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margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c013 { margin-left: 5.56%; margin-right: 5.56%; margin-top: 0.5em; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c014 { margin-top: 2em; } - .c015 { vertical-align: top; text-align: center; padding-right: 1em; } - .c016 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-top: 0.8em; - margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 35%; margin-right: 35%; width: 30%; } - .c017 { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 2em; } - .c018 { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c019 { margin-left: 1.39%; margin-top: 2em; } - .c020 { margin-left: 5.56%; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - </style> - </head> - <body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Charm of Gardens, by Dion Clayton Calthrop - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The Charm of Gardens - -Author: Dion Clayton Calthrop - -Release Date: May 1, 2017 [EBook #54641] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHARM OF GARDENS *** - - - - -Produced by MFR and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><i>OTHER BEAUTIFUL BOOKS</i></div> - <div><i>ON FLOWERS AND GARDENS</i></div> - <div class='c000'>Each containing full-page illustrations in</div> - <div>colour similar to those in this volume</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Flowers and Gardens of Japan</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Alpine Flowers and Gardens</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>British Floral Decoration</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Dutch Bulbs and Gardens</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Flowers and Gardens of Madeira</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>The Garden that I Love</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Gardens of England</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Kew Gardens</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>A. & C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div> - <h1 class='c002'>THE CHARM OF GARDENS</h1> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>AGENTS</div> - </div> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='16%' /> -<col width='83%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c003'>AMERICA</td> - <td class='c004'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'> </td> - <td class='c005'>64 & 66 <span class='sc'>Fifth Avenue</span>, NEW YORK</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'>AUSTRALASIA</td> - <td class='c004'>THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'> </td> - <td class='c005'>205 <span class='sc'>Flinders Lane</span>, MELBOURNE</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'>CANADA</td> - <td class='c004'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LTD.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'> </td> - <td class='c005'><span class='sc'>St. Martin’s House, 70 Bond Street</span>, TORONTO</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'>INDIA</td> - <td class='c004'>MACMILLAN & COMPANY LTD.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'> </td> - <td class='c005'><span class='sc'>Macmillan Building</span>, BOMBAY</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'> </td> - <td class='c005'>309 <span class='sc'>Bow Bazaar Street</span>, CALCUTTA</td> - </tr> -</table> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> - -<div id='frontis' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/frontis.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE LAKE GARDEN AYSCOUGH FEE HALL, SPALDING.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>THE</div> - <div class='c000'><span class='xxlarge'>CHARM OF GARDENS</span></div> - <div class='c000'>BY</div> - <div class='c000'>DION CLAYTON CALTHROP</div> - <div class='c000'>WITH THIRTY-TWO FULL-PAGE</div> - <div>ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/title.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<table class='table1' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='56%' /> -<col width='43%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c003'>PUBLISHED BY .</td> - <td class='c004'>4 SOHO SQUARE</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'>ADAM & CHARLES</td> - <td class='c004'>LONDON . . W.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'>BLACK . . . .</td> - <td class='c004'>MCMXI . . . .</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c001'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><i>The illustrations in this volume have been selected</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>from volumes in Black’s Series of Beautiful Books</i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>TO</div> - <div class='c000'>F. M. MARSDEN</div> - <div class='c000'>WITHOUT WHOSE HELP THIS BOOK COULD</div> - <div>NEVER HAVE BEEN WRITTEN</div> - <div>FROM</div> - <div>HER AFFECTIONATE</div> - <div>SON-IN-LAW</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_ix'>ix</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table2' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='13%' /> -<col width='73%' /> -<col width='13%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='3'>PART I</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='3'>A VIEW OF ENGLAND</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'> </td> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>PAGE</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>I.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Spirit of Gardens</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_3'>3</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>II.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Garden of England: The Patchwork Quilt</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_10'>10</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>III.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Country Lane: A Memory from Abroad</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_18'>18</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>IV.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Fields</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_23'>23</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>V.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Episode of the Contented Tailor</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_27'>27</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>VI.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Bluebell Wood and the Calm Stone Dog</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_35'>35</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>VII.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Tailor’s Sister’s Tombstone</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_42'>42</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>VIII.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Cottage Garden</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_54'>54</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>IX.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Feast of Wild Strawberries</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_64'>64</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>X.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Praises of a Country Life</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_71'>71</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='3'>PART II</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='3'>GARDENS AND HISTORY</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>I.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Roman Garden in England</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_75'>75</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>II.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>St. Fiacre, Patron Saint of Gardeners and Cab-Drivers</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_88'>88</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>III.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Evelyn’s “Sylva”</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_96'>96</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='3'><span class='pageno' id='Page_x'>x</span>PART III</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'> </td> - <td class='c009'>KALENDARIUM HORTENSE</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_108'>108</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='3'>PART IV</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='3'>GARDEN MOODS</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>I.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Town Gardens</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_151'>151</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>II.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Effect of Trees</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_163'>163</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>III.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Lover of Gardens</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_182'>182</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>IV.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Of the Crown of Thorns</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_185'>185</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>V.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Of Apples</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_187'>187</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>VI.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Of the First Gardener</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_189'>189</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>VII.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Of the First Roses</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_191'>191</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>VIII.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Of the Abbey Garden</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_193'>193</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>IX.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Olympian Aspect</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_195'>195</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>X.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Evening Red and Morning Grey</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_204'>204</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XI.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Garden Promises</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_213'>213</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XII.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Garden Paths</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_220'>220</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XIII.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Gardens of the Dead</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_233'>233</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span> - <h2 class='c006'>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table3' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='7%' /> -<col width='71%' /> -<col width='21%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>1.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Lake Garden, Ayscough Fee Hall, Spalding</span></td> - <td class='c010'><i><a href='#frontis'>Frontispiece</a></i></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'> </td> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'><i>Facing page</i></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>2.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Primrose Bank near Dorking</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o006'>vi</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>3.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Sir Walter’s Sundial, Abbotsford</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o009'>9</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>4.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Weald of Kent, showing the Country like a Patchwork Quilt</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o016'>16</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>5.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Poppies in Surrey</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o025'>25</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>6.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Porches grown over with Honeysuckle and Roses at Broadway in the Cotswolds</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o032'>32</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>7.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Bluebells in Surrey</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o041'>41</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>8.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Cottage Garden</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o048'>48</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>9.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Surrey Cottage</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o057'>57</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>10.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Patches of Heather</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o064'>64</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>11.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Pergola in an English Garden</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o073'>73</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>12.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Entrance to the Gardens, Ayscough Fee Hall, Spalding</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o080'>80</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>13.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Cab-Driver in Piccadilly</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o089'>89</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>14.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Wood at Wotton, the Home of John Evelyn</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o096'>96</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>15.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Tulips in the “Garden of Peace”</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o105'>105</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>16.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Apple Trees</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o112'>112</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xii'>xii</span>17.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Daffodils in a Middlesex Garden</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o121'>121</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>18.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Poet’s Orchard in Kent</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o128'>128</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>19.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Kentish Garden in Autumn</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o137'>137</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>20.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Hampstead Garden in Winter</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o144'>144</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>21.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Azaleas in Bloom, Rotten Row</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o153'>153</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>22.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>In Hyde Park</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o160'>160</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>23.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Seat beneath the Oak in the Poet Laureate’s Garden</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o169'>169</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>24.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>In the Botanic Garden, Oxford</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o176'>176</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>25.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Pride of Spring, Surrey</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o185'>185</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>26.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Rose Garden in Berkshire</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o192'>192</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>27.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Shepherd of Coniston</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o201'>201</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>28.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Dovecote in a Sussex Garden</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o208'>208</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>29.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Northamptonshire Garden</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o217'>217</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>30.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Path in a Rose Garden</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o224'>224</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>31.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>A Churchyard in the Cotswolds</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o235'>235</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>32.</td> - <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>Autumn Colour at Bonchurch Old Church near Ventnor</span></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#o238'>238</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c006'>PART I<br /> <br />A VIEW OF ENGLAND</h2> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span> - <h2 class='c006'>I<br /> <br />THE SPIRIT OF GARDENS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Once, I remember well, when I was hungering for a -breath of country air, a woman, brown with the caresses -of the wind and sun, brought the Spring to my door and -sold it to me for a penny. The husky rough scent of -those Primroses gave me news of England that I longed -to hear. When I had placed my flowers in a bowl and -put them on the table where I worked, they told me -stories of the lanes and woods, how thrushes sang, and -the wild Cherry Blossom flared delicately across the -purpling trees.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A flower often will reclaim a mood when nothing else -will bring it back.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To garden, to garner up the seasons in a little space, -is part of every wise man’s philosophy. To sow the -seeds, to watch the tender shoots come out and brave -the light and rain, to see the buds lift up their heads, -and then to catch one’s breath as the flowers open and -display their precious colours, living, breathing jewels, -is enough to live for. But there is more than that. A -man may choose the feast to spread before his eyes, -may sow old memories and see them grow, and feel the -answering colours in his heart. This Rose he used to -pass on his way to school; it nodded to him over the -high red wall, while next to it a Purple Clematis clung, -arching over, so that, by standing on his pile of school-books, -he could reach the flowers. This patch of Golden -<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>Marigolds reminds him of a long border in the garden -where he spent his boyhood (they used to grow behind -the bee skeps, had a little place to themselves next to -the Horseradish and the early Lettuces). There’s a -hedge of Lavender full of association, he may remember -how he was allowed (or was it set him for a task?) to -cut great sheaves of it and take them to the Apple-room, -and hang them up to dry over old newspapers. To -look at Lavender brings back the curious musty smell of -that store-room, where Apples wintered on long shelves; -where the lawn-mower stood, and the brooms, and the -scythe (to cut the orchard grass), and untidy bundles -of bass hung with string and coils of wire. What a -wonderful place that store-room was, with the broken -door and the rusty lock that creaked as the big key -turned to let him in: to reach the latch he had to stand -on tip-toe, and to turn the key seemed quite a grown-up -task. There was all a garden needs stored in that room. -It had been a dining-room once, a hundred years ago, -a room where the members of a bowling club convivially -met and fought old games; bias, twist, jack, -all the terms ring in his ears, even the click of the bowls, -sharp on the summer air, comes back; and the plastered -ornamental ceiling had sagged and dropped away here -and there, showing the laths. There was a big dusty -window, across which the twisted arms of a Wisteria -stretched, and a broken window seat in it that opened -like a box to hold the bowls. Just the hedge of Lavender -brings back the picture of the boy whose cherished -dreams hung about those four walls; who, having -strung his bunches, neatly tied, on wooden pegs along -the walls, and spread his papers underneath to catch -the falling seeds, sat, book in hand, and travelled into -foreign lands with Mungo Park. There, on his left, -and facing him as well, shelves lined the walls, and Pears, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>Apples and Medlars were arranged in rows, while by -his side, placed on the window ledge to catch the sun, -were fallen Nectarines, Peaches and big yellow Plums -set to ripen.</p> - -<p class='c012'>What curious things a garden store-room holds! -The tins, slopped over, of weed-killer, of patent plant -foods, of fine white sand. The twisted string, criss-crossed -upon a peg of wood, covered with whitewash, -the string that serves to guide the marker for the tennis-court. -Then an array of nets to cover Currant bushes, -and bid birds beware of Gooseberries, Cherries and ripe -Strawberries. A barrow, full of odds and ends, baskets, -queer little bags of seeds, a heap of Groundsel gathered -for a bird and lying there forgotten. Like a Dutch -picture, half in gloom with bright lights on the shears, -and along the edge of the scythe, and on the curved -wire mesh made to guard young seedlings. Empty seed -packets on the floor, bright coloured pictures of the -flowers on the outsides, a little soiled by the earth and -the gardener’s thumb.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant memories, indeed! A man may plant a host -of them and never then recapture all his joys. There’s -his first love garnishing a rustic arch, a deep yellow Rose, -beautiful in the bud—William Allen Richardson: she -wore them in her sash. He can laugh now and see the -long yellow hair floating in a cloud behind her as she -ran, and the twinkling black legs, and the merry pretty -face looking down on him from between the leaves of -the Apple-tree she climbed. He grows that Apple in his -orchard now, and toasts her memory when the first ripe -fruit of it shines on the dish before him at dessert.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The Clove Carnation with its spice-like scent he bought -from a barrow in a London slum, brought with care—wrapped -in paper on the rack of the railway carriage—and -planted it here. This Picotee he hailed with joy -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>in the flower-market at Saint Malo and carried it across -the sea, each bloom tied up to a friendly length of cane. -His neighbours marvel at his pains, but it recalls many -a happy day to him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There, in a corner under a nut-tree, is a grass bank -thick with Primrose plants—another memory. A picture -comes to him from the Primroses very clear, very distinct, -a picture of the world gone black, of a day when a -boy thought heaven and earth purposeless, cruel; when -he ran from a garden to the woods and threw himself on -a bank, covered with Primroses, sobbing and weeping -till the world was blotted out with his tears, because -his dog had died. It had been the first thing he had -learnt to love, the first thing he had had to care for, -to look after. All his childish ideas were whispered into -the big retriever’s silky coat. They had secret understandings, -a different language, ideas in common, and -the dog’s death was his first hint of death in the world. -Years after, when he planted this garden, he gave a -place to Don, and planted the Primroses himself. The -earth was kindly and the flowers flourished. The earth -is kindly, even your cynic knows that and marks the -spot where he hopes to lie, and thinks, not sourly, of -the Daisies over his head.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There is something more than memory in a garden. -There is that urgent need man has to be part of growing -life. He must have open spaces, he takes health from -the sight of a tree in bud, from the sight of a newly -ploughed field, from a plant or so in a window-box, a -flower in his button-hole. Men, who by a thousand ties -are held at desks in cities, look up and hear a caged -thrush sing, and their thoughts fly out to fields and the -common wayside flowers, and, for a moment, the offices -are filled with the perfume—indescribable—of the open -road.</p> - -<div id='o006' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/opp_006.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A PRIMROSE BANK NEAR DORKING.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>There is that in the hum and business of a garden that -makes for peace; the senses are softly stirred even as -the heart finds wings. No greeting is as sweet as the -drowsy murmur of bees, in garden, lane or open heath. -No day so good as that which breaks to song of birds. -No sight so happy as the elegant confusion of flower-border -still wet and glistening with the morning dew.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I heard a man once deliver a learned lecture on the -Persian character, full of history, romance and thoughtful -ideas. Towards the end of his discourse I began to -feel that he, indeed, knew the Persian inside out, but -that I could catch but a fleeting and momentary glimpse -of his knowledge. Then, by way of background to an -anecdote, he mirrored, with loving care and wealth of -detail, Oriental in its imagery and elaboration, the -gardens in a palace. There was a stream of clear water -running through the garden, and the owner had paved -the bed of the stream with exquisite old tiles; white -Irises bloomed along the banks, white Roses, growing -thickly, dropped scented petals in the stream. I have -as good as lived in that garden; I saw it so well, and -what little I know of the Persian I know from that -description. Omar is more than a dead poet to me now; -I can smell the Roses blooming over his grave.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There should be a sundial in every garden to mark -the true beginning and the end of day; some noise of -water somewhere; bees; good trees to give shade to -us and shelter to the birds; a garden-house with proper -amount of flower-lore on shelves within; a walk for -scent alone, flowers grown perfume-wise; a solitary -place, if possible, where should be a nest of owls; a -spread of lawn to rest the eyes, no cut beds in it to -spoil the symmetry, and at least one border for herbaceous -plants. If this is greedy of good things leave out the -owls—that’s but a fanciful thought. Do you know -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>what a small space this requires? Those who might be -free and yet choose to live in towns might have it all -for the price of the rent of the ground their kitchen -covers.</p> - -<div id='o009' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_009.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>SIR WALTER’S SUNDIAL, ABBOTSFORD.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>There are those aching spirits to whom no land is -home, whose feet go wandering over the world; gipsy-spirits -searching one must suppose for peace of mind -in constant new sights. For them the well-ordered -garden with its high walls, its neat lawn, its fair carriage-drive, -is but a dull prison-house, and even if in the course -of their wanderings they stray into such a place their -talk is all of other lands; of scarlet twisted flowers in -Cashmere; of fields of Arum Lilies near Table Mountain; -of the sad-grey Olives and the gorgeous Orange groves -of Spain; the Poppy fields of China, or the brightly -painted Tulips growing orderly in Holland. We with -our ancestral rookery near by, our talk of last year’s -nests, or overweening pride in the soft snows of Mrs. -Simpkin’s Pinks, seem to these folk like prisoners, who -having tamed a mouse proclaim it chief of all the -animal world. But ask of the Garden of England and -the flowers it affords and see their eyes take on a far-away -look as the road calls to them, and hear them at -their own lore of roadside flowers, praising and loving -Traveller’s Joy, the gilt array of Buttercups, the dusty -pink of Ragged Robin, and the like sweet joys the vagabond -holds dear. This one can whistle like a blackbird; -that one has boiled the roots of Dandelions (Dent de Lion, -a charming name) and has been cured by their juices. -He knows that if he sees the delicate parachutes of -Dandelion, Coltsfoot, or of Thistle-fly when there is not -a breath of wind, then there will be rain. They read -the skies, hear voices in the wind, take courses from the -stars, and know the time of day from flowers. These -men, having none of the spirit that inspires your gardener, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>see the results of the work and smile pleasantly, -ask, perhaps, the name of some flower, to please you, -know something of soils, praise your Mulberries, and -admire your collection of Violas, but soon they are off -and away, breathing more freely for leaving the sheltered -peace of your well-kept place, and vanish to Spitzbergen -or the Chinese desert in search of what their souls crave. -We are different; we sit in the cool of the evening, -overlooking our sweet-scented borders, gaining joy -from the gathering night that paints out the detail of -our world, and hope quietly for a soft, gentle rain in -the night to stiffen the flowers’ drooping heads. We -English are gardeners by nature: perhaps the greyness -of our skies accounts for our desire to make our gardens -blaze with colours.</p> - -<p class='c012'>We have our memories, our desire for peace, our love -of colour, and, at the back of all, something infinitely -more grand.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“No lily muffled hum of a summer bee</div> - <div class='line in1'>But finds some coupling with the spinning stars;</div> - <div class='line in1'>No pebble at your foot, but proves a sphere;</div> - <div class='line in1'>... Earth’s crammed with heaven,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And every common bush afire with God:</div> - <div class='line in1'>But only he who knows takes off his shoes.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span> - <h2 class='c006'>II<br /> <br />THE GARDEN OF ENGLAND: THE<br />PATCHWORK QUILT</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Even your most unadventurous fellow can hardly look -on a fair prospect of fields and meadows, woods, villages -with smoking chimneys, a river, and a road, without a -certain feeling rising in him that he would like to tread -the road that winds so dapperly through the country, -and discover for himself where it leads.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To those who love their country the road is but a -garden path running between borders of fair flowers -whose names and virtues should be known to every -child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A poet can weave a story from the speck of mud on a -fellow traveller’s boot—the red soil of a Devonshire lane -calls up such pictures of fern-covered banks, such -rushing streams, as make a poem in themselves.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It strikes one from the very first how neatly most -of England is kept. The dip and rise of softly swelling -hills across which the curling ribbon of the road winds -leisurely between neat hedges, the fields in patches, -coloured brown and green, golden with Corn, scarlet -with Poppies, yellow with Buttercups; the circular -bunches of trees under whose shade fat cattle stand -lazily switching their tails at flies; the woods, hangers, -shaws and coppices, glades, dells, dingles and combes, -all set out so orderly and precise that, from a hill, the -country has the appearance of a patchwork quilt set in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>a pleasant irregularity, studded with straggling farms, -and little sleepy villages where the resonant note of the -church clock checks off the drowsy hours. The road -that runs through this quilt land seems like a thread -on which villages and market towns are strung, beads -of endless variety, some huddled in a bunch upon a hill, -some long and straggling, some thatched and warm, -red-bricked and creeper-covered, others white with roofs -of purple slate, others of grey stone, others of warm -yellow. All alive with birds and flowers and village -children, butterflies and trees; fed by broad rivers, -or hanging over singing streams or deep in the lush grass -of water meadows gay with kingcups.</p> - -<p class='c012'>This garden is for us who care to know it. We can -take the road, our garden path, and pluck, as we will, -flowers of all kinds from our borders; sleep in our garden -on beds of bracken pulled and piled high under trees; -or on soft heaps of heather heaped under sheltering -stones. If we know our garden well enough it will give -us food—salads, fruits and nuts; it will cure us of our -ills by its herbs; feed our imagination by the quaint -names of flower and herb. Here’s a small list that will -sing a man to sleep, dreaming of England.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Poet’s Asphodel.</div> - <div class='line'>Shepherd’s Purse.</div> - <div class='line'>Our Lady’s Bedstraw.</div> - <div class='line'>Water Soldier.</div> - <div class='line'>Rowan.</div> - <div class='line'>Hound’s Tongue.</div> - <div class='line'>Gipsy Rose.</div> - <div class='line'>Fool’s Parsley.</div> - <div class='line'>Celandine.</div> - <div class='line'>Columbine.</div> - <div class='line'>Adder’s Tongue.</div> - <div class='line'>Speedwell.</div> - <div class='line'>Thorn Apple.</div> - <div class='line'>Virgin Bower.</div> - <div class='line'>Whin.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>These alone of hundreds give a lift to the day: there’s -a story to each of them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Take our England as a garden and let the eye roam -over the land. Here’s the flat country of the Fens, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>long, long vistas of fields, with spires and towers sticking -up against the sky. Plenty of rare flowers there for -your gardener, marsh flowers, water plants galore. -That’s the place to see the sky, to watch a summer -storm across the plain, to see the Poplars bending in an -angry wind, and the white windmills glare against -purple rain clouds. Few hedges here but plenty of -banks and dykes, and canals they call drains. Here you -may find Marsh Valerian, Water Crowsfoot, Frogbit, -pink Cuckoo-flowers, Bog Bean, Sundews, Sea Lavender, -and Bladder-worts. The Sundews alone will give you an -hour’s pleasure with their glistening red glands tricked -out to catch unwary flies and midges.