618. Of remains of ancient gardens in Ireland we may quote a few examples. Some of the largest sculptured evergreens are at Bangor, in the county of Down; and at Thomas-town, in the county of Tipperary, are the remains of a hanging garden, formed on the side of a hill, in one corner of which is a verdant amphitheatre, once the scene of occasional dramatic exhibitions. Blessington Gardens, if tradition may be relied on, were laid out during the reign of Charles I. by an English gentleman, who had left his estate at Byfleet in Surrey, to escape the persecution of Cromwell. In King William's time, knots of flowers, curious edgings of box, topiary works, grassy slopes, and other characteristics of the Dutch style came into notice. Rowe and Bullein, Englishmen, who had successively nurseries at Dublin, were in these days the principal rural artists of Ireland; though Switzer and Laurence, as well as Batty Langley, occasionally visited that country.
