place. As we draw
nearer to the Tower the ground is laid out in a wilder and more
picturesque manner, the walks are more serpentine. We turned a corner,
and Mr. Beckford stood before us, attended by an aged servant, whose
hairs have whitened in his employment, and whose skill has laid out these
grounds in this beautiful manner. Mr. Beckford welcomed me in the
kindest way, and immediately began pointing out the various curious
plants and shrubs. How on this happy spot specimens of the productions
of every country in the world unite! Shrubs and trees, whose natural
climates are as opposite as the Antipodes, here flourish in the most
astonishing manner. We were shown a rose tree brought from Pekin and a
fir tree brought from the highest part of the Himalaya Mountains; many
have been brought to this country, but Mr. Beckford's is the only one
that has survived. Here are pine trees of every species and variety--a
tree that once vegetated at Larissa, in Greece, Italian pines, Siberian
pines, Scotch firs, a lovely specimen of Irish yew, and other trees which
it is impossible to describe. My astonishment was great at witnessing
the size of the trees, and I could scarcely believe my ears when told
that the whole of this wood had been raised on the bare Down within the
last thirteen years. The ground is broken and diversified in the most
agreeable manner: here a flight of easy and water worn steps leads to an
eminence, whence you have a view of the building and an old ruin
overgrown with shrubs, which looks as if it had seen five hundred
summers, but in reality no older than the rest of this creation. On
ascending the easy though ruined steps of this building, passing under an
archway, the view of the Tower burst upon us, and a long, straight walk
led us directly to the entrance. From this point the view is most
imposing. On your right is a continuation of the shrubberies I spoke of,
at the end of which is a lovely pine, most beautiful in form and colour,
which by hiding some of the lower buildings thus makes a picture of the
whole. The effect of the building is grand and stately beyond
description. The long line of flat distance and the flatness of the Down
here come in contact with the perpendicular lines of the Tower and lower
buildings, producing that strikingly peculiar combination which never
fails to produce a grand effect. This is the real secret of Claude's
seaports. His stately buildings, moles, and tall