Entered without price in the undated manuscript catalogue.

Stowe was one of the gardens visited by Jefferson in his tour of the gardens described by Whately. His description reads: Stowe. Belongs to the M. of Buckingham, son of G. Grenville, & who takes it from L ^d. Temple. 15. men and 18. boys employed in keeping pleasure grounds. within the walk are considerable portions separated by inclosures & used for pasture. the Egyptian pyramid is almost taken down by the late L ^d. Temple to erect a building there, in commemoration of m ( ^~ r) Pitt, but he died before beginning it, & nothing is done to it yet. the grotto, and two rotundas are taken away. there are 4. levels of water, recieving it one from the other. the bason contains 7. a ^s. the lake below that 10. a ^s. Kent’s building is called the temple of Venus. the inclosure is entirely by ha! ha! at each end of the front line there is a recess like the bastion of a fort. in one of these is the temple of Friendship, in the other the temple of Venus. they are seen the one from the other, the line of sight passing, not thro’ the garden, but through the country parallel to the line of the garden. this has a good effect. in the approach to Stowe, you are brought a mile through a straight avenue, pointing to the Corinthian arch & to the house, till you get to the Arch. then you turn short to the right. the straight approach is very ill. the Corinthian arch has a very useless appearance, inasmuch as it has no pretension to any destination. instead of being an object from the house, it is an obstacle to a very pleasing distant prospect. the Graecian valley being clear of trees, while the hill on each side is covered with them, is much deepened to appearance.

According to some authorities the first edition of this work was printed in Northampton in 1745. The first edition cited by Alicia Amherst is that of Northampton, 1747, and her account of Stowe reads in part as follows: Sir Richard Temple, who died in 1697, commenced rebuilding the house at Stow, and his son, Lord Cobham, continued it, and began the gardens, which were constantly being added to until 1755. By that time they covered a space of five hundred acres. Bridgeman was the first designer, and after him, Kent, while Sir John Vanbrugh constructed several of the temples and monuments . . . As this was the ideal garden of the period, there are several contemporary guides and descriptions to it published . . .

Seeley’s work is dedicated to the Right Honourable The Earl Temple.

Joseph Spence, 1699-1768, English scholar, wrote this treatise on classical mythology as illustrated by ancient works of art and Latin writers, in the form of Dialogues. It is lavishly illustrated by Boitard. The engraving in the letter-press on page 291, a satirical vignette of the Provost of Eton and his pupils, was suppressed from the later editions.