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then there’s a wild garden waiting you by stone -walls in the dales of Derbyshire, or in the Yorkshire -wolds, or the Lancashire fells. On the open heaths, -where the grey roads wind through warm carpets of -ling and heather, you can fill your nostrils with the -sweet scent of Gorse and Thyme.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I was sitting one hot afternoon, drawing the twisted -bole of a Beech tree. All the wood in which I sat was -stirring with life; the dingle below me a mist of flowers, -Primroses, Wind-flowers, Hyacinths whose bells made -the air softly fragrant. Above me the sky showed -through a trellis-work of young leaves, the distance of -the wood was purple with opening buds, and the floor -was a swaying sea of Bluebells dancing in a gentle -breeze. Squirrels chattered in the trees; now and then -a wood pigeon flopped out of a tree, and a blackbird -whistled in some hidden place.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All absorbed in my work, following the grotesquely -beautiful curves of the beech roots, I heard no sound -of approaching footsteps. A voice behind me said -“Good,” and I started, dropping my pencil in my -confusion.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you,” said the -voice.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I turned round and saw a man standing behind me, -a man without a cap, with curly brown hair, and a face -coloured deep brown by the sun. He was dressed in a -faded suit of greenish tweed, wore a blue flannel shirt, -carried a thick stick in his hand, and had a worn-looking -box slung over his shoulders by a stained -leather strap.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I suppose my surprise showed in my face in some comic -way, for he laughed heartily, showing a set of strong -white teeth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, I’m not Pan,” he said laughing, “or a keeper, -or a vision. I’m a gardener.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>His admirable assurance and pleasant address were -very captivating.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I asked him what he did there, and he immediately -sat down by me, pulled out a black clay pipe, and lit -up before replying. He extended the honours of his -match to my cigarette and I noticed that his hands -were well formed, and that he wore a silver ring on the -little finger of his right hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When he had arranged himself to his comfort, propping -his back against a tree and crossing his legs, he told me -he was a gardener on a very large scale.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I wished him joy of his garden, at which he smiled -broadly, and informed me in the most matter-of-fact -way that he gardened the whole of Great Britain.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For a moment I wondered if I had fallen in with an -amiable lunatic, but a closer inspection of his face -showed me he was sane, uncommonly healthy, and, I -judged, a clever man.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A vast garden?” I said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Without exactly replying to my remark, which was put -half in the manner of a question, he said, partly to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>himself, “The slight fingers of April. Do you notice how -delicate everything is?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I had noticed. The air was full of suggestion, the -flowers were very fairylike, the green of the trees very -tender.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pied April,” said I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Instead of answering me again he unstrapped the box -that now lay beside him on the grass, opened it and -took from it a beautiful Fritillaria.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There’s one of the April Princesses, if you like,” he -said. “There are not many about here, just an odd -one or two; plenty near Oxford though.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You know Oxford?” said I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Guess again,” he said, smiling. “I’m no Oxford -man, but I know the woods about there well. Please -go on working; I’ll talk.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I was about to look at my watch when he stopped -me.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It’s half-past two,” he said. “The slant of the sun -on the leaves ought to tell you that.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I was amused, interested in the man; he was so odd -and quaint. “I’ve not eaten my lunch yet,” I said. -“Perhaps you’ll share it with me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I was wondering if you’d invite me,” he replied. -“I’m rather hungry.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I had, luckily, enough for two. Slices of ham, some -cheese, a loaf of new bread, and a full flask. Very soon -we were eating together like old friends.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In an inconsequent way he asked me what I thought -of the name of Noakes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I said it was as good as any other.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Let’s have it Noakes, then,” he said, laughing again. -A very merry man.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“About this garden of yours, Mr. Noakes?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He tapped his wooden box and said, “If you want to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>know, I’m a herbalist. You can scarcely call me a -civilised being, except on occasions when I do go among -my fellow men to winter.” He pulled a cap and a pair -of gloves out of his pocket. “My titles to respectability,” -he said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And in the Spring?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I take to the road with the Coltsfoot and the Butterburrs. -I come out with the first Violet, and the Pussy-cat -Willow. I wander, all through the year, up and -down the length and breadth of England, with my box -of herbs. I get my bread and cheese that way—while -you draw for pleasure.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Partly.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It must be for pleasure, or you wouldn’t take so -much pains. I suppose you think I’m a very disgraceful -person, a bad citizen, a worse patriot. But I -know the news of the world better than those who -read newspapers. Although I trade on superstitions, -I do no harm.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you sell your herbs?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Colchicum for gout—Autumn Crocus, you know it,” -he replied. “Willow-bark quinine; Violet distilled, -for coughs. Not a bad trade—besides, it keeps me -free.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I hazarded a question. “Tell me—you must observe -these things—do swifts drink as they fly? It has often -puzzled me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I don’t know,” said he. “Ask Mother Nature. -Some of these things are the province of professors. -I’m not a learned man; just a herbalist.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>At that moment a thrush began to sing in a tree -overhead. My friend cocked his head, just like an -animal.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There’s the wise thrush,” he quoted softly, “he -sings his song twice over.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>“So you read Browning,” I said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have a garret and a library,” he said. “Winter -quarters. We shall meet one day, and you’ll be surprised. -I actually possess two dress suits. It’s a mad world.” -He stopped abruptly to listen to the thrush. “This is -better than the Carlton or Delmonico’s, anyhow!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What do you do?” I asked. “Go from village to -village selling herbs?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That’s about it. Lord! Listen to that bird. I -heard and saw a nightingale sing once in a shaw near -Ewelme. I think a thrush is the better musician, though. -Yes, I sell my herbs, all sorts and kinds. Drugs and -ointments, very simple I assure you—Hemlock and -Poppy to cure the toothache. Wood Sorrel—full of -oxalic acid, you know, like Rhubarb—for fevers. Aconite -for rheumatics—very popular medicine I make of that, -sells like hot cakes in water meadow land, so does -Agrimony for Fen ague. Tansy and Camomile for liver—excellent. -Hellebore for blisters, and Cowslip pips -for measles—I’m a regular quack, you see.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And it’s worth doing, is it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>He leaned back, his pipe between his lips, a very -contented man. “Worth doing!” he said. “Worth -owning England, with all the wonderful mornings, and -the clean air; worth waking up to the scent of Violets; -worth lying on your back near a Bean field on a summer -day; worth seeing the Bracken fronds uncurl; watching -kingfishers; worth having the fields and hedgerows for a -garden, full of flowers always—I should think so. I -earn my bread, and I’m happy, far happier than most -men. I can lend a hand at haymaking, at the harvest; -at sheep-shearing, at the cider press, at hoeing, when -I’m tired of my own company. I’ve worked the seines -in the mackerel season on the South coast—do you -know the bend of shore by Lyme and Charmouth? -<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>I’ve ploughed in the Lowlands, and found lost sheep in -the Lake Country; caught moles for a living in Norfolk, -and cut Hop-poles in Kent, and Heather in the Highlands.—And -I’m not forty, and I’m never ill.”</p> - -<div id='o016' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_016.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE WEALD OF KENT SHOWING THE COUNTRY LIKE A PATCHWORK QUILT.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>“It sounds delightful.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>He rose to his feet and gave me his hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We shall meet again,” he said laughing. “Perhaps -in the conventional armour of starched shirts and inky -black. For the present—to my work,” he pointed over -his shoulder. “I’m building hen-coops for a widow. -<i>Hasta luego.</i>”</p> - -<p class='c012'>With that he vanished as quietly as he came. Almost -as soon as the trees had hidden him from my sight, a -blackbird began to whistle, then stopped, and a laugh -came out of the woods.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Altogether a very strange man.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I found, when he had gone, that he had written -something on a piece of paper and had pinned it to the -tree with a long thorn. It was this:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I think, very likely, you may not know Ben Jonson’s -‘Gipsy Benediction.’ If you don’t, accept the offering as -a return for my excellent lunch.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“The faerybeam upon you—</div> - <div class='line in1'>The stars to glisten on you—</div> - <div class='line in3'>A moon of light</div> - <div class='line in3'>In the noon of night,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Till the firedrake hath o’er gone you!</div> - <div class='line in1'>The wheel of fortune guide you;</div> - <div class='line in1'>The boy with the bow beside you;</div> - <div class='line in1'>Run aye in the way</div> - <div class='line in1'>Till the bird of day,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And the luckier lot, betide you.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>He signed, at the foot, “Noakes, Under the Greenwood -Tree.” And he seemed to have written some of his -clear laughter into it.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span> - <h2 class='c006'>III<br /> <br />A COUNTRY LANE: A MEMORY<br />FROM ABROAD</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>I was looking at a vision of the world upside down, -mirrored in the deep blue of a still sea. Where the -inverted picture of my boat gleamed white, and the -rope that moored her to a tree showed grey, I saw the -dark fir trees growing upside down, the bank of emerald -grass looking more brilliant because of the grey-green -lichened rocks; a black rock, glistening, hung with -brown seaweed, made the vision clear, and, over all, -clouds chased each other in the sky, seemingly below -me. They were those round fleecy clouds, like sheep, -and they reminded me of something I could not quite -arrest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A fish swam—dash—across my mirror, another and -another, rippling the sky, the trees, the bank, distorting -everything. Then I looked up and saw a fishing-boat -come sailing by with its great orange and -tawny sails all set out to catch the land breeze; and -bright blue nets hung out ready, floating and billowing -in the slight wind. There was a creaking of ropes -and a hum of Breton as the sailors talked. From my -moorings by the island I watched her sail—<i>Saint Nicholas</i> -she was called, and had a little figure of the Madonna -on her stern. Out of the land-locked harbour she -slipped, tacking to make the neck that led to the outer -harbour, and there she was going to meet other gaily -<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>coloured ships and sail with them to the sardine grounds -off the coast of Spain.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After she had passed, leaving her wide white wake -in the still waters, I followed her in my mind, seeing -the nets cast and the shimmering silver fish drawn -up, and the long loaves of bread eaten, with wine and -onions, until the waters round me were quiet again, -and I could look once more into my mirror and wonder -what it was the flocks of clouds said to my brain.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It came in a flash. Big Claus said to Little Claus, -“After I threw you into the river in the sack, where -did you get all those sheep and cattle?” And Little -Claus said, “Out of the river, brother, for there I -came upon a man in beautiful meadows, and he was -tending the sheep and cattle. There were so many -that he gave me a flock of sheep and a herd of cattle -for myself, and I drove them out of the river and up -here to graze.” Now they were looking over the bridge -at the time, and the description Little Claus gave of -the meadows and the sheep below in the river made -the mouth of Big Claus begin to water with greed. As -they looked, Little Claus pointed excitedly at the water, -and said, “Look, brother, there go a flock of sheep -under your very nose.” It was, really, nothing but -the reflection of the clouds in the water, but Big Claus -was too interested to think of this, and he implored -his brother to tie him in a sack and push him into the -water, that he, too, might get some of these wonderful -herds. This Little Claus did, and that was the end of -Big Claus.</p> - -<p class='c012'>How well I remember now—so well that when I -looked into the water and saw the fleecy clouds go -floating by, the picture changed for me and I saw an -English country lane, and a small boy sitting under a -hedge out of a summer shower, and he was deep in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>dreams over an old brown volume of “Grimm’s Fairy -Tales.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>How wonderful the lane smelt after the rain! The -Honeysuckle filled the air and mingled with the smell -of warm wet earth. It was a deep lane, with the high -hedges grown so rank and wild that they nearly crossed -overhead, and the curved arms of the Dog Roses criss-crossed -against the patch of turquoise sky. The thin -new thread of a single wire crossed high overhead, -shining like gold in the sun. It went, I knew, to the -Coast Guard Station below me, and I remember clearly -how I used to wonder what flashed across the wire to -those fortunate men: news of thrilling wrecks, of -smugglers creeping round the point, of battle-ships -put out to sea, and other tales the sailors told me.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The lane was deep and twisted, and so narrow that -when a flock of sheep was driven down it, the dogs -ran across the backs of the sheep to head off stragglers. -What a cloud of white dust they made, and how thick -it lay on the leaves and flowers until the rain washed -them clean again.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On the day of which I was dreaming, there had been -one of those sharp angry storms, very short and fierce, -with growling thunder in the distance, and purple and -deep grey clouds flying along with torn, rust-coloured -edges. I had sheltered under a quick-set hedge (set, -that is, while the thorn was alive—quick, and bent -into a kind of wattle pattern by men with sheepskin -gloves) and where I sat, under a wayfaring tree (the -Guelder Rose), the lane had a double turn, fore and -aft, so that a space of it was quite shut off, like an -island. I had my garden here and knew all the flowers -and the butterflies.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On this day the rain washed the Foxgloves and -made them gay and bright, each bell with a sparkling -<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>drop of water on its lips. The Brambles had long -rows of drops on them, all shining like jewels, until a -yellow-hammer perched on one of the arched sprays -and shook all the raindrops off in a fluster of bright -light.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Behind me, and in front, trailing Black Bryony -twisted its arms round Traveller’s Joy, Honeysuckle -and Wild Roses. Here and there, pink and white Bindweed -hung, clinging to the hedge. By me, on the -bank, Monkshood, Our Lady’s Cushion, and Butterfly -Orchis grew, all shining with the rain, and the Silverweed -shone better than them all.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Presently came two great cart horses, their trappings -jingling, down my lane, and on the back of one, riding -sideways, a small boy, swaying as he rode. His face -was a perfect country poem, blue eyes, shaded by a -battered hat of felt, into the band of which a Dog Rose -was stuck. His hair, like Corn, shone in the sun, and -his face, red and freckled, a blue shirt, faded by many -washings and sun-bleached to a fine colour, thick -boots, a hard horny young fist, and in his mouth a -long stem of feathery grass. He looked as much part -of Nature as the flowers themselves. There was some -sort of greeting as he passed. I can see the group -now; the slow patient horses, the boy, the yellow -canvas coat slung to dry across the horse’s neck, a -straw basket, from which a bottle neck protruded, -hitched on the horse’s collar. They passed the bend -in the lane and the boy began to whistle an aimless -tune, but very good to hear. And it was England, -every bit of it, the kind of thing one hungers for when -a southern sun is beating pitilessly on one’s head, or -when the rains in the tropics bring out overpowering -scents, heavy and stifling.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So I might have dreamed on about this garden lane -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>I carried in my mind, had not the tide turned and little -waves begun to lop the sides of my boat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I slipped my moorings, shipped the oars, and sailed -home quietly on the tide under a clear blue sky from -which all the clouds had vanished like my dream.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span> - <h2 class='c006'>IV<br /> <br />FIELDS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>A man will tell you how he has walked to such and such -a place “across the fields,” with an air of saying, -“You, I suppose, not knowing the country, painfully -pursue the highroad.” He has the look of one who -has made the discovery that it is good and wise to -leave the beaten track, the cart rut, and the plain -and obvious road, and has adventured in a daring -spirit from stile to stile, from gate to ditch, where only -the knowing ones may go. He is generally so occupied -in the pride of reaching his destination by these means, -that he has had little time to look about him and enjoy -the expanse of country. For all that, he is a man -after my own heart for, in a sense, he becomes part -owner of England with me as soon as he puts his leg -across a stile and begins to cast an eye across country.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There is an extraordinary satisfaction in following -a footpath, that is made doubly sweet if one sucks in -the joy of the day, and the blitheness of that through -which we pass. To be knee-high in a bean field in -flower is as good a thing as I know, more especially -if it be on a hillside overlooking the sea.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I sat once on the polished rail of a stile (very well -made with cross arms to hold by, like two short step-ladders, -each with one long arm) and looked at a path -I had taken that lay through a field of whispering oats. -They seemed to hold a thousand secrets that they passed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>from ear to ear all down the field, and when the breeze -came, and blew birds across the hedge, the whole field -swayed, showing a rustling, silken surface, as if it -enjoyed a great joke. The Poppies and Cornflowers -and the White Convolvulus had no part in the conversation -of the Oats, but field mice had, and ran across the -path hurrying like urgent messengers, and once a mole -nosed its way from the earth by my stile and vanished -grumbling—like some gruff old gentleman—along the -hedgerow. I never saw a field laugh as much as that -field, or be so frivolous, or so feminine. The field at -my back was more like a great lady in a green velvet -gown, embroidered with Daisies. There, at the bottom -of the field, was a pond like a bright blue eye in the -green, and lazy cattle, red and white, stood in it, while -others lay under a chestnut tree near by.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Down in the valley, a long undulating spread before -me, fields of different hues, some green, some brown, -some golden with ripe Corn, lay baked in the heat, -quivering under a calm blue sky. In one field a man -was sharpening a scythe with a whetstone—the rasp -came floating up to me clearly, and presently he began -to open a field of wheat for the reaping machine I could -see, with men round her, under a clump of trees. Next -to this field was a narrow strip of coarse grass all aglow -with Buttercups, then a wide triangular field, with a -pit in the corner of it, snowed over with Daisies, and -then a farm looking like a toy place, neat with white -painted railings, and a dovecote, and a long barn covered -over with yellow Stone Crop. I could see—all in -miniature—the farmer come out of his house door, -beckon to a dog, and walk past a row of Hollyhocks -and a flush of pink Sweet Williams, open the gate and -cross a road to the Corn-field. The dog leapt ahead of -him, barking joyously.</p> - -<div id='o025' class='figcenter id004'> -<img src='images/opp_025.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>POPPIES IN SURREY.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>A little further down, and cut off partly from view -by the May tree that sheltered me, was a village, white -and grey, sheltered by Elm trees. In the midst of the -handful of cottages the square-towered flint church -stood with Ivy on the tower and dark Yews in the -churchyard. The graves in the churchyard looked -like the Daisies in the distant field, as if they grew -there. At the back of the church, and facing the high -road, was a line of trees from whence came an incessant -noise of rooks.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Very few things moved on the high road, a lumbering -waggon, the doctor’s trap, a bicycle, and then the -carrier’s cart with a man I knew driving it, a very -pleasant man who preached in the Sion Chapel on -Sundays and chalked up texts in the tilt of his waggon—but -with a shrewd eye to business: a man who -never forgave a debt.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As I sat on my stile I felt this was all mine: no -person there knew the beauty of it as I did, or cared -to capture its sweetness as I did. No one but I saw -the field of Oats laugh, or cared to note the business of -the dragon fly, or the flashing patterns of the butterflies. -I had seen these fields turned up, rich and brown, -under the plough, and tender green when the seeds -came up, and waving green, and gold when they bore -their harvest of Corn, or silver and green with roots -and red with Beets. I had counted the sheep on the -hillsides, and watched the cattle stray in a long line -to be milked at milking time, and though I did not -farm an acre of it, I owned it with my heart, and gathered -its harvest with my eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Every field footpath had its story, the road was -rich in old romance, and hidden by the trees at -the head of the valley was the big house where my -hostess lived and with a loving hand directed all -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>this little world—but I doubt if she owned it more -than I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To end all this, comes a little maid through the Oats, -almost hidden by them, her face quivering with tears -because of a misplaced trust in a bunch of Nettles. -So we apply Dock leaves and a penny, and a farthing’s -worth of country wisdom, and part friends—I to the -head of the valley, she to her father’s farm on the other -side of the hill.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span> - <h2 class='c006'>V<br /> <br />EPISODE OF THE CONTENTED TAILOR</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Not a hundred yards out of a certain village I came -across a little man dressed in grey. We were alone -on the road, we were going in the same direction, and -I came to learn that he travelled with as little purpose -as I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As soon as I saw his face, his jaunty walk, his knapsack -and his stick, I knew him for a friend.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I hailed him. He stopped, smiled pleasantly, and -fell in with my stride. We soon found a mutual bond -of esteem. It appeared we were out in search of adventures.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He explained to me, quite simply, that he was not -going anywhere, and that he proposed to be some four -months about it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Just walking about looking at things,” he volunteered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is my case,” I replied.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’m a tailor, sir,” said he.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Having a look at the cut of the country?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>He gave a little friendly nod.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And do you tailor as you go along?” I asked, for -I had never met a travelling tailor before: tinkers -galore; haberdashers aplenty; patent medicine men -a few; sailors; old soldiers (the worst); apothecaries -I have mentioned; gentlemen, many; ploughboys, -purse thieves, one or two, and ugly customers—they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>were in a dark lane—but a tailor, never. It -seemed all the world could tread the high road but a -tailor. Then I remembered my fairy tales—“Seven at -a Blow”—and laughed aloud.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’ve given up my trade,” he explained, as we began -to mount the hill. “No more sitting on a bench for -me in the spring or summer. I do a bit in the winter, -but I’m a free man on two pounds ten a week.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he was young—forty at the most.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Put by?” said I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He smiled again. “Not quite, sir. I had a little -bit put by, but a brother of mine went to Australia, -and made a fortune—he died, poor Tom, and left his -money to me and my sister. Two pound ten a week -for each of us.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And it has brought you—this,” I explained, pointing -with my stick at the expanse of country. “It’s -like a romance.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Isn’t it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then you read romances?” I asked quickly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I read all I can lay hands on,” he replied. “I’m -living just as my sister and I dreamed we’d live if ever -something wonderful happened.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And it has happened?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You’re right, sir. My sister lives in the little -cottage I bought with my savings. She’s got all she -wants—all anybody might want, you might say. A -cottage, six-roomed, all white, with a Pink Rose growing -over the porch, and a canary in a cage in the parlour. -Then there’s a garden, and a bit of orchard, and bees -and a river at the bottom of the little meadow, and a -Catholic Church within a stone’s throw—so it’s all -right. She’s a rare good gardener, is my sister.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I envy you both,” I said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He looked me up and down for a moment before -<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>speaking. “No cause for you to do that, I expect, -sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, you know what you want, and you’ve got it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>We had reached the crest of the hill now after a -longish climb. It was a hot day and I proposed a rest. -Besides, it was one o’clock and I was hungry.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I had four hard boiled eggs, and he had bread and -cheese—we divided our goods evenly, and ate comfortably -under a hedge in a field.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’ve often sat on my bench,” he said, “and looked -out at the sun in the dusty street and wondered if I -should ever be able to sit out in it on the grass and -have nothing to do. We used to go for a day in the -country, I and my sister, whenever I could spare the -money, and it was a holiday. You wouldn’t believe -what the sight of green fields and trees meant to me -and my sister: you see the hedgerows were the only -garden we could afford, and we could ill-afford that. -My sister used to talk about the Roses she’d have, -and the Carnations, and the Sunflowers and Asters, -when our ship came home. It came home—think of -that.” He stretched his limbs luxuriously. “And -here we are with everything, and more.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And more?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, you see, it is more, somehow. I’m ‘me’ now—do -you follow the idea? I never knew what it was -to be on my own: just ‘me.’ I can lie abed now as -long as I want to, I can wear what I like, do what I -like. And I’ve a garden of my own.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you don’t stop there,” I said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well,” he said, “I wonder if you’d know what I -meant if I said that a garden and sitting about is a -bit too much for me for the present. I want to walk -and walk in the open air, and see things, and stretch -my legs a bit to get rid of twenty odd years of the bench. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>I want to run up the top of hills and shout because—well, -because I feel as if I had a right to shout when -the sun is shining.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I quite understand that,” I said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And then,” he went on, and his face showed the -joy he felt, “everything is so wonderful. Look at -that village we came through: those people there feel -the same as you and me. They’ve got to express themselves -somehow, so they grow flowers right out into -the road, just as a gift to you and me. A sort of something -comes to them that they must have flowers at the -front door. Whenever I see a good garden, full of -Pinks and Roses and Larkspur, I get a bed at that -cottage, if I can. I’ve slept all over the place, all over -England, you might say; and cheap, too.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That was a beautiful village, below there,” I said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He nodded wisely. “Seems as if they’d decorated -the street on purpose to make the cottages look -as if they grew like the flowers. All the porches -covered with Honeysuckle and Roses, and everlasting -Peas, and flowers up against the windows. -I’ve a perfect craze for flowers—can’t think where I -get it from.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are the real gardener,” said I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I believe I am,” he said. “And why I took to -tailoring beats me, now. My father was a butcher.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I pointed over my shoulder towards the village. -“Do you live in a place like that?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Better than that,” he answered proudly. “It -took me nearly two years to find the place my sister -and I had dreamed of. We wanted a cottage in a -county as much like a garden as possible. I found it—in -Devonshire; my eye, it’s a wonderful place, all orchards. -In the blossom time it looks like—well, as if it was -expecting somebody, it’s so beautiful.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>“I know,” I said. “Sometimes the country dresses -itself as if a lover were coming.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you ever read Browning?” he asked. “Because -he answers a lot of questions for me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“For me too.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well,” he said, and reddened shyly as he said it; -“do you remember the poem that ends</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘What if that friend happened to be God?’”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>I understood perfectly. He was a man of soul, my -tailor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I expect you are surprised to find I read a lot,” -he went on in his artless way. “But when I was a boy -I was in a book shop, before my father lost all his money, -and put me out to be a tailor. My mother was a lady’s -maid, and she encouraged me to read. There was a -priest, Father Brown, who helped me too; it was from -him I first learned to love flowers.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then, as you are a Catholic, you know what to-day -is,” said I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The twenty-ninth of August. No, sir, I’m afraid I -don’t.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is dedicated to one of our patron Saints—there -are two for gardeners—Saint Phocas, a Greek, and -Saint Fiacre, an Irishman. To-day is the day of Saint -Phocas.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The tailor crossed himself reverently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’ll tell you the story if you like.” And, as he lay -on his back, I told him the little legend of</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='sc'>Saint Phocas: Patron Saint of Gardeners</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>“At the end of the third century there lived a certain -good man called Phocas, who had a little dwelling -outside the gates of the city of Sinope, in Pontus. -He had a small garden in which he grew flowers and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>vegetables for the poor and for his own needs. Prayer, -love of his labour, and care for the things he grew filled -his life.