116 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 
Ranger’s House had formerly belonged to Lord Chester¬ 
field, and many of the famous letters to his godson are 
dated from there. No special feature in the garden, 
which was thrown open to the public with the Park in 
1898, can be attributed to him. He was not, as Lord 
Carnarvon’s memoir of him points out, fond of the 
country; though he “ took some interest in growing 
fruit in his garden at Blackheath, he had no love for his 
garden like Bacon” or Sir William Temple. There are 
some fine trees in the grounds, especially a copper beech, 
with a spread 57 feet in diameter, and a good tulip tree. 
Queen Caroline, as Princess of Wales, was Ranger in 
1806, and lived in Montague House, since pulled down, 
and the “ Queen’s House ” was appropriated to the Royal 
Naval School. At the same time the “Ranger’s” was 
inhabited by the Duchess of Brunswick, her mother, and 
it was on her death that it was purchased by the Crown, 
and Princess Sophia, daughter of the Duke of Gloucester, 
came to live there as Ranger. The last royal personage 
to stay in the house was the Duke of Connaught, when 
studying at Woolwich; and now it serves as refreshment 
rooms for the numberless trippers who enjoy Greenwich 
Park in the summer. 
The most recent changes in the Park have all been 
improvements, and now it is beautifully kept. There is 
much that is still wild, and the flora and fauna of the 
Park would astonish many. Among the wild flowers 
butcher’s broom, spindle, and the parasites on the heather 
and the broom, dodder and broom-rape are to be found, 
and hart’s-tongue, wall rue, polypody and male and lady 
ferns. The list of birds that breed there still is a long 
one :— 
