re making another perambulation of Surrey to-day, he would
forget the Windlesham bog-myrtle when he had seen the Bagshot
rhododendrons. To imagine Bagshot without rhododendrons is to think of
Mitcham without lavender, Epsom without salts, Farnham without hops. The
other name that goes naturally with rhododendrons is Waterer, and the
Waterer nurseries have the magic of gardens of fairy tales. Even in
winter, on a sunny day, an Italian air blows through those tall thuias
and cypresses, down those dark aisles of shining green. But in May and
June, when the rhododendrons glow from pearl to crimson, and the azaleas
light long stretches of flaming chrome and orange, the gardens take a
glory that belongs to no other flowers.

In the days of the stage-coach Bagshot was a thriving village with an
inn, perhaps the King's Arms of to-day, where thirty coaches a day
changed horses. That rich traffic drew the vultures of the road, and
Bagshot Heath was one of the most dreaded stretches of highway in
England. Dick Turpin is said to have used the King's Arms and the Golden
Farmer further down the road; it was the Golden Farmer in his day, and
an unimaginative age has turned the farmer from Golden into Jolly. It is
a pity, for "Jolly Farmer" means no more than White Lion or a dozen
other names, but to "Golden Farmer" there belongs a story. There was a
highwayman of Bagshot Heath who never would rob a purse of banknotes; he
would touch nothing but gold. At Frimley at the same time lived a
farmer, who never paid his debts in anything but gold. The golden farmer
one day was recognised as the golden highwayman, and the inn stands
close by the spot where they hanged him in chains.

Bagshot has had dealings with Stuart and other princes hunting the deer
and putting up at the inns. Both the Charleses used to hunt in Bagshot
Park. Once there was a pretty princes' quarrel. It was at one of the
Bagshot inns that the Duke of Buckingham, at the height of his wild
career, had the coolness to turn Prince Rupert's horses out of the
stables and put in his own. Rupert complained to the King, and the Duke
of York backed him; but Charles decided for Buckingham. Twenty years or
so later, John Evelyn was at a Bagshot inn with Pepys, and went to call
on a Mrs. Graham at her house in Bagshot Park. It was "very commodious
and well-furnished, as she was an excellent housewife, a prudent and
virtuous lady." She begged him to stay to dinner and sleep the night;