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>My tailor interrupted here to ask, apologetically, -what manner of garden Saint Phocas would have.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Neat beds,” said I—for I had gone into the matter -myself—“edged with box. The flowers and vegetables -growing together. Violets, Leeks, Onions, with Crocuses, -Narcissus, and Lilies. Then, in their season, Gladiolus, -Hyacinths, Iris, Poppies, and plenty of Roses. Melons, -also, and Gherkins, Peaches, Plums, Apples and Pomegranates, -Olives, Almonds, Medlars, Cherries, and Pears, -of which quite thirty kinds were known. In his house, -on the window ledge, if he had one, he may have grown -Violets and Lilies in window pots, for they did that in -those days.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, isn’t that interesting?” said the tailor. -“My sister will care to know that. I shouldn’t be a -bit surprised to find her putting a statue of Saint Phocas -over the door. She’s all for figures.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’m afraid,” said I, “there will be some trouble -over that. There is a statue of him in Saint Mark’s -in Venice, a great old man with a fine beard, dressed -like a gardener, and holding a spade in his hand. There’s -one of him, too, in the Cathedral at Palermo, but I -have never seen them copied. Now I must tell you the -rest of the story.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There were days, you know, when Christians were -hunted out and killed. One evening there came to the -house of the Saint, two strangers. It was the habit -of this good man to give of what he had to all travellers, -food, rest, water to bathe their feet, and a kindly welcome. -On this occasion the Saint performed his hospitable -offices as usual—set the strangers at his board, -prepared a meal for them, and led them afterwards to a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>place where they might sleep. Before going to rest -they told him their errand; they were searching for a -certain man of the name of Phocas, a Christian, and, -having found him, they were to slay him. When they -were asleep, the Saint, after offering up his prayers, -went into his garden and dug a grave in the middle of -the flower beds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The morning came, and the strangers prepared to -depart, but the Saint, standing before them, told them -he was the very man whom they sought. A horror -seized them that they should have eaten with the man -they had set out to kill, but Saint Phocas, leading them -to the grave among the flowers, bid them do their -work. They cut off his head, and buried him in his -own garden, in the grave he had dug.”</p> - -<div id='o032' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_032.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>PORCHES GROWN OVER WITH HONEYSUCKLE AND ROSES AT BROADWAY IN THE COTSWOLDS.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>The little tailor was silent. I lit my pipe, and began -to put my traps together.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then he spoke. “I couldn’t do that, you know. -Those martyrs—by gum!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Death,” said I, “was life to them. Their life was -only a preparation for death.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The tailor sat up. “My sister’s like that,” he said. -“She’s bought a tombstone—think of that. Said she’d -like to have it by her. She’s a one for a bargain, if you -like; saw this tombstone marked ‘Cheap,’ in a stonemason’s -yard down our way, and went in at once to -ask the price. She’d price anything, my sister would. -You’ve only got to mark a thing down ‘Cheap’ and -she’s after the price in a minute.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How did the tombstone come to be marked -‘cheap’?” I asked, laughing with him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It was this way,” said the tailor. Then he turned, -in his inconsequent way to me. “I wonder,” he said, -“if, as you’re so kind as to take an interest, you’d -care to see our cottage. We’d be proud, my sister and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>I, if you would come. If you are just walking about -for pleasure, perhaps you’d come down as far as that -one day and—and, well, sir, it’s very humble, but we’d -do our best.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“When shall you be there?” I said. “Because I -want to come very much.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’m going back; I’m on my way now,” he said; -“I always go back two or three times in the summer -just to tell her the news. I tell her what’s happened, -and what flowers they grow where I’ve been. If you -would really come, sir, perhaps you’d come in three -weeks from now, if you have nothing better to do. I’d -let her know.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then she could tell me the story of the tombstone -herself?” I said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It ended at that. He wrote the address for me in my -sketch-book, and took his leave of me in characteristic -fashion.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I hope I’m not taking a liberty,” he said, as he -jerked his knapsack into a comfortable place between -his shoulders.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There’s nothing I should like better,” said I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You’ll like the garden,” he said as an inducement.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And this was how I came to hear the story of the -“Tailor’s Sister’s Tombstone.”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span> - <h2 class='c006'>VI<br /> <br />THE BLUEBELL WOOD AND THE CALM<br />STONE DOG</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Man is an autobiographical animal, he speaks only -from his thimbleful of human experience, and the I, I, I, -of his talk drops out like an insistent drip of water. -Even the knowledge we gain from books has to be -grafted on to the knowledge we have of life before it -bears fruit in our minds. Like patient clerks we are -always adding up the columns of facts, fancies, and -ideas, and arriving at the very tiny total at the end -of the day.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In order to give themselves scope when they wish -to soliloquise, many authors address their conversation -to a cat, a grandfather clock, a dog, a picture on -the wall, or what-not. Cats, I think, have the preference. -I have often wondered what Crome, the -painter, said to his cat when he pulled hairs out of her -to make paint-brushes; or what Doctor Johnson said -to his cat Hodge, about Boswell. Having explained -this much, I may easily be forgiven for repeating the -conversation I had with a Stone Dog who sat on his -haunches outside the door of a woodman’s cottage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The cottage stood on the edge of a wood, and was, -as I shall point out, a remnant of departed glory, of -which the dog was the most pertinent reminder.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A cottage on the borders of a wood is in itself one of -the most valuable pictures for a romance. A woodcutter -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>may be in league with goodness knows how -many fairies, elves, and witches. It is a place where -heroes meet heroines; where kings in disguise eat -humble pie; where dukes, lost in hunting a white stag, -meet enchanted princesses.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The wood, of which I speak, was once, years ago—about -three hundred years—part of the park of Tanglewood -Court, an extensive property, an old house, a -great family possession.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Gone, like last winter’s snow, were the family of -Bois; gone the pack; gone the glories of the great -family; gone the portraits, the armour, the very -windows of Tanglewood Court, of which but a fine -ruin remained. And the lane, a mere cart track, was -all that was left of the fine sweep of drive to the house; -and a tangled undergrowth under ancient trees all -that stood for the grand avenue down which my Lord -Bois had once ridden so madly. They call the lane -Purgatory Lane, and they tell a story of wild doings -and of a beautiful avenue, that cannot have its place -here.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The great gates that once swung open to admit the -carriage of Perpetua Bois (of the red hair, the full -voluptuous figure, the smile Sir Peter Lely painted) -were now two stone stumps at the feet of which two -slots, green and worn, showed where the hinges had -been. These fine gates once boasted, on the top of -stone pillars, the greyhounds of Bois in stone. One of -these dogs had been rescued from the undergrowth -by the woodcutter, the other lies broken and bramble-covered -in the wood. I wonder if they miss each other.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So you see I was addressing myself to a high-born -Jacobean dog.</p> - -<p class='c012'>This dog, very calm and dignified, with a stone tail -and a back worn smooth by wind and weather, sat -<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>with his back to the cottage which had been built out -of the remains of the old stone lodge by a gentleman of -the name of Bellington, who was afterwards found -drowned in the lake. That lake held many secrets, -indeed, some said (the woodcutter’s wife told me this) -it held Lady Perpetua’s jewels. That did not concern -me, for it held for me the finer jewels of Water -Lilies that grew there in profusion, though I will not -deny that the idea of Lady Perpetua gave an added -touch of romance. How often had the clear water of -the lake reflected her satin-clad figure and the forms of -her little toy spaniels?</p> - -<p class='c012'>It so happening, I sat by the Stone Dog, on a wooden -seat, to eat my lunch one day, and dropped into conversation -with him, after a bite or two, in the most -natural way in the world.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There was the wood in front of us, blue-purple with -wild Hyacinths. There was the old cottage behind -clothed with rambling Creepers; a carpet of smooth -rabbit-worn grass at our feet; a profusion of Primroses, -Wind Flowers, and budding trees before our -eyes. There was also the enchanting hum of wild bees -(like those wild bees Horace knew, that sought the -mountain of Matinus in Calabria, and there “laboriously -gathered the grateful thyme”) to soothe us in our -solitude.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I addressed him then, “Stone Dog,” I said, “this -is a very beautiful wood. Nature, laughing at the -ghosts of the Bois family, steel-clad, periwigged, or -patched, has reclaimed her own.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The dog answered me never a word but kept his gaze -fixed in front of him as if he saw visions in the wood.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This was a Park once,” said I, “the pleasure-ground -of great folk, where they might sport in playful -dalliance”—I thought that sounded rather Jacobean.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>But, as I looked at him, it seemed, as though he -listened for the sound of wheels, and turned his sightless -eyes to look for the figure of Lady Perpetua.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“She was very fair,” I said, understanding him, -knowing that he had seen many generations drive -through the gates he sat to guard. “She would come -down to the lodge-keeper’s house to take her breakfast -draught of small ale. Poor Lady Perpetua, she was a -good house wife, and saw to the pickling of Nasturtium -buds, and Lime Tree buds, and Elder roots; and ordered -the salting of the winter beef; and looked to it that -plenty of Parsnips were stored to eat with it. What -sights you must have seen!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Even as I talked there emanated from the Stone -Dog some atmosphere of the past, and we were once -more in a fair English park, with its orangeries, and -houses of exotic plants, and its maze, and leaden statues, -and cut yew trees, and lordly peacocks. The great -trees had been cut down, and the timber sold; acres -of land, once grazing ground for herds of deer, were -ploughed; here, in front of us, was the tangled wood, -a corner of what was, once, a wild garden—a fancy of -Lady Perpetua’s, no doubt, who loved solitudes, and -sentimental poetry:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“I could not love thee, dear, so much;</div> - <div class='line in1'>Loved I not honour more.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Perhaps it was here she met young Hervey; perhaps -it was here Lord Bois found them, cutting initials on -one of those very trees, G. H. and P. B. and two hearts -with an arrow through them. Ah! then the smile -Sir Peter Lely painted faded to a quiver of the lips. -Lord Bois looked at the trembling mouth and his glance -flew to the initials on the tree. “So this is why, madam,” -I could hear him say, “you took to sylvan glades like -a timid deer; so this is why you coaxed me up to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>London, leaving you alone—but, not unprotected.” I -could see his sneering bow to young Hervey—a bow -that was a blow.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And all the while I was only seeing with the Stone -Dog’s eyes. There was just the rippling sea of wild -Hyacinths, the pale gold of the Primroses, the innocent -white of the wood Anemones—like fairies’ washing—and -the purple haze of bursting buds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Once the Stone Dog had looked along an avenue -and had seen a vista of Tanglewood Court, and smooth -terraces, and bright beds of flowers, with Lords and -Ladies walking up and down, taking the air, discussing -fruit trees, and Dutch gardening, and glass hives for -bees. Now, he saw nothing but the woods all brimming -with Spring flowers: a garden made by Nature.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then I thought I saw one Bluebell detach itself -from its fellows and come wafting to us with a fairy’s -message, but it was a bright blue butterfly who sailed, -rejoicing in the sun. Somehow the butterfly reminded -me of the Lady Perpetua, soft and smiling, and fluttering -in the sun: as if she had returned to her woods in that -guise to hover near the tree, the trysting-place, on -which the initials were cut.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I said as much to the Stone Dog, but received no -answer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Stone Dog,” I said, “England is a very wonderful -place: every park, every field, every little wood is -full of stories. I cannot pass a park gate without -thinking of the men and women who have been through -it. What a Garden of History the whole place is! -I’ll warrant a Roman has kissed a Saxon girl in this -very place, for there’s a camp not far off—perhaps you -have seen twinkling ghostly watch-fires gleaming in -the night. Young Hervey’s dead, but you never saw -him die; they fought in the garden on the smooth -<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>grass, and the story goes that he slipped, and Bois -ran him through as he lay on the grass. What flowers -grow over his head now? And Perpetua is dead. -They say she ran out and saw her lover dead, and -bared her breast to her husband’s sword. The grass -was wet with her blood when you saw Lord Bois ride -madly down the drive, through the gates, and out into -the open country. The smile Sir Peter Lely painted is -carved by the hand of Death. She was only a girl, -after all. Who places flowers on her grave?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile the sun shone on the Bluebells, and struck -odd leaves of the trees, picking them out with a fanciful -finger till they shone like green fires.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then the idea came to me that this wood held the -spirit of Lady Perpetua fast for ever. The Bluebells -were the satin sheen of her dress (blue like the Lely -portrait), the red-brown autumn leaves and the dead -Bracken were her hair; the Wind Flowers, like her -body linen; the Violets, her eyes; the Primroses, -her breath; the Cowslips, her golden ornaments; the -Daisy petals like her pure white skin. A gentle breeze -stirred all the flowers together, and—behold! there -she was, alive. The wood was yielding up her secret, -as woods and flowers will do to those who love them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So the Stone Dog and I had a bond of sympathy -between us, the bond of old memories, and the wood -united us with its store of romance and beauty: and -he who loves wild flowers and woods, as well as walled -gardens and trees clipped in images, may gather store -of pictures for his mind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So the afternoon passed in this pleasant manner, and -I took opportunity to speak once more to the Stone -Dog before the woodcutter’s children came home from -school to spoil our peace.</p> - -<div id='o041' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_041.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>BLUEBELLS IN SURREY.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>I said, “There is no man so poor but he can afford -<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>to take pleasure in Bluebells, and, even if he live in a -town, there are wild flowers for sale in the streets, and -a bunch of Spring to be bought for a penny. And -there is no man so rich that he can wall up the treasures -of heaven, or build his walls so high but a Rose will -peep over the edge. Poor and rich are free of their -thoughts, and there are thoughts and enough to spare, -in a hedgerow or a wood. Uncaged birds sing best, -and wild flowers yield the purest scents. You and I -are fellow dreamers, and this wood is our garden, and -these birds our orchestra, and this grass our carpet; -and even when I am underneath the brown earth I -love so well, you will sit here and listen for the sound -of carriage wheels, and wonder if you will catch a -glimpse of red hair and a satin dress through the long-silent -avenue. There are mountains, Stone Dog, that -still feel the pressure of the foot of Moses; and hills -under which Roman soldiers lie; and there are woods -growing where orchard gardens were; and gardens -planted where the wild boar once ravaged.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>After I had said this came wild shouts, and the -laughter of children, and a great clatter as the four -children of the woodcutter came running from the -village school.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As I left that place, and turned, before a bend of -the road shut out the sight of the wood, I saw the sea -of Bluebells, and the sky above, the Primroses and the -Wind Flowers and last year’s leaves all melt into one. -The figure they made was the figure of Lady Perpetua -standing there smiling. Then I heard the wheels of a -carriage on the road, and I could have sworn I saw the -Stone Dog turn his head.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span> - <h2 class='c006'>VII<br /> <br />THE TAILOR’S SISTER’S TOMBSTONE</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>I was on the hill over against the village where my -friend the tailor lived, and was preparing to descend -into the valley to inquire the whereabouts of his cottage, -when one of those sharp summer storms came on, the -sky being darkened as if a hand had drawn a curtain -across it, and the entire village lit by a vivid, unnatural -light, like limelight in its intensity.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Turning about, as the first great drops fell, to look -for shelter, I spied a rough shed by the wayside, shut -in on three sides with gorse, wattle and mud, and roofed -over with heather thatch. Into this I scuttled and found -a comfortable seat on a sack placed on a pile of hurdles.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was evidently a place used by a shepherd for a -store-house of the implements of his craft. At the -back of a shed was one of those houses on wheels shepherds -use in the lambing season; besides this were -hurdles, sacks, several rusty tins, and a very rusty oil-stove. -All very primitive, and possessed of a nice -earthy smell. It gave me a sudden desire to be a -shepherd.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Looking down into the valley I saw men running for -shelter, hastily pulling their coats over their shoulders -as they ran. In a field on the far side of the valley -they were carting Wheat, and I saw two men quickly -unhitch the cart horses, and lead them away to some -place hidden from me by trees.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>The village was buried in orchards, and lay along the -bank of a quickly running river that caught a glint -of the weird light here and there between the trees like -a path of shining silver. A squat church tower stuck -up among the red roofs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For a moment the scene shone in the fierce light, -then the low growling thunder broke into a tremendous -crash, and the light was gone in an instant. Then the -rain blotted out everything.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The hiss of the rain on the dry heather thatch over -my head was good enough company, and it was added -to, soon, by the entrance of seven swallows that flew -into my shelter and sat twittering on a beam just inside -the opening. Then came an inky darkness, broken -violently by a blare of lightning as if some hand had -rent the dark curtain across in a rage. A great torn -jagged edge of blue-white light streamed across the -valley, showing everything in wet, glistening detail.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Only that morning I had been reading by the wayside -an account of a storm in the Memoirs of Benvenuto -Cellini. It came very pat for the day. It was at the -time when Cellini rode from Paris carrying two precious -vases on a mule of burden, lent him to go as far as -Lyons, by the Bishop of Pavia. When they were a -day’s journey from Lyons, it being almost ten o’clock -at night, such a terrific storm burst upon them that -Cellini thought it was the day of judgment. The hailstones -were the size of Lemons; and the event caused -him to sing psalms and wrap his clothes about his -head. All the trees were broken down, all the cattle -deprived of life, and a great many shepherds were -killed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I was still engaged in picturing this when the sky -above me grew lighter, the rain fell less heavily, and, -in a very short time, all that was left of the storm was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>a distant sound as of a giant murmuring, a dark blot -of rain cloud on the distant hills, and the ceaseless -patter of dripping trees. The sun shone out and showed -the village and landscape all fresh and shining. Then, -as I looked, against the dark bank of distant clouds, -a rainbow arched in glorious colours, one step of the -arch on the hills tailing into mist, and one in the corn -field below. The sight of the rainbow with its wonderful -beauty, and its great message of hope thrilled me, -as it always does. I do not care what the scientist -tells me of its formation: he has not added one atom -to my feeling, with all his knowledge. It remains for -me the sign of God’s compact with man.</p> - -<p class='c013'>“And God said, This is the token of the covenant which -I make between me and you, and every living creature that -is with you, for perpetual generations.</p> - -<p class='c013'>“I set my bow in a cloud, and it shall be for a token of a -covenant between me and the earth.</p> - -<p class='c013'>“And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the -earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud.</p> - -<p class='c013'>“And I will remember my covenant which is between -me and you, and every living creature of all flesh; and the -waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.</p> - -<p class='c013'>“And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon -it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between -God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the -earth.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I learnt to love that when I was a child, and being -still, in many ways, the same child, I look upon a rainbow -and think of God remembering his covenant: and -it makes me very happy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now as the storm was over, and I had no further -excuse for stopping in my shelter, I took my knapsack -again on to my shoulder and walked down, across two -fields of grass, round the high hedges of two orchards, -and came out into the road in the valley, about two -<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>hundred yards distant from the village church. It -was about four of the afternoon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I was about to turn towards the village to ask my -best way to the tailor’s cottage, when who should turn -the bend of the road but the tailor himself with all the -air of looking for some one.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I grasped him warmly by the hand, and he held -mine in a good grip like the good fellow he was, saying, -“I was looking about for you, sir, thinking you might -have forgotten my direction” (as indeed, I had), “and -knowing you would most likely go to the village to inquire, -I was on my way there.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>As we turned to walk down the road away from the -church, the tailor informed me his sister was all agog -to see me, but very nervous that I might think theirs -too poor a place to put up with, and she had, at the -last moment, implored him to take me to the inn instead.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The affection I had gained for the little man in my -few hours’ talk with him made me certain I should be -happy in his company, and I laughed at his fears.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, man,” said I, “I have walked a good hundred -miles to see you, do you think it likely I shall turn away -at the last minute?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There,” cried the tailor, “I told her so. She’s a -small body, you’ll understand, sir, and gets worried at -times.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>We turned a corner and I saw before me one of the -prettiest cottages I have ever seen. A low, sloping roof -of thatch, golden brown where it had been mended, -rich brown and green in the older part. The body -of the cottage was white, with a fine tree of Cluster -Roses, the Seven Sisters, I think it is called, growing -over the porch and on the walls. The garden was -one mass of bloom, a wonderful garden—as artists say, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>“juicy” with colour. Standard Roses, Sweet Williams, -Hollyhocks, patches of Violas, Red Hot Pokers, Japanese -Anemones, a hedge of Sweet Peas “all tip-toe for a -flight” as Keats has it, clumps of Dahlias just coming -out, with red pots on sticks to catch the earwigs; an -old Lavender hedge, grey-green. A rain butt painted -green; round a corner, three blue-coloured beehives; -and all about, such flowers—I could not mention half -of them. Bushes of Phlox, for instance; and great -brown-eyed Sunflowers cracked across with wealth of -seed; and tall spikes of Larkspur like the summer -skies: and Carnations couched in their grey grass or tied -to sticks. A worn brick pathway leading through it all.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The tailor watched the effect on me anxiously.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I stood with one hand on the gate and drank in the -beauty of it. Set, as the place was, in a bower of -orchards, it looked like a jewelled nest, a place out of a -fairy tale, everything complete. The diamond panes -of the windows with neat muslin curtains behind them, -with fine Geraniums in very red pots on the window-sill, -were like friendly eyes beaming pleasantly at the -passing world. To a tired traveller making his way -upon that road, such a sight would bring delight to -his eyes, and cause him, most certainly, to pause before -the glad garden. If he were a romantic man he would -take off his hat, as men do abroad to a wayside Calvary, -in honour of the peace that dwelt over all.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Like a rich illuminated page the garden glowed -among the trees—like a jewel of many colours it shone -in its velvet nest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The tailor could restrain himself no longer. He said, -“As neat as anything you’ve seen, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Perfect,” said I. “As much as a man could want.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>He walked before me down the garden path and -called, “Rose,” through the open door.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>In another minute I was shaking hands with the -tailor’s sister.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In appearance she was as spotlessly clean as her -muslin curtains. She was a tiny woman of about -forty-five, very quick in her movements, with a little -round red face and very bright blue eyes. She wore, -in my honour, a black silk dress, and a black silk apron -and a large cornelian brooch at her neck.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pray step inside, sir,” she said throwing open the -door of the parlour.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When I was seated at tea with these people I kept -wondering where they had learnt the refinement and -taste everywhere exhibited. For one thing the few -family possessions were good, and there was no tawdry -rubbish. A grandfather clock, its case shining with -polishing, ticked comfortably in one corner of the -room. An old-fashioned sofa filled the window space. -We sat upon Windsor chairs with our feet on a rag -carpet. Most of the household gods were over or upon -the mantelpiece, most prominent among which was a -really fine landscape, hung in the centre. I inquired -whose work this might be.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One had only to look in the direction of any object -to get its history from the tailor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I bought that, sir,” he said, when I was looking at -the picture, “of a man near Norwich. It cost me half -a crown.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Three shillings,” said the sister. Then to me, -“He takes a sixpence off, now and again, sir, because -he’s jealous of my bargains; aren’t you, Tom?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Tom smiled at her and winked at me. “She will -have her bit of fun,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But it’s a fine picture,” said I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Proud to have you say so,” he answered; “I like -it, and the man didn’t seem to care about it. He was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>going to the Colonies and parting with a lot of odds and -ends. I bought the brass candlesticks off him at the -same time—a shilling.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I could see why the little man liked the picture, for -the same reason I liked it myself. It was of the Norwich -School, a broad open landscape painted with care and -finish of detail, and with much of the charming falsity -of light common among certain pictures of that time. -On the left was a cottage whose garden gave on to the -road, a cottage almost buried under two great trees. -The road wound past, out of the shadows of the trees, -and vanished over a hill. The middle distance showed a -great expanse of country dotted with trees with the continuation -of the road running through the vale until -it was lost in a wood. A sky of banked up clouds hung -over all. Right across the middle of the picture was -a wonderfully painted gleam of sunlight, flicking trees, -meadows, and the road into bright colours; the rest -of the picture being subdued to give this effect. Up the -road, coming towards the cottage, was a small man in a -three-cornered hat, knee breeches, and long skirted -coat. This figure dated the picture a little earlier -than I had at first thought it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That’s me,” said the tailor, pointing to the figure. -“That’s what Rose said as soon as I brought it home, -‘Why that’s you, Tom.’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I did, sir, that’s just what I said. ‘Why Tom, -that’s you,’ I said.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And so it is,” said the tailor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Half a crown! Few of us are rich enough in taste -to have bought it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After tea I begged leave to see the garden. “And, -Miss Rose,” I said, “to hear about the tombstone, -please.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>She put her small fat hands to her face and laughed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>and laughed. “He’s been and told you that, sir? -Well, I never did!”</p> - -<div id='o048' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/opp_048.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A COTTAGE GARDEN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>We went out of the back door and into a second -flower garden rivalling the one in front for a display -of colour. There, sure enough, stood the tombstone, -grey and upright, planted in a bed of flowers. They -seemed to hurl themselves at the grim object, wave -upon wave of coloured joy washing the feet of the -emblem of Death.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There she is,” said the tailor’s sister proudly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Please tell me about it,” said I, wondering at her -cheerfulness.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You see, sir,” she began, “before Tom and I came -into our fortune, and got rich——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Multi-millionaires, I thought, could you but hear -that! But they were rich—as rich as any one could -be. The flowers in the garden were worth a kingdom.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“—We used to wonder what we’d do if we ever had -a bit of money. Of course, we never dreamed of anything -like this.” Her eyes wandered proudly over her -possessions.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes,” said the tailor, joining in. “Our best dreams -never came near this. I’d seen such places, but never -thought to live in one, much less own one.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, you see, sir,” said his sister taking up the -thread of her story, “there was one thing I’d always -set my mind on—a nice place to lie in when I was dead. -I had a horror of cemeteries, great ugly places, as you -might say, with the tombstones sticking up like almonds -in a tipsy cake pudding, and a lot of dirty children -playing about. I lived for ten years in London, in a -room that overlooked one, a most dingy place I called -it. I couldn’t bear to think I’d be popped in with a -crowd, anyhow. Now, a churchyard in the country—that’s -quite different.