The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-08-24
CORRESPOND DENCE.
Letter from England.
LONDON, ENGLAND. July

Letter from England.
LONDON, ENGLAND, July 2S.
Messrs. Editors, -Shenstone has said
with great truth The works of a person
that builds begin Immediately to decay,
while those of him who plants begin di-
rectly to improve"
Planting Promises More Lasting
Pleasure than Building.
Shenstone's own seat, the world renowned
Leasowes, near Windsor, of which many
Americans have read, but few have visi-
ted, is remarkable verifcation of the
truth of what we have quoted. The tenn
pies, views, and statues which he set up
In his favorite gardens have all gone to
decay; they have crumbled away into but
melancholy memorials of their once own
er-but the trees which he planted still
flourish green and glorious; and the little
saplings which had but begun to put out
their tender leaves when he was laid in
the. earth have now become great trees
Not far from Leasowss, and in Windsor
Park, is beautiful little lake surrounded
by trees and fowers-whose very name
attracted us to make an excursion from
London. 1t is called
Virginia Water,
and owes It's existence not to nature but
to Duke William of Cumberland, who in
l776, was rewarded for his services at
Culloden, with the Rangership of Wind
sor Park, and the official residence since
known as Cumberland Lodge. Not far
from the residence was wild, swampy
district, whose waters drained into ba-
sin of considerable dimensions, and then
flowed into the Thames. The Duke oc
cupied his solitude with the improvement
of this waste spot until it became fit as
pleasure ground for the royal family
withal. Now Virginia Water.the swamp
OF yore-is beautiful little lake-with
an artificial but effective cascade. True
such water as this appears like min
lature affair to an American, who has been
accustomed to stupendous cataracts, the
immense lakes and hoary forests of his
own land. But nature can never be made
to look small Where there are trees and
clouds and water there will always be an
air of grandeur and suggestions Of the in
finite, and we marvel not that Washing
ton Irving felt inspired to write one of
his most beautiful essays in the mazes of
Windsor Forest Surely no one would
now suspect the artificial arrangement of
the tiny cataract, for the rocks are now
as moss-covered and the spray of the fall
as white and graceful, and the gushing,
gurgling sound of the water as sweet as
though it were all the accident of nature
and not the labor of mems hands.
We would think pleasantly of the Duke
Of 0upo ho~lo,1 IL n
Butcher, for this beauty spot of his Gre
alton. 1t seems to tell that he was not
altogether sensual or cruel. It shows
how nature may be improved by art, and
how the memory Of any man, high or
low, may be blessed in after time if he
but plants tree or strives in some re-
spect to make his mother earth more
beautiful for his having lived upon her
breast Ii the trees under whose shadow
l reellne and listen to the plash of the
falling waters had not been planted. and
the reeds and rushes removed, instead of
a lake now so healthful Of air and de-
hghtful Of aspect as to bring multitudes
to view it from afar-this spot would
have remained until now noxious marsh.
exhaling miasmas and breeding fevers.
We came to Virginia Water by reason
OF its associations with home. Though
the name Of the place is an ambitious one,
yet for finished quiet beauty it is un-
natchable. The little lake and gentle
mr. clad banks have no real associations
with the forests Of the State where the
hrst settlers of the Anglo-Saxon stock
carried the power Of civilization. We
take the name simply as expression of ST.
llence and solitude amidst woods and wa
ters. Surren6ering ourselves to the gem
lal influences Of nature we find enjoyment
as deep on the margin Of this tiny lake
and amid the "alleys green" of these
woods as the wanderer on the banks Of