170.The place of M. Smetz is the finest near Antwerp. It was laid out in 1752, partly in the Dutch and partly in the English taste, and contains, at present, scenes of tonsile evergreens, vistas, canals, lakes, secret waterworks, caves, tombs, a lawn with a flock of stone sheep, a shepherd and dogs, dwarfs, a drunkard, and other paltry contrivances. There are, however, good span-roofed hothouses, rustic seats, fine exotic trees, especially the purple beech (which here seeds freely, and comes purple from the seed), catalpa, and liquidambar, fine collections of dahlias, Asclepias tuberosa, and Lilium superbum, in extensive groups; and on the whole �as many natural beauties as can be expected in a flat country, and instances of good taste and judicious management more than counterbalanced by those of an opposite description.� (Neill's Hort. Tour, p. 110.)