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>“I’d a great fancy for a spot I knew in Kent,” said -the tailor. “Dark Yew trees all round one side, and -Daisies over everything, and a seat near by for people -to rest on, coming early to church.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Go on, Tom,” said his sister lovingly. “Ar’n’t you -satisfied with what you’ve got?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>He turned to me after putting his arm through his -sister’s. “We’ve got our piece of ground,” he said -cheerfully. “I’m going to be planted next to her, -on the left of the church door—well, it’s as good a place -as you’d find anywhere, and people coming out of -church will notice us easily. I’d like to be thought of, -after I’m gone.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Death held no terrors for these people, it seemed, -they talked so happily of it, made such delightful plans -to welcome it; robbed it of all its gloom and horror, -its false trappings, its dingy grandeur.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There was a flaunting Red Admiral sunning its wings -on the tombstone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I never thought,” said the sister, “I should find -just what I wanted by accident. Isn’t it lovely?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>It certainly had a beauty of its own. It was a copy -of an early eighteenth century tombstone, the top in -three arches, the centre arch large, and round, ending -in carved scroll work. In the centre of the arch a -cherub was carved, very fat and smiling, with wings -on either side of his head. Then, in good deep-cut -lettering, were the words:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>SACRED TO THE MEMORY</div> - <div>OF</div> - <div>ROSE BRANDLE</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Both these curious people looked at me as I read -the lettering. Arm in arm they looked nice, cheerful, -loving friends, a good deal like one another in the face, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>very gay and homely, and with a certain sparkling -brightness, like the flowers they loved. To see them -standing there proudly, smiling at the grey tombstone, -smiling at me, under the sun, in the garden so full of -life and of growing healthy things, gave me a sensation -that Death was present in friendly guise, a constant -welcome companion to my new friends, and a pleasant -image even to myself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Second-hand,” said the tailor’s sister, “all except -the name, and he put that in for me at a penny the -letter: that came to elevenpence, so I gave him a -shilling to make an even sum.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A guinea, as it stands,” said the tailor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You like it, sir?” asked his sister anxiously.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“On the contrary,” said I, “I admire it enormously.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“As soon as I saw it,” she said, “I fell in love with -it. It was standing at the back of the yard among a -heap of stones. The sun was shining on it, and I said -to myself, ‘If that’s cheap, it’s as good as mine.’ The -man had cut it out years ago as an advertisement to -put in the front of the yard, and it had a bit of paper -pasted on it with his terms and what not—Funerals -in the best style. Distance no object—and that sort -of thing. I asked the price of it and he told me ‘One -pound.’ ‘Cheap,’ I said, and he told me how ’twas -so, since people nowadays like broken urns and pillars -or something plainer, and had given up cherubs, and -death-heads and suchlike. So I put down the money, -and he popped it on a waggon that was coming back -this way with a small load of Hay, and Tom put it up -for me in the garden. Now I can die happy, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I asked her if she had no feelings about Death, and -if the idea of leaving her garden and her cottage was -not strange to her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She replied, in the simplest way possible, being a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>cheerful religious woman without a particle of sham -in her nature, that when God called her she was ready -and glad to go, and as for the garden she would only -go to another one—far more beautiful.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Her faith, I found afterwards, was of a sweet simple -kind, and had been with her as a child, and remained -with her as a woman, untouched by the least doubt. -She heard Mass every morning of her life in the little -church half a mile away, and spoke in loving and familiar -tones of her favourite saints as being friends of hers, -though in a higher station of life. Included in her -ideas of heaven was a very distinct belief that there -would be many beautiful flowers and birds, and the -pleasure with which she looked forward to seeing them—in -a humble way, as if she might be one of a crowd -in a Public Garden—gave her a quiet dignity and -charm, the equal of which I have seldom met. Her -brother, who was always marvelling at her, had, also, -some of her dignity, but a wider, freer view of things, -and the natural gaiety of a bird.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The next morning, as soon as I woke in the fresh -clean bedroom they had made ready for me, I sprang -from my bed and went to look out of the window. -The dew was sparkling on the flowers, and their scent -came up sweet and strong; a tubful of Mignonette, -at which the bees were busy, was especially fragrant. -As I looked, the tailor’s sister came into the garden, -in a neat lavender-coloured print dress; she carried -a missal in one hand, and a rosary swung in the other. -She stood opposite to her tombstone for a minute, her -lips moving softly, and then, after turning her pleasant -face towards the wealth of flowers about her, she bowed -deeply, as if saluting the morning. A little time later -I heard the gate of the front garden swing and shut, and -I knew she had gone to hear Mass.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>The garden was left alone, busy in its quiet way; -growing, dying, perpetuating its kind. The bees were -industriously singing as they worked; lordly butterflies -danced rigadoons and ravanes over the flowers; -a thrush, after a long hearty tug at a fat worm, swallowed -it, and then, perching on the tombstone, poured out its -joy in full clear notes. And Death was cheated of his -sting.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span> - <h2 class='c006'>VIII<br /> <br />THE COTTAGE GARDEN</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>For the same reason that your town man keeps a pot -of Geraniums on his window-sill, and a caged bird in -his house, your countryman plants bright-coloured -flowers by his door, and regales his children with news -of the first cuckoo. They pull as much of Heaven down -as will accommodate itself to their plot of earth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Any man standing in the centre of however small a -space of his personal ownership—a piece of drugget -in a garret, a patch of garden—makes it the hub of the -universe round which the stars spin, on which his world -revolves. Within a hand-stretch of him lie all he is, -his intimate possessions, his scraps of comfort scratched -out of the hard earth: books, pictures, photographs -showing the faces of his small world of friends and his -tiny travels—how little difference there is between a -walk through Piccadilly and a journey across Asia: -your great traveller has little more to say than the -man who has found Heaven in a penny bunch of Violets, -or heard the stars whisper over St. James’s Park—within -his reach are the things he has paid the price of -life for, and they are the cloak with which he covers his -nakedness of soul against the all-seeing eye he calls his -Destiny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>With all this, commenced perhaps in cowardice—for -the earth’s brown crust is too like a grave, the garret -floor too like a shell of wood—your man, town or -<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>country, grown to know love of little things, nurses a -seedling as if it were his conscience, patches his drugget -as if it were a verse he’d like to polish. Out of the -vast dreary waste of faces who pass by unheeding, -and the unseeing world that does not care whether he -lives or dies, he makes his small hoard of treasures, as a -child hides marbles, thinking them precious stones—as, -indeed, they are to those who have eyes to see—and, -be they books, or pictures, pots of plants, or curious -conceits in china, they all answer for flowers, for the -bright-coloured spots of comfort in a life of doubt.</p> - -<p class='c012'>No man thinks this out carefully, and sets about to plan -his garden in this spirit: he feels a need, and meets it as -he can. In this manner we are all cottage gardeners.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In days gone by—days of serfdom, oppression, battle, -slavery, poverty—the countryman passed his day waiting -for the next blow, living between pestilences, and praying -in the dark for small sparks of comfort. The -monks kept the land sweet by growing herbs in sheltered -places; the countryman looked dully at Periwinkles -and Roses and Columbines, thought them pretty, and -passed by. Even the meanest flower, Shepherd’s-eye -or Celandine, was too high for him to reach. (The -poet who keeps Jove’s Thunder on his mantelpiece -would understand that.) Roses were common enough -even in the dark ages; the English hedgerow threw out -its fingers of Wild Rose and scented the air—but where -was the man with a nose for fragrance when a mailed -hand was on his shoulder. Those Roses on the Field -of Tewkesbury—think of them stained with blood and -flowering over rotting corpses.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“I sometimes think that never blows so red</div> - <div class='line in1'>The Rose as where some buried Cæsar bled;</div> - <div class='line in1'>That every Hyacinth the Garden wears</div> - <div class='line in1'>Dropt in its lap from some once lovely Head.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in1'><span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>And this delightful Herb whose tender Green</div> - <div class='line in1'>Fledges the River’s Lip on which we lean.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows</div> - <div class='line in1'>From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Little did the dull ploughman think of Roses in the -hedge, or Violets in the bank, he’d little care except -for a dish of Pulse. Yet, all the time, curious men were -studying botany, dredging the earth for secrets, as the -astronomer swept the sky. The Arviells, Gilbert and -Hernicus, were, one in Europe, the other in Asia, collecting -good plants and herbs to replenish the Jardins de -Santé the monks kept—that in the thirteenth century, -too, with war clouds everywhere, and steel-clad knights -wooing maidens in castles by the secondhand means of -luting troubadours.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The Arts of Rome were dead, buried, and cut up by -the plough. (How many ploughmen, such as Chaucer -knew, turned long brown furrows over Roman vineyards, -and black crows, following, pecked at bright -coins, brought by the plough to light.)</p> - -<p class='c012'>All at once, it must have seemed, the culture of flowers, -was in the air: Carnations became the rage; then -men spent heaven knows what on a Tulip bulb; built -orangeries; sent Emissaries abroad to cull flowers in -the East. The great men’s gardeners, great men themselves, -kept flowers in the plot of ground about their -cottages; gave out a seed or so here and there; talked -garden gossip at the village ale-house. (Tradescant -steals Apricots from Morocco into England. A Carew -imports Oranges. The Cherry orchards at Sittingbourne -are planted by one of Henry the Eighth’s gardeners. -Peiresc brings all manner of flowers to bloom under -our grey skies: great numbers of Jessamines, the clay-coloured -Jessamine from China; the crimson American -kind; the Violet-coloured Persian.)</p> - -<div id='o057' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_057.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A SURREY COTTAGE.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>The grass piece by the cottage door begins to find -itself cut into beds; uncared for flowers, wild Gilly-flowers, -Thyme, Violets and the like, give colour to the -cottage garden that has only just become a garden. -With that comes competition: one man outdoes another, -begs plants and seeds of all his friends; buds a Rose on -to a Briar standard, and boasts the scent of his new -Clove Pinks, And so it grew that times were not so -strenuous: Queen Victoria comes to the throne, and -with prosperity come the pretty frillings of life, and -cottage gardens ape their masters’ Rose walks, and -collections of this and that. To-day Africa and Asia -nod together in a sunny cottage border, and Lettuces -from the Island of Cos show their green faces next to -Sir Walter Raleigh’s great gift to the poor man, the -Potato. Poplars from Lombardy grow beside the -garden gate; the Currant bush from Zante drips its -jewel-like fruit tassels under a Cherry tree given to us, -indirectly, by Lucullus, lost by us in our slumbering -Saxon times, and here again, with Henry the Eighth’s -gardener, from Flanders. In some quite humble -gardens the Cretan Quince and Persian Peach grow; -so that history, poetry, and romance peer over -Giles’s rustic hedge; and the wind blows scents of all -the world through the small latticed window.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Ploughman Giles, sitting by his cottage door, smoking -an American weed in his pipe while his wife shells the -Peas of ancient Rome into a basin, does not realise -that his little garden, gay with Indian Pinks and African -Geraniums, and all its small crowd of joyous-coloured -flowers, is an open book of the history of his native -land spread at his feet. Here’s the conquest of America, -and the discovery of the Cape, and all the gold of Greece -for his bees to play with. Here’s his child making a -chain of Chaucer’s Daisies; and there’s a Chinese -<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>mandarin nodding at him from the Chrysanthemums; -and there’s a ghost in his cabbage patch of Sir Anthony -Ashley of Wimbourne St. Giles in Dorsetshire.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Ploughman Giles is a fortunate man, and we, too, -bless his enterprise and his love of striking colours and -good perfumes when we lean over the gate of his cottage -garden to give him good-day.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I showed him once a photograph of a picture by -Holbein—the Merchant of the Steel Yard—and pointed -out the vase of flowers on the table and the very same -flowers growing side by side in his garden, Carnations, -the old single kind, and single Gilly-flower. He looked -at the picture with his glasses cocked at the proper -angle on his nose—he’s an oldish man and short-sighted—and -said in his husky voice, “Well, zur, I be surprised -to zee un.” And he called out his wife to look—which -didn’t please her much as she was cooking—but, -when she saw the flowers, “In that there queer gentleman’s -room, and as true as life, so they do be,” she became -enthusiastic, wiped her hands many times on her -apron, and looked from the picture to the actual flowers -growing in her garden with a kind of awe and wonder. -It was of far more interest to them to know that they -were hand in glove with the history of their own country -than it would have been to learn that chemists made a -wonderful drug called digitalis out of the Foxgloves -by the fence. I gave them the photograph and it -hangs in a proud position next to a stuffed and bloated -perch in a glass-case; and, what is more, they have an -added sense of dignity from the dim, far away time the -picture represents to them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He might a plucked they flowers in this very garden,” -she says; and indeed, he might if he had happened that -way. But the older flowers, though they don’t realise -it, are the people themselves. Ploughman Giles and his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>wife, have been on the very spot far, far longer than the -Pinks and Gilly-flowers, blooming into ripe age, rearing -countless families back and back and back, until one -can almost see a Giles sacrificing to Thor and Odin at -the stone on the hill behind the cottage. The Norman -Church throws its shadow over the graves of countless -Gileses, and over the graves, pleasant-eyed English -Daisies shine on the grass.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After all, when we see a cottage standing in its -glowing garden, with a neat hedge cutting it off from -its fellows; with children playing eternal games with -dolls (Mr. Mould’s children following the ledger to its -long home in the safe—shall I ever forget that?), we -see the whole world, cares, joys, birth, death and -marriage; the wealth of nations scattered carelessly -in flowers, spoils from every continent, surrounded -by a hedge, its own birds to sing, its hundred forms of -life, feeding, breeding, dying round the cottage door; -and, at night, its little patch of stars overhead.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was a fanciful child, perhaps, but children are full -of quaint ideas, who caught the moon in a bright tin -spoon, and put it in a bottle, and drew the cork at night -to let the moon out to sail in the sky. The child found -the tin spoon, dropped by a passing tinware pedlar, -in the road, waited till night came, with his head full -of a fairy story he had heard, and when it was dark, -except for the moon, he stepped into the garden, held -the bowl of the spoon to catch the moon’s reflection, -and when she showed her yellow face distorted in the -bright spoon, he poured the reflection, very solemnly, -into a bottle and corked it fast and tight. Then, -with a whispered fairy spell, some nurse’s gibberish, -he took the precious bottle and hid it in a cupboard -along with other mysterious tokens. That’s a symbol -of all our lives, bottling up moons and letting them out -<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>at nights. Isn’t a garden just such a dream-treat to -some of us? There are golden Marigolds for the sun -we live by, and silver Daisies for the stars, and blue -Forget-me-nots for summer skies. Heaven at our -feet, and angels singing from birds’ throats among the -trees.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sometimes we see one cottage garden, next to a -Paradise of colour, flaunting Geraniums, and all the -summer garland, and in it a poor tree or so, a few ill-kept -weedy flowers, overgrown Stocks, a patch of -drunken-looking Poppies, a grass-grown waste of choked -Pinks: the whole place with a sullen air. What is the -matter with the people living there? A decent word -will beg a plant or two, seeds and cuttings can be had -for the asking. Is it a poor or a proud spirit who refuses -to join the other displays of colour? Knock at -the door, and your answer comes quick-footed; it -is the poor spirit answers you. Of course, there are -men who can coax blood out of a stone, and find big -strawberries in the bottom of the basket; and others -who cannot grow anything, try as they may. It is -common enough to hear this or that will not grow for -so-and-so, or that man makes such a plant flourish -where mine all die. There’s something between man -and his flowers, some sympathy, that makes a Rose -bloom its best for one, and Carnations wither under his -touch, or Asters show their magic purples for one, and -give a weak display for another. No one knows what -speaks in the man to the Roses that bloom for him, or -what distaste Carnations feel for all his ministrations, -but the fact remains—any gardener will tell you that. -So with your man of greenhouses, so with your humble -cottage gardener, and, looking along a village street, the -first glance will show you not who loves the flowers -but whom flowers love.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>This, of course, is not the reason of the weedy garden -of the poor spirit, the reason for that is obvious: the -poor spirit never rejoices, and to grow and care for -flowers is a great way of rejoicing. There’s many a -man sows poems in the spring who never wrote a line -of verse: his flowers are his contribution to the world’s -voice; united in expressions of joy, the writer, the -painter, the singer, the flower-grower are all part of one -great poem.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The average person who passes a cottage garden is -more moved by the senses than the imagination; he -or she drinks deep draughts of perfume, takes long comfort -to the eyes from the fragrant and coloured rood of -land. They do not cast this way and that for curious -imaginings; it might add to their pleasure if they did -so. There are men who find the whole of Heaven in a -grain of mustard seed; and there are those who, in all -the pomp and circumstance of a hedge of Roses, find -but a passing pleasure to the eye.</p> - -<p class='c012'>We, who take our pleasure in the Garden of England, -who feast our eyes on such rich schemes of colours she -affords, have reason to be more than grateful to those -who encourage the cottage gardener in his work. It -is from the vicarage, rectory, or parsonage gardens that -most encouragement springs; it is the country clergyman -and his wife who, in a large measure, are responsible -for the good cottage gardening we see nearly everywhere. -These, and the numberless societies, combine -to keep up the interest in gardening and bee-keeping, -to which we owe one of our chiefest English pleasures. -The good garden is the purple and fine linen of the poor -man’s life; poets, philosophers, and kings have praised -and sung the simple flowers that he grows. Wordsworth -for instance, sings of a flower one finds in nearly every -cottage garden:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>LOVE-LIES-BLEEDING.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>You call it “Love-lies-Bleeding”—so you may,</div> - <div class='line'>Though the red Flower, not prostrate, only droops</div> - <div class='line'>As we have seen it here from day to day,</div> - <div class='line'>From month to month, life passing not away:</div> - <div class='line'>A flower how rich in sadness! Even thus stoops,</div> - <div class='line'>(Sentient by Grecian sculpture’s marvellous power)</div> - <div class='line'>Thus leans, with hanging brow and body bent</div> - <div class='line'>Earthward in uncomplaining languishment,</div> - <div class='line'>The dying Gladiator. So, sad Flower!</div> - <div class='line'>(’Tis Fancy guides me, willing to be led,</div> - <div class='line'>Though by a slender thread,)</div> - <div class='line'>So drooped Adonis bathed in sanguine dew</div> - <div class='line'>Of his death-wound, when he from innocent air</div> - <div class='line'>The gentlest breath of resignation drew;</div> - <div class='line'>While Venus in a passion of despair</div> - <div class='line'>Rent, weeping over him, her golden hair</div> - <div class='line'>Spangled with drops of that celestial shower.</div> - <div class='line'>She suffered, as Immortals sometimes do;</div> - <div class='line'>But pangs more lasting far that Lover knew</div> - <div class='line'>Who first, weighed down by scorn, in some lone bower</div> - <div class='line'>Did press this semblance of unpitied smart</div> - <div class='line'>Into the service of his constant heart,</div> - <div class='line'>His own dejection, downcast Flower! could share</div> - <div class='line'>With thine, and gave the mournful name</div> - <div class='line in2'>Which thou wilt ever bear.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Then again, Mrs. Browning, who loved Nature and -England, and spoke her love in such delicate fancies, -writes of flowers in “Our Gardened England,” in a poem -called,</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>A FLOWER IN A LETTER.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Red Roses, used to praises long,</div> - <div class='line'>Contented with the poet’s song,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The nightingale’s being over;</div> - <div class='line'>And Lilies white, prepared to touch</div> - <div class='line'>The whitest thought, nor soil it much,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Of dreamer turned to lover.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>Deep Violets you liken to</div> - <div class='line'>The kindest eyes that look on you,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Without a thought disloyal!</div> - <div class='line'>And Cactuses a queen might don</div> - <div class='line'>If weary of her golden crown,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And still appear as royal!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Pansies for ladies all! I wis</div> - <div class='line'>That none who wear such brooches miss</div> - <div class='line in2'>A jewel in the mirror:</div> - <div class='line'>And Tulips, children love to stretch</div> - <div class='line'>Their fingers down, to feel in each</div> - <div class='line in2'>Its beauty’s secret nearer.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Love’s language may be talked with these!</div> - <div class='line'>To work out choicest sentences,</div> - <div class='line in2'>No blossoms can be neater—</div> - <div class='line'>And, such being used in Eastern bowers,</div> - <div class='line'>Young maids may wonder if the flowers</div> - <div class='line in2'>Or meanings be the sweeter.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span> - <h2 class='c006'>IX<br /> <br />A FEAST OF WILD STRAWBERRIES</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>There’s many a child has crowned her head with -Buttercups—no bad substitute for gold—mirrored her -face in a pool, and dreamed she was a Queen. There’s -many a boy has lain for hours in the Wild Thyme on a -cliff top and sent dream-fleets to Spain. The touch of -imagination is all that is required to make the world -seem real, and not until that wand is used is the world -real. Only those moments when we hear the stars, -peer in through Heaven’s gates, or rub shoulders with -a poet’s vision, are real and substantial; the rest is -only dreamland, vague, unsatisfactory. Huddled rows -of dingy houses, smoke, grime, roar of traffic, scramble -for the pence that make the difference, these things are -not abiding thoughts—“Here there is no abiding city”—but -those great moments when we grow as the flowers -grow, sing as the birds sing, and feel at ease with the -furthest stars, those are the moments we live in and -remember. Our great garden may hold our thoughts -if we wish. When we own England with our eyes, when -all the fields and woods, the mountain streams, the -pools and rills, rivers and ponds, are ours; when -we are on our own ground with Ling and Broom, -Heather, Heath and Furze for our carpet; when -Harebells ring our matin’s bell and Speedwell close -the day for us; when the Water-lily is our cup, -broad leaves of Dock our platter, and King-cups -<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>our array—how vast!—of gold plate, then are we -kings indeed.</p> - -<div id='o064' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_064.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>PATCHES OF HEATHER.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>I’ll give you joy of all your hot-house fruit, if you’ll -leave me to my Wild Strawberries. I’ll wish you pleasure -of Signor What’s-his-name, the violin player, if you’ll -but listen to my choir of thrushes. What do you care -to eat? Here’s nothing over substantial, I’ll admit; -but there’s good wine in the brook, and food for a day -in the fields and hedges. Nuts, Blackberries, Wortleberries, -Wild Raspberries, Mushrooms, Crabs and Sloes, -and Samphire for preserving; Elderberries to make -into a cordial; and Wild Strawberries, that’s my -chiefest dish at this season—food for princesses.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Come to the cliffs with your leaf of Wild Strawberries, -and I can show you blue Flax, and Sea Pinks, -yellow Sea-Cabbage, and Sea Convolvulus, and Golden -Samphire; you shall have Sandwort, and Viper’s -Bugloss, and Ploughman’s Spikenard, and Horned -Poppies, and Thyme, in plenty. We will choose a -fanciful flower for the table, the yellow Elecampane -that gave a cosmetic to Helen of Troy. And the mention -of her who set Olympus and Earth in a blaze of -discord makes me remember how Hermes, of the golden -wand, gave to Odysseus the plant he had plucked from -the ground, black at the root, and with a flower like to -milk—“Moly the Gods call it, but it is hard for mortal -men to dig; howbeit with the Gods all things are -possible.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Any manner of imaginings may come to those who -make a feast of Wild Strawberries. We may follow -our Classic idea and discuss the Hydromel, or cider of -the Greeks; the syrup of squills they drank to aid their -digestion, or the absinthe they took to promote appetite. -We might even try to make one of their sweet wines of -Rose leaves and honey, such a thing would go well -<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>with our Wild Strawberries. These things might all -come out of our country garden and give us a ghostly -Greek flavour for our pains. There were Wild Strawberries, -I think, on Mount Ida where Paris was shepherd, -whence they fetched him when Discord threw the -Golden Apple.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It is almost impossible to reach out a hand and pick a -flower without plucking a legend with it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I had taken, I thought, England for my garden, and -Wild Strawberries for my dish, but I find that I have -taken the world for my flower patch, and am sitting to -eat with ancient Greeks. Let me but pick the Pansy by -my hand and I find that Spenser plucked its fellow -years ago:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Strew me the ground with Daffe-down-dillies,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And Cowslips, and King-cups, and loved Lilies,</div> - <div class='line in3'>The pretty Paunce (that is my wild Pansy)</div> - <div class='line in3'>The Chevisaunce</div> - <div class='line in1'>Shall watch with the fayre Fleur de Luce.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>And you may call it Phœbus’-paramour, or Herb-Trinity, -or Three Faces-under-a-Hood.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To our forefathers the fields, lanes, and gardens were -a newspaper far more valuable than the modern sheet -in which we read news of no importance day by day. -To them the blossoming of the Sloe meant the time for -sowing barley; the bursting of Alder buds that eels -had left their winter holes and might be caught. The -Wood Sorrel and the cuckoo came together; when Wild -Wallflower is out bees are on the wing, and linnets have -learnt their spring songs. Water Plantain is supposed -to cure a mad dog, and is a remedy against the poison -of a rattlesnake; ointment of Cowslips removes sunburn -and freckles; the Self-heal is good against cuts, -and so is called also, Carpenter’s Herb, Hook-heal, and -Sicklewort. Yellow Water-lilies will drive cockroaches -<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>and crickets from a house. Most charming intelligence -of all deals with the Wild Canterbury Bell, in which the -little wild bees go to sleep, loving their silky comfort. -These are but a few paragraphs from our news-sheet, -but they serve to show how pleasant a paper it is to -know—and it costs nothing but a pair of loving and -careful eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>If we choose to be more fanciful—and who is not, in -a wild garden with a dish of Wild Strawberries?—we -shall find ourselves filling Acorn cups with dew to drink -to the fairies, and wondering how the thigh of a honey-bee -might taste. Herrick is the poet for such flights -of thought. His songs—“To Daisies, not to shut so -soon.” “To Primroses filled with Morning Dew,” -and, for this instance, to</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>THE BAG OF THE BEE</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>About the sweet bag of a bee</div> - <div class='line in2'>Two Cupids fell at odds;</div> - <div class='line'>And whose the pretty prize should be</div> - <div class='line in2'>They vowed to ask the Gods.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Which Venus hearing, thither came</div> - <div class='line in2'>And for their boldness stripped them;</div> - <div class='line'>And taking thence from each his flame</div> - <div class='line in2'>With rods of Myrtle whipped them.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Which done, to still their wanton cries,</div> - <div class='line in2'>When quiet grown she’s seen them,</div> - <div class='line'>She kissed and wiped their dove-like eyes,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And gave the bag between them.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>We can do no better than give thanks for all our -garden, our house, and our well-being in the words of -the same poet. For we need to thank, somehow, -for all the joys Nature gives us. Though, in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>this poem, he names no flowers, yet his poems are -full of them:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“—That I, poor I,</div> - <div class='line in3'>May think, thereby,</div> - <div class='line in1'>I live and die</div> - <div class='line in3'>’Mongst Roses.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Every man who is a gardener at heart, whether he be -in love with the flowers of the open fields, the garden -of the highways and the woods, or with his protected -patch of ground, will care to know this song of Herrick’s -if he has not already found it for himself:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>A THANKSGIVING TO GOD FOR HIS HOUSE</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Lord, thou hast given me a cell,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Wherein to dwell;</div> - <div class='line'>A little house, whose humble roof</div> - <div class='line in2'>Is waterproof;</div> - <div class='line'>Under the spars of which I lie</div> - <div class='line in2'>Both soft and dry;</div> - <div class='line'>Where thou, my chamber for to ward,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Hast set a guard</div> - <div class='line'>Of harmless thoughts, to watch and keep</div> - <div class='line in2'>Me, while I sleep.</div> - <div class='line'>Low is my porch, as is my fate;</div> - <div class='line in2'>Both void of state;</div> - <div class='line'>And yet the threshold of my door</div> - <div class='line in2'>Is worn by th’ poor,</div> - <div class='line'>Who thither come, and freely get</div> - <div class='line in2'>Good words or meat.</div> - <div class='line'>Like as my parlour, so my hall</div> - <div class='line in2'>And kitchen’s small;</div> - <div class='line'>A little buttery, and therein</div> - <div class='line in2'>A little bin,</div> - <div class='line'>Which keeps my little loaf of bread</div> - <div class='line in2'>Unchipt, unflead;</div> - <div class='line'>Some brittle sticks of Thorn or Briar</div> - <div class='line in2'>Make me a fire</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>Close by whose living coal I sit,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And glow like it.</div> - <div class='line'>Lord, I confess too, when I dine,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The Pulse is thine.