high. It is undulating in surface, containing several pretty lakes and
a large herd of deer. Its "Evergreen Drive" is noted, for in the
spring-time it attracts visitors from all quarters to see the
magnificence of the rhododendrons, which cover two hundred acres. The
state entrance to the park is through a large stone archway with
ornamental gates, called the "Golden Gates," on the road from London,
and having two drives of about a mile each leading up to the abbey. The
dukes are liberal patrons of agriculture, and their annual
"sheep-shearing" used to be one of the great festivals of this part of
England. They have also aided in the work of draining the Fen country,
which extends into Bedfordshire, and which has reclaimed a vast domain
of the best farm-land, stretching northward for fifty miles.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE PUZZLE-GARDEN, WOBURN ABBEY.]

STOWE.

We are now approaching London, and, crossing over the border into
Buckinghamshire, come to another ducal palace. This is the fine estate,
near the town of Buckingham, of Stowe, also originally an abbey, which
came into possession of the Temple family in the sixteenth century, and
in 1749 merged into the estate of the Grenvilles, the ancestors of the
Duke of Buckingham, its present owner. Stowe gets its chief fame from
its pleasure-gardens, which Pope has commemorated. They appear at a
distance like a vast grove, from whose luxuriant foliage emerge
obelisks, columns, and towers. They are adorned with arches, pavilions,
temples, a rotunda, hermitage, grotto, lake, and bridge. The temples are
filled with statuary. The mansion, which has been greatly enlarged, has
a frontage of nine hundred and sixteen feet, and its windows look out
over the richest possible landscape, profuse with every adornment. In
the interior the rooms, opening one into another, form a superb suite.
There is a Rembrandt Room, hung with pictures by that painter, and there
were many curiosities from Italy: old tapestry and draperies; rich
Oriental stuffs, the spoils of Tippoo Saib; furniture from the Doge's
Palace in Venice; marble pavements from Rome; fine paintings and
magnificent plate. Formerly, Stowe contained the grandest collection in
England, and in this superb palace, thus gorgeously furnished, Richard
Grenville, the first Duke of Buckingham, entertained Louis XVIII. and
Charles X. of France and their suites during their residence in England.
His hospitality was too much for hi