BROOKE HALL,

THE SEAT OF THE REV. JOHN HOLMES.

It was the observation of an able man, on being called on to admire a fine Italian portico,-"Avenues of oak, sir, are my porticos: they are not the growth of a day or the whim of an hour." Yet who that saw, a few years since, the seat we are describing, would have believed it possible that so great an effect could have been created in so short a period? A house may be built, and, like the present, command a fine woodland prospect; but, compared with other seats, we never remember to have witnessed the same park-like effect as is here-that complete absence of newness, which pervades in so great a degree all that the eye rests on.

The approach by the Norwich gate is happily imagined, and the lodge is one of the most perfect specimens of the old English cottage which we recollect to have seen; had the mouldings been somewhat more bold, and the weatherboards without their cross-like frippery, the correctness of style would have been better preserved. We, with all diffidence, also hazard the criticism that more elbow room should have been allowed at the entrance.

One of the first impressions desirable to create on approaching a domain of the character in question, is that of vastness. The sacrifice, if it can be called such, of a few acres of land, more or less, so that the proper effect be produced, should be a matter of no consideration. If we are once led to imagine this not to be the case, it undermines the whole previous idea of greatness. Gardens prevent this on the right; but on the left, more turf and a broader belt would greatly enhance the general effect.

Are we, as lovers of trees, in quest of fine oaks, where shall we find one more happily placed or of finer character than that which rises on the left-hand side of the drive as we approach the mansion? It is an exceedingly fine tree, [No. XI.]

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and, as our etching proves, a true oak. Its circumference of trunk, at one foot from the surface of the ground, is seventeen feet nine inches; its bole fifteen feet; and its extreme height sixty-five feet.

The groups of trees, transplanted after the suggestions of Sir H. Steuart, are most judiciously arranged. They screen and partially hide what would otherwise have presented a full and staring front of the entire residence, at the same time occupying a bald and otherwise bleak outline. These trees have been removed with great care, and prove that, under proper management, they are available to create an appearance full twenty years in advance of those planted in the usual way.

The shrubs in the ornamental grounds are remarkably thriving, and are kept with judicious care: we are glad to see this department on the increase, since it was previously too open and obvious from the mansion, as a whole, for a domain of such an extensive character.

But, although in many things, we can trace a taste conversant with beauty, yet nothing has afforded us so much pleasure as the masterly manner in which the sheet of water has been made to wind its way through the grounds. The justness of its width, without approaching to the dimensions. of a lake, with its happy curve and sinuous course, are executed with great effect.

The man who creates wealth must at last die; and shall his pomp follow him? But he who in the space of a few years, embodies an idea which is at once grand, and as years advance still increases in beauty, bequeaths to posterity a blessing, and has to himself the enjoyment of one of the purest pleasures upon earth. "How rational," says a certain author on planting, "and, to a contemplative mind, how delightful to observe the operations of Nature-to trace her in every stage, from the seed to the perfected plant; and, from beneath the leaf-stalk of this, through the flower-bud, the flower, and the seed-vessel, to the seed again! Man must be employed; and how more agreeably than in conversing with Nature, and in seeing the works of his own hands, assisted by her, rising into perfection?"

BROOKE HOUSE,

THE SEAT OF G. S. KETT, ESQ.

THIS mansion is delightfully situated on the right-hand side of Brooke, a village famous for its umbrageous scenes and wide-spreading walnut-trees. The "varied dependencies of this residence are interesting in many ways: to the mere observer of general Nature-to the more minute botanical student, who would inquire as to the "new comers" in the hardy ligneous department of his great family-to the florist the grape-grower--the landscape-gardener, who has to operate on flat surfaces-and, finally, to all who delight in beholding a pleasure-garden kept in the most perfect taste, whether we look at its walks, hedges, borders, verges; the enamel of the green sward, or the disposition and character of the objects which rise thereon.

Though the most of the trees were planted by the proprietor, and are consequently in a young state, our etching, which represents a fine specimen of the walnut-tree, shows that they are not all so. In the youthful department here, by far the most interesting section to us is the collection of Conifera, which embraces plants of the most stately tribes of trees in existence, and which, in their native habitations, gird some of the loftiest mountains in the world. We observed the following:

Cedrus Deodara, or the Indian cedar, raised here from seed in 1830, and planted in its present situation in 1834. It is now nine feet high, in a most vigorous state of growth. This tree, which, according to Royle, is the most celebrated plant of the Himalayas, has proved itself to be quite hardy in this climate; for, during the seasons of 1836 and 1837, when the cedars of Lebanon around it were injured, it was not in the least affected.