Oct. 15. Woburn Abbey.- Went round the park with Mr. Forbes, the gardener, venerating that fine old drive through evergreens, said to have been planted by Miller; and which is commended by Repton in his Enquiry into the Changes of Taste in Landscape-Gardening; 8vo; art. Drive. The large specimens of the pine and fir tribe, especially the cedars, are gratifying to the sight. The dark green hollies, with trunks of timber size, with their shining leaves and coral berries, remind us of the time of Evelyn, and his fine hedge at Sayes Court, which the Czar Peter made gaps in, by having himself wheeled through it by his attendants; of the fine holly hedge in Sir Mathew Decker's garden, at Richmond; of those of Moredun, Collington, and Woodhouselee, near Edinburgh; and of the miles of holly hedges at Tyningham, in East Lothian. There are few trees or shrubs, in our opinion, certainly no natives, that can compare in dignity and beauty with the holly. The common and Portugal laurels in this drive are remarkably fine; and there is no want of rhododendrons, junipers, and laurustinuses. Among the evergreen timber trees, the cedars are most conspicuous. A considerable number of silver firs, and Weymouth and other pines, have been cut down since we visited the place for the first time in 1806. We turned out of the drive to the thornery, a most picturesque morceau of huge and fantastic oaks, grotesque old thorns, hazels, and dogwoods; on ground abruptly varied, and appropriated to man and elegant enjoyment, by a highly characteristic cottage with a Scotch kitchen and furniture. The parlour of the cottage is beautifully painted in body colours by Aiglio; and the speck of kept ground immediately around it is trim and neat in the highest degree.
