gardens which are in the "style called 'topiary,' a term applied to trees and shrubs clipped into various fantastic shapes, either alone or in groups, or extending in long lines, which form the chief feature of this kind of gardening." "At present, throughout the whole of England,” Stanhope writes, in his History of England, vol. v., p. 500, "there remains perhaps scarcely more than one private garden presenting in all its parts an entire and true sample of the old designs; this is at the fine old seat of Levens, near Kendal." It is scarcely necessary to add that these gardens, which were laid out by "Mr. Beaumont, gardener to King James II. and Col. James Grahme," who also laid out the gardens at Hampton Court, and which cover seven acres, are famed for their beauty almost the whole world over. In 1757, Henry, fifth Earl of Berkshire, grandson of Catherine Grahme, succeeded to Levens on the death of his father, Viscount Andover, and he bequeathed it to his mother, Lady Andover, and on her death to his sister, Frances. Frances married Richard Bagot, fourth son of Sir Walter Bagot, fifth baronet, from whom it has descended to its present owner, Colonel Josceline Fitzroy Bagot, M.P. for South Westmorland. Whatever changes time and successive tenants have wrought in the Hall, the park of Levens still remains as beautiful and romantic as when, five centuries and more ago, the Redmans hunted the deer in it. It was enclosed by licence in 1360, the year of the fourth Sir Matthew's succession; and in Redman times was a little more extensive than now, including the two fields on the south of the oak avenue. Mr. Curwen, if I may further add to my obligation to him, conjures up a vivid panoramic vision of the three epochs of Levens Hall ownership. And from the realms of fancy we conjure up the warrior Redmans, stern and fierce, marshalling their forces by the riverside; we catch glimpses of the courtly Bellinghams, in velvet and ruffles, walking and talking in their pleasaunce, or drinking to the health of the Virgin Queen in the noble Hall of Banquet; whilst, yet again, our cheeks are scorched by the fierce breath of treason and unrest that swept over Levens in the time of the wily Grahme. 78 THE REDMANS OF HAREWOOD CASTLE. CHAPTER X. SIR RICHARD (I.), OF HAREWOOD, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. IR Richard Redman, who now assumed the headship SIR of his family and who was destined to become its most distinguished member, must have been born not later than 1360; for in 1381-2 we find him a full-blown knight and drawing revenue from his lands. This fact disposes absolutely of the suggestion that he was the son of Joan Fitzhugh, who did not lose her second husband, Anthony, Lord Lucy, until Richard was at least eight years old. He was thus almost certainly the son of Sir Matthew and his first wife, Lucy, whose identity, as stated before, it still remains to establish. Under the tutorship of his warlike father, Richard doubtless had an excellent training in arms; and it is not improbable that he was with Sir Matthew at Roxburgh and Berwick, that he took his part in border-guarding and fighting, and that he may have wielded a sword in that "scuffle and scurry" at Otterbourne. His ability and promise seem to have brought him specially under the King's favour and protection before he had reached the thirties, for in May of 1388, a few months before the affray at Otterbourne, there appears (Patent Rolls 11, Richard II.) a "grant for life to the |