquired. Wealth may be lavished on a garden, but can- 
not give it the dignity derived from centuries of growth ; and the 
wealthiest could hardly extend more care to Kew than the nation 
bestows, or, I might add, more respect than its visitors exhibit. 
Its very stateliness represses exuberance of conduct. This makes the 
labour of control easy. A vast Bank Holiday crowd feels that it is 
present at a full-dress reception, and behaves with irreproachable 
restraint. The avoidable damage at the end of a popular day may 
be covered by a few pence. 
I claim that in this at least Kew performs a great educational 
service. It excites wonder by growing what is strange and exotic in 
an epitome of the world’s vegetation. But successive directors have 
furnished it abundantly with flowers grown as far as climate will 
allow under more natural conditions, and these cannot but stimulate 
the latent sense of beauty in Nature where more artificial effort 
might appeal in vain. 
