NUNEHAM COURTENAY. which the elevated village of Heddington, at the distance of a few miles, opposes itself the portico; and, being enriched with several handsome houses of stone, is suited to the scene. The path now sweeps round the upper part of this delightful glade, beneath the shade of flourishing beech trees that crown its shelving sides, which stretch down to the trees, whose thick masses of foliage enrich the bottom; while Oxford appears through an opening in their upper branches. A little onward from beneath a venerable elm on the upper part of the declivity, the Thames is seen through two separate branches of the glade; but in that immediately before it, the ground assumes such pleasing shapes, the foliage of the trees forms such grateful outlines, which correspond so happily with the undulating surface that descends towards them, while different clumps make out such various and natural divisions, that they altogether compose a consummate picture of sylvan beauty. The walk now assumes a more regular form, and after giving a peep in a sequestered part of the park, ascends into a thick grove of gloomy shade; and, having made the circuit of an hill covered with stately trees, it returns to itself, and re-conducts to the house. But though, in its returning progress, the same objects are seen, their appearance is so changed, and their perspective positions so varied, that the charm of novelty is still added to those of taste and nature. On re-entering what may be called the Portico glade, a scene displays itself, which, in its kind, has no equal that we have ever seen, and is very superior, as we think, to the situation of the Temple of Victory and Concord, in Stow gardens, which has been so much admired by the landscape gardener. Its character is grandeur, but the grandeur is twofold; beneath clouds it is solemn, and in sunshine it is splendid. The walk now reskirts the glade, repasses the Portico, and gradually descends towards the house, and to a review of those extensive prospects which aggrandise its superior situation. We now proceed from the house, as a central point, to the south side of the garden, and, rounding the left corner of it, just touch on the extremity of an expanding lawn, that falls towards the river, to enter a rich and beautiful plantation, which thickens along the upper part of it. Here the extensive view of the country had originally no interruption, so that the uniformity of prospect, however attractive in itself, was liable to satiate the eye, and, being a continuation of the expansive view which is seen from the principal apartments of the house, lost the charm of variety. This plantation, therefore, creates a new effect, by producing that temporary concealment, which gives fresh spirit, as it were, to the re-appearance of the prospect. It is full of those varieties which arise from the form, growth, and colour of trees, connected by approaching similitudes to the shrubs intermixed with them. It has also sufficient depth to admit of a returning walk, which, by being rather more enclosed, aids the variety, and confirms the effect, designed to be produced by it. A broad gravel walk leads through this plantation, in a gently bending line, and with an easy rise, between unequal breadths of verdure, planted here and there, with the most elegant evergreens; and before the shrubbery, on either side, is a border gay with a profusion of flowers. This progressive scene of fragrant seclusion is suddenly enlivened by an opening into the park, where an expansive rising length of undulating lawn, beautifully wooded, and enlivened by herds of deer, unfolds itself to the view; which the visitor may be induced to prolong from a seat that here invites him to repose beneath an elm of immense shade. A little further onward, near an oak of great beauty, is an urn, erected to the memory of the late William Whitehead, Poet Laureat, It stands on a pedestal, encircled by the laurel, the bay tree, and the rose; and enriched by an elegiac inscription, from the Muse of Mason. In the background of the picture, and a most elegant decoration of it, is a Corinthian portico, adorned with all the enrichments of NUNEHAM COURTENAY. that splendid order. The accessory parts of the scene baffle description. From the verdant prominence where the urn is placed, the view, screened by the plantation immediately to the right, pushes on through a broad savanna to Oxford. Before it is Radley, the seat of Admiral Bowyer, on the Berkshire side of the river, rising from its own groves, with the woods beyond it: the intervening valley is watered by the Thames. Towards Abingdon, the spire of whose church is alone visible, the prospect is broken by a fore-ground of scattered trees, hanging down the lawn. To the left the ground falls abruptly into a glen in the park, but immediately rises into an irregular extensive brow, covered with oaks; which are so thick as to form a waving mass of foliage, in the distant view of them, and yet so distinct as, on a near approach, to disclose the verdure which they shade, and the individual beauty they possess. The character of the spot around Whitehead's urn, considered in an insulated state, is