Men of mark 'twixt Tyne and Tweed . tudyingthe improvements that, just before, had been effected by William Kent,painter, sculptor, and architect, and there it was that he married,and commenced his career as an artist gardener, architectural de-signer, and improver of pleasure-grounds. Upon the death of Lord Cobham, in 1749, IMr. Brown settled at LANCELOT BRO WN. 405 Hammersmith, and became the oracle of taste in all matters relatingto his profession. The owners of ancestral piles, and the possessorsof wide-spreading estates, sought his advice and carried out his plansof improvement. Under his
Men of mark 'twixt Tyne and Tweed . tudyingthe improvements that, just before, had been effected by William Kent,painter, sculptor, and architect, and there it was that he married,and commenced his career as an artist gardener, architectural de-signer, and improver of pleasure-grounds. Upon the death of Lord Cobham, in 1749, IMr. Brown settled at LANCELOT BRO WN. 405 Hammersmith, and became the oracle of taste in all matters relatingto his profession. The owners of ancestral piles, and the possessorsof wide-spreading estates, sought his advice and carried out his plansof improvement. Under his supervision some of the great housesof the kingdom were renovated, or rebuilt, with tasteful regard tocomfort and convenience, and their environments of wood and water,garden and pasture, were thoroughly transformed. Straight walksand sullen ditches gave place to winding ways and glittering cascades ;rectangular flower-plots and clipped arcades were replaced by statelyterraces and undulating shrubberies; everywhere that Avhich had. been commonplace and formal was supplanted by something novel,something unexpected. His reputation brought him under thenotice of George H., who, although no special friend of art in anyshape—for he liked neither boetry nor bainting—had sufficienttaste to recognise the improvements which Capability Brown waseffecting, and made him his head gardener, with a residence atHampton Court. This post, being one of honour rather than ofservitude, did not require the holder to curtail his professional work,and he continued to plan, devise, and superintend extensive schemesof building and planting as before. For thirty years he reignedsupreme as the arbiter of fashion in landscape gardening, and, 4o6 LANCEL O T BROIVN. adding to genius graceful manners and good sense, was honouredand trusted, admitted to confidence and friendship by men ofdistinction in the highest ranks of society. Among well-known places that owe a considerable part of theirattractions t
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