niature, because they are only intended for a near View: Whereas the others are drawn with larger Lineaments, and rife in a more fimple Form. They are likewife multiplied with Profufion on the fame Stem, and have ufually but one Colour, which, with the branching Verdure that fuftains them, gives them an amiable Appearance, even in a distant Prospect, and renders them a noble Decoration to a spacious Plot.

Chevalier. I doubt the pleafing Array of thefe Plants is too tranfient: But we are not fo much limited in the Cultivation of Flowers, becaufe we may enjoy them in regular Succeffions.

Count. We may likewife be accommodated with Flowering Trees, for the greatest Part of the Year, and with a Number of agreeable Variations: When the Laurus Tinus has performed its Part, in the laft Months of the Winter Season, and even to the Return of Spring, it quits the Scene, and is fucceeded by the Lilacs, which we intermix, by difpofing Boxes of the white and blue Clufters, in alternate Ranges; and you may obferve their Effect through the Length of this Terrafs. Thefe are the immediate Predeceffors of the Gelder-Rofe, the Honey-Suckle, the common Jeffamine rifing on Stems, or rounded by Hoops, into the Form of a Vafe; the Spanish Broom, and the Perfian Lilacs, with the yellow Jellamines, and thofe of India, Arabia, and Catalonia, which continue flowery for feveral Months, notwithstanding the daily Tribute they tender to each new Vifitor who approaches them. The fame Seafon delights us with the balmy Fragrance of the OrangeFlower, and the rich Purple of the Pomegranate. We fhall afterwards be regaled, through the whole Autumn, with a Combination of the fofteft Colours, refulting from the blended White and Red of the Laurel Rofe.

We may intermix the flowering Trees with a Variety of Shrubs that are in great Efteem either for their unfading Verdure, or the refreshing Odours they difpenfe. Of this Clafs are the Myrtle, the Rosemary, the Orach, with the Trees of Saint Lucia*, Yew, Cyprefs, Cherry-Laurels, and an endless Diverfity of other Species. The Holly

* A Species of Cherry-Tree, of a pleafing Scent, and a very agreeable Flower.

Tree itself, as jagged as it appears, is render'd worthy of a Situation in our Gardens, by its undecaying Green, and the admirable Vermillion of its Berries, which delight the View in the Depth of Winter.

Chevalier Your Lordship has not taken any Notice of Rofe-Trees, and yet they make a very amiable Figure in the Garden.

Count. I am far from difregarding them, and indeed they are as valuable as all the Variety of Flowery Shrubs. Those we procure from foreign Parts, at a great Expence, have no real Superiority, and perhaps are not comparable to the Beauties of a regular Succeffion of our native Rose-Trees, when they are cultivated in a proper manner. There are more than fifteen Species of Rofes, as well the fingle as the double; the white, the yellow, the crimson and the triped: And befides the Facility of diverfifying their Colours, by the Intermixture of the feveral Kinds, we may obtain this Variety on the fame Stem, and produce a Bloom of five or fix forts of large Rofes, entirely different from each other, by the Operation of Grafting.

We may raise them, if we are fo difpofed, by lopping off the Shoots that fprout from the Stem; but the most important Circumftance in their Culture is to allow fome of the Buds to fpring, while we retrench the reft, and to moderate the Growth of the Trees, fome more and others lefs, by which means the Buds will unfold themselves in Succeffion; fome at the clofe of Summer, others in Au

tumn, and the reft in the Winter Seafon itself. Nothing can be more eafy and natural than the Method of prolonging this lovely Flower.

Chevalier. I begin to be fenfible, more than ever, that the most common things are in reality the most amiable; and that we are under no Neceffity of being anxious after fcarce and foreign Productions, for the Gratification of our Curiofity.

