of Canaletti's works. The gardens, which contain one hundred and twenty acres, were begun by the late prince of Wales, and finished by the princess dowager; and of these we shall give a partial description, from the works of the late Sir William Chambers.

"The gardens of Kew are not very large; nor is their situation advantageous, as it is low, and commands no prospects. Originally the ground was one continued dead flat; the soil was in general barren, and without either wood or water, With so many disadvantages, it was not easy to produce any thing even tolerable in gardening; but princely munificence overcame all difficulties. What was once a desart is now an Eden.

"On entering the garden from the palace, and turning toward the left hand, the first building which appears is

"THE ORANGERY OR GREENHOUSE; it was built in 1761. The front extends one hundred and forty-five feet; the room is one hundred and forty-two feet long, thirty feet wide, and twenty-five high.

"THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN, situated in an open grove, near the orangery, in the way to the physic gardens. Its figure is of the circular peripteros kind, but without an attic; and there is a particularity in the entablature, the hint taken from one of the temples of Balbec. The order is Corinthian, the columns fluted, and the entablature fully enriched. This building was erected in 1761.

"THE PHYSIC OR EXOTIC GARDEN. THE FLOWER GARDEN. The two sides are inclosed with high trees, and the end facing the principal entrance is occupied by an aviary of a vast depth, in which is kept a numerous collection of birds, both foreign and domestic.

"THE MENAGERIE is of an oval figure; the centre occupied by a large bason of water, surrounded by a walk; and the whole inclosed by a range of pens, or large cages, in which are kept great numbers of Chinese and Tartarian pheasants, &c. The bason is stocked with such water-fowl as are too tender to live on the lake.

"THE

"THE TEMPLE OF BELLONA is of the prostyle kind; the portico tetrastyle Doric; the metopes alternately enriched with helmets and daggers, and vases and pateras. The cell is rectangular, and of a sequialteral proportion, but closer with an elliptical dome, from which it receives the light.

"The TEMPLE OF THE GOD PAN, of the monopteros kind; is closer on the side toward the thicket, in order to make it serve for a seat. It is of the Doric order; the profile imitated from that of the theatre of Marcellus at Rome.

"THE TEMPLE OF EOLUS, like that of Pan, is of the menopteros figure. The order composite, in which the Doric is predominant. The TEMPLE OF SOLITUDE is situated very near the south front of the palace.

"THE HOUSE OF CONFUCIUS, commands a very pleasing prospect over the lake and gardens. The walls and cieling are painted with grotesque ornaments, and historical subjects relating to Confucius, and the Christian missions in China. The ENGINE, which supplies the lake and basons in the gardens with water, was contrived by Mr. Smeaton; it is raised by two horses, upward of three thousand six hundred hogsheads of water in twelve hours. A winding walk, on the right of the GROVE, leads to an open plain, on one side of which, backed with thickets, on a rising ground, is placed a Corinthian colonade, called THE THEATRE OF AUGUSTA.

"THE TEMPE OF VICTORY stands on a hill, and was built in commemoration of the victory obtained in 1759, near Minden, by prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, over Marshal De Contades. The cell commands a fine prospect towards Richmond, and over Middlesex, and is neatly finished with stucco ornaments; those in the cieling represent standards and other French trophies.

"On the border of the wilderness, at the upper part of the garden, stands a Moresque building, called THE ALHAMBRA, fronted with a portico of coupled columns, and crowned with a lantern.

"THE GREAT PAGODA is an imitation of the Chinese TAA. The base is a regular octagon, forty-nine feet in diameter; and the superstructure is likewise a regular octagon on its plan, and its elevation composed of ten prisms, which form the ten different stories of the building. The lowest of these is twenty-six feet in diameter, exclusive of the portico which surrounds it, and eighteen feet high; the second is twenty-five feet in diameter, and seventeen feet high; and all the rest diminish in diameter and height, in the same arithmetical proportion, to the ninth story, which is eighteen feet in diameter, and ten feet high. The tenth story is seventeen feet in diameter, and, with the covering, twenty feet high; and the finishing on the top is seventeen feet high; so that the whole structure, from the base to the top of the fleuron, is one hundred and sixtythree feet. Each story finishes with a projecting roof, after the Chinese manner, covered with plates of varnished iron of different colours, and round each of them is a gallery inclosed with a rail. All the angles of the roof are adorned with large dragons, eighty in number, covered with a kind of thin glass of various colours, which produces a most dazzling reflection; and the whole ornament at the top is double gilt. The walls of the building are composed of very hard bricks; the outside of well coloured and well matched greystocks, neatly laid, and with such care, that there is not the least crack or fracture in the whole structure, notwithstanding its great height, and the expedition with which it was built. The staircase is in the centre of the building. The top commands a very extensive view on all sides, upwards of forty miles distant.

