From notes made on the gardens round the metropolis, by J. Gibson, in 1691, it appears the sovereign's example was still followed with dutiful exactness; the characteristics of them all were terrace walks, hedges of evergreens, shorn shrubs in boxes, and orange and myrtle trees. Kensington Gardens as yet comprised but twenty-six acres, to which Queen Anne added thirty more, and caused them to be laid out by Wise, who turned the gravel-pits into a shrubbery, with winding walks, and was compared by Addison to an epic poet for so doing. It was about this time that there arose in different quarters a more natural taste in gardening, and which, as the commencement of our present system, has excited considerable interest and a great deal of not very conclusive discussion. One of the sources to which this taste is attributed by foreigners is odd enough-the Chinese; but our own poets seem much better entitled to whatever amount of credit may be justly assignable to any particular quarter. From Bacon downwards, we find them exercising a steady and growing influence to this end. That greatest of prosepoets expressly inculcated the adding to our gardens rude or neglected spots as specimens of wild nature, and he placed gardening on a higher elevation than was dreamed of by any one else in his time in the passage, "When ages do grow to civility and elegance, men come to build stately sooner than to garden finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection." Waller, at his residence at Beaconsfield, is said to have presented more than usual evidences of natural taste. Addison is the author of the paper On the Causes of the Pleasures of the Imagination, arising from the works of Nature, and their Superiority over those of Art,' which appeared in 1712, and Pope, of that in which the verdant sculpture school is unmercifully attacked in the 'Guardian,' and who, in his epistle to Lord Burlington, laid down the opposite principles that were to be cultivated,— the study of nature, the genius of the place, and never to lose sight of good sense; then Thomson, by his 'Seasons,' did admirable service to the cause; and lastly, Mason published his poem on the English Garden. The first artist who appreciated and accepted the new faith was Bridgman, who banished verdant sculpture from the royal gardens, introduced 'ha-has' instead of walls for boundaries, and portions of landscape scenery, in accordance with Bacon's ideas, but the clipped alleys were still left to be clipped. Kensington Gardens, under his superintendence, were now further enlarged, by the addition of no less than three hundred acres taken out of Hyde Park, and the Serpentine was formed from a series of detached ponds. This was considered a very bold experiment. An amusing evidence of the state of the general ideas on the subject of garden or landscape scenery is given by Mr. Loudon.-"Lord Bathurst informed Daines Barrington that he was the first who deviated from the straight line in made pieces of water, by following the natural lines of a valley, in widening the brook at Ryskins, near Colnbrook, and that Lord Strafford, thinking that it was done from poverty or economy, asked him to own fairly how little more it would have cost him to have made it straight." But there is an older claimant to the honour of the serpentine form-Sir Christopher Wren's father, who proposed to "reduce the current of a mile's length into the compass of an orchard," and to employ the enclosed space to purposes of "gardenings, plantings, or banquettings, or aery delights, and the multiplying of infinite fish in a little compass of ground, without any sense of their being restrained." Bridgman was succeeded by Kent, who, whilst his sculpture and his paintings have sunk into merited oblivion, seems to be recognized as the first true English landscape artist, a circumstance attributed, in a great measure, and no doubt correctly, to his studies as a painter. Walpole's opinion of him is high indeed: Kent was, he says, "painter enough to taste the charms of landscape : bold and opiniative enough to dare and to dictate, and born with a genius to strike out a great system from the twilight of imperfect essays, he realised the compositions of the greatest masters in paintings." Claremont and Esher were both laid out by Kent. We need not further follow the progress of that natural taste in gardening which is now happily established, through its various alternations of advance and retreat, but turn our attention to those gardens in which flowers and ornamental and useful plants have been made a primary object, and thus prepared the way for the societies named at the head of our article. The oldest Botanic gardens in England are those of Oxford and Chelsea, the last belonging to the Apothecaries' Company as early as 1674, and remaining in its possession to this day; being maintained by the Company for the use of the medical schools of London. Evelyn, who visited it in 1685, mentions as rarities he saw there a tulip-tree and a tea-shrub. Here one of the earliest attempts to supply plants that required it with artificial heat appears to have been made, the green-house having been heated in 1684, according to Ray, by means of embers placed in a hole in the floor. To the immense advances that have been subsequently accomplished in this department of horticulture, much of the present prosperity of gardening in England may be attributed. Among the more striking results of artificial warmth, may be noticed the present as compared with the former supply of our metropolitan markets with exotic fruits; which, as Mr. Loudon observes, enables a citizen of London to purchase throughout the year, at a slight expense, the same luxuries as the king, or as the most wealthy proprietors can obtain from their extensive gardens; and which for quality are unrivalled perhaps in any other part of the world. We must add to our brief notice of the Chelsea gardens that it was here that