The old Gardens, as we have already observed, were indeed very grand and magnificent according to the fashion of the age in which they were made, but, in consequence of the taste that then prevailed, they deprived the lower apartments of almost every advantage of prospect, which the fine situation of Sion house naturally affords. To make the necessary alterations required nothing less than his Lordship’s generosity. Accordingly the high triangular terrace, which the Protector had raised at a great expence, was removed, the walls of the old gardens were taken down, and the ground before the house levelled, and it now forms a fine lawn extending from Isleworth to Brentford. By these means also a beautiful prospect is opened into the King’s gardens at Richmond, as well as up and down the Thames. Towards the Thames the lawn is bounded by an ha-ha, and a meadow; which his lordship ordered to be cut down into a gentle slope, so that the surface of the water may now be seen even from the lowest apartments and the gardens. In consequence of these improvements, the most beautiful piece of scenery imaginable is formed before two of the principal fronts, for even the Thames itself seems to belong to the gardens, and the different sorts of vessels, which successively sail as it were through them, appear to be the property of their noble proprietor. The house stands nearly in the middle point of that side of the lawn, which is the farthest from the Thames, and communicates with Isleworth and Brentford, either by means of the lawn or a fine gravel walk, which in some places runs along the side, and in others through the middle of a beautiful shrubbery; so that even in the most retired parts of this charming maze, where the prospect is most confined, almost the whole vegetable world rises up as it were in miniature around you, and presents you with every foreign shrub, plant, and flower, which can be adopted by the soil of this climate. His Lordship has not only thus improved the ground where the old gardens stood, but has also made a very large addition to it, and separated the two parts by making a new serpentine river. It communicates with the Thames, is well stored with all sorts of river fish, and can be emptied and filled by means of a sluice, which is so contrived as to admit the fish into the new river, but to prevent their returning back again into the Thames. His Lordship has also built two bridges, which form a communication between the two gardens, and has erected in that, which lies near Brentford, a stately doric column; upon the top of which is a fine proportioned statue of Flora, so judiciously placed as to command as it were a distinct view of the situation over which she is supposed to preside. [Illustration: _S. Wale delin._ _E. Rooker sculp._ _Sion House, view’d from opposite Isleworth Church._]