"THE MOSQUE consists of an octagon saloon in the centre, flanked with two cabinets, finishing with one large dome and two small ones. The large dome is crowned with a crescent, and its upright part contains twenty-eight little arches, which give light to the saloon. The minarets are placed at each end of the principal building. The exterior decoration of the building, Sir W. Chambers endeavoured to collect from the principal particulars of the Turkish architec

ture.

ture. At the eight angles of the room are palm trees modelled in stucco, painted and varnished with various hues. of green, in imitation of nature; which at the top spread and support the dome, represented as formed of reeds bound together with ribbons of silk. The cove is supposed to be perforated, and a brilliant sunny sky appears, finely painted by Wilson.

"In the way from the Mosque, toward the palace, is a Gothic building, the front representing a cathedral.

"Near the banks of the lake, stands THE TEMPLE OF ARETHUSA, a small Ionic building of four columns. The design of the bridge thrown over a narrow channel of water, and leading to the island in the lake, is taken frome one of Palladio's wooden bridges. It was erected in one night.

"The portico of THE TEMPLE, in commemoration of the peace of 1763, is Ionic, the columns fluted, the entablature enriched, and the tympan of the pediment adorned with basso-relievos. The cell is in the form of a Latin cross, the ends of which are inclosed by semicircular sweeps, wherein are niches to receive statues. It is richly furnished with stucco ornaments, allusive to the occasion on which it was erected.

"THE RUIN was built, to make a passage for carriages and cattle over one of the principal walks of the garden. The design is a triumphal arch, originally with three apertures, but two closed up, and converted into rooms, to which are doors made in the sides of the principal arch, piers, &c."

These gardens are opened every Monday, from Midsummer to the end of Autumn. The Exotic Garden, since Sir William Chambers wrote the above account, has been enriched with a great number of new plants, with several, in particular, from New South Wales. They were under the care of the late Mr. Aiton, celebrated throughout Europe for his excellent work, "Hortus Kewensis."

The old house, opposite the palace, was taken on a long lease by queen Caroline, of the descendants of Sir Richard Levett, and has been inhabited by different branches of the

royal

royal family. The prince of Wales was educated there, under the superintendance of Dr. Markham, archbishop of York. This house was bought in 1761 for her majesty. Near this spot a NEW PALACE is now erecting by his majesty, with Gothic towers; no great progress has been lately made in the building of it, and it must be some time before it can be finished. It possesses an air of solemn grandeur from the public road.

Great part of the parish of MORTLAKE, seven miles from London, is inclosed in Richmond Park. The Stone Lodge, upon the hill, was built after a design of Henry earl of Pembroke, and was intended by George I. as a place of refreshment after the fatigues of hunting; but it was not finished till the late princess Amelia became ranger of the park. Great quantities of asparagus are raised in this parish, not less than sixty acres being planted with that vegetable. The manor, now included in that of Wimbledon, belonged to the see of Canterbury; and the manor house was occasionally the residence of the archbishops, from Anselm, who celebrated the feast of Whitsuntide here in 1099; to archbishop Warham, who was the last, and whose successor, archbishop Cranmer, alienated the manor to Henry VIII. in exchange for other lands. This monarch, at the Dissolution, gave the manor to his new-erected dean and chapter of Worcester, with the great tithes of the church at Wimbledon, on condition of their appointing three perpetual curates, to serve the church there and the two chapels of Mortlake and Putney. At Mortlake are the handsome house and gardens of Mr. Franks; and there is an antient house, let to Miss Aynscomb, which is said to have been the residence of Oliver Cromwell; but which was certainly the residence, in the last century, of that excellent man Edward Colston, Esq. the great benefactor of the city of Bristol, who, in his life time, expended more than 70,000/. in charitable institutions. He died there in 1721 *.

*The history of his being preserved on his voyage home from the Indies, by means of a dolphin stopping a hole in the ship, was very providential; and the boys educated at Bristol wear a brass dolphin on their breasts, thus celebrating his miraculous preservation.

The