PRIVATE GARDENS 
34i 
box-edged beds of the Dutch garden as is the Japanese 
garden, a new addition which lies further to the north. 
It was near here that the fatal duel between Lord 
Camelford and Colonel Best took place in 1804. There 
is yet another small enclosed garden cut off by thick 
yew hedges and fat hollies from the rest. In it is the 
seat inscribed with lines to the poet Rogers :— 
“ Here Rogers sat, and here forever dwell 
With me those Pleasures that he sings so well.” 
In this garden, year by year, dahlias have grown 
ever since they were first successfully grown in England. 
In 1789 the dahlia came for the first time from the 
New World to the Old. It was then sent to Spain, 
and that same year Lady Bute procured some from 
Madrid. She was not, however, successful in growing 
it and it quite died out, until it was reintroduced by 
Lady Holland in 1804. The plants remained rare in 
England for some years. Jt was being grown in France, 
Germany, and Holland, but little had been done to 
improve the original plant. When, however, a larger 
supply was available in England after 1814, the English 
growers took it up, and produced, before long, the 
round very double flowers which soon became the rage. 
In stilted style a writer in 1824 describes the dahlia 
mania, after giving the history of its introduction. “ It 
was left to English capital and perseverance,” he says, 
“ to illuminate the northern part of the globe by the 
full brilliancy of these floral luminaries.” Thus in 
extravagant language he continues to sing the praises 
of the dahlia. It is curious that the name is now 
generally pronounced as if it were “ dalea,” forgetful 
of the fact that there is a flower, something like a vetch, 
