House and Garden 
Duke (1822-1883) and a recent memorial of the 
brilliant but erratic statesman, Lord Randolph 
Churchill. 
The architect was Sir John Vanbrugh, the con- 
ceiver of massively majestic effects, who escaped not 
the poet’s satire conveyed in the epitaph: 
“ Under this stone, reader, survey 
Dead Sir John Vanbrugh’s house of clay. 
Lie heavy on him. Earth, for he 
Laid many a heavy load on thee.” 
Lord Lyttelton wrote enthusiastically of it in 1728: 
” Parent of Arts, whose skilful hand first taught 
'Phis tow’ring Pile to rise, and form’d the Plan 
With fair propoition ; Architect divine 
Minerva ; Thee to my advent’rous Lyre 
Assistant I invoke, that means to sing 
Bleinhemia, Monument of British Fame, 
Fhy glorious work ! For thou the lofty Tow’rs 
Didst to his virtue raise, whom oft thy Shield 
In peril guarded, and thy Wisdom steer’d 
Through all the storms of war. Majestic in its strength 
Stands the proud Dome, and speaks its great Design. 
Hail, happy Chief, whose valour could deserve 
Reward so glorious ! Grateful Nation, hail. 
Who paid his service with so rich a Meed ! 
Which most shall I admire, which worthiest praise, 
The Hero, or the People ? Not the Vale 
Of Tempe fam’d in song, or Ida’s grove 
Such beauty boasts.” 
The gardens and park are no less famous than the 
palace. Wise, one of the race of early landscape 
gardeners, was the original designer, but his plans 
have happily been improved upon by his successors. 
The Italian garden, hounded on the north by the 
conservatory, with its graceful fountain and beautiful 
formal arrangement is most attractive. The pleasure 
grounds cover 30c acres, and have some splendid 
trees, deodars, Portugal laurel, cedar, copper beech 
and pine. There is the Temple of Health, erected to 
commemorate the recovery from illness of George 
III. in 1789, and the Ionic temple of Diana designed 
by Sir William Chambers, who also built the bridge 
which spans the lake. This noble bridge contains 
several chambers which were intended to be used as 
a summer residence. The lake is artificial, and was 
formed by “Capability” Brown by damming the 
little river Glyme. The groups of trees in the park 
were originally planted in groups, so as to form a 
plan of the battle of Blenheim, each group repre¬ 
senting a battalion of troops. A prominent feature 
of the park is the column crowned by a colossal 
statue of the great Duke, and adorned with a record 
of his distinguished services to his country. 
“Rosamund’s Well,” the traditional rill in which 
the fair beauty bathed, and the high lodge, 
an old building once the residence of the ranger 
of the Royal Forest, are objects of interest that 
attract the curious. 
As we leave the palace the rays of the setting sun 
shed a halo of glory on each tower and pinnacle of 
this wondrous house; the deer are browsing in the 
park beneath the shade of the ancestral trees; old 
oaks which have witnessed the hunting exploits of 
mediaeval kings cast their shadows, and tell of the 
past glories of Woodstock, of the coming of the 
great Duke and of his winsome, wayward Duchess, 
and of the union of the last of his race with one of the 
fairest daughters of that great sister land across the 
seas, where the traditions of England’s statelv homes 
still find a hearty welcome. 
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