</div> - <div class='line'>And all those other bits that be</div> - <div class='line in2'>There placed by Thee;</div> - <div class='line'>The Worts, the Purslain, and the mess</div> - <div class='line in2'>Of Watercress,</div> - <div class='line'>Which of thy kindness thou hast sent;</div> - <div class='line in2'>And my content</div> - <div class='line'>Makes those, and my beloved Beet,</div> - <div class='line in2'>To be more sweet.</div> - <div class='line'>’Tis thou that crown’st my glittering hearth,</div> - <div class='line in2'>With guiltless mirth,</div> - <div class='line'>And giv’st me wassail bowls to drink,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Spiced to the brink.</div> - <div class='line'>Lord, ’tis thy plenty-dropping hand</div> - <div class='line in2'>That soils my land,</div> - <div class='line'>And giv’st me, for my bushel sown,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Twice ten for one;</div> - <div class='line'>Thou mak’st my teeming hen to lay</div> - <div class='line in2'>Her egg each day;</div> - <div class='line'>Besides, my healthful ewes to bear</div> - <div class='line in2'>Me twins each year;</div> - <div class='line'>The while the conduits of my kine</div> - <div class='line in2'>Run cream, for wine;</div> - <div class='line'>All these, and better, thou dost send</div> - <div class='line in2'>Me, to this end—</div> - <div class='line'>That I should render, for my part,</div> - <div class='line in2'>A thankful heart;</div> - <div class='line'>Which, fired with incense, I resign,</div> - <div class='line in2'>As wholly thine;</div> - <div class='line'>—But the acceptance, that must be,</div> - <div class='line in2'>My Christ, by Thee.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span> - <h2 class='c006'>X<br /> <br />THE PRAISES OF A COUNTRY LIFE</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>TRANSLATED FROM HORACE</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='small'>BY CHRISTOPHER SMART</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Happy the man, who, remote from business, after the -manner of the ancient race of mortals, cultivates his -paternal lands with his own oxen, disengaged from every -kind of usury; his is neither alarmed with the horrible -trumpet, as a soldier, nor dreads he the angry sea; -he shuns both the bar, and the proud portals of men in -power.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Wherefore, he either weds the lofty Poplars to the -mature branches of the Vine; or lopping off the useless -boughs with his pruning-knife, he engrafts more fruitful -ones; or takes a prospect of the herds of his lowing -cattle, wandering about in a lonely vale; or stores his -honey, pressed from the combs, in clean vessels; or -shears his tender sheep.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Or, when Autumn has lifted up in the field his head -adorned with mellow fruits, how glad is he while he -gathers Pears grafted by himself, and the Grape that -vies with the purple, with which he may recompense -thee, O Priapus, and thee, father Sylvanus, the guardian, -of his boundaries!</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sometimes he delights to lie under an aged Holm, -sometimes on the matted grass: meanwhile the waters -glide down from steep clefts; the birds warble in the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>woods; and the fountains murmur with their purling -streams, which invites gentle slumbers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But when the wintry season of the tempestuous air -prepares rains and snows, he either drives the fierce -boars, with dogs on every side, into the intercepting -toils; or spreads his thin nets with the smooth pole, as -a snare for the voracious thrushes; or catches in his -gin the timorous hare, or that stranger, the crane, -pleasing rewards for his labour.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Amongst such joys as these, who does not forget -those mischievous anxieties, which are the property -of love? But if a chaste wife, assisting on her part -in the management of the house and beloved children, -(such as is the Sabine, or the sunburnt spouse of the -industrious Apulian) piles up the sacred hearth with -old wood, just at the approach of her weary husband, -and shutting up the fruitful cattle in the woven hurdles -milks dry their distended udders; and drawing this -year’s wine out of a well-seasoned cask, prepares the -unbought collation; not the Lucrine oysters could -delight me more, nor the turbot, nor the scar, should -the tempestuous Winter drive any from the Eastern -floods to this sea: not the turkey, nor the Asiatic wild -fowl, can come into my stomach more agreeable than -the Olive, gathered from the richest branches of the -trees, or the Sorrel that loves the meadows, or Mallows -salubrious for a sickly body, or a lamb slain at the feast -of the god Terminus, or a kid just rescued from a wolf.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Amidst these dainties, how it pleases one to see the -well-fed sheep hastening home? To see the weary oxen, -with drooping neck, dragging the inverted ploughshare! -and numerous slaves, the test of a rich family -ranged about the smiling household gods!</p> - -<div id='o073' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_073.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A PERGOLA IN AN ENGLISH GARDEN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c006'>PART II<br /> <br />GARDENS AND HISTORY</h2> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span> - <h2 class='c006'>I<br /> <br />THE ROMAN GARDEN IN ENGLAND</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>It would appear, judging from the specimens one sees, -that the building of garden apartments, or summer-houses, -is a lost art. But then leisure, as an art, has -also been lost; and no man unless he understand leisure -can possibly build an apartment to be entirely devoted -to it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Imagine the man of the day who could write of his -summer-house as the younger Pliny wrote: “At the -end of the terrace, adjoining to the gallery, is a little -garden-apartment, which I own is my delight. In -truth it is my mistress: I built it.” The younger -Pliny, of to-day, is scouring the countryside in a motorcar, -his eyes half-blinded by dust, his nose offended -by the stink of petrol; his thoughts, like his toys, -purely mechanical.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There are still a few quiet people, and some scholars, -whom the Socialist in his eager desire to benefit mankind -at reckless speed, and at ruthless expense of -humanity, would like to blot out, who can enjoy their -gardens with that curious remoteness which is the -privilege of the person of leisure.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The art of leisure lies, to me, in the power of absorbing -without effort the spirit of one’s surroundings; to -look, without speculation, at the sky and the sea; to -become part of a green plain; to rejoice, with a tranquil -mind, in the feast of colour in a bed of flowers. To -<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>this end is the good gardener born. The man, who, from -a sudden love, stops in his walk to look at a field of -Buttercups has no idea of the spiritual advancement he -has made.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All this ambles away from the main topic, but so -closely does the peace of gardens cling, that thoughts -fly over the hedges like bees on the wing and bring -back honey from wider pastures and dreams from -larger tracts than those the garden itself covers. A -man might write a romance of Spain from looking at an -Orange.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The Romans, who left an indelible mark on England -in their roadways and by their laws, built in this country -many villas whose pavements and foundations remain -to show us what manner of habitations they were. -Besides this we have ample records of the shapes and -purposes of these villas, with long accounts of baths, -furniture and the like, such as enable us to picture very -completely the life of a Roman gentleman exiled to these -shores.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Houses, parks, and fields now cover all traces of any -gardens there were attached to these Roman villas. -Many a man lives over the spot where the hedges and -alleys, the flower beds and walks, once delighted those -gentlemen who sat drinking Falernian wine poured from -old amphoræ dated by the year of the consul. Where -sheep now browse gentlemen have sat after a feast of -delicacies—Syrian Plums stewed with Pomegranate -seeds; roasted field-fares, fresh Asparagus; Dates sent -from Thebes—and, having eaten, have enjoyed the -work of their topiarius, whose skill has cut hedges of -Laurel, Box, and Yew into the forms of ships, bears, -beasts and birds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Differing from the Greeks, who were not good gardeners, -the Romans, with a skill learnt partly from -<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>Oriental countries, made much of their gardens, and -laid them out with infinite care and arrangement. -They raised their flower-beds in terraces, and edged -them with neat box borders; they made walks for shade, -and walks for sun; planted thickets, alleys of fruit -trees, orchards, and Vine pergolas. They had, as a rule, -in larger gardens, a gestatio, a broad pathway in which -they were carried about in litters. They had the -hippodromus, a circus for exercise, which had several -entrances with paths leading to different parts of the -garden.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It is not too much to presume that the Romans, who -spent their lives in our country, and build magnificent -villas for themselves, and brought over all the arts of -their country, brought, also, their methods of gardening, -and planted here as they planted in their villas outside -Rome, all the flowers, fruits and vegetables that the -country would produce.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Tacitus was of the opinion that “the soil and climate -of England was very fit for all kinds of fruit trees, -except Vine and Olive; and for all kinds of edible -vegetables.” In this he was right but for the Vine, which -was planted here in the Third Century, and we know -of vineyards and wine made from them in the Eighth -Century.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of gardeners there was the topiarius, a fancy gardener, -whose main business it was to be expert on growing, -cutting and clipping trees. The villicus, or viridarius, -who was the real villa gardener, with much the same -duties as our gardener of to-day. The hortulanus is a -later term. And there was the aquarius, a slave whose -duty it was to see that all the garden was provided with -proper aqueducts, and who managed the fountains -which, without doubt, formed a great part in garden -ornament. I imagine, also, that the aquarius would -<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>have control over the supply of hot water which must -flow through the green-houses where early fruits and -flowers were forced; such fruits as Winter Grapes, -Melons, and Gherkins; and of flowers, the Rose in particular, -for use in garlands and crowns.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Violets and Roses were the principal flowers, being -often grown as borders to the beds of vegetables, so -that one might find Violets, Onions, Turnips, and Kidney -Beans flourishing together.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Besides these flowers there were also the Crocus, -Narcissus, Lily, Iris, Hyacinth (the Greek emblem of -the dead in memory of the youth killed by Apollo by -mistake with a quoit), Poppy, and the bright red Damask -Rose and Lupias.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the orchards of Rome were Cherries, Plums, Quinces, -Pomegranates, Peaches, Almonds, Medlars, and Mulberries; -and in the vineyards were thirty varieties of -Grapes. Those kinds of fruits which were hardy enough -to stand our climate were grown here, and to judge -from all account only the Olive failed to meet the test.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Not only were flowers and fruit grown in profusion -but Herbs, Asparagus, and Radishes had their place.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Honey, which took a great place in Roman cookery, -and in making possets, and in thickening wine, was provided -by bees kept especially in apiaries built in sheltered -places, with beds of Cytisus, and Thyme and -Apiastrum by them. The hives were built of brick or -baked dung, and were placed in tiers, the lowest on -stone parapets about three feet above the ground; -these parapets being covered with smooth stucco to -prevent lizards and insects from entering the hives.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The descriptions by the younger Pliny of his villas -and gardens are so delightful in themselves, besides -being of great value, that I am going to quote largely -from them.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>The village of Laurentium where Pliny built his villa -was on the shores of the Tuscan Sea, and not far from -the mouth of the Tiber. The villa was built as a refuge -after a hard day’s work in Rome, which was only seventeen -miles away. “A distance,” he says, “which -allows us, after we have finished the business of the -day, to return thither from town, with the setting sun.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were two roads from Rome to this villa, the -one the Laurentine road—“if you go the Laurentine -you must quit the high road at the fourteenth stone”—and -the Ostian road, where the branch took place at the -eleventh.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After a description of the house and the baths he -writes of the garden:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“At no great distance is the tennis-court, so situated, -as never to be annoyed by the heat, and to be visited -only by the setting sun. At the end of the tennis-court -rises a tower, containing two rooms at the top -of it, and two again under them; besides a banqueting -room, from whence there is a view of very wide ocean, -a very extensive continent, and numberless beautiful -villas interspersed upon the shore. Answerable to this -is another turret containing, on the top, one single room -where we enjoy both the rising and the setting sun. -Underneath is a very large store-room for fruit, and a -granary, and under these again a dining-room from -whence, even when the sea is most tempestuous, we -only hear the roaring of it, and that but languidly and -at a distance. It looks upon the garden, and the place -for exercise which encludes my garden. The whole is -encompassed with Box; and where that is wanting -with Rosemary; for Box, when sheltered by buildings, -will flourish very well, but wither immediately if exposed -to wind and weather, or ever so distantly affected -by the moist dews from the sea. The place for exercise -<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>surrounds a delicate shady vineyard, the paths of -which are easy and soft even to the naked feet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The garden is filled with Mulberry and Fig trees; the -soil being propitious to both those kinds of trees, but -scarce to any other.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A dining-room, too remote to view the ocean, commands -an object no less agreeable, the prospect of the -garden: and at the back of the dining-room are two -apartments, whose windows look upon the vestibule of -the house; and upon a fruitery and a kitchen garden. -From hence you enter into a covered gallery, large -enough to appear a public work. The gallery has a -double row of windows on both sides; in the lower -row are several which look towards the sea; and one -on each side towards the garden; in the upper row -there are fewer; in calm days when there is not a -breath of air stirring we open all the windows, but in -windy weather we take the advantage of opening that -side only which is entirely free from the hurricane. -Before the gallery lies a terrace perfumed with Violets. -The building not only retains the heat of the sun, and -increases it by reflexion, but defends and protects us -from the northern blasts.”</p> - -<div id='o080' class='figcenter id006'> -<img src='images/opp_080.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>ENTRANCE TO THE GARDENS, AYSCOUGH FEE HALL, SPALDING.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>After a further description of this gallery written -with some care, Pliny begins his praise of his garden -apartment. No man but a man of true leisure could -have dwelt so lovingly on a description of a summer-house. -Herrick loved his simple things as much, and -sang them tenderly. The small things that come close -to us, to keep us warm from all life’s disappointments, -these are the things our hearts sing out to, these are -the things we think of when we are from home. “At -the end of the terrace, adjoining to the gallery, is a little -garden-apartment, which I own is my delight. In -truth it is my mistress: I built it; and in it is a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>particular kind of sun-trap which looks on one side towards -the terrace, on the other towards the sea, but on both -sides has the advantage of the sun. A double door -opens into another room, and one of the windows has -a full view of the gallery. On the side next the sea, -over against the middle wall, is an elegant little closet; -separated only by transparent windows, and a curtain -which can be opened or shut at pleasure, from the room -just mentioned. It holds a bed and two chairs; the -feet of the bed stand towards the sea, the back towards -the house, and one side of it towards some distant -woods. So many different views, seen from so many -different windows diversify and yet blend the prospect.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Adjoining to this cabinet is my own constant bedchamber, -where I am never disturbed by the discourse -of my servants, the murmurs of the sea, nor the violence -of a storm. Neither lightning nor daylight can break in -upon me till my own windows are opened. The reason of -so perfect and undisturbed a calm here arises from a -large void space which is left between the walls of the -bedchamber and of the garden; so that all sound is -drowned in the intervening space.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Close to the bedchamber is a little stove, placed so -near a small window of communication that it lets out, -or retains, the heat just as we think fit.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“From hence we pass through a lobby into another -room, which stands in such a position as to receive the -sun, though obliquely, from daybreak till past noon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>There is one thing in this description that is very noteworthy, -the absolute content with everything, the lack -of any note of grumbling. After all, the pleasures of that -garden apartment were very simple; he took his joy of -the sun, the wind, and the distant sound of the sea. -Heat, light, and the pleasant music of nature; the bank -of Violets near by, the prospect of the villas on the shore -<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>glimmering amidst their greenery in the sun; the -songs of birds in the thickets of Myrtle and Rosemary, -there made up the fine moments of his life.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Such little houses were copied from the Eastern idea, -such as is pointed to several times in the Bible. The -Shunamite gives such a house to Elisha:</p> - -<p class='c013'>“Let us make him a little chamber, I pray thee, with walls; -and let us set him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and -a candlestick, that he may turn in thither when he cometh -to us.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Whether a Roman living in England ever built himself -such a house it is difficult to prove, since, so far as I can -find, no remains of such a place are to be seen. But, -when one considers the actual evidence of the Roman -Occupation, the yields given by the neighbourhoods of -Roman cities, the statues, vases, toys, the amphitheatres -for cock-fighting, wrestling, and gladiatoral -combat, then surely there were gardens of great wonder -near to these cities where men like Pliny went to sit in -their garden houses and enjoyed the cool of the evening -after a day’s work.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I have always made it a fancy of mine to suppose such -an apartment to have stood on the spot where a garden -house I know now stands. I have sat in this little house, -a tiny place compared to Pliny’s, and pictured to myself -the surrounding country as it might have looked under -the eyes of our Roman conquerors. Not far distant is a -Roman town, outside which is a huge amphitheatre; -the Roman road, via Iceniana, cutting through the -western downs and forests. Over this very countryside -were villas scattered here and there, bridges, walls, -moats and camps. Even to-day, not far away from my -summer-house, are two small Roman bridges, over -which, in my day-dreams, the previous occupier of the -site has often passed.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>Here, from this summer-house, I look upon an apiary, -a bed of Violets, a little wood that gives shelter to the -birds, a running stream where trout leap in the pools. -My Roman friend, had he built his house here, would -have looked, as I look, at green meadows, and across them -to a wild heath on which rise the very mounds he must -have known, British earthworks, and the heap-up burial -places of great British chiefs. Round about the house -grow many flowers that would seem homely to my -ghostly friend, Roses, Lilies, Narcissi, Violets, Poppies. -Here he might have sat and contemplated, as Pliny did, -and taken his pleasure of the sun, the wind, the birds. -The sea he could not have heard, since it is eight miles -away, but he could well have seen storms come up over -the western downs, known that the Roman galleys were -seeking shelter in the coves and harbours, and noticed -how the gulls flew screaming inland, and the Egyptian -swallows flew low before the coming tempest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>This house that I know is a simple affair, compared -to the elaborate design of Pliny’s; it is a small thatched -single apartment built in the elbow of the garden wall. -It is not tuned to trap the sun, or dull the sounds of the -violence of the winds, but its solitary window opens wide -to let in the sound of the bees at work, the thrush singing -in the Lilac tree, or tapping his snails on a big stone by the -side of the garden path. It has a shelf for books, two -chairs, a writing table, and an infinity of those odds and -ends a person collects who deals with bees. Withal it is -pervaded by a very sweet smell of honey.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then there are ghosts for company if the books, the -birds, and the bees fail. There is my Roman to speak -for his villa, for the glories of the town near by. There -is the British chieftain whose mound is not two miles -away, a mound where his charred ashes lie, but the urn -that held them is on a shelf overhead. There are Saxons -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>who have trod this very ground, and Danes and Normans, -men also from Anjou, Gascony, and Maine, and a -host of others. Then there are the flowers themselves -with romances every one.</p> - -<p class='c012'>If I have a mind to following fancy and turn this into a -veritable Roman garden, I can link my fancy with Pliny’s -facts and see how it would have been ordered and arranged. -I can see the villa portico with its terrace in -front of it adorned with statues and edged with Box. -Below here is a gravel walk on each side of which are -figures of animals cut in Box. Then there is the circus at -the end of a broad path, where my Roman friend could -exercise himself on horseback. Round about the circus -are sheared dwarf trees, and clipped Box hedges. On the -outside of this is a lawn, smooth and green. Then comes -my summer-house shaded with Plane trees, with a marble -fountain that plays on the roots of the trees and the -grass round them. There would be a walk near by -covered with Vines, and ended by an Ivy-covered wall. -Several alleys (my imagination has traced their courses) -wind in and out to meet in the end of a series of straight -walks divided by grass plots, or Box trees cut into -a thousand shapes; some of letters forming my -Roman’s name; others the name of his gardener. In -these are mixed small pyramid Apple trees; “and now -and then (to follow Pliny’s plan) you met, on a sudden, -with a spot of ground, wild and uncultivated, as if -transplanted hither on purpose.” Everywhere are -marble or stone seats, little fountains, arbours covered -with Vines, and facing beds of Roses, or Violets, or -Herbs, and always is to be heard the pleasant murmur -of water “conveyed through pipes by the hand of the -artificer.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The more I think of it the more I see how exactly the -garden I know fulfils this purpose. Except for a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>greater, a far greater display of flowers, Pliny would be -quite at home here. There is an abundance of water; -the very site for the horse course; winding alleys, -straight paths, and several pergolas for Roses.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A noticeable thing in the planning of a Roman garden, -and one that is too often absent from our own, is the -great attention paid to the value of water. In many -places where there is an abundant supply of water, with -streams running close by, or even through the garden, -we find no attempt made to use the value of water either -decoratively or for useful purposes. We are apt to dispose -our gardens for the purposes of large collections of -flowers, whereas the Roman with his small store of them -was forced to bring every aid to bear on varying his -garden, such as seats, fountains, and little artificial -brooks. The cost, even in small gardens, of arranging -a decorative effect of water, where water is plentiful, -would not amount to so very much, and in many cases -would be a great saving of labour. We use wells to some -extent, and, to my mind, a properly-built well-head, -with a roof and posts, and seats, is one of the most beautiful -garden ornaments we can have.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The well-head itself should be built of brick raised -about eighteen inches above the ground, and should be at -least fourteen inches broad in the shelf, so that the -buckets have ample room in which to stand. The coil -and windlass are better if they are both simple, and of -good timber. Round this a brick path, two feet broad, -should be laid. Over all a roof of red tiles supported on -square wooden posts or brick pillars, would give shade to -the well, and to a seat of plain design that should be -placed against the outer edge of the brick path. And if -beds of flowers were set about it all, as I have seen done, -and well done, in a cottage garden in Kent, the effect is -quaint and beautiful.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>I have no doubt that in Roman England such wells -were built where the supply of water was not equal to -great distribution. But it is amazing to think that such -a tiny village as Laurentium, where Pliny had one of his -villas outside Rome, held three Inns, in each of which -were baths always heated and ready for travellers, and -that it has taken us until the present day to bring the -bath into the ordinary house.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Naturally, when one casts one’s eyes over a picture of -a Roman garden in England, and compares it with a garden -of to-day, the very first thing we find missing is that -mass of colour and that wonderful variety of bloom that -constitutes the apex of modern gardening. Where they -were surprised, or gave themselves sudden shocks to the -eye, it was by means of little grottos, fountains, vistas at -the ends of long alleys, statues in a wild part of a garden, -or unexpected seats commanding a prospect opened out -by an arrangement of the trees. We prepare for ourselves -wildernesses in which the Spring shall paint her -wonderful picture of Anemones, Daffodils, Crocuses, and -such flowers; where Blue Bells and Primroses, Ragged -Robin, and Foxgloves hold us by their vivid colour. Our -scarlet armies of Geranium, our banks of purple Asters, or -the flaming panoplies of Roses with which we illuminate -our gardens would seem to the Roman something -wonderful and strange. Yet, in a sense, his taste -was more subtle. He held green against green, a bed -of Herbs, the occasional jewel of a clump of Violets, -more to his manner of liking. And he arranged his -garden so as to contain as many varieties of walks as -possible.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the evenings now, when I am, by chance, staying -in the house whose garden holds that summer-house I -love, I can see my old Roman of my dreams wandering -over his estate, and I almost feel his presence near me as -<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>his ghost sits on the wooden seat by the lawn and his eyes -seem to peer across the meadows back to where Rome -herself lies over the eastern hills. An exile, buried far -from Rome, his spirit seems to hover here as if he could -not sleep in peace away from the warm, sweet Italy of -his birth.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span> - <h2 class='c006'>II<br /> <br />ST. FIACRE, PATRON SAINT OF GARDENERS<br />AND CAB-DRIVERS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Gardeners who, to a man, are dedicated to peaceful -and meditative pursuits, should care to know of the story -of Saint Fiacre, the Irish Prince who turned hermit, and -after his death was hailed Patron of Gardeners.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He left Ireland, says the story, at that time when a -missionary zeal was sending Irish monks the length and -breadth of Europe. As Saint Pol left Britain and slew -the Dragon on the Isle of Batz; Saint Gall drove the -spirits of flood across the Lake of Constance; Saint -Columban founded monasteries in Burgundy and the -Apennines, so did Saint Fiacre leave his native land and -take himself to France, and there by a miracle enlarge -the space of his garden.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At Meaux, on the river Marne, near Paris, the Bishop -Saint Faron had founded a new monastery in the woods -and called it the Monastery of Saint Croix. To this -monastery came the son of the Irish King, and made his -vows. It was early days in Europe, for Saint Fiacre -died in or about the year 670, and it is almost impossible -to imagine the perils and discomforts of his journey, for -in Britain and Gaul fighting was going on, roads were bad -and unsafe, the sea had to be crossed in an open boat.</p> - -<div id='o089' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_089.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A CAB-DRIVER IN PICCADILLY.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>But these Celts, driven west by war, now began to -make their own war on Europe, not with sword and -shield and battle-cry, but with pilgrim’s staff, and reed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>pen, and the device of Christ on their hearts. Illumination, -one of the marvels of monkish accomplishment, -was spread throughout Europe by bands of Irish monks, -who, taking the wonderful traditions of such work as -“The Book of Kells,” and those works written and -illuminated at Lindisfarne, went their ways from country -to country spreading their culture as well as their -message.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Saint Fiacre stayed a certain time in the monastery -until, indeed, the voice within him calling for more -solitude and for another mode of life, forced him to -go to the Bishop. To him he spoke of his vocation, -of those feelings within him that prompted him to -become a hermit.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The good Bishop seeing in Fiacre a good intention, -and perceiving doubtless the holy nature of the monk, -granted him a space on his own domain, some way -from the monastery, on the edge of the woods and the -plain of Brie. To this place the monk repaired and -began the great work of his life.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now it is not easy for the best of men at the best of -times to live solitary in a wood without becoming -something of a self-conscious or morbid person. Not -so with these old hermits. They seemed to have the -grace of such excessive spirituality as to have been -uplifted above ordinary men, and to have lost all sense -of loneliness in conversation with the Saints, and in -communion with God.</p> - -<p class='c012'>What finer means of reaching this exalted condition -than by labouring to make a garden in the wilderness? -Saint Fiacre cleared a space in the woods with his own -hands, and in this space he built an oratory to Our -Lady, and a hut by it wherein he dwelt. All must -have been of the most primitive order; one of those -beehive shaped buildings, such as still remain in Ireland, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>for the oratory, fashioned out of stones and mud in -what is called rag-work, and most probably roofed -with turf.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After the work of building he began to make his -garden. It is evident that his clearing was not near -the river as the fountain or well from which he drew -his water is still to be seen and it is a considerable -distance away.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Imagine the solitary life of this priest gardener, whose -food depended entirely on the produce of the ground. -To any man the silence of the woods holds a mysterious -calm, a weird, haunting uneasiness. To dwellers in -woods, after a time, the silence becomes full of friendly -voices; the fall of Acorns; the crackling of twigs as a -wild animal forces a passage through the undergrowth; -the snap of trees in the frost; the shuffling of birds -getting ready for the night. But here, in the wild -woods of Meaux in those early times, wolves, bears, -wild boars lived.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It is possible to imagine the Saint on his knees at -night, the trees, dark masses round his garden, a heaven -above him pitted with stars, the smoke of his breath as -he prays rising like incense. And, as has been known -to be the case, all wild animals fearless of him, and -friendly to him in whom they see, by instinct, one who -will do them no harm. As Saint Jerome laid down with -the lions, as Saint Francis spoke with Brother Wolf, -and Sister Lark, so Saint Fiacre must have spoken with -his friends, the beasts. In the heart of a gardener lies -something to which all wild nature responds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But consider a man of that time alone in the wood, -at that time when men knew so little and whose lives -were full of superstitious guesses at scientific facts. -And think how much more full of dread Fiacre must -have been than an ordinary man, since he was one of a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>nation to whom fairies and goblins of every kind are -daily actualities. Think of the Saint seeing his own -face daily reflected in the well as he drew his water; -think of the mysterious quality of water in lonely wells -when it seems now to be troubled by unseen hands, -now to lift a clear smiling face to the sky. He must be -a mystic and a man filled with a simple goodness who -can garden in a wilderness like this.