pensive elegance: while its sober charms are elevated by the grand expanse of prospect before it, the solemn, sylvan beauty of the grove beside it, and the venerable form of Carfax, on a projecting swell above it. This grove is beyond the boundary of the garden, and it is of too much importance in the general scenery not to attempt to give some account of the interesting circumstances connected with it. Grandeur belongs to a wood, beauty is the characteristic of a grove, and this spot possesses both. It contains a large assemblage of the finest oaks, covering a deep, indented, and extensive brow, sinking into glens, or rising into knolls, in which every individual tree retains much of its own peculiar beauty, and transfers, whatever it loses from itself, to the superior character of the whole. Old Carfax, on a bold prominence, at the extent of it, aids the awful character of the place, and appears to surpass in age the venerable trees that shade it. This curious building its trees, the arrangement of its flowers, the succession of its artificial embellishments, and the judicious conduct of its surrounding path, that it becomes apparently magnified into ample extent. The patches of flowers and clumps of shrubs are of various shapes and unequal dimensions; and its trees are of a growth and figure, which at once harmonize with and diversify the scenery of the place. Every therm has its motto or its poesy, and every building its inscription, all happily selected to heighten or suggest appropriate sentiment, and aid the moral influence of the garden. In this description it may, indeed, appear, that the artificial objects are too numerous for the small limits of the spot which they adorn; but they are so managed as to be seen only in unexpected succession, or in such careless glimpses of them as to avoid the least appearance of ostentation, while they enrich the composition of the scene. In a flower garden, where all is bloom and fragrance, and where nature appears in her gayest embroidery, picturesque embellishment demands all the elegance that art can bestow; but taste alone could not have formed the picture which has been so imperfectly described. Such an Arcadian scene. must have been produced by an Arcadian imagination. Indeed, so much is there of invention and original fancy in the piece, that the genius of poetry could alone have composed it. Nuneham is a place of the first beauty: Nuneham, however, may in the course of varying opinion, be thought to have an equal; but its flower garden transcends all rivalry, and is itself alone. We shall conclude this article, which might have been much prolonged if our limits would have allowed it, with some account of the virtuous and accomplished nobleman, whose superior taste gave us the subject of the foregoing description. George Simon Harcourt died April 20, 1809, at his house in Cavendish Square: nor ought this nobleman to pass to the sepulchre of his ancestors, without that tribute which truth owes to superior virtue. Earl Harcourt possessed a NUNEHAM COURTENAY. very cultivated understanding. His mind was stored with no common portion of general knowledge, and the whole was refined by an exquisite taste. No man ever felt an higher sense of honour, no man ever acted from stronger impressions of moral duty, both as it regards the common offices of social life, or as it is enlarged and purified by the spirit of that religion which he seriously professed. No man reflected more upon the part he was called to perform In the world, or acted with greater rectitude on the principles which he had adopted. A natural love of tranquillity, a taste for the fine arts and the more flowery parts of literature, to which not only the circumstances of his early life, but the tendencies of his genius may have disposed him; and a constitution which never appeared to be calculated to encounter the fatigues of public business, might have combined to prevent his being engaged in any of the active departments of the state. The embassy to Spain, during the Marquis of Lansdown's administration, was pressed upon and declined by him. The office of Master of the Horse to the Queen was, we have equal reason to believe, conferred upon him, as a mark of personal regard, by their Majesties; and he enjoyed it to the close of his life. Hence it is, that this nobleman was only known in the great circle of the world, by an appearance suited to his rank and office, the polished urbanity of his manners, and as a lover and admitable judge of the fine arts, in which, as far as he chose to indulge himself, he may be said to have excelled. Whether it was a mere juvenile caprice, which had possessed him during his foreign travels, or whether he was influenced by his descent from an ancient and distinguished family among the peers of France, it is not necessary to consider; but his entrance into public life was marked by such a decided preference to French manners and fashions, and his appearance so adapted to it, as almost to disguise his exterior as an Englishman. But the whimsical propensity did not affect his mind, or gallicise his character, nor did he render it offensive to others. He indulged his fancy, and when |