The gardens show traces of all the many owners, and in spite of the growth of London and its attendant drawbacks, they are still charming. The house stands in about 150 acres of undulating deer park, with some fine old trees, an avenue of English elms on the east, and one of horse-chestnuts, forming the approach on the west. Perhaps the planting of the tulip tree near the present lodge was due to John Evelyn, the friend of Sir Henry Puckering. Evelyn’s liking for tulip trees is well known, and this specimen looks old enough to claim his acquaintance. The two shattered but grand old mulberry trees probably date from the year 1609, when James I. encouraged all his subjects to plant them, and tradition points to one as the first brought to England. There is an immense horse-chestnut on the lawn, with a wide spread of branches which are rooted in the ground all round, and among the evergreen oaks and other attractive trees in the “Wilderness,” a Judas of great age is remarkable. The small house standing near the road which passes the parish church, known as the “Guard House,” recalls the time when Prince Henry was living there, and his guard of honour kept watch near the entrance. The stables are just as they were built by Inigo Jones, and the little “Dutch” walled garden which adjoins them on one side is also a pretty relic of those days, and the “Gooseberry Garden” near it is a survival of the same period. A walk overshadowed by tall yew trees stretches across and along the main part of the grounds, and hidden away near its southern end is a delightful rose garden. The beautiful lead fountain in the centre must have been put there by Sir William Langhorne. His initials appear on the leaden tank, and the spray rises from a basin held up by a charming little cupid standing on a pedestal surrounded by swans. The same group appears without the tank in another part of the garden, and there are lead vases and figures, and a cistern dated 1777, which add greatly to the old-world charm which still lingers. Chemical works and sulphurous fumes now work deadly havoc among the old trees, but everything that modern science can recommend is done to preserve them, and young ones planted to keep up the traditions, and bridge over the centuries dividing the present from the days of Prince Henry and his learned and courtly tutor. LIST OF SOME OF THE WORKS CONSULTED. (_The date does not always refer to the first edition, but to the one consulted._) Ambulator. A Pocket Companion in a Tour Round London. 1792. Amusements of Old London. Boulton. 1900. Argyll, Autobiography of George Douglas, Eighth Duke of. Ed. by the Dowager Duchess of Argyll. 1907. Baker, T. H. Records of Seasons and Prices. Battersea, All About. H. S. Simmonds. 1882. Birds in London. W. H. Hudson. 1898. „ of London. H. K. Swann. 1893. Bloomsbury. Chronicle of Blemundsbury. W. Blott. 1892. „ and St. Giles. George Cluich. 1890.