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One can picture him seated at the door of his hut -eating his Acorn mash or Herb soup after a day’s work -and prayer. A stout wooden spade rests by his side, -the shaft of Oak worn smooth by his hands. In front -of him what labours show in the ground! Huge -stumps of trees that have been uprooted and dragged -away; herbs he has tried to grow showing green in -the heavy soil; wild flowers sweeting the air; here the -beginnings of a vineyard; there the first blades of a -patch of Wheat, or Oats.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In various parts of Europe were other Irish people -at work sweetening the soil. Saint Gobhan near Laon, -Saint Etto, at Dompierre, Saint Caidoc and Saint -Fricor in Picardy, and Saint Judoc also there, Saint -Fursey, at Lagny, six miles north of Paris; and a -daughter of an Irish king, Saint Dympna, at Gheel, in -Belgium. These are but a few of the Irish who ventured -forth to save the world. Beyond all of these does Saint -Fiacre appeal to us who love our gardens.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Self-denial has been called the luxury of the Saints, -yet the phrase-maker would seem to such denials of -unessentials as rich foods and wines, and mortifications -of the flesh which a man may choose to do without any -suggestion of Saintship. Here, in Saint Fiacre, we -have a man whose process of purification was symbolised -by his work. The uprooting of trees, the uprooting -of a thousand superstitious ideas; the purifying of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>soil, the cleansing of his heart; the growing of food, -the sustenance for his spirit besides his body.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He leaves his native land, he becomes monk, hermit, -gardener. He dwells in the wilds of a forest, one man, -alone, doing no great deed one might imagine that -would cause his fame to travel, living his quiet simple -life shut right away from the world by leagues of forest, -more buried than a man in the wilderness. For cathedral, -the depth of his woods, the aisles of great trees, the -tracery and windows made by boughs and leaves. -For choir, the birds. He was, one would think, so -utterly alone, that no step but his own ever broke the -silence of the woodland glades; so isolated that no -human voice but his own ever penetrated the brakes -and thickets. Yet he became known.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Doubtless some hunter, a wild man, to whom the -tracks in the forest were as roads, coming one day -through the woods after game, burst into the clearing, -and stood amazed, paused suspicious, wondering to -see the little oratory, the hut, the garden all about. -The hunter casts his keen eyes about, here and there, -alert, scenting danger, eyeing the new place with -anxious wonder, holding his spear in readiness. Then -comes the Saint from his hut and calls him brother, -bids him put down his spear, sit and eat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The hunter goes; a swineherd, seeking lost droves of -pigs turned loose to fatten on the acorns, comes across -the place. The news filters through the country, -reaches the huddled villages by the river, reaches the -dwellers in the hills, the people of the forest. They -come to look, to stare, to be amazed. To each Saint -Fiacre offers his hospitality.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As men, drawn irresistibly by a strong personality, -will throng towards a well whose water is supposed to -contain some virtue, or a stone to touch which restores -<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>lost friends, so they came to test the holiness of this -man of the woods, and found him good, and true, and -full of peace. And they marvelled to find a garden in -the wood, and, being entreated, eat of its produce, and -heard the holy man preach, and saw him heal. Then -the Saint was forced to build another hut for those of -his visitors who came from far to consult him, and, as -the crowds grew greater he was forced to go to the Bishop -to ask for more land.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Saint Faron, the Bishop of Meaux, to whom all the -forest belonged, knew his man. One can imagine two -such men leading lofty and spiritual lives meeting in the -monastery. I like to think of the Bishop as one of those -thin men full of years, with a skin like parchment, his -holiness shining out of his eyes, a man whose quiet -voice, tuned to the silence of the monastery, breathes -peace. And Fiacre, bronzed with the open air, rough -with labour, with the curious eyes of the mystic, eyes -that looked as if they had pierced the veil of a mystery, -standing before his Bishop asking for his grant of land.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Coming from the depths of the heavy wood into the -town, leaving the silence of his forest for the noise of the -place, he must have felt strange. Those who met him -were, I am sure, conscious of the atmosphere he carried -with him, the envelope all lonely men wear, the curious -reserve common to all dwellers in woods, and wilds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The Bishop consented to the demand, and gave him -his desire after a curious manner. Perhaps to test -this hermit whose fame had already spread so far, -perhaps to see how real were the stories he must have -heard of his spiritual son, this holy gardener, he granted -him as much land as he could enclose with his spade in -one day.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Back went Saint Fiacre to his forest clearing, to his -friends the birds, his bubbling wells, his aisles of trees, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>his garden, now well grown, and, breaking a stick he -marked out far and wide the space of land he needed, -more than any man could in one day enclose with any -spade. And after that into the little oratory he went -and prayed for help.</p> - -<p class='c012'>You may be sure every movement of this was carefully -observed. A woman envied him and spied on these -proceedings. I take it she was some woman to whom, -before the Saint grew famous, the peasants came for -spells and simples, a wise woman, a witch, whose reputation -was at stake.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The Saint’s prayer was answered. The woman, evil -report on her tongue, made her journey to the Bishop -of Meaux, and accused Fiacre of magic, of dealings -with the Devil. Roused by the report, the Bishop -came to see the Saint and saw all that had happened. -In one day all the wide space Fiacre had marked out -had been enclosed. After that the oratory was denied -to all women. Even as late as 1641, nearly a thousand -years after his death, when Anne of Austria visited his -shrine in the Cathedral of Meaux she did not enter the -Chapel but remained outside the grating. It was the -legend, handed down all that time, that any woman -who entered there would go blind or mad.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Where the Saint had dug his solitary garden, and on -the site of his cell a great Benedictine Priory was built -in after years, where his body was kept and did many -wonders of healing, especially in the cure of a certain -fleshy tumour, which they called “le fie de St. Fiacre.” -After many years, in the beginning of the seventeenth -century, his body was removed to the Cathedral at -Meaux.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So it may be seen for how good a cause he became -known as Patron of Gardeners, and it must now be -shown why he is called the Patron of Cab Drivers. In -<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>1640 a man of the name of Sauvage started an establishment -in Paris from which he let out carriages for hire. -He took a house for this business in the Rue St. Martin, -and the house was known as the Hotel de St. Fiacre, -and there was a figure of the Saint over the doorway.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All the coaches plying from here began to be called, -for short, fiacres, and the drivers placed images of the -Saint on their carriages, and claimed him as their patron.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There is a Pardon of St. Fiacre in Brittany; and there -are churches and altars to him all over France.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span> - <h2 class='c006'>III<br /> <br />EVELYN’S “SYLVA”</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>On my table, as I write, is the copy of “Sylva” -that John Evelyn himself gave to Sir Robert Morray, -and in which he wrote in ink that is now faded and -brown, as are his own autograph corrections in the -text,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“—from his most humble servant, Evelyn.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>The title page runs thus:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>SYLVA,</div> - <div>or a Discourse of</div> - <div>FOREST-TREES,</div> - <div>AND THE</div> - <div>Propagation of Timber</div> - <div>In His MAJESTIES Dominions</div> - <div>By J. E. Esq;</div> - <div class='c000'>As it was Delivered in the Royal Society the XVth of</div> - <div>October CIϽIϽCLXII. upon Occasion of certain Quaeries</div> - <div>Propounded to that Illustrious Assembly, by the Honorable</div> - <div>the Principal Officers, and Commissioners of the Navy.</div> - <div class='c000'>To which is annexed</div> - <div class='c000'>POMONA or, An Appendix concerning Fruit-Trees in</div> - <div>relation to CIDER;</div> - <div class='c000'>The Making and several ways of Ordering it.</div> - <div class='c000'>Published by the express Order of the ROYAL SOCIETY</div> - <div class='c000'>ALSO</div> - <div class='c000'>KALENDARIUM HORTENSE; Or, ye Gard’ners Almanac;</div> - <div>Directing what he is to do Monethly throughout the year.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>—Tibi res antiquæ laudis et artis</div> - <div class='line'>Ingredior, tantos ausus recludere fonteis. <i>Virg.</i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>LONDON: Printed by Jo. Martyn, and Ja. Allestry, Printers</div> - <div>to the Royal Society, and are to be sold at their Shop at the</div> - <div>Bell in S. Paul’s Church-yard;</div> - <div class='c000'>MDCLXIV.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div id='o096' class='figcenter id007'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span> -<img src='images/opp_096.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A WOOD AT WOTTON, THE HOME OF JOHN EVELYN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>This book was the first ever printed for the Royal -Society, and contains, as may be seen, a practically complete -record of seventeenth century planting and gardening, -thus having an unique interest for all who follow the -craft.</p> - -<p class='c012'>John Evelyn, from the day he began his lessons -under the Friar in the porch of Wotton Church, was a -curious observer of men and things, but especially was -he devoted to all manners and styles of gardening.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Nothing was too small, too trivial to escape his notice; -from the weather-cocks on the trees near Margate—put -there on the days the farmers feasted their servants, to -the interest he found in watching the first man he ever -saw drink coffee.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The positions he held under Charles II. and James II. -were many and varied, yet he found time to collect -samples in Venice, and travel extensively, to write a Play, -a treatise called: “Mundus Muliebris, or the Ladies’ -Dressing Room, Unlocked,” and a pamphlet, called -“Tyrannus, or the Mode,” in which he sought to make -Charles II. dress like a Persian, and succeeded in so -doing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But above all these things he held his chiefest pleasure -in seeing and talking of the arrangement of gardens, -passing on this love to his son John, who, when a boy of -fifteen, at Trinity College, Oxford, translated “Rapin, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>or Gardens,” the second book of which his father included -in his second edition of “Sylva.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>His Majesty Charles II., to whom the “Sylva” is -dedicated, was a monarch to whom justice has never -been properly done. He is represented by pious but -inaccurate historians, those men who for many years -gave a false character of jovial good nature to that gross -thief and sacrilegious monster, Henry VIII., as a King -who spent most of his time in the Playhouse, or in talking -trivialities with gay ladies, and in making witty remarks -to all and sundry in his Court. The side of him that took -interest in shipbuilding, navigation, astronomy, in the -founding of the Royal Society, in the advancement of Art, -in the minor matters of flower gardening and bee-keeping -is nearly always suppressed. It was largely through his -interest in this volume of Evelyn’s that the Royal forests -were properly replanted; and it was in a great measure -due to Royal interest that the parks and estates of the -noblemen of England became famous in after years for -their beautiful timber.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In that part of the “Sylva” dealing with forest trees, -there were a hundred hints to all lovers of nature and of -gardens, for your good gardener is a man very near in his -nature to a good strong tree, and loves to observe the -play of light and shade in the branches of those that give -shade to his garden walks.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Evelyn tells us how the Ash is the sweetest of forest -fuelling, and the fittest for Ladies’ Chambers, also for the -building of Arbours, the staking of Espaliers, and the -making of Poles. The white rot of it makes a ground for -the Sweet-powder used by gallants. He tries to introduce -the Chestnut as food, saying how it is a good, lusty -and masculine food for Rustics; and commenting on the -fact that the best tables in France and Italy make them -a service. He tells us how the water in which Walnut -<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>husks and leaves are boiled poured on the carpet of walks -and bowling-greens infallibly kills the worms without -hurting the grass. That, by the way, is a matter for discussion -among gardeners, seeing that some say that the -movements of worms from below the surface to their -cast on the lawn lets air among the grass roots and is good -for them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He tells us how the Horn-beam makes the stateliest -hedge for long garden walks. He advises us how to -make wine of the Birch, Ash, Elder, Oak, Crab and -Bramble. He praises the Service-Tree, and the Eugh, and -the Jasmine, saying of this last how one sorry tree in -Paris where they grow “has been worth to a poor -woman, near twenty shillings a year.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>All this and much besides of diverting and instructive -reading, varied with remarks on the gardens of his -friends and acquaintances, as when he “cannot but -applaud the worthy Industry of old <i>Sir Harbotle Grimstone</i>, -who (I am told) from a very small <i>Nursery of -Acorns</i> which he sowed in the neglected corners of his -ground, did draw forth such numbers of <i>Oaks</i> of -competent growth; as being planted about his <i>Fields</i> in -even and uniform rows, about one hundred foot from the -<i>Hedges</i>; bush’d and well water’d till they had sufficiently -fix’d themselves, did wonderfully improve -both the beauty, and the value of his <i>Demeasnes</i>,” -for the honour and glory of filling England with -fine trees and gardens to improve, what he calls—the -Landskip.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The exigencies of the present moment when Imperial -Finance threatens to tax all good parks and orchards out -of existence, and to make all fine flower gardens out of -use, except to the enormously wealthy, makes the -“Gard’ners Calendar” all the more interesting as -showing what manner of flowers, fruits, and vegetables -<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>were in use in the Seventeenth Century, and the means -employed to grow and preserve them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then, as now, there was a danger of over cultivation of -certain plants and flowers, so that a man might have -more pride in the number and curiosity of his flowers, -than in the beauty and colour of them. It is a certain -fault in modern gardeners that they do not study the -grouping and massing of colours, but do, more generally, -take pride in over-large specimens, great collections, -and rare varieties. But this age and that are times of -collecting, of connoisseurship, ages that produce us great -art of their own but have an extraordinary knowledge of -the arts and devices of the past. Not that I would -decry the friendly competitions of this and that man to -grow rare rock plants, or bloom exotics the one against -another, but I do most certainly prefer a rivalry in producing -beautiful effects of colour; and love better to see -a great mass of Roses growing free than to see one poor -tree twisted into the semblance of a flowering parasol as -men now use in many of the small climbing Roses.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To the end that gardeners and lovers of gardens may -know how those past gardeners treated their fruits and -flowers, I give the whole of Evelyn’s “Gard’ners -Calendar,” than which no more complete account of -gardens of that time exists.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It would be as well to note, before arriving at our -Seventeenth Century Calendar, how the art of gardening -had grown in England after the time of the Romans.</p> - -<p class='c012'>From the time that every sign of the Roman occupation -had been wiped out to the beginning of the thirteenth -century, gardens as we know them to-day did not -exist. The first attempts at gardens within castle walls -were little plots of herbs and shrubs with a few trees of -Costard Apples. It appears that all those plants and -flowers the Romans cultivated had been lost, and that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>with the sterner conditions of living all such arrangements -as arbours of cut Yew trees, or elaborate Box-edged -paths had completely vanished. Certainly they -did have arbours for shade, but of a simple kind and quite -unlike the elaborate garden houses the Romans built.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were vineyards and wine made from them as -early as the Eighth Century, and in the reign of Edward -the Third wine was made at Windsor Castle by Stephen -of Bourdeaux. The Cherry trees brought here by the -Romans had quite died out and were not recovered -until Harris, Henry the Eighth’s Irish fruiterer, grew -them again at Sittingbourne. In the Twelfth Century -flower gardening again came in, and within the castle -walls pleasant gardens were laid out with little avenues -of fruit trees, and neat beds of flowers. Of the fruit -trees there was the Costard Apple, the only Apple of that -time, from which great quantities of cider—that -“good-natured and potable liquor”—was made. There -was the great Wardon Pear, from which the celebrated -Wardon pies were made; they were Winter Pears from -a stock originally cultivated by those great horticulturists -the Cistercian monks of Wardon in Bedfordshire. -Then there was also the Quince, called a Coyne, -the Medlar, and I believe the Mulberry, or More tree. -In the borders, Strawberries, Raspberries, Barberries -and Currants were grown, that is in a well-stocked -garden such as the Earl of Lincoln had in Holborn in -1290. Then there was a plot set aside as a Physic -garden where herbs grew and salads of Rocket, Lettuce, -Mustard, Watercress, and Hops. In one place, probably -overlooking the pond or fountain which was the centre -of such gardens, was an arbour, and walks and smaller -gardens were screened off by wattle hedges. In that -part of the garden devoted to flowers were Roses, Lilies, -Sunflowers, Violets, Poppies, Narcissi, Pervinkes or -<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>Periwinkles. Lastly, and most important was the -Clove Pink, or Gilly-flower, a variety of Wallflower then -called Bee-flower. Add to this an apiary and you have -a complete idea of the mediæval garden.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Later, in the Fifteenth Century came a new feature -into the garden, a mound built in the centre for the view, -made sometimes of earth, but very often of wood -raised up as a platform, and having gaily carved and -painted stairways. These, with butts for archery, -and bowling-greens, and a larger variety of the old -kinds of flowers, showed the principal difference.</p> - -<p class='c012'>We come now to the gardens of the Sixteen Century, -when flower gardening was extremely popular. Spenser -and the other poets are always describing the beauties -of flowers, and from these and old Herbals, from Bacon, -Shakespeare and other writers of that time, we are able -to see how, slowly but surely, the art of flower growing -had advanced. The gardens were very exact and -formal, and were divided in geometrical patterns, and -grew large “seats” of Violets, Penny Royal, and Mint -as well as other herbs. Above all, a new addition to the -mounds, archery butts and bowling-greens, was the -maze which had a place in every proper garden of the -Elizabethans.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The first garden where flower growing was taken -really seriously belonged to John Parkinson, a London -apothecary who had a garden in Long Acre. Great -importance was given to smell, as is highly proper, -and flower gardens were bordered with Thyme, Marjoram -and Lavender. Highly-scented flowers were -the most prized, and for this reason the prime favourite -the Carnation, was more grown than any other flower. -Of this there were fifty distinct varieties of every shape -and size, including the famous large Clove Pink, the -golden coloured Sops-in-Wine.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>With the increase in the variety of the Rose, of which -about thirty kinds were known, came the fashion, -quickly universal, of keeping potpourri of dried Rose -leaves, many of which were imported from the East, -from whence, years before, had come quantities of Roses -to supply the demand in Winter in Rome.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As the fashion for growing flowers increased so, also, -did the efforts of gardeners to procure new and rare -flowers from foreign countries, and soon the Fritillary, -Tulip and Iris were extensively cultivated, and were -treated with extraordinary care.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Following this came the rage for Anemones and -Ranunculi, in which people endeavoured to excel over -their friends. And after that came in small Chrysanthemums, -Lilac or Blue Pipe tree, Lobelia, and the -Acacia tree.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It will be seen that within quite a short space of time -the old garden containing few flowers, and only those -as a rule that had some medicinal properties, vanished -before a perfect orgy of colour and wealth of varieties; -and that gardening for pleasure gave the people a new -and fascinating occupation. The rage for Anemones -and for the different kinds of Ranunculus developed -until in the late Seventeenth Century the madness, -for it was nothing else, for Tulip collecting came in, -to give place still later to the Rose, and in our day only -to be equalled by the collection of Chrysanthemums -and Orchids.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The best books previous to Evelyn’s “Sylva” are -Gervase Markham’s “Country House-Wife’s Garden,” -(1617), and John Parkinson’s “Paradisus in Sole” -(1629).</p> - -<p class='c012'>One word more on the subject of flower mania. The -rage for the Tulip that attacked both English and -Dutch in the late Seventeenth Century is one of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>most peculiar things in the history of gardening. The -Tulip is really a Persian flower, the shape of it suggesting -the name, thoulyban, a Persian turban. It was -introduced into England about 1577, by way of -Germany, having been brought there by the German -Ambassador from Constantinople. By the Seventeenth -Century there had developed such a passion for this -flower that it led to wreck and ruin of rich men who -paid fabulous sums for the bulbs, a single bulb being -sold for a fortune. One bulb of the Semper Augustus -was sold for four thousand six hundred florins, a new -carriage, a pair of grey horses, and complete harness. -So great did the business in Tulips become that every -Dutch town had special Tulip exchanges, and there -speculators assembled and bid away vast sums to -acquire rare kinds. The mania lasted about three -years, and was only finally stopped by the Government.</p> - -<div id='o105' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_104.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>TULIPS IN “THE GARDEN OF PEACE.”</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span> - <h2 class='c006'>PART III<br /> <br />KALENDARIUM HORTENSE</h2> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>KALENDARIUM HORTENSE:</div> - <div>OR THE</div> - <div>GARD’NERS ALMANAC;</div> - <div class='c014'><span class='sc'>Directing what He is to do</span></div> - <div>MONETHLY</div> - <div><span class='sc'>Throughout the</span></div> - <div>YEAR</div> - <div class='c014'>1664</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span> - <h2 class='c006'>JANUARY.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Orchard, and Olitory Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Trench the ground, and make it ready for the Spring: -prepare also soil, and use it where you have occasion: -Dig Borders, &c., uncover as yet Roots of Trees, where -Ablaqueation is requisite.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant Quick-Sets, and Transplant Fruit-trees, if not -finished: Set Vines; and begin to prune the old: -Prune the branches of Orchard-fruit-trees; Nail, and -trim your Wall-fruit, and Espaliers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Cleanse Trees of Moss, &c., the weather moist.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Gather Cyons for graffs before the buds sprout; -and about the later end, Graff them in the Stock: Set -Beans, Pease, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow also (if you please) for early Colly-flowers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow Chevril, Lettuce, Radish, and other (more delicate) -Saleting; if you will raise in the Hot-bed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In over wet, or hard weather, cleanse, mend, sharpen -and prepare garden-tools.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Turn up your Bee-hives, and sprinkle them with a -little warm and sweet Wort; do it dextrously.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Fruits in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='fss'>APPLES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Kentish-pepin, Russet-pepin, Golden-pepin, French -pepin, Kirton-pepin, Holland-pepin, John-apple, Winter-queening, -Mari-gold, Harvey-apple, Pome-water, Pomeroy, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>Golden-Doucet, Reineting, Loues-pearmain, Winter-Pearmain, -etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEARS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Winter-husk (bakes well), Winter-Norwich (excellently -baked), Winter-Bergamot, Winter-Bon-crestien, both -Mural: the great Surrein, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>JANUARY.</div> - <div class='c000'><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Parterre, and Flower Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Set up your Traps for Vermin; especially in your -Nurseries of Kernels and Stones, and amongst your -Bulbous-roots: About the middle of this month, plant -your Anemony-roots, which will be secure of, without -covering, or farther trouble: Preserve from too great -and continuing Rains (if they happen), Snow and Frost, -your choicest Anemonies, and Ranunculus’s sow’d -in September, or October for earlier Flowers: Also -your Carnations, and such seeds as are in peril of being -wash’d out, or over chill’d and frozen; covering them -with Mats and shelter, and striking off the Snow where -it lies too weighty; for it certainly rots, and bursts -your early-set Anemonies and Ranunculus’s, etc., unless -planted now in the Hot-bed; for now is the Season, and -they will flower even in London. Towards the end, -earth-up, with fresh and light mould, the Roots of -those Auriculas which the frosts may have uncovered; -filling up the chinks about the sides of the Pots where -your choicest are set: but they need not be hous’d; -it is a hardy Plant.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Flowers in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Winter Aconite, some Anemonies, Winter Cyclamen, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>Black Hellebor, Beumal-Hyacinth, Oriental-Jacynth, -Levantine-Narcissus, Hepatica, Prime-Roses, Laurustinus, -Mezereon, Praecoce Tulips, etc., especially if raised -in the (Hot-bed).</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>NOTE.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>That both these Fruits and Flowers are more early, -or tardy, both as to their prime Seasons of eating, and -perfection of blowing, according as the soil, and situation, -are qualified by Nature or Accident.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>NOTE ALSO</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>That in this Recension of Monethly Flowers, it is to -be understood for the whole period that any flower -continues, from its first appearing, to its final withering.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span> - <h2 class='c006'>FEBRUARY.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Orchard, and Olitory Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Prime Fruit-trees, and Vines, as yet. Remove graffs -of former year graffing. Cut and lay Quick-sets. Yet -you may Prune some Wall-fruit (not finish’d before) -the most tender and delicate: But be exceedingly careful -of the now turgid buds and bearers; and trim up -your Palisade Hedges, and Espaliers. Plant Vines as -yet, and the Shrubs, Hops, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Set all sorts of kernels and stony seeds. Also sow -Beans, Pease, Radish, Parsnips, Carrots, Onions, Garlick, -etc., and Plant Potatoes in your worst ground.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now is your Season for Circumposition by Tubs, -Baskets of Earth, and for laying of Branches to take -Root. You may plant forth your Cabbage-plants.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Rub Moss off your Trees after a soaking Rain, and -scrape and cleanse them of Cankers, etc., draining away -the wet (if need require) from the too much moistened -Roots, and earth up those Roots of your Fruit-trees, -if any were uncover’d. Cut off the webs of Caterpillars, -etc. (from the Tops of Twigs and Trees) to burn. Gather -Worms in the evenings after Rain.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Kitchen-Garden herbs may now be planted, as Parsly, -Spinage, and other hardy Pot-herbs. Towards the -middle of later end of this Moneth, till the Sap rises -briskly, Graff in the Cleft, and so continue till the last -of March; they will hold Apples, Pears, Cherries, -Plums, etc. Now also plant out your Colly-flowers -<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>to have early; and begin to make your Hot-bed for the -first Melons and Cucumbers; but trust not altogether -to them. Sow Asparagus. Lastly,</p> - -<p class='c012'>Half open your passages for the Bees, or a little -before (if weather invite); but continue to feed weak -Stocks, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Fruits in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='fss'>APPLES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Kentish, Kirton, Russet, Holland Pepins; Deuxans, -Winter Queening, Harvey, Pome-water, Pomeroy, -Golden Doucet, Reineting, Loues Pearmain, Winter -Pearmain, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEARS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Bon-crestien of Winter, Winter Poppering, Little -Dagobert, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>FEBRUARY.</div> - <div class='c000'><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Parterre, and Flower Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Continue Vermine Trapps, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow Alaternus seeds in Cases, or open beds; cover -them with thorns, that the Poultry scratch them not -out.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now and then air your Carnations, in warm days -especially, and mild showers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Furnish (now towards the end) your Aviarys with -Birds before they couple, etc.</p> - -<div id='o112' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_112.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>APPLE TREES.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span><span class='sc'>Flowers in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Winter Aconite, single Anemonies, and some double, -Tulips praecoce, Vernal Crocus, Black Hellebore, single -Hepatica, Persian Iris, Leucoium, Dens Caninus, -three leav’d, Vernal Cyclamen, white and red. Yellow -Violets with large leaves, early Daffodils, etc.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span> - <h2 class='c006'>MARCH.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Orchard, and Olitory Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Yet Stercoration is seasonable, and you may plant -what trees are left, though it be something of the latest, -unless in very backward or moist places.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now is your chiefest and best time for raising on the -Hot-bed Melons, Cucumbers, Gourds, etc., which about -the sixth, eighth or tenth day will be ready for the -seeds; and eight days after prick them forth at distances, -according to the method, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>If you have them later, begin again in ten or twelve -days after the first, and so a third time, to make Experiments.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Graff all this Moneth, unless the Spring prove extraordinary -forwards.</p> - -<p class='c012'>You may as yet cut Quick-sets, and cover such Tree-roots -as you laid bare in Autumn.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Slip and set Sage, Rosemary, Lavender, Thyme, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow in the beginning Endive, Succory, Leeks, Radish, -Beets, Chard-Beet, Scorzonera, Parsnips, Skirrets, -Parsley, Sorrel, Buglos, Borrage, Chevril, Sellery, -Smalladge, Alisanders, etc. Several of which continue -many years without renewing, and are most of -them to be blanch’d by laying them under litter and -earthing up.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow also Lettuce, Onions, Garlick, Okach, Parslan, -Turneps (to have early) monethly, Pease, etc. these -annually.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>Transplant the Beet-chard which you sow’d in August -to have most ample Chards. Sow also Carrots, Cabbages, -Cresses, Fennel, Marjoram, Basil, Tobacco, etc. -And transplant any sort of Medicinal Hearbs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mid-March dress up and string your Strawberry-beds, -and uncover your Asparagus, spreading and loosening -the Mould about them, for their more easy penetrating. -Also you may transplant Asparagus roots to make new -Beds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>By this time your Bees sit; keep them close Night -and Morning, if the weather prove ill. Turn your -Fruit in the Room where it lies, but open not yet the -windows.