Gardens -- England -- London; London (England) -- Description and travel; Parks -- England -- London
education. The founder was a friend of Shakespeare, and one of the best
actors of his plays in the poet’s lifetime. His early biographers go
out of their way to refute the alleged reason of his founding “God’s
Gift College,” namely, that when on one occasion he was personating the
devil, the original appeared, and so frightened him that he gave up the
stage to devote himself to good works. Were this story true, the vision
was certainly well timed, and has produced unexpected and far-reaching
results. The educational work, the picture gallery, and the well laid
out estate of Dulwich Manor, including the large public Park, are all
the direct result!
There are a few fine old trees in the Park, particularly a row of
gnarled oaks near the lake. This is a small sheet of water on the
side nearest the College. The carriage road, which encircles the
Park, crosses by a stone bridge the trickling stream, formed by the
overflow from the lake. On the south-east side of the Park there are
but few trees, but large masses of rhododendrons and azaleas have
been planted, which make a brilliant show in the summer. The most
distinctive feature is the rock gardening. There is a very large
collection of Alpine and rock plants, which are growing extremely well
and covering the stones with delicious soft green cushions, which turn
to pink, yellow, white, and purple, as the season advances. Even in
the cold, early spring, snowdrops, and the pretty little Chionodoxa,
the “Glory of the Snow,” begin to peep out amongst the rocks, and
these are the harbingers of a succession of bloom, through the spring
and summer months. On either side of one of the entrances, a long and
pleasing line of this rock-work extends, but the plants for the most
part are grown on mounds like rocky islands rising up from a sea of
gravel. There are several of these isolated patches in the middle of
the carriage drive. It is certainly fortunate, for those who only
drive round the Park, thus to have a full view of the charming rock
plants; but to compare such a display to the rock garden at Kew is
misleading. There may be nearly as many plants at Dulwich as at Kew,
but the arrangement of that charming little retired valley at Kew is
so infinitely superior that the comparison is unjustified. The small
stream which leaves the lake, and other places in the Park, offer,
just as good a foundation for a really effective rock garden as the
one at Kew. Such an arrangement would give a much better idea of the
plants, in their own homes, than the islands in the roadway, that
must suffer from dust, besides looking stiff and unnatural. It is,
however, delightful to see how well these plants are thriving. This is
hardly astonishing, as it is not in a crowded, smoky district, but in
one of the most favoured of suburbs. Dulwich Park adds greatly to the
advantages of the neighbourhood: it has not hitherto been crowded, and
is by no means a playground of the poorest classes, but now the advent
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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