PARK PLACE.

THIS beautiful and highly decorated spot, which is the property and the residence of the Earl of Malmsbury, is situ ated on the banks of the Thames, in the county of Berks, at a small distance from the town of Henley, in Oxfordshire, which is on the other side of the river.

The place we are about to describe, in whatever point of view it may be regarded, whether as to landscape charm, provincial position, interior accommodation, and domestic convenience, has few rivals anywhere, and certainly may be classed among the first ornaments of the river which washes and reflects it.

Park Place was originally the seat of Lord Archibald Hamilton, the uncle of the present duke of that title; it was afterwards the residence of his Royal Highness Frederic; Prince of Wales, the father of his present Majesty, and which he left for Cliefden, the seat of the Orkney family, another proud situation on the Thames, and some years. since unfortunately destroyed by fire.

General, afterwards Field Marshal, Conway became the purchaser of it, and to him it is indebted for all its decorative improvements. There were no hills to form, or vales; nature had already moulded it into an abundant variety of pleasing shapes; and the most beautiful stream, in a country that abounds in every kind of water, was prepared to enrich it; but its enrichments, its decorations, its artificial arrangements of every kind have proceeded from the happy judgment, and risen under the creative taste of its late possessor; on whose death it was purchased by the Earl of Malmsbury, who has since made it a place of his residence.

This venerable and distinguished nobleman found but little to do in the way of improvement. The latter plantations of Marshal Conway are rising into height and thicken ing into shade, and consequently in a continual state of

advancement towards that effect which their mature growth, it is supposed, will hereafter produce. But his lordship has done that which must be allowed to add to the possessional importance of the place-he has made several purchases, by which the domain is enlarged, and the property conse sequently enhanced: this circumstance may ultimately produce an extent of ornamental improvement, and add even to the decorative beauties of the spot, by calling in more space and new features into its service.

Having made these preliminary observations, we shall proceed to give as detailed an account of Park Place as the limits of this work will allow. A volume might be filled with the description, if every particular part, and all its abundant varieties, were adequately examined; and a few pages is all that can be spared to it.-Nor will it be considered as disrespectful to the noble lord who now possesses it, whose private virtues and amiable qualities endear him to the circle of his friends, and whose eminent talents and distinguished services have rendered him an object of national estimation, if, in describing the place he now enjoys, (and may he long enjoy it), I dwell upon the taste, the feeling, and picturesque taste of that accomplished, excellent, and venerated person who must be considered as the new creator of it.

In speaking of Park Place scientifically, as a rare example of landscape gardening, its first character is grandeur of composition, in which it is unrivalled on the banks of the Thames.-The brow of Cliefden is, in itself, a nobler, but it is only a single, object. The terrace of Oatlands possesses, perhaps, a more superb range of sylvan beauty; but that is all, and there is no fine part to lead to, or succeed it.—The fine rising grounds which form the base of Nuneham, and stretch on to such a length above the river, in such striking variety, and clad in all the richness of splendid cultivation, are combined with nothing of peculiar beauty beyond them:they are, as it were, the frontispiece to a noble park, whose extent, woods, and animated circumstances give it the specific, but general character of such a domain. Park Place, on

PARK PLACE.

the contrary, is a combination of beautiful parts, in shape and position, which vary with, and are most happily contrasted to each other: thus, a succession of the most pleas ing, and, as they may be truly called, Arcadian pictures are continually, and oftentimes most unexpectedly, produced; so that the sensation of delight, on viewing these objects, is occasionally heightened by the emotion of pleasurable surprise. Its successive and ever-varying projections, with their intervening vallies, its rich woods, spacious groves, wide-spreading lawns, and bold declivities, are in a style and form which the landscapes, that are enlivened and reflected by the Thames, do not display in any other part of its course. Nature has done much, nor has taste done less: the genius of the place has every where been consulted, and the resulting conformities completed. Marshal Conway seems ever to have had in view the precepts of Mr. Pope, who had himself broke from the formality of fashion, and stole a peep of nature in his garden at Twickenham.-

To build, to plant, whatever you intend,
To rear the column, or the arch to bend,
To swell the terrace, or to sink the grot;
In all let nature never be forgot;
But treat the goddess like a modest fair,
Nor over-dress, nor leave her wholly bare;
Let not each beauty ev'ry where be spied,
Where half the skill is decently to hide;
He gains all points who pleasingly confounds,
Surprises, varies, and conceals the bounds.
Consult the genius of the place in all,

That tells the waters or to rise or fall,

Or helps th' ambitious hill the heav'ns to scale,

Or scoops in circling theatres the vale,

Calls in the country, catches op'ning glades,

Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades;
Now breaks, or now directs th' intending lines,
And in one whole involves the fair designs.

The charms of this distinguished place had long demanded a better house, and they at length enjoy it; an improved,

and, in some part, new mansion was the last embellishment which Marshal Conway gave to the paradise he had formed. The old house, though it had been occupied by the heir apparent to the crown, and received various subse, quent additions, still wanted room, and was deficient in convenience: the new edifice possesses both, and somewhat more. The alterations and additions have been contrived with such a judicious attention to their object, as to give the building not only a very handsome, commodious range of apartments, but an exterior that has a claim to architectural importance; and, while the principal front, which presents itself to the river, has acquired extent, without violating uniformity, the new elevation, which looks along the glade to the south, is in a style of the most chaste and elegant simplicity. It may be supposed to have been bor rowed from a design of Inigo Jones, without depreciating the established character of that great architect.

The part of the park where the house stands is near three hundred feet above the river, but is so happily sheltered by woods and plantations, that it has every advantage, and none of the inconveniences of an elevated situation, or, at least, such as are very frequently connected with it.

The garden entrance is near a very luxuriant shrubbery, behind the house, from whence a path, after skirting an ornamented lawn, where some of the more beautiful kinds of trees are agreeably scattered, winds through a woody scene to the flower garden and the menagerie. The former is inclosed by a wall, and, being solely applied to the culture of flowers, is disposed in regular parterres, with a bason for gold and silver fish in the centre: four small statues, allusive to their situation, with something of treillage about them for creeping plants, occupy as many corresponding positions; the whole being formed upon the plan, and answering to the uniform prettiness of a French design. In this point of view it is very beautiful, and contrived to give a rich display of the world of flowers. In the floral season, it is an hoard of sweets, a region of odours, and presents such a carpet as