Page:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu/74

 shrubs, flowers, &c. As I possess, in some degree, the art of ingratiating myself where I want to do it, I would go out of an evening among the workmen, and say to one, 'You are a Warwickshire man, I know by your face' (although I had known it by his brogue). 'How much I esteem Lord Warwick; he is my best friend.'—'Were you in Holland, my good fellow?' to another. 'Yes, my lady, in the Blues.'—'A fine regiment; there is not a better soldier in the army than colonel so-and-so.'—'He was my colonel, my lady.' Thus a few civil words, and occasionally a present, made the work go on rapidly, and it was finished before Mr. Pitt's return.

"When Mr. Pitt came down, he dismounted from his horse, and, ascending the staircase, saw through a window, which commanded a view of the grounds, the improvements that had been made. 'Dear me, Hester, why, this is a miracle! I know 'tis you, so do not deny it: well, I declare, it is quite admirable; I could not have done it half so well myself.' And, though it was just dinner-time, he would go out, and examine it all over, and then was so profuse in his praises!—which were the more delightful, because they applauded the correctness of my taste. Above all, he was charmed that I had not fallen into an error (which most persons would have done) of making what is called an English garden, but rather had kept to the old manner of