the "Prince of Gardeners," as Linnæus called him, Philip Miller, the author of the admirable Gardeners' Dictionary,' spent nearly fifty years, having taken the management in 1722, and only resigned it a little before his death in 1771. During that period the gardens obtained an almost unrivalled European reputation. The first Arboretum was that of Kew, established in 1760, through the influence of the Dowager Princess of Wales, and which, from the monopoly it has enjoyed of royal and governmental support from the time of its establishment down to a comparatively recent period, is in particular departments, such as that of the New Holland plants, without a rival. It has from the same cause been the medium through which an enormous number of foreign plants have been introduced into this country, we can scarcely say into our gardens; for so illiberal was the entire system of management, that it was not until of late years its directors seem to have had the idea cross their minds that, in return for the national funds, the gardens might contribute in some way to the national enjoyment. Except in such particular departments as that we have mentioned, the arboretum of Kew is now greatly inferior not only to the collection in the gardens of the Horticultural Society, but even to that of a private esta blishment, Messrs. Loddiges', at Hackney. Besides its arboretum, Kew contains a large number of rare plants in numerous hot-houses and green-houses, and has also an excellent kitchen-garden, and a British garden, containing a rich collection of native flowers. It is now readily accessible to the public, and forms, as may be supposed, a very interesting place to visitors. During the war, men had weightier matters to engross all their thoughts, time, and money, than the improvement of their gardens or the development of horticultural tastes through the community; it is, consequently, from the period of peace-1815, that we may date the commencement of the present extraordinary prosperity of English gardening; and of which the Horticultural Society, founded, as we have said, in 1820, must be looked upon as the chief moving impulse. It was by its means that the new leisure was used for the advancement of an innocent and graceful recreation, and which may easily become more than this—a valuable and elevating study; it was by its means that the new opportunities of inter-communication between our own and other countries were taken advantage of for the interchange of those natural productions, which seem purposely scattered over the globe that they may form so many links that shall ultimately bind the whole human race in friendship together; it was by its means that all the appliances and discoveries of science were brought to bear in the readiest and most effective manner upon the commonest but most valuable fruits and vegetables of our tables; lastly, it was by its means that the beautiful and previously unknown plants scattered about in different parts of the globe were obtained, not simply for the completion of a botanical collection, or for the improvement of a nobleman's or gentleman's garden, but also indirectly for the common enjoyment even of the poorest cottager. If we go into Covent Garden, and find packets of seed of such beautiful little annuals, for instance, as the blue and white or white and spotted Nemophilias, or the pretty tri-coloured Gilia, and we know not how many others, offered for a penny each, to whom but the Fellows of the Horticultural Society are our thanks due? Or if, in the same place, we find, on inquiry, how completely the old varieties of fruits and vegetables have disappeared, and their places been occupied by new ones of infinitely superior quality, to whom but them, again, have we any reason to be grateful? Or lastly, if we perceive how extensively the example of this Society has been followed in the formation of the innumerable associations that now not only comprise one or more for almost every large town, but we might almost say one for every "florist's flower" (the Heart's Ease Society, for instance), we have satisfactory evidence that the objects and the exertions of the noblemen and gentlemen referred to have been fully appreciated. That the second of the two societies mentioned in our title may render as great services to botany as the first has done to horticulture must be the highest ambition of its founders. The Royal Botanic Society of London' was incorporated between three and four years ago, for the "promotion of Botany in all its branches, and its application to Medicine, Arts, and Manufactures, and also for the formation of extensive Botanical and Ornamental Gardens within the immediate vicinity of the Metropolis." The Society consists of Fellows who pay an admission fee of five guineas, and an annual contribution of two. Exhibitions of flowers are sanctioned by the Society, and the prizes given are not much less in amount than those at Chiswick. The grounds in the Regent's Park, which are bounded by what is known as the Inner Circle, consist of eighteen acres, which were previously in the possession of a nurseryman, and then formed an almost level surface, the only noticeable deviation being the slight slope of the ground westward. In stepping into the grounds, now, the change is truly surprising, and we do not know where our readers could more readily obtain a practical example of what may be done in picturesque landscape gardening, on the most unpromising sites. As we enter, on one of the evenings devoted to the promenade, as it is called, a pretty rustic screen of ivy intercepts, for a moment, the view of the interior, which passed, we find ourselves on a very broad gravel walk, adorned at each end with large vases on pedestals. As we pace along this walk we have, on the right, a picturesque-looking mound rising to some considerable elevation from the midst of the irregular grounds about its base, and on the left lawns and shrubberies, behind which the winding walks disappear into the lower grounds beyond, where occasional glimpses may be obtained of a brilliant parterre of flowers. "The mount, at least, is not artificial," we have heard visitors say; but it so happens that not only that, but another of the chief features of the gardens-the fine piece of water close by the mount, show, somewhat amusingly, how these things may be managed. The soil dug out of the bed of the water would have been an expensive article to remove, so it was thrown up close by, and lo!