Count. It will be fufficient if we make an orderly Dif pofition of what Nature has placed around us; and this Truth will be rendered ftill more evident to you, by the other Embellishments of our Gardens. Let us only allow all the Luxuriance of Growth to the Linden, the Hazel, the White-Thorn, the Fruit-Trees, and every other Plant that rifes before us, and we shall foon be lodged like

the

the Lions and Tygers of the Wilderness. We fhall fee ourfelves furrounded with thorny Bushes and glooming Thickets. But, on the other hand, let us bestow the leaft Arrangement on the Products of Nature, and our Habitations will quickly be changed to a verdant Paradise.

Common Reason inclines us to clear the Front of our Apartments from whatever would darken them, or intercept the View; and when we open a Plot of Ground of a reasonable Extent, it is but natural to difpofe it in such a manner as may amufe the Sight with fome agreeable Object. To this Intention we may refer the Origin of Parterres, and the easy Delicacy of the Ornaments that compofe them. But I must likewife obferve to you, that a Parterre, which is only an open Level, ought to be fet off by Objects of a different Caft, that mutually contrast one another, and rise on each Side, either to terminate or diverfify the View, or to furnish us with fome other Accommodations.

The Difpofition of thefe Appendages requires a more accurate Tafte than the Parterre itfelf; and I will now represent to you, in a few Words, the Defign of the feveral Pieces, together with the Plants that compofe them, and the proper Method of ranging the Whole. We will begin with the Alleys.

Thofe

Alleys.

Alleys are either planted or open. of the latter, Kind are extended in a level Surface, edged with Borders of Box, and covered either with Sand or Turf, formed into an agreeable Walk, round the Parterre.

Those of the former Sort are either bordered with large Trees, or with Plants, difpofed in Boxes. Some are covered, to render the Enjoyment of the fresh Air more commodious; others are entirely open at the Top. They are fometimes calculated to improve the Profpect of the Country; and this, if poffible, ought to be the Effect of the Alley that fronts the Building, and correfponds with the Middle of the Parterre; fome are qualified to direct the Eye to a pleafing Object; as you may obferve in this before us.

Chevalier. The two Towers of the Monaftery, which form the Point of View, feem as if they were built with an Intention to embellish it.

Count.

Count. The main Alley, which ufually opens at the end of the Parterre, is fometimes accompanied with two Counter-Alleys that are lefs fpacious. When that happens to be the Difpofition, the Alley in the middle is always compofed of large Trees, whofe Tops are cut even with each other, while their Trunks rife in the open Air. The Counter-Alleys may be closed on the right and left, with two large Ranges of Pallifades or verdant Walls.

Chevalier. I obferve that all the Trees in the two Alleys, which accompany your Lordship's Parterre, as well as in that which opens through the Wood fronting the Castle, are of the fame Species.

Count. They are all broad-leaved Elms, and no other Trecs are fo complete and uniform in their Foliage.

Chevalier. Is not the Lime ufually chofen for fine Alleys?

Count. I must confefs the Indian Lime is render'd very ornamental by its lively Green; together with the large Clufters of its Flowers, and its amiable Head: It is likewife a Tree of a fudden Growth; but then it is fubject to the Depredations of a Caterpillar, that yearly deftroys the greatest Part of its Verdure in the midst of Summer. I may add too, that it always foils the Walks, and drops its fhaggy Pods, when it sheds its Flowers at the Close of Spring. It is likewife divested of its Fruit in Autumn, and refigns all its Beauties at the Fall of the Leaf.

Chevalier. Thefe are fufficient Reafons for our difregarding it: But is its Place only to be fupplied by the

Elm?

Count. Befides the two Species of Elms we enjoy, the one with fmall, and the other with expanded Leaves, we may plant our Alleys with the Plane, the Maple, and the Linden Trees: Some Perfons likewife chufe the Egyptian

Thorn.

Thorn.

Chevalier. I am well acquainted both The Egyptian with this Plant and the Plane-Tree, and have often gathered Flowers of an admirable Fragrance from the former. The Plane has a spreading Leaf fhaped like a Star.

The Plane.

Count. The Fate of the Plane is greatly changed. The Greeks and Romans prized it exceedingly for its grateful Shade, and

were