best that were made in
those early days, such indeed as have mocked some that have been done
since, and the gardens at Southampton House, in Bloomsbury Square, were
also of his making." Henry, Earl of Danby, the Earl of Gainsborough,
"the _Maecenas_ of his age," the Earl of Halifax, the friend of Addison,
Swift, Pope, and Steele; Lord Weymouth, of Longleate; Dr. Sherard, of
Eltham; the Earl of Scarborough, an accomplished nobleman, immortalized
by Pope, and by the fine pen of Chesterfield; and the Duke of Argyle,
with numerous other men of rank and science, have highly assisted in
elevating gardening to the station it has long since held.[6]

[6] "Portraits of English Authors on Gardening."

Beauty and health are the attributes of gardening. In illustration of
the former, we remember a passage from Gervase Markham, thus: "As in the
composition of a delicate woman the grace of her cheeke is the mixture
of red and white, the wonder of her eye blacke and white, and the beauty
of her hand blew and white, any of which is not said to be beautifull if
it consist of single or simple colours; and so in walkes or alleyes,
the all greene, nor the all yellow, cannot be said to be most
beautifull; but the greene and yellow, (that is to say the untroade
grasse, and the well-knit gravelle) being equally mixt, give the eye
both lustre and delight beyond comparison." Abercrombie lived to the age
of _eighty_, when he died by a fall down stairs in the dark. He was
present at the battle of Preston Pans, which was fought close to his
father's garden walls. For the last twenty years he lived chiefly on
tea, using it three times a-day; his pipe was his first companion in the
morning, and last at night. He never remembered to have taken a dose of
physic in his life; prior to his last fatal accident, nor of having a
day's illness but once.

The association of gardening with pastoral poetry, was exemplified in
Shenstone's design of the Leasowes--as Mr. Whately observes--a perfect
picture of his mind, simple, elegant, and amiable, and which will always
suggest a doubt whether the spot inspired his verses, or whether in the
scenes which he formed, he only realized the pastoral images which
abound in his songs. That elegant trifler, Horace Walpole, was
enthusiastically fond of gardening. One day telling his nurseryman that
he would have his trees planted irregularly, he replied, "Yes, sir, I
understand; you would have them hung down--somewhat