The next owner of Brownsea was a Mr. Benson, who succeeded Sir Christopher Wren as first surveyor of works. When he bought the island, he began to alter the old castle and make it into a residence. The burgesses of Poole claimed that the castle was a national defence, of which they were the hereditary custodians. Mr. Benson replied that as he had paid _L_300 for the entire island the castle was naturally included. In 1720 the town authorities appealed to George II, and in 1723 Mr. Benson and his counsel appeared before the Attorney-general, when the proceedings were adjourned, and never resumed, so that the purchaser appears to have obtained a grant of the castle from the Crown. Mr. Benson was an enthusiastic botanist and he planted the island with various kinds of trees and shrubs. He also made a collection of the many specimens of plants growing on the island. During the next hundred and thirty years Brownsea had various owners, including Colonel Waugh (notorious for his connection with the disastrous failure of the British Bank) and the Right Hon. Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, who restored the castle and imported many beautiful specimens of Italian sculpture and works of art. At the end of 1900 the estate was bought by Mr. Charles Van Raalte, to whose widow it still belongs. Shortly before his death Mr. Van Raalte wrote a brief account of his island home, which closed with the following lines:-- "All through the island the slopes are covered with rhododendrons, juniper, Scotch firs, insignis, macrocarpa, Corsican pines, and many other varieties of evergreens, plentifully mingled with cedars and deciduous forest trees. Wild fowl in great variety visit the island, and the low-lying land within the sea-wall is the favourite haunt of many sea-birds; and several varieties of plover, the redshank, greenshank, sandpiper, and snipe may be found there. The crossbill comes very often, and the green woodpecker's cry is quite familiar. But perhaps the most beautiful little winged creature that favours us is the kingfisher."