nilworth came to an end in Cromwell's time, a period
very unfavorable to these sylvan paradises. He had the park cut up and
divided amongst various grantees. How much damage was done to the
park interest by the civil wars the following extract from the Life of
Margaret, duchess of Newcastle, attests: "Of eight parks which my
lord had before the wars, there was but one left that was not quite
destroyed--viz. Welbeck Park of about four miles compass; for my
lord's brother, Sir Charles Cavendish, who bought out the life of my
lord in that lordship, saved most part of it from being cut down; and
in Blore Park there were some few deer left. The rest of the parks
were totally defaced and destroyed, both wood, pales and deer; amongst
which was also Clipston Park of seven miles compass, wherein my lord
had taken much delight formerly, it being rich of wood, and containing
the greatest and tallest timber trees of all the woods he shad;
insomuch that only the pale-row was valued at two thousand pounds. It
was watered by a pleasant river that runs through it, full of fish and
otters; was well stocked with deer, full of hares, and had great
store of partridges, poots, pheasants, etc., besides all sorts of
water-fowl; so that this park afforded all manner of sports, for
hunting, hawking, coursing, fishing, etc., for which my lord esteemed
it very much. And although his patience and wisdom is such that
I never perceived him sad or discontented for his own losses and
misfortunes, yet when he beheld the ruins of that park I observed him
troubled, though he did little express it, only saying he had been
in hopes it would not have been so much defaced as he found it, there
being not one timber tree in it left for shelter."

The number of deer-parks in Scotland and Ireland is small. The
principal park in the former is that of the duke of Buccleuch at
Dalkeith Palace, near Edinburgh. At Hamilton, belonging to the duke of
that ilk, are wild cattle similar to those at Chillingham.

A wonderfully picturesque Irish park is Rockingham, the Hon. L. King
Harinan's, in the county Roscommon. The traveler will observe this
beautiful and very extensive demesne as he goes from Boyle to Sligo.
It is at the foot of the Curlew Mountains, and contains a magnificent
sheet of water surrounding an island on which stands an ancient
castle, still inhabitable. At Strokestown, in the same county, is a
small park, where Mr. Mahon, its former owner, planted many