The whole place is a labyrinth of beauty, each separate spot that we come to exceeding in exquisite loveliness those we have passed, and each turn bringing to view fresh glimpses of charming scenery which show how well Nature has been studied, and how thoroughly Art, with the pure and accomplished taste of the late duchess, has been wedded to her. The Duchess’s Garden, below the slope on the west of the castle, is formed in an exquisite glade, surrounded on all sides by grand old trees and luxuriant shrubs; the beds terraced one above the other, or gently sloped and planted in amphitheatre form, with masses of colour which give a richness and peculiarity to the scene. The Duke’s Walk—an avenued path extending in its devious way for about three miles in length—passes above this garden, and is broken by glimpses of all the varied scenery on the way, and rendered pleasant by rustic summer-houses, seats, and other resting-places. Near to the Duchess’s Garden, in this walk, a tablet, admirably carved by the late Mr. Bath, of Haddon, bears a sonnet from the pen of the fifth duke in memory of the duchess. It runs as follows:—
“One cultivated spot behold, which spreads
Its flowery bosom to the noontide beam—
Where num’rous rosebuds rear their blushing heads,
And poppies rich, and fragrant violets teem.
Far from the busy world’s unceasing sound—
Here has Eliza fixed her favourite seat,
Chaste emblem of the scene around—
Pure as the flower that smiles beneath her feet.”
Of the character of the Duchess’s Garden a writer in the Journal of Horticulture (to which we are indebted for the two beautiful engravings on pages 8 and 24), thus speaks:—“This is a beautiful glade of considerable extent, surrounded on all sides by trees of grand dimensions, which on our visit were in their early beauty, developing those varied tints of green which, if not quite so glowing as the autumnal ones, are at any rate fresher, and, moreover, are associated with the thoughts of the lengthening and brightening days of summer, and not with the shortening and darkening days of winter. In this glade the natural rocks have been accommodated to the requirements of Alpine gardening, while the upper portion has been arranged in beds.” “The bedding pansies, the oxlips (of which the Belvoir strain is remarkably fine), were in flower. The beautiful Gentiana verna, accommodated with nice little ledges on which its brilliant blue shone out brilliantly, the bright yellow Doronicum Austriacum, and other fine plants were there. And then how beautiful were the blue forget-me-nots! how luxuriantly fine the Saxifraga crassifolia! Then, again, we had the brilliant blue of Lithospermum prostratum as it trailed over the rockery, and that of its larger congener, L. Gastoni. Of a softer but no less beautiful shade of blue was Myosotis dissitiflora, though now nearly past, as it is the earliest of the tribe. Then how fine was Veratrum nigrum, beautiful for its foliage!” “Then there were bright masses of Dianthus neglectus and alpinus, with their dense tufts of lovely pink flowers; and turn which way you will, gems of rarity or beauty met the eye.” “One likes to linger on these slopes; and as one stands on the upper portion of it, and looks down on the carpet of lovely green backed by the feathery and elegant foliage of the birch, it is indeed hard to be obliged to tear one’s self away from it.”