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Fruits in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='fss'>APPLES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Golden Duchess (Doucet), Pepins, Reineting, Loues -Pearmain, Winter Pearmain, John-Apple, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEARS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Later Bon-crestien, Double Blossom Pear, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>MARCH.</div> - <div class='c000'><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Parterre, and Flower Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Stake and binde up your weakest Plants and Flowers -against the Windes, before they come too fiercely, and in -a moment prostrate a whole year’s labour.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant Box, etc, in Parterres. Sow Pinks, Sweet -Williams, and Carnations, from the middle to the end of -this Moneth. Sow Pine kernels, Firr-seeds, Bays, Alatirnus, -Phillyrea, and most perennial Greens, etc. Or -you may stay till somewhat later in the Moneth. Sow -<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>Auricula seeds in pots or cases, in fine willow earth, a -little loamy; and place what you sow’d in October now -in the shade and water it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant some Anemony roots to bear late, and successively: -especially in, and about London, where the -Smoak is anything tolerable; and if the Season be very -dry, water them well once in two or three days. Fibrous -roots may be transplanted about the middle of this -Moneth; such as Hepatica’s, Primeroses, Auricula’s, -Camomile, Hyacinth, Tuberose, Matricaria, Hellebor, -and other Summer Flowers; and towards the end Convolvulus, -Spanish or ordinary Jasmine.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Towards the middle or latter end of March sow on the -Hot-bed such Plants as are late-bearing Flowers or -Fruit in our Climate; as Balsamine, and Balsamummas, -Pomum Onions, Datura, Aethispic Apples, some choice -Amaranthmus, Dactyls, Geraniums, Hedysarum Clipeatum, -Humble, and Sensitive Plants, Lenticus, Myrtleberries -(steep’d awhile), Capsicum Indicum, Canna -Indica, Flos Africanus, Mirabile Peruvian, Nasturtium -Ind., Indian Phaseoli, Volubilis, Myrrh, Carrots, Manacoe, -fine flos Passionis and the like rare and exotic -plants which are brought us from hot countries.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Note.—That the Nasturtium Ind., African Marygolds, -Volubilis and some others, will come (though not -altogether so forwards) in the Cold-bed without Art. -But the rest require much and constant heat, and -therefore several Hot-beds, till the common earth be very -warm by the advance of the Sun, to bring them to a due -stature, and perfect their Seeds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>About the expiration of this Moneth carry into the -shade such Auriculas, Seedlings or Plants as are for their -choiceness reserv’d in Pots.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Transplant also Carnation seedlings, giving your layers -fresh earth, and setting them in the shade for a week, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>then likewise cut off all the sick and infected -leaves.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now do the farewell-frosts, and Easterly-winds -prejudice your choicest Tulips, and spot them; therefore -cover such with Mats or Canvass to prevent freckles, and -sometimes destruction. The same care have of your -most precious Anemonies, Auricula’s, Chamae-iris, Brumal -Jacynths, Early Cyclamen, etc. Wrap your shorn -Cypress Tops with Straw wisps, if the Eastern blasts prove -very tedious. About the end uncover some Plants, but -with Caution; for the tail of the Frosts yet continuing, -and sharp winds, with the sudden darting heat of the -Sun, scorch and destroy them in a moment; and in such -weather neither sow nor transplant.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow Stock-gilly-flower seeds in the Fall to produce -double flowers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now may you set your Oranges, Lemons, Myrtils, -Oleanders, Lentises, Dates, Aloes, Amonumus, and like -tender trees and Plants in the Portico, or with the windows -and doors of the Green-houses and Conservatories -open for eight or ten days before April, or earlier, if the -Season invite, to acquaint them gradually with the Air; -but trust not the Nights, unless the weather be thoroughly -settled.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Lastly, bring in materials for the Birds in the Aviary -to build their nests withal.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Flowers in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Anemonies, Spring Cyclamen, Winter Aconite, Crocus, -Bellis, white and black Hellebor, single and double -Hepatica, Leucoion, Chamae-iris of all colours, Dens -Caninus, Violets, Fritillaria, Chelidonium, small with -double Flower, Hermodactyls, Tuberous Iris, Hyacinth, -Zenboin, Brumal, Oriental, etc. Junquils, great -<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>Chalic’d, Dutch Mezereon, Persian Iris, Curialas, Narcissus -with large tufts, common, double, and single, Prime -Roses, Praecoce Tulips, Spanish Trumpets or Junquilles; -Violets, yellow Dutch Violets, Crown Imperial, Grape -Flowers, Almonds and Peach-blossoms, Rubus odoratus, -Arbour Judae, etc.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span> - <h2 class='c006'>APRIL.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Orchard, and Olitory Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Sow Sweet Marjoram, Hyssop, Basile, Thyme, Winter-Savoury, -Scurvey-grass, and all fine and tender Seeds -that require the Hot-bed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow also Lettuce, Purslan, Caully-flower, Radish, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant Artichoke-slips, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Set French-beans, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>You may yet slip Lavender, Thyme, Rose-mary, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Towards the middle of this moneth begin to plant forth -your Melons and Cucumbers, and to the late end; your -Ridges well prepared.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Gather up Worms and Snails, after evening showers, -continue this also after all Summer rains.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Open now your Bee-hives, for now they hatch; look -carefully to them, and prepare your Hives, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Fruits in Prime, and Yet Lasting.</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='fss'>APPLES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Pepins, Deuxans, West-berry Apples, Russeting, -Gilly-flowers, flat Reinet, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEARS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Late Bon-crestien, Oak-pear, etc., double Blossom, -etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>APRIL.</div> - <div class='c000'><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Parterre, and Flower Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Sow divers Annuals to have Flowers all the Summer; -as double Mari-golds, Cyanus of all sorts, Candy-tufts, -Garden-Pansy, Muscipula, Scabious, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Continue new, and fresh Hot-beds to entertain such -exotic plants as arrive not to their perfection without -them, till the Air and common earth be qualified with -sufficient warmth to preserve them abroad. A Catalogue -of these you have in the former Moneth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Transplant such Fibrous roots as you had not finished -in March; as Violets, Hepatica, Prim-roses, Hellebor, -Matricaria, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow Pinks, Carnations, Sweet-Williams, etc., to -flower next year; this after rain.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Set Lupines, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow also yet Pine-kernels, Firr-seeds, Phillyrea, Alaternus, -and most perennial greens.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now take out your Indian Tuberoses, parting the offsets -(but with care, lest you break their fangs), then pot -them in natural (not forc’d) Earth; a layer of rich mould -beneath, and about this natural earth to nourish the -fibers, but not so as to touch the Bulbs; then plunge your -pots in a Hot-bed temperately warm, and give them no -water till they spring, and then set them under a South-wall. -In dry weather water them freely, and expect an -incomparable flower in August. Thus likewise treat the -Narcissus of Japan, or Garnsey-Lilly, for a late flower, -and make much of this precious Direction.</p> - -<div id='o121' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_121.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>DAFFODILS IN A MIDDLESEX GARDEN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Water Anemonies, Ranunculus’s, and Plants in Pots -and Cases once in two or three days, if drouth require it. -But carefully protect from violent Storms of Rain and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>Hail, and the too parching darts of the Sun, your Pennach’d -Tulips, Ranunculus’s, Anemonies, Auricula’s, -covering them with Mattresses supported on cradles of -hoops, which have now in readiness.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now is the season for you to bring the choice and -tender shrubs, etc., out of the Conservatory; such as -you durst not adventure forth in March. Let it be in a -fair day; only your Orange-trees may remain in the -house till May, to prevent all danger.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now, towards the end of April, you may Transplant -and Remove your tender shrubs, etc., as Spanish Jasmines, -Myrtils, Oleanders, young Oranges, Cyclamen, -Pomegranats, etc., but first let them begin to sprout; -placing them a fort-night in the shade; but about London -it may be better to defer this work till August, vide -also May. Prune now your Spanish Jasmine within an -inch or two of the stock; but first see it begin to shoot. -Mow Carpet-walks, and ply Weeding, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Towards the end (if the cold winds are past) and -especially after showers, clip Philyrea, Alaternus, Cypress, -Box, Myrtils, Barba Jovis, and other tonsile -shrubs, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Flowers in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Anemonies, Ranunculus’s, Auriculalirri, Chamae-Iris, -Crown Imperial, Caprisolium, Cyclamen, Dens Caninus, -Fritillaria, double Hepaticas, Jacynth starry, double -Daisies, Florence-Iris, tufted Narcissus, white, double -and common, English Double, Prime-rose, Cow-slips, -Pulsatilla, Ladies-Smock, Tulips Medias, Ranunculus’s -of Tripoly, white Violets, Musk, Grape-flower, Parietaria -Lutea, Leucoium, Lillies, Paeonies, double Jonquils, -Muscaria revers’d, Cochlearia, Periclymenum, Aicanthus, -Lilac, Rose-mary, Cherries, Wall-pears, Almonds, -Abricots, White-Thorn, Arbour Judae blossoming, etc.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span> - <h2 class='c006'>MAY.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Orchard, and Olitory Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Sow Sweet-Marjoram, Basil, Thyme, hot and Aromatic -Herbs, and Plants which are the most tender.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow Parslan, to have young; Lettuce, large-sided -Cabbage, painted Beans, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Look carefully to your Mellons; and towards the end of -this moneth, forbear to cover them any longer on the -Ridges, either with straw or mattresses, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Ply the Laboratory, and distill Plants for Waters, -Spirits, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Continue Weeding before they run to Seeds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now set your Bees at full Liberty, look out often, -and expect Swarms, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Fruits in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Pepins, Deuxans or John-Apples, West-berry-apples, -Russeting, Gilly-flower Apples, the Maligan, etc., Codling.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEARS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Great Kainville, Winter-Bon-cretienne, Double Blossom-pear, -etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>CHERRIES, ETC.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>The May-Cherry, Straw-berries, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>MAY.</div> - <div class='c000'><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Parterre, and Flower Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Now bring your Oranges, etc., boldly out of the Conservatory; -’tis your only Season to Transplant, and Remove -them; let the Cases be fill’d with natural-earth -(such as is taken the first half spit, from just under the -Turf of the best Pasture ground), mixing it with one part -of rotten Cow-dung, or very mellow Soil screen’d and -prepar’d some time before; if this be too stiff, sift a -little Lime discreetly with it. Then cutting the Roots a -little, especially at bottom, set your Plant; but not too -deep; rather let some of the Roots appear. Lastly, -settle it with temperate water (not too much) having put -some rubbish of Brick-bats, Lime-stones, Shells, or the like -at the bottom of the Cases, to make the moisture passage, -and keep the earth loose. Then set them in the shade -for a fort-night, and afterwards expose them to the Sun.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Give now also all your hous’d-plants fresh earth at the -surface, in place of some of the old earth (a hand-depth -or so) and loos’ning the rest with a fork without wounding -the Roots. Let this be of excellent rich soil, such as -is thoroughly consumed and with sift, that it may wash -in the vertue, and comfort the Plant. Brush, and -cleanse them likewise from the dust contracted during -their Enclosure. These two last directions have till -now been kept as considerable secrets amongst our -gard’ners; vide August and September.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Shade your Carnations and Gilly-flowers after midday -about this season. Plant also your Stock Gilly-flowers -in beds, full Moon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Gather what Anemony-seed you find ripe, and that is -worth saving, preserving it very dry.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>Cut likewise the stalks of such Bulbous-flowers as you -find dry.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Towards the end, take up those Tulips which are dried -in the stalk; covering what you find to be bare from the -Sun and showers.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Flowers in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Late set Anemonies and Ranunculus nom. gen. -Anapodophylon, Chamae-iris, Angustifol, Cyanus, Columbines, -Caltha Palustris, double Cotyledon, Digitalis, -Fraxinella, Gladiolus, Geranium, Horminum Creticum, -yellow Hemerocallis, strip’d Jacynth, early Bulbous -Iris, Asphodel, Yellow Lilies, Lychnis, Jacca, Bellis -double, white and red, Millefolium Liteum, Lilium Convalium, -Span. Pinkes, Deptford-pinke, Rosa common, -Cinnamon, Guelder and Centifol, etc. Syringa’s, -Sedunis, Tulips, Serotin, etc. Valerian, Veronica double -and single, Musk Violets, Ladies Slipper, Stock-gilly-flowers, -Spanish Nut, Star-flower, Chalcedons, ordinary -Crow-foot, red Martagon, Bee-flowers, Campanula’s -white and bleu, Persian Lilly, Honey-suckles, Buglosse, -Homers Moly, and the white of Dioscorides, Pansys, -Prunella, purple Thalictrum, Sisymbrium, double and -single, Leucoium bulbosum serstinum, Rose-mary -Stacchas, Barba Jovis, Laurus, Satyrion, Oxyacanthus, -Tamariscus, Apple-blossoms, etc.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span> - <h2 class='c006'>JUNE.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Orchard, and Olitory Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Sow Lettuce, Chevril, Radish, etc., to have young -and tender Salleting.</p> - -<p class='c012'>About the midst of June you may inoculate Peaches -Abricots, Cherries, Plums, Apples, Pears, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>You may now also (or before) cleanse Vines of exuberant -branches and tendrils, cropping (not cutting) and stopping -the joynt immediately before the Blossoms, and -some of the under branches which bear no fruit; especially -in young Vineyards when they first begin to bear, -and thence forwards.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Gather Herbs in the Fall, to keep dry; they keep and -retain their virtue, and smell sweet, better dry’d in the -shade than in the Sun, whatever some pretend.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now is your season to distill Aromatic Plants, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Water lately planted Trees, and put moist and half-rotten -Fearn, etc, about the pot of their Stems.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Look to your Bees for Swarms, and Casts; and begin -to destroy Insects with Hooses, Canes, and tempting -baits, etc. Gather Snails after rain, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Fruits in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='fss'>APPLES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Juniting (first ripe), Pepins, John-apples, Robillard, -Red-Fennouil, etc., French.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>The Maudlin (first ripe), Madera, Green-Royal, St. -Laurence Pear, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>CHERRIES, ETC.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<table class='table4' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='76%' /> -<col width='23%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c003'> </td> - <td class='c004'>Black.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'>Duke, Flanders, Heart</td> - <td class='c004'>Red.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'> </td> - <td class='c004'>White.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class='c012'>Luke-ward, early Flanders, the Common-cherry, -Spanish-black, Naples-Cherries, etc. Rasberries, -Corinths, Straw-berries, Melons, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>JUNE.</div> - <div class='c000'><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Parterre, and Flower Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Transplant Autumnal Cyclamens now if you would -change their place, otherwise let them stand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Gather ripe seeds of Flowers worth the saving, as of -choicest Oriental Jacynth, Narcissus (the two lesser, pale -spurious Daffodels of a whitish green often produce -varieties), Auriculas, Ranunculus’s, etc., and preserve -them dry. Shade your Carnations from the afternoons -Sun. Take up your rarest Anemonies, and Ranunculus’s -after rain (if it come seasonable) the stalk wither’d, and -dry the roots well. This about the end of the moneth. -In mid June inoculate Jasmine, Roses, and some other -rare shrubs. Sow now also some Anemony seeds. Take up -your Tulip-bulbs, burying such immediately as you find -naked upon your beds; or else plant them in some cooler -place; and refresh over parched beds with water. Plant -your Narcissus of Japan (that rare flower) in Pots, etc. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>Also you may now take up all such Plants and Flower-roots -as endure not well out of the ground, and replant -them again immediately: such as the Early Cyclamen, -Jacynth Oriental, and other bulbous Jacynths, Iris, -Fritillaria, Crown-Imperial, Martagon, Muscario, Dens -Caninus, etc. The slips of Myrtil set in some cool and -moist place do now frequently take root. Also Cytisus -lunatus will be multiplied by slips, such as are an handful -long that Spring. Look now to your Aviary; for -now the Birds grow sick of their feathers; therefore -assist them with Emulsions of the cooler seeds bruised -water, as Melons, Cucumbers, etc. Also give them -Succory, Beets, Groundsel, Chickweed, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Flowers in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Amaranthus, Antirrhinum, Campanula, Clematis -Pannonica, Cyanus, Digitalis, Geranium, Horminum -Creticum, Hieracium, bulbous Iris, and divers others, -Lychnis, var. generum, Martagon white and red, Millefolium, -white and yellow, Nasturtium Indicum, Carnations, -Pinks, Ornithogalum, Pansy, Phalangium Virginianum, -darks-heel early. Pilosella, Roses, Thalaspi Creticum, -etc. Veronica, Viola pentaphyl, Campions or -Sultans, Mountain Lilies white and red; double Poppies, -Stock-jelly flowers, Jasmines, Corn-flag, Hollyhoc, -Muscaria, serpyllum Citratum, Phalangium Allobrogicum, -Oranges, Rose-mary, Leuticus, Pome-Granade, -the Lime-tree, etc.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span> - <h2 class='c006'>JULY.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Orchard, and Olitory Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Sow Lettuce, Radish, etc., to have tender salleting.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow later Pease to be ripe six weeks after Michaelmas.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Water young planted Trees, and Layers, etc., and -prune now Abricots, and Peaches, saving as many of the -young likeliest shoots as are well placed; for the new -Bearers commonly perish, the new ones succeeding: -Cut close and even.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Let such Olitory-herbs run to seed as you would -save.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Towards the later end, visit your Vineyards again, -etc., and stop the exuberant shoots at the second joint -above the fruit; but not so as to expose it to the -Sun.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now begin to straighten the entrance of your Bees a -little; and help them to kill their Drones if you observe -too many; setting Glasses of Beer mingled with Hony -to entice the Wasps, Flyes, etc., which waste your store: -also hang Bottles of the same Mixture near your Red-Roman -Nectarines, and other tempting fruits for their -destruction; else they many times invade your best -Fruit.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Look now also diligently under the leaves of Mural-Trees -for the Snails; they stick commonly somewhat -above the fruit: pull not off what is bitten; for then -they will certainly begin afresh.</p> - -<div id='o128' class='figcenter id008'> -<img src='images/opp_128.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A POET’S ORCHARD IN KENT.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span><span class='sc'>Fruits in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='fss'>APPLES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Deuxans, Pepins, Winter-Russeting, Andrew-apples, -Cinnamon-apple, red and white Juiniting, the Margaret-apple, -etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEARS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>The Primat, Russet-pears, Summer-pears, green -Chesil-pears, Pearl-pear, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>CHERRIES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Carnations, Morella, Great-bearer, Morocco-cherry, -the Egriot, Bigarreaux, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEACHES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Nutmeg, Isabella, Persian, Newington, Violet-muscat, -Rambouillet.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PLUMS, ETC.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Primordial, Myrobalan, the red, bleu, and amber -Violet, Damax, Deuny Damax, Pear-plum, Damax, -Violet or Cheson-plum, Abricot-plum, Cinnamon-plum, -the Kings-plum, Spanish, Morocco-plum, Lady Eliz. -Plum, Tawny, Damascene, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Rasberries, Goose-berries, Corinths, Straw-berries, -Melons, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>JULY.</div> - <div class='c000'><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Parterre, and Flower Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Slip Stocks and other lignous Plants and Flowers: -From henceforth to Michaelmas you may also lay Gilly-flowers -<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>and Carnations for Increase, leaving not above -two, or three spindles for flowers, with supports, cradles, -and hooses, to establish them against winds, and destroy -Earwigs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The Layers will (in a moneth or six weeks) strike -root, being planted in a light loamy earth mix’d with -excellent rotten soil and seifted: plant six or eight -in a pot to save room in Winter: keep them well from -too much Rains: but shade those which blow from the -afternoons Sun, as in the former Moneths.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yet also you may lay Myrtils, and other curious -Greens.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Water young planted Shrubs and Layers, etc., as -Orange-trees, Myrtils, Granades, Amomum, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Clip Box, etc., in Parterres, knots, and Compartiments, -if need be, and that it grow out of order; do -it after Rain.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Graff by Approach, Trench, or Innoculate Jasmines, -Oranges, and your other choicest shrubs. Take up your -early autumnal Cyclamen, Tulips and Bulbs (if you will -Remove them, etc.) before mention’d; Transplanting -them immediately, or a Moneth after if you please, -and then cutting off, and trimming the fibres, spread -them to Air in some dry place.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Gather now also your early Cyclamen-seeds, and sow -it presently in Pots.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Likewise you may now take up some Anemonies, -Ranunculus’s, Crocus, Crown Imperial, Persian Iris, -Fritillaria, and Colchicums, but plant the three last as -soon as you have taken them up, as you did the Cyclamens.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Remove now your Dens Canivus, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Latter end of July seift your Beds for Off-sets of -Tulips, and all Bulbous-roots, also for Anemonies—Ranunculus’s, -etc, which will prepare it for replanting with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>such things as you have ready in pots to plunge, or -set in naked earth till the next season; as Amaranths, -Canna Ind., Mirabile Peruv., Capsicum Ind., Nasturt. -Ind., etc., that they may not be empty and disfurnished.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Continue to cut off the wither’d stalks of your lower -flowers, etc., and all others, covering with earth the -bared roots, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now (in the driest season) with Brine, Pot-ashes, -and water, or a decoction of Tobacco refuse, water your -gravel-walks, etc., to destroy both worms and weeds, of -which it will cure them for some years.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Flowers in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Amanauthus, Campanula, Clematis, Sultana, Veronica -purple and odoriferous; Digitalis, Eryugium, Planum, -Ind. Phaseolus, Geranium triste, and Creticum, Lychnis -Chalcaedon Jacea white and double, Nasturt. Ind. Multefolium, -Musk-rose, Flos Africanus, Thlaspi Creticum, etc. -Veronica mag. and parva, Volubilis, Balsam-apple, Hollyhock, -Snapdragon, Cornflo, Alkekengi, Lupius, Scorpion-grass, -Caryophlata om. gen. Stock-gilly-flo, Indian -Tuberous Jacynth, Limonium, Linaria Cretica, Pansies, -Prunella, Delphinium, Phalangium, Perploca Virgin, -Flos Passionis, Flos Cardinalis, Oranges, Amomum -Plinii, Oleanders red and white, Agnus Castus, Arbutus, -Yucca, Olive, Lignateum, Tilia, etc.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span> - <h2 class='c006'>AUGUST.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Orchard, and Olitory Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Inoculate now early, if before you began not.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Prune off yet also superfluous Branches, and shoots -of this second spring; but be careful not to expose -the fruit, without leaves sufficient to skreen it from -the Sun, furnishing, and nailing up what you will spare -to cover the defects of your Walls. Pull up the suckers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow Raddish, tender Cabages, Cauly-flowers for -Winter Plants, Corn-sallet, Marygolds, Lettuce, Carrots, -Parnseps, Turneps, Spinage, Onions; also curl’d Endive, -Angelica, Scurvy-grass, etc. Likewise now pull up -ripe Onions and Garlic, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Towards the end sow Purslan, Chard-Beet, Chervile, -etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Transplant such Letuce as you will have abide all -Winter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Gather your Olitory-Seeds, and clip and cut all such -Herbs and Plants within a handful of the ground before -the fall. Lastley:</p> - -<p class='c012'>Unbind and release the buds you inoculated if taken, -etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now vindemiate and take your Bees towards the expiration -of this Moneth; unless you see cause (by reason -of the Weather and Season) to defer it till mid-September: -But if your Stocks be very light and weak begin the -earlier.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Make your Summer Perry and Cider.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span><span class='sc'>Fruits in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='fss'>APPLES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>The Ladies Longing, the Kirkham Apple, John Apple; -the Seaming Apple, Cushion Apple, Spicing, May-flower, -Sheeps-snout.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEARS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Windsor, Soveraign, Orange, Bergamot, Slipper Pearl, -Red Catherine, King Catherine, Denny Pear, Prussia -Pear, Summer Poppering, Sugar Pear, Lording Pea, -etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEACHES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Roman Peach, Man Peach, Quince Peach, Rambouillet, -Musk Peach, Grand Carnation, Portugal -Peach, Crown Peach, Bourdeaux Peach, Lavar Peach, -the Peach de-lepot, Savoy Malacoton, which lasts till -Michaelmas, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>NECTARINES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>The Muroy Nectarine, Tawny, Red-Roman, little -Green Nectarine, Chester Nectarine, Yellow Nectarine.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PLUMS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Imperial, Bleu, White Dates, Yellow Pear-plum, -Black Pear-plum, White Nut-meg, late Pear-plum, -Great Anthony, Turkey Plum, the Jane Plum.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>OTHER FRUIT.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Cluster Grape, Muscadine, Corinths, Cornelians, Mulberries, -Figs, Filberts, Melons, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>AUGUST.</div> - <div class='c000'><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Parterre, and Flower Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Now (and not till now if you expect success) is the -just Season for the budding of the Orange Tree: Inoculate -therefore at the commencement of this Moneth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now likewise take up your bulbous Iris’s; or you -may sow their seeds, as also those of Larks-heel, Candy-tufts, -Iron-colour’d Fox-gloves, Holly-hocks, and such -plants as Endive Winter, and the approaching Seasons.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant some Anemony roots to have flowers all Winter, -if the roots escape.</p> - -<p class='c012'>You may now sow Narcissus, and Oriental Jacynths, -and replant such as will not do well out of the Earth, -as Fritillaria, Iris, Hyacinths, Martagon, Dens Canivus.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Gilly-flowers may yet be slipp’d.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Continue your taking of Bulbs, Lilies, etc., of which -before.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Gather from day to day your Alaternus seed as it -grows black and ripe, and spread it to sweat and dry -before you put it up; therefore move it sometimes with -a broom that the seeds may not clog together.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Most other seeds may now likewise be gathered from -Shrubs, which you find ripe.</p> - -<p class='c012'>About mid-Aug. transplant Auricula’s, dividing old -and lusty roots; also prick out your Seedlings: They -best like a loamy sand or light moist Earth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now you may sow Anemony seeds, Ranunculus’s, -etc., lightly covered with fit mould in Cases, shaded, -and frequently refresh’d: Also Cyclamen, Jacynths, -Iris, Hepatica, Primroses, Fritillaria, Martagon, Fraxinella, -Tulips, etc., but with patience; for some of them -because they flower not till three, four, five, six or seven -<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>years after, especially the Tulips, therefore disturb -not their beds, and let them be under some warm place -shaded yet, till the heats are past, lest the seeds dry; -only the Hepaticas, and Primeroses may be sow’d in -some less expos’d Beds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now, about Bartholomew-tide, is the only secure -season for removing and laying your perenial Greens, -Oranges, Lemmons, Myrtils, Phillyreas, Oleanders, -Jasmines, Arbutus, and other rare Shrubs, as Pome-granads, -Roses, and whatever is most obnoxious to -frosts, taking the shoots and branches of the past Spring -and pegging them down in a very rich earth and soil -perfectly consum’d, water them upon all occasions -during the Summer; and by this time twelve-moneth -they will be ready to remove, Transplanted in fit earth, -set in the shade, and kept moderately moist, not over -wet, lest the young fibers rot; after three weeks set -them in some more airy place, but not in the Sun till -fifteen days more; vide our Observation in April, and -May, for the rest of these choice Directions.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Flowers in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Amaranthus, Anagallis Lusitanica, Aster Atticus, -Blattaria, Spanish Bells, Bellevedere, Campanula, -Clematis, Cyclamen Vernum, Datura Turtica, Eliochryson, -Eryngium planum, Amethystium, Geranium -Creticum and Triste, Yellow Stocks, Hieracion minus -Alpestre, Tube-rose Hyacinth, Limonium, Linaria -Cretica, Lychnis, Nimabile Peruvian, Yellow Millefoil, -Nasturt: Ind. Yellow mountain Hearts-ease, -Manacoc, Africanus Flos, Convolvulus’s, Scabious, -Asphodels, Lupines, Colchicum, Lencoion, Autumnal -Hyacinth, Holly-hoc, Star-wort, Heliotrop, French -Mary-gold, Daisies, Geranium nocte oleus, Common -<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>Pansies, Larks-heels of all colours, Nigella, Lobello, -Catch-fly, Thalaspi Creticum, Rosemary, Musk-rose, -Monethly Rose, Oleanders, Spanish Jasmine, Yellow -Indian Jasmine, Myrtils, Oranges, Pome-granads double -and single flowers, Agnus Cactus, etc.</p> - -<div id='o137' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_137.