The gardening of the tract visited is farther advanced than that of England in some particulars, and not so far advanced in others. The principles of landscape-gardening are perhaps better understood in Germany than in England, from its professors being in general men of education: but the practical results, both there and in France, are inferior to those of England, from the want of verdure and compactness in the turf; want of colour and adhesiveness in the gravel; paucity of evergreen shrubs, and the want of order and high keeping. The kitchen-gardening is superior, at least in respect to the winter salading, partly owing to the greater demand for that article on the Continent, and partly owing to the greater dryness of the air there at that season. The culture of timber trees and the management of forests are more attended to in France and Germany than in England; because, in the former countries, in addition to all the usual uses of timber, it constitutes the principal fuel.

The architecture of the towns and villages on the Continent is in a higher taste than in Britain; because, the houses being larger, and the materials of a more durable and expensive nature, more consequence is attached to the building of a house, and hence more care and skill are called into exercise. Another cause which has contributed to the same effect is, that isolated cottages are not common; and thus the two and three storied houses of villages, each occupied by two or three families, and requiring to be built by regular mechanics, have not degenerated into two or three separate hovels, which the labourers occupying them build for themselves. architecture of the public buildings on the Continent is proportionately superior to that of the public buildings in Britain; because, in the former case, the public taste is higher in proportion to the public wealth than in the latter.

The

The domestic economy of the tract visited, among the lowest class, differs less from that of the same class in Britain than might be imagined, because the bare necessaries of life are almost the same in every country. In the middle and higher ranks it differs in the circumstance, on the Continent, of extent and show in houses and apartments being preferred to neatness, cleanness, and comfort; in the greater use of vegetables in cookery; in a more complex and refined cookery; and in the greater use of fruits, and the more moderate use of wines and spirituous liquors, at table.

The education of children comes within the province of domestic economy, and in consequence within the limit of our observations. It differs materially in different parts of the tract visited. In some parts of France it is in a great measure

neglected; while in some parts of Germany it is carried farther, by the united influence of parents and the government, than has been done in Britain, or in any other country in the world.

The manners of the Continent differ from those of England in being more cultivated and refined, in proportion to the existence of knowledge and wealth; without doubt, principally owing to the influence of the more exhilarating climate on individual character; and in France, perhaps, in part to something in the original character of the race, in consequence of which, vivacity in conversation and gaiety are in that country necessaries of life. This vivacity and personal action of the French may be the cause of the limited powers of their language, as the comparative slowness and tranquillity of the Germans are of the profundity and copiousness of theirs; and the simple structure of the English language may be traced to the taciturnity and bluntness of Englishmen. The extreme of the refinement and warmth of feeling in the French leads to officiousness or insincerity, as the extreme of the more simple manners of Britain leads to neglect or rudeness.

The honesty and sobriety of a people depend jointly on their degree of civilisation and the police of their government. France is in these respects superior to England, from her superior police and the prevalence of a better taste in regard to eating and drinking; and the parts of Germany we visited are greatly in advance both of France and England, from the joint effects of a superior police and general education.

Respect to the female character materially influences the happiness and dignity of a people, by the influence which it necessarily exercises on social manners and on the rising generation. In France this respect is less than in England, because women there do not receive the same education as the men; in Germany it is as great as in England, because there the education of the men and the women is alike. Respect to learned men, or men in any way intellectually eminent, is greater on the Continent than in England; while respect to wealth and titles is greater in England than on the Continent. Respect to religion is greater in England than abroad, because in England religion is generally connected with morality; whereas, on the Continent, morality rests chiefly on the utility and enjoyment which the exercise of it procures for society.

The spirit of general improvement pervades every part of the Continent, and is even more active in France than in Britain. In Britain the spirit of improvement is chiefly evinced in public works, and in the useful arts and manufactures, and its efforts are characterised much more by superfluity of

*

wealth than by science or refinement: in Germany this spirit is evinced in public buildings in a superior taste, in agriculture, and education; in France in the amelioration of public institutions, and, at this time more especially, in the establishment of a permanent system of national education.