—the materials of the mount; then there was a difficulty as to filling the vacant hollow, and it was in serious contemplation to obtain a supply from some of the Water Companies, when a few heavy falls of rain settled that matter, and lo! the Lake. At the end of the walk we ascend a flight of steps, to what is called the Terrace, where, perhaps, one of the most interesting buildings yet contrived for the protection of plants requiring, in this country, an artificial climate, is about to be erected. This is an immense winter garden, entirely covered with glass, where some three or four thousand persons may be able at once to move about the varied surface, ascending or descending the different walks, above all, enjoying the novel effect produced by passing from the hardy plants and temperate atmosphere of their own country in the gardens without, gradually through a warmer and warmer air, each portion having its own suitable vegetation, till, at last, they reach the tropical regions of the extremity, and find themselves in the country of palms, and other such magnificent inhabitants of the East. If this can be accomplished, as is anticipated, without any intervening screens for the preservation of a particular degree of heat to a particular part, the effect will be certainly magical. The proposed dimensions of the structure are 300 feet long by 200 broad, and only from 20 feet to 30 feet high. In this comparative lowness of roof one mode is presumed to have been found of placing the temperature under sufficient management; the other, and chief one, is, of course, the skilful regulation of the heat introduced at the hottest part, which, it is expected, will diffuse itself gradually through the whole building, regularly decreasing in intensity till, at the entrance, all traces of it are lost. In front the building is to have an ornamental dome, some forty feet high. Turning now to the right, and passing on one side the chief body of the promenaders congregated about the stage, on which the band of one of Her Majesty's house hold regiments are playing, their cocked hats and scarlet coats forming a brilliant picture from different parts of the gardens, and on the other, the elegantly fitted-up refreshment-room, the walk leads us beneath the shade of a magnificent tree, brushing the ground on all sides with its drooping branches; and thence onward to certain portions of the grounds laid out in gracefullyshaped patterns which, though yet but very incompletely furnished, are, rightly considered, the most important if not the most interesting departments of the place. That large piece of ground, forming a spiral, is for the reception of plants used, or useful, in medicine; and the student who begins at one end of the spiral will find the different orders are all arranged systematically, according to the improved natural system of De Candolle. Another piece of ground here is devoted to the collection of the chief agricultural plants. But the most generally attractive of the whole will be the garden of hardy plants from all parts of the world, lately formed, and which already contains 3000, and will receive at least 7000 more. These are also arranged according to De Candolle's system, and convey still more directly to the eye, owing to the general form of the parterre, than the other divisions mentioned, the affinities of plants with each other. In this part of the gardens a large and handsome building is also to be erected for the formation of a museum, and to contain the library, reading-room, lecture-room, &c. The facilities offered to students in Botany, at this place, will be apparent from what we have stated. The professor will not need to content himself with illustrating his lecture with a few half-withered specimens collected just as circumstances permitted, but may walk out, like an old philosopher of Greece, into his garden or academy, and teach the most delightful of sciences in the pleasantest of schools. Returning to the terrace, noticing by the way the taste with which a variety of objects are scattered about, as rustic vases at the intersections of walks, rustic bridges over the water, and the judgment displayed in the more important additions to the original monotonous surface, such as the sloping mounds thrown up in different parts, which now give such variety and expression to it, we pass to the lower grounds on the opposite side of the terrace, where the irregularities become still more agreeable and decided. Every few yards the scene changes. Now we descend into a rocky dell, spanned by an arch of rocks, and with a cave, in character with the whole, at one side; then a little rude bridge takes us across a stream winding sluggishly along between its reedy banks; then, a few yards further, and we are in a kind of amphitheatre, devoted to the growth of the beautiful American plants, or those requiring peat soil, the rhododendrons, kalmias, azaleas, andromedas, &c. &c. We may here remark that the shrubs generally, throughout the entire gardens, are also systematically arranged, and that they are legibly named first with the botanical appellation, and then the English. The mention of the rhododendron reminds us of the changes since Crabbe's time, when the use of the word formed a subject of the poet's good-humoured satire : "High-sounding words our worthy gardener gets, Many of our readers we fancy would now be puzzled for the moment to remem |