achhouse and
stable, an excellent one was built not far from the north side,
making the third, though not the last, addition in that direction.

"Parva domus! nemorosa quies,
Sis tu quoque nostris hospitium laribus
Subsidium diu: postes tuas Flora ornet
Pomonaque mensas."

THE GARDEN.

"It is much more difficult to describe the garden of Rosamond's Bower
than its shape. I may, however, mention that by means of a sunk
fence {159} and a wen-like excrescence upon the original gore, made
in the Spring of 1842, the extensive meadow of Park House, with the
piece of water which adorns it, appear to belong to my residence so
completely, that so far as the eye questions the matter, 'I am
monarch of all I survey.' [Picture: Distant View of 'Rosamond's
Bower' from the adjoining Meadow] The first lawn of the garden
rejoices in two very remarkable trees, one a standard Ayrshire rose,
rising ten feet in height from a stem ten inches in circumference,
and from which, during sunny June, 'every breeze, of red rose leaves
brings down a crimson rain.' {160} The other a weeping ash of
singularly beautiful proportions. It has been trained, or rather
restrained, to the measurement of fifty-six feet in circumference,
the stem being two feet round, and the branches shooting out at the
height of five feet with incredible luxuriance. Under its branches I
had the pleasure of seeing no less than thirty-eight friends sit down
to breakfast on the 22nd June, 1842; and Gunter, who laid covers for
forty-four, assured me, that another arrangement with circular
tables, made for the purpose, would have comfortably accommodated
sixty. A miniature shrubbery, not in height, but in breadth,
intervenes between the first lawn and the flower garden, where, in
the centre of beds, stands the 'Baylis Vase'--a memorial, I sincerely
trust, of a more enduring friendship. Miss Aikin's question--but a
very long acquaintance with that lady's fame warrants me here writing
'Lucy Aikin's question--to me, one evening while walking down the
garden, whether that urn had been placed over the remains of any
favourite, was the occasion of the following lines being painted on
it:--

Think not that here was placed this urn
To mark a spot o'er which to mourn.
Should tender thoughts awake