Pitt as Landscape Gardener: The offer for sale of the Portico of the elder Pitt’s old house in Somersetshire is a reminder of one of the romances of politics. There was an old Whig baronet of Somersetshire, Sir William Pynsent, who has gone into exile with the Whigs towards the end of Queen Anne’s reign. Brooding over his “wrongs,” he fancied that he could trace a parallel between the disgrace of Marlborough and the disgrace of Pitt, and he left Pitt his house and a large property. Pitt tired of Burton Pynsent but performed some remarkable feats while there. A bleak hill offended his eye; he ordered that it be planted at once with cedars and cypresses. “Bless me, my lord,” said the gardener. “all the nurseries in the country could not furnish a hundredth part.” “No matter,” said Pitt, “send for them from London.”
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