Of all the different matters that attracted our attention during our tour, nothing struck us with so much force as the effects of general education in Wurtemberg; and the general and ardent desire to spread education throughout the lowest ranks, and to establish it on the best and firmest principles, in France. It is clearly proved in Wurtemberg and Baden, that a knowledge of the usual branches of education, such as grammar, writing, arithmetic, the French language, geography, natural history, natural philosophy, general history, and mythology, may be possessed by what is called the very lowest class of society, without endangering the safety of the state, and without preventing the rich from getting servants and workmen of every description. It is also found, that though the inhabitants of these countries are as poor as those of any country on the Continent, yet that they are as honest as any people in Europe, and that there are no mendicants among them, and very few imprisoned for debt or criminal offences. In France it is proved that all the education given in Germany, and a great deal more, in short all that is essentially useful and ornamental, may be communicated to children before the age of fifteen, by commencing at three years of age with infant schools, and continuing afterwards by means of the Lancasterian plan. The friends of France and of humanity are endeavouring to establish such a system of education on a permanent basis, and connected with such legal regulations, as shall insure its effectual application to every male and female child born in France. They are at present opposed by those who think it their interest to keep the people in ignorance; but that so grand a cause will ultimately prevail, those can only doubt who fear its effects. We sincerely hope that France will succeed in showing, to surrounding nations, what is to be effected in the world by rendering all mankind on a level, in point of useful knowledge and agreeable manners for we are persuaded that this principle of high and equal education and manners, will produce in society what no other principle could produce; or rather, that, in its operation, it will give rise to every other ameliorating principle, and ultimately effect for the human race all the good of which their nature is susceptible.

Buckingham Palace, the Treasury, the water in Hyde Park and St. James's Park, &c.

After these general views, relatively to the subjects which embraced our attention, we shall proceed to give the details. from which they originated, and commence in our next Number with Brighton and Dieppe.

(To be continued.)

ART. II. Remarks on some Gardens and_Country Residences in Surrey. By J. GALE, Esq.

Sir,

THE South-east angle of England, comprising the counties of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, possesses the best climate to be found in the island for the purpose of horticulture, and accordingly there we find the best common gardens and fruit orchards, hop gardens, and formerly vineyards. Having lately visited those counties, I made enquiries respecting the vineyard at Pains Hill, now overgrown by Scotch pine. It was originally planted with white grapes, procured from the neighbourhood of Paris, and a wine similar to champagne was made by confining the must or juice of the fruit in strong casks, bound round with cords, to prevent the force of the fermentation from bursting the casks, until the cold of the autumn frosts checked the fermentation. The soil was a poor sand, with a stony subsoil, having the advantage of a southern exposure on a steep slope. It appears to have been deficient in depth and fertility, and it is quite evident, if vines were to be cultivated in a vineyard in this climate, that every circumstance ought to be as favourable as possible. Pains Hill vineyard enjoyed only two advantages exposure and dryness; it wanted fertility, and a loose and more porous subsoil. Claremont, the seat of Prince Leopold, has a magnificent kitchen-garden, with good hot-houses, but the collection of plants is not of the first order, as it seems that expense is rather too much considered by the present proprietor. The house is considered as the masterpiece of Brown, though, in many respects, very full of faults. The entrance hall is in the middle of the south front; consequently, the two other rooms, on right and left, having a south aspect, are separated by the hall. Claremont seems, on the whole, to be a place adapted for representation more than for comfort. The stables are too distant, and it is quite without a farm, at least no arable land is found within any reasonable distance. Oatlands has also an excellent kitchen-garden, now let to a market-gardener.

Having heard of a remarkable crop of mangold wurzel growing at Lord King's, I went to see it, and certainly a finer field was never seen. The rows are 3 ft. 6 in. or near 4 ft. distant, and the plants of a surprising size. The crop is supposed to weigh between 50 and 60 tons per acre, without the leaves: it will be taken up in the course of November, when, I was told, the leaves will be ploughed in, and the wheat sowed, without further manure or trouble, the land being in excellent order, and as clean as a garden. On enquiry, I was told that three of the largest plants grown here last year weighed 93 lbs., or 31 lbs. each root. The produce of these ten acres is really enormous, and very much exceeds any thing I have elsewhere observed. I did not exactly ascertain whether it was to be attributed to a superior mode of cultivation, or to a soil peculiarly favourable to that root. On examination, the soil is a fine friable sandy loam, very loose and deep. Never having heard any thing of the gardens at this place, I was most agreeably surprised to find a highly decorated and ornamented terrace, with a profusion of marble vases, stone balustrades, and a delightful mixture of columns and vegetation, each lending its aid to assist the charm, and I thought the description would be acceptable, as the garden appears to be exactly what is described in your Magazine (Vol. IV. p. 95.), as the best suited to our country mansions. The pleasuregardens contain a fine collection of evergreens of the choicest sorts, the finest arbutus, bays, cypresses, and evergreen oaks, all in great perfection; indeed, the soil and exposure are as good as can be. One plant I had almost forgotten, a large Bignonia grandiflòra, usually seen only in a conservatory, was here growing 20 ft. high, and covered with hundreds of its brilliant flowers. At the end of the house (but in a continued line with the terrace, which is a stone pavement 12 ft. wide) is a long arcade of, I suppose, 100 ft. or more in length, opening to a balustraded garden. This must furnish a very pleasant walk in rough wet weather, and is well worthy of imitation.

I went from this place to Albury, the seat of Mr. Drummond, situated in a lovely vale. The kitchen-garden is really beautiful; a quarter of a mile long, one straight wall (fig. 3. a a),