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LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
homes of our ancestors, and the dwellings of that bright 
galaxy of English genius and worth, which illuminates equal- 
ly the intellectual firmament of both hemispheres. He, who 
has extended his researches, con amore , into the history of the 
domestic life and habits of those illustrious minds, will not, 
we are sure, forget that lowly cottage by the side of the Avon, 
where the great English bard was wont to dwell ; the taste- 
ful residence of Pope at Twickenham ; or the turrets and 
battlements of the more picturesque Abbotsford ; and num- 
berless other examples of the rural buildings of England, 
once the abodes of renowned genius. In truth, the cottage 
and villa architecture of the English, has grown out of the 
feelings and habits of a refined and cultivated people, whose 
devotion to country life, and fondness for all its pleasures, 
are so finely displayed in the beauty of their dwellings, and 
the exquisite keeping of their buildings and grounds. 
We must be permitted to quote, in further proof of English 
taste and habits, and their results in their country residences, 
the testimony of our countryman, Washington Irving, in one 
of his most elegant essays. “ The taste of the English in 
the cultivation of land, and in what is called Landscape 
Gardening, is unrivalled. They have studied nature intent- 
ly, and discovered an exquisite sense of her beautiful forms 
and harmonious combinations. Those charms which in 
other countries she lavishes in wild solitudes, are here 
assembled around the haunts of domestic life. They seem 
to have caught her coy and furtive graces, and spread them 
like witchery about their rural abodes. Nothing can be 
more imposing than the magnificence of English park 
scenery. Yast lawns that extend like sheets of vivid green, 
with here and there clumps of gigantic trees heaping up 
rich piles of foliage. The solemn group of groves and 