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A KENTISH GARDEN IN AUTUMN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span> - <h2 class='c006'>SEPTEMBER.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Orchard, and Olitory Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Gather now (if ripe) your Winter Fruits, as Apples, -Pears, Plums, etc., to prevent their falling by the great -Winds: Also gather your Wind-falls from day to day; -do this work in dry weather.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow Lettuce, Radish, Spinage, Parsneps, Skirrets, etc. -Cauly-flowers, Cabbage, Onions, etc. Scurvy-grass, -Anis-seeds, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now you may Transplant most sorts of Esculent, or -Physical plants, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Also Artichocks, and Asparagus-roots.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow also Winter Herbs and Roots, and plant Strawberries -out of the Woods.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Towards the end, earth up your Winter plants and -Sallad herbs; and plant forth your Cauly-flowers and -Cabbages which were sown in August.</p> - -<p class='c012'>No longer now defer the taking of your Bees, streightening -the entrances of such Hives as you leave to a small -passage, and continue still your hostility against Wasps, -and other robbing Insects.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Cider-making continues.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Fruits in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='fss'>APPLES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>The Belle-bonne, the William, Summer Pearmain, -Lordling-apple, Pear-apple, Quince-apple, Red-greening -<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>ribbed, Bloody-Pepin, Harvey, Violet-apple, -etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEARS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Hamdens, Bergamot (first ripe), Summer Bon-crestien, -Norwich, Black Worcester (baking), Green-field, -Orange, Bergamot, the Queen hedge-pear, Lewes-pear -(to dry excellent), Frith-pear, Arundel-pear (also to -bake), Brunswick-pear, Winter Poppering, Bings-pear, -Bishops-pear (baking), Diego, Emperours-pear, Cluster-pear, -Messire Jean, Rowling-pear, Balsam-pear, Bezy -d’Hery, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEACHES, ETC.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Malacoton, and some others, if the year prove backwards, -almonds, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Quinces.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Little Bleu-grape, Muscadine-grape, Frontiniac, Parsley, -great Bleu-grape, the Verjuyce-grape, excellent -for sauce, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Bexberries, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>SEPTEMBER.</div> - <div class='c000'><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Parterre, and Flower Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Plant some of all the sorts of Anemonies after the -first rains, if you will have flowers very forwards; but -it is surer to attend till October, or the Moneth after, -lest the over moisture of the Autumnal seasons give you -cause to repent.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Begin now also to plant some Tulips, unless you -will stay until the later end of October, to prevent all -hazard of rotting the Bulbs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All Fibrous Plants, such as Hepatica, Hellebor, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>Cammomile, etc. Also the Capillaries; Matricaria, -Violets, Prim-roses, etc., may now be transplanted.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now you may also continue to grow Alaternus, -Philyrea (or you may forbear till the Spring), Iris, Crown -Imper; Martagon, Tulips, Delphinium, Nigella, Candy-tufts, -Poppy; and generally all the Annuals which are -not impair’d by the Frosts.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Your Tuberoses will not endure the wet of this Season; -therefore set the Pots into your Conserve, and keep -them very dry.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Bind up now your Autumnal Flowers, and Plants to -stakes, to prevent sudden gusts which will else prostrate -all you have so industriously rais’d.</p> - -<p class='c012'>About Michaelmas (sooner, or later, as the Season -directs) the weather fair, and by no means foggy, retire -your choice Greens, and rarest Plants (being dry) as -Oranges, Lemmons, Indian and Span. Jasmine, Oleanders, -Barba-Jovis, Amomum Plin. Citysus Lunatus, Chamalaca -tricoccos, Cistus Ledon Clussii, Dates, Aloes, -Seduns, etc., into your Conservatory; ordering them -with fresh mould, as you were taught in May, viz. -taking away some of the utmost exhausted earth, and -stirring up the rest, fill the Cases with rich, and well -consumed soil, to wash in, and nourish the roots during -Winter; but as yet leaving the doors and windows -open, and giving them much Air, so the Winds be not -sharp, nor weather foggy; do thus till the cold being -more intense advertise you to enclose them altogether: -Myrtils will endure abroad neer a Moneth longer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The cold now advancing, set such plants as will not -endure the House into the earth; the pots two or three -inches lower than the surface of some bed under a -Southern exposure: then cover them with glasses, -having cloath’d them first with sweet and dry Moss; -but upon all warm, and benigne emissions of the Sun -<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>and sweet showers, giving them air, by taking off all -that covers them: Thus you shall preserve all your -costly and precious Marum Syriacum, Cistus’s, Geranium -nocte olens, Flos Cardinalis, Maracoco, seedling Arbutus’s -(a very hardy plant when greater), choicest Ranunculus’s, -and Anemonies, Acacia Aegypt, etc. Thus -governing them till April.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Secrets not till now divulg’d.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Note that Cats will eat, and destroy your Marum -Syriac, if they can come at it.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Flowers in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Amaranthus tricolor, and others; Anagallis of Portugal, -Antirrhinum, African flo. Amomum, Plinii, -Aster Atticus, Belvedere, Bellies, Campanula’s, Colchicum, -Autumnal Cyclamen, Chrysanthemum angustifol, -Eupatorium of Canada, Sun-flower, Stock-gill-flo. -Geranium Creticum and nocte olens, Gentianella -annual, Hieracion minus Alpestre, Tuberous Indian -Jacynth, Linaria Cretica, Lychnis Constant. single and -double; Limonium, Indian Lilly Narciss. Pomum -Aureum, and Amoris, etc., Spinosum Ind. Marvel of -Peru, Mille-folium, yellow, Nasturtium Indicum, Persian -Autumnal Narcissus, Virgianium Phalagium, Indian -Phaseolus, Scarlet Beans, Convolvulus divers. gen., Candy -Tufts, Veronica, purple Volubilis, Asphodil, Crocus, -Garnsey Lily, or Narcissus of Japan, Poppy of all -colours, single and double, Malva arborescens, Indian -Pinks, Aethiopic Apples, Capsicum Ind. Gilly-flowers, -Passion-flower, Dature double and single, Portugal -Ranunculus’s, Spanish Jasmine, yellow Virginian Jasmine, -Rhododendron, white and red, Oranges, Myrtils, -Muske Rose, and Monethly Rose, etc.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span> - <h2 class='c006'>OCTOBER.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Orchard, and Olitory Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Trench Grounds for Orcharding, and the Kitchin-garden, -to lye for a Winter mellowing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant dry Trees (i) Fruit of all sorts, Standard, Mural -or Shrubs, which lose their lease; and that so soon as -it falls: But be sure you chuse no Trees for the Wall -of above two years Graffing at the most.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now is the time for Ablaqueation, and laying bare -the Roots of old unthriving, or over hasty blooming -trees.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Moon now decreasing, gather Winter-fruit that remains, -weather dry; take heed of bruising; lay them up -clean lest they Taint, Cut and prune Roses yearly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant and Plash Quick-sets.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow all stony, and hard kernels and seeds, such as -Cherry, Pear-plum, Peach, Almond-stones, etc. Also -Nuts, Haws, Ashen, Sycomor and Maple keys; Acorns, -Beech-mast, Apple, Pear and Crab Kernel, for Stocks; -or you may defer it till the next Moneth towards the -later end. You may yet sow Letuce.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Make Winter Cider, and Perry.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Fruits in Prime, and Yet Lasting.</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='fss'>APPLES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Belle-et-Bonne, William, Costard, Lordling, Parsley-apples, -Pearmain, Pear-apple, Honey-meal, Apis, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span><span class='fss'>PEARS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>The Caw-pear (baking), Green-butter-pear, Thorn-pear, -Clove-pear, Roussel-pear, Lombart-pear, Russet-pear, -Suffron-pear, and some of the former Moneth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Bullis, and divers of the September Plums and Grapes, -Pines, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>OCTOBER.</div> - <div class='c000'><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Parterre, and Flower Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Now your Hyacinthus Tuberose not enduring the -wet, must be set into the house, and preserved very dry -till April.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Continue sowing what you did in September, if you -please: Also,</p> - -<p class='c012'>You may plant some Anemonies, and Ranunculus’s, -in fresh sandish earth, taken from under the turf; but -lay richer mould at the bottom of the bed, which -the fibres may reach, but not to touch the main roots, -which are to be covered with the natural earth two -inches deep: and so soon as they appear, secure -them with Mats, or Straw, from the winds and frosts, -giving them air in all benigne intervals; if possible -once a day.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant also Ranunculus’s of Tripoly, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant now your choice Tulips, etc., which you feared -to interre at the beginning of September; they will -be more secure and forward enough: but plant them -in natural earth somewhat impoverish’d with very -fine sand; else they will soon lose their variegations; -some more rich earth may lye at the bottom, within -reach of the fibres: Now have a care your Carnations -catch not too much wet; therefore retire them to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>covert, where they may be kept from the rain, not the -air, Trimming them with fresh mould.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All sorts of Bulbous roots may now be safely buried; -likewise Iris’s, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>You may yet sow Alaternus, and Phillyrea seeds; -it will now be good to Beat, Roll, and Mow Carpet-walks, -and Camomile; for now the ground is supple, -and it will even all inequalities: Finish your last weeding, -etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sweep and cleanse your Walks, and all other places, of -Autumnal leaves fallen, lest the worms draw them into -their holes, and foul your Gardens, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Flowers in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Amaranthus tricolor, etc. Aster Atticus, Amomum, -Antirrhinum, Colchicum, Heliotrope, Stock-gilly-flo., -Geranium triste, Ind. Tuberose Jacynth, Limonium, -Lychnis white and double, Pomum Amoris and Aethiop., -Marvel of Peru, Millefol. luteum, Autumnal Narciss., -Pansies, Aleppo Narciss., Sphaerical Narciss., Nasturt., -Persicum, Gilly-flo., Virgin Phalangium, Pilosella, -Violets, Veronica, Arbutus, Span. Jasmine Oranges.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span> - <h2 class='c006'>NOVEMBER.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Orchard, and Olitory Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Carry Comfort out of your Melon-ground, or turn and -mingle it with the earth, and lay it in ridges ready for -the Spring: Also trench and fit ground for Artichocks, -etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Continue your Setting and Transplanting of Trees; -lose no time, hard frosts come on apace; yet you may -lay bare old Roots.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant young Trees, Standards or Mural.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Furnish your Nursery with Stocks to graff on the -following year.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow and set early Beans and Pease till Shrove-tide; -and now lay up in your Cellars for Seed, to be Transplanted -at Spring, Carrots, Parsneps, Turneps, Cabbages, -Cauly-flowers, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Cut off the tops of Asparagus, and cover it with long-dung, -or make Beds to plant in Spring, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now, in a dry day, gather your last Orchard-fruits.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Take up your Potatoes for Winter spending, there -will be enough remain for stock, though never so exactly -gather’d.</p> - -<div id='o144' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_144.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A HAMPSTEAD GARDEN IN WINTER.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Fruits in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='fss'>APPLES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>The Belle-bonne, the William, Summer Pearmain, -Lordling-apple, Pear-apple, Cardinal, Winter Chessnut, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>Short-start, etc., and some others of the former two -last Moneths, etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEARS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Messire Jean, Lord-pear, long Bergamot, Warden -(to bake), Burnt Cat, Sugar-pear, Lady-pear, Ice-pear, -Dove-pear, Deadmans-pear, Winter Bergamot, Belle-pear, -etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Bullis, Medlars, Services.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>NOVEMBER.</div> - <div class='c000'><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Parterre, and Flower Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Sow Auricula seeds thus: prepare very rich earth -more than half dung, upon that seift some very light -sandy mould; and then sow; set your Cases or Pans -in the Sun till March. Cover your peeping Ranunculus’s, -etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now is your best season (the weather open) to plant -your fairest Tulips in place of shelter, and under Espaliers; -but let not your earth be too rich, vide Octob. -Transplant ordinary Jasmine, etc. About the middle -of this Moneth (or sooner, if weather require) quite -enclose your tender Plants, and perennial Greens, -Shrubs, etc., in your Conservatory, secluding all entrance -of cold, and especially sharp winds; and if the -Plants become exceeding dry, and that it do not actually -freeze, refresh them sparingly with qualified water -mingled with a little sheeps or Cow-dung: If the Season -prove exceeding piercing (which you may know by -the freezing of a dish of water set for that purpose in -your Green-house) kindle some Charcoal, and then -put them in a hole sunk a little into the floor about the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>middle of it: This is the safest stove: at all other -times when the air is warmed by the beams of a fine -day, and that the Sun darts full upon the house shew -them the light; but enclose them again before the -sun be gone off: Note that you must never give your -Aloes, or Sedums one drop of water during the whole -Winter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Prepare also Mattresses, Boxes, Cases, Pots, etc., -for shelter to your tender Plants and Seedlings newly -sown, if the weather prove very bitter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant Roses, Althæa Frutex, Lilac, Syringas, Cytisus, -Peonies, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant also Fibrous roots, specified in the precedent -Moneth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow also stony-seeds mentioned in Octob.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Plant all Forest-trees for Walks, Avenues, and Groves.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sweep and cleanse your Garden-walks, and all other -places, of Autumnal leaves.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Flowers in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Anemonies, Meadow Saffron, Antirrhinum, Stock-gilly-flo., -Bellis, Pansies, some Carnations, double Violets, -Veronica, Spanish Jasmine, Musk Rose, etc.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span> - <h2 class='c006'>DECEMBER.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Orchard, and Olitory Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Prune, and Nail Wall-fruit, and Standard-trees.</p> - -<p class='c012'>You may now plant Vines, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Also Stocks for Graffing, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow, as yet, Pomace of Cider-pressings to raise -Nurseries; and set all sorts of Kernels, Stones, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sow for early Beans, and Pease, but take heed of the -Frosts; therefore surest to defer it till after Christmas, -unless the Winter promise very moderate.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All this Moneth you may continue to Trench Ground -and dung it, to be ready for Bordures, or the planting of -Fruit-trees, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now seed your weak Stocks.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Turn and refresh your Autumnal Fruit, lest it taint -and open the Windows where it lyes, in a clear and -Serene day.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Fruits in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='fss'>APPLES.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Rousseting, Leather-coat, Winter-reed, Chest-nut -Apple, Great-belly, the Go-no-further, or Cats-head, -with some of the precedent Moneth.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='fss'>PEARS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>The Squib-pear, Spindle-pear, Virgin, Gascoyne-Bergomot, -Scarlet-pear, Stopple-pear, white, red, and -French Wardens (to bake or roast), etc.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>DECEMBER.</div> - <div class='c000'><i>To be done</i></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>In the Parterre, and Flower Garden</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>As in January, continue your hostility against Vermine.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Preserve from too much Rain and Frost your choicest -Anemonies, Ranunculus’s, Carnations, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Be careful now to keep the Doors and Windows -of your Conservatories well matted, and guarded from -the piercing Air: for your Oranges, etc., are now put -to the test: Temper the cold with a few Char-coal -govern’d as directed in November, etc.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Set Bay-berries, etc., dropping ripe.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Look to your Fountain-pipes, and cover them with -fresh and warm litter out of the stable, a good thickness -lest the frosts crack them; remember it in time, -and the Advice will save far both trouble and charge.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div><span class='sc'>Flowers in Prime, or Yet Lasting.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Anemonies some, Persian, and Common Winter -Cyclamen, Antirrhinum, Black Hellebor, Laurus tinus, -single Prim-roses, Stock-gilly-flo., Iris Clusii, Snowflowers, -or drops, Yucca, etc.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c006'>PART IV<br /> <br />GARDEN MOODS</h2> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span> - <h2 class='c006'>I<br /> <br />TOWN GARDENS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Few people will deny the peace of mind a sheet of -green grass can give, but few people, one imagines, -trouble to think how they are preserved in large Towns -and Cities. If it were not for Societies many little open -spaces would years ago have been covered with streets of -houses, many fair trees have fallen, none have been -planted, and those growing have been neglected and -allowed to die. Of the many Societies whose work has -been to preserve for the Public pleasure grounds, good -trees, parks, and flower gardens, not one deserves -such praise as the Metropolitan Public Gardens -Association, whose great work has been carried on since -1882.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When one considers that in Hampstead over six -hundred acres have been preserved by energetic Committees -from the hands of builders it is easy to see how -great is the debt of London to those who voluntarily -work for this and other Open Space Societies.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It is not, however, by these large tracts of open -country that the towns and cities alone benefit. -Seats, fountains, flower beds, and pavements have been -placed in old church-yards and disused burial-grounds -opened for the benefit of the public. One has only to -look at the map of the Metropolitan Public Gardens -Association to see how wonderful their work has been -and still is.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>To dwellers in Towns the sight of flowers in the streets -is like a breath of the country. The long line of flower-sellers -in the High Street, Kensington, one group of -women in Piccadilly Circus, in Oxford Circus, in other -spots where the place of their flower baskets brightens -all the neighbourhood, are doctors, though they do not -know it, of high degree. They bring the message of the -changing year. They are a perpetual flower calendar, -people to whom a reverence is due. One looks in Piccadilly -Circus for the first Snowdrops, the little knots of -their delicate white faces peering over the edge of the -flower baskets. From the tops of omnibuses the first -Violets are seen. Anemones have their turn, and -Mimosa, and Cowslips, and Roses soon glow in the -midst of the traffic, and elegant Carnations in their -silver grass, and great piles of Asters. So we may read -the year. All through the grey and desolate Winter -these flower women hold their own, through cold and -rain, and pale Winter sun they keep the day alive with the -glowing colours of flowers. I often wonder, as I see -them sit there so patiently, if they know the joy they -give the passer-by, or if they are more like the rocks on -whom flowers grow by nature. They are a curious race, -these flower-women, untidy, with a screw of hair twisted -up under a battered hat of black straw, with faded -shawls wrapped round them, and the weapons of their -craft arranged about them—jam jars of water, wire, -bass, rows of little sticks on the end of which buttonholes -are stuck. And they have wonderful contrivances -for keeping their money, ancient purses rusty -like many of themselves, in which greasy pennies and -wet sixpences wallow in litters of dirty paper. I would -not vouch for the truth of all they say, for it would appear -from their words that every flower in their baskets -is but just picked, or only that second from the market. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>And they regard such evidence as withered and wet -flower stalks with half-humorous scorn. For all they -may not be well favoured, and a pretty flower-woman is -as rare as a dead donkey, still, for me, they have a certain -dingy dignity, or rather a natural picturesque quality as -of lichen on the pavements.</p> - -<div id='o153' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/opp_153.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>AZALEAS IN BLOOM, ROTTEN ROW.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>These people are the town’s gardens of odd corners, -while another tribe of them are perambulating gardens -bringing sudden colour into the soberest of streets. -There are those who carry enormous baskets on their -heads, and cry in some incomprehensible tongue words -intended to convey a message such as “All fresh.” -To see a gorgeous glowing mass of Daffodils sway down -the street borne triumphantly aloft like the litter of -some Princess is one of those sights to repay many grey -days. Then the brothers to this tribe are those who carry -from street to street Ferns and Lilies on carts, drawn -often by a patient ass. I own feeling a distrust for -these men, they do not dispense their goods with much -love. They are not eloquent, as are many flower -women in praise of the beauties of the India plant, or -the Shuttle-cock Ferns. I feel that they are interlopers in -the business, and have failed at the hardware trade, or -have no capacity for the selling of rush baskets, or the -grinding of scissors. At the heels of all those who sell -flowers in the streets are the out-cast members of the -tribe, men with brutal faces who follow lonely women in -unfrequented streets trying to thrust dead plants upon -them, and cursing if they are not bought. And there are -the aged crones who sit by the railings of little squares -and hold out a tray of boot laces, matches, a few very -suspicious-looking Apples, and, in the corner, a bunch of -dead flowers—a kind of æsthetic appeal.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Your true flower-lover will search as carefully among -their baskets for the object of his desire as will the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>collector the musty curiosity shops for prizes for his -collection. There comes the time when the first Snowdrops, -their stalks tied with wool, appear here and there -and may be brought home as rare prizes. A word here -of flower vases. Clear glass is the only form of vessel for -any kind of flower. I feel certain of that. No crock, -no form of pottery gives out greater the real value to -your cut flowers. The stalks are part of the beauty of -the flower, the submerged leaf as lovely as the leaf above. -And, above and beyond all things, glass shows at once if -your water is pure, and if your vase is full. Nowadays -beautiful striped glass vases are made and sold so cheaply -that there is no excuse for the old, and often ugly, pot -vases so many people use. I own to a certain liking to -seeing roses in old China bowls, but have a lurking suspicion -that I am Philistine in this.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There is, of course, a distinction between Town Gardens -and gardens in Towns. The one being the open free -spaces dedicated to the pleasure of Duke and tramp alike: -the other the hidden and hallowed spots where the town -dweller fights soot, grime, smoke, and lack of sun, and -fights them in many cases wonderfully well. One finds, -though, that many people fancy that only Ivy, cats, and -dustbins will flourish in the heart of a smoky City. This -is not the case. Broom, Lilac, Trumpet Flower, Traveller’s -Joy, many kinds of Honeysuckle, Passion Flower, -Tulip Tree, many kinds of Cherry and Plum Trees bearing -beautiful blossoms, Barberry, and Almond Trees—all -these will grow well and strongly even in the worst -parts of London. Five kinds of Honeysuckle will -flourish; they are:</p> - -<table class='table5' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='33%' /> -<col width='66%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>Lonicera</td> - <td class='c004'>Lepebouri</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>„</td> - <td class='c004'>Flexuosam</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>„</td> - <td class='c004'>Brachypoda aurea</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>„</td> - <td class='c004'>Serotinum</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>„</td> - <td class='c004'>Belgicum</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>Besides these, pink and white Brambles, Meadowsweet, -Weigela, and Rhododendrons all grow fairly easily.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One of the first sights the traveller notices on approaching -any large town is the numerous and gay back gardens -of the little houses. The contents of these gardens are a -true index to the inhabitants of the houses. Where one -garden boasts little but old packing-cases, drying linen, -a few stalks of hollyhocks, and one or two giant sunflowers, -the very next will show borders full of all varieties -of flowers in season, an eloquent picture of what may -be done with a little trouble. The consolation and -pleasure these little town gardens give is out of all proportion -to their size. The man who can come home to a -villa, however badly built and hideous, and it often -appears that some competition in ugliness has won -suburban prizes, can find a delight all good gardeners -know in working his plot of land.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One thing we can see at a glance, that the good influence -of one well-kept garden in a row will very soon -have its effect. There is one street I know within the -bounds of London, a street of new houses with little -gardens in front of them running down to the pavement. -I watched this street with interest from its very beginning. -At first it was a thing of beauty, the men at work -on the buildings, the scaffolding against the sky, the -horses and carts waiting with loads of brick, the gradual -growth of the houses from foundation to roof. Even the -ugliest building is beautiful in the course of construction, -the poles and ladders hiding the coarse design. Then -there came a day when the street was finished. It is not -an entire street, but about half, being a row of twenty or -so houses built in flats, three flats in each house. When -the men left and the houses stood naked, after the plan -of the builder, looking pitiful and commonplace, the -new red brick was raw, the little balconies very white and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>staring, the windows like blind eyes. Every ground-floor -flat had the disadvantage of less light and air than -the others, but it was the possessor of about nine feet of -land between the door and the pavement. For a long -time I waited to see what would become of this tenant-less -row of houses. I gained a kind of affection for them, -and walked past the white signboards once or twice a -week reading always “To Let” written on the windows, -painted on the notice board, pasted on papers across the -doors. The melancholy aspect of these houses appealed -to me; they had a look of dumb anxiety as if they longed -to hear the sound of voices in their empty rooms. At -last I saw one day three huge furniture vans drawn up in -front of the houses, and during the next two weeks more -vans arrived and there was a sound of hammering in the -street, and a smell of unpacking. Men came there with -boxes and parcels, and tradesmen began to drive up in -carts and motor-cars. I felt that those houses still -standing empty had a jealous look in their windows, like -little girls who had been left to sit out at a dance. The -notice boards were all shifted to their front gardens, -their bell wires still hung unconnected from holes by the -front door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The thing I was really waiting to see happened at -Number Two. The builder, after finishing the houses -had, I suppose, come to the conclusion that a little help -from Nature would do no harm. Some good fairy -prompted him to plant Almond and May Trees alternately -in the front gardens. To each house an Almond and a -May. I had waited eagerly, determining by some fantastic -twist that the spirit of the new houses would first -make her appearance in one of these trees. So far the -street had possessed no character except that vague -rawness that all new places wear. The great event -occurred at Number Two. Very delicately an Almond -<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>tree put out the first blossom. The life of the street -began. I did not wonder about the favoured owners of -the ground floor of Number Two. I knew.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Not long after the Almond tree had bloomed a cart -drew up before Number Two, and three men began to -wheel barrow loads of earth into the front garden. They -were directed by a gentleman of some age, but of cheerful -countenance. He smiled as each load of earth was neatly -placed. He looked at the earth as if he already saw it -covered with flowers. In his mind’s eye he was arranging -a surprise for the street.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The next event of notice in the street was the appearance -of Number Two garden, a blaze of flowers set in a -desert of red brick. A balcony of Number Sixteen, far -down the road, entered into friendly competition. -Numbers Five and Nine worked like slaves. Three -followed suit with carpet-bedding on a tiny scale. A -Laburnam and a Lilac sprang like magic from the soil of -Number Ten. Then, one day, the whole of Number One -burst into flower from top to toe. The tenant of each -floor having apparently been secretly at work to surprise -the rest. Two, who had started, and was indeed the -father of the street, put forth more strenuous efforts.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To-day I am certain of a pleasant walk, and can come -out of a wilderness of bricks and mortar to my charming -oasis flowering in the land. I wonder if the people who -live in those flats and who compete with each other in a -friendly rivalry of blossom realise what they are doing -for the hundreds who pass by in the day and are cheered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The Association I have named before, the Metropolitan -Public Gardens Association, give in their statement -for 1907 a list of their window garden competitions -for that year. One sees that many of the poorer parts of -London have taken the idea, and this note I quote from -South Hackney shows the result: “Twelve entries. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>Eight prizes of the total amount of One Pound, Ten -Shillings. Remarks: Clean, fresh-looking, more creepers -than last year; example set is improving character of -roads, as others, not competitors, have started gardens.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Any one who knows the dreary and desolate appearance -of town streets, especially in those parts where life -is lived at the hardest, and surroundings are of the most -sordid, will encourage a work which induced in one year -over five hundred people in London slums to take an -interest in growing flowers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The <i>Spectator</i>, of September 6, 1712, contains a charming -essay upon the English Garden, and the writer draws -attention to Kensington Gardens in the following words:</p> - -<p class='c013'>“I shall take notice of that part in the upper gardens -at Kensington, which was at first nothing but a -Gravel Pit. It must have been a fine Genius for gardening, -that could have thought of forming such an -unsightly Hollow into so beautiful an Area, and to -have hit the eye with so uncommon and agreeable a -Scene as that which it is now wrought into. To give -this peculiar spot of ground the greater effect, they -have made a very pleasing contrast; for as on one side -of the Walk you see this hollow Bason, with its several -little Plantations lying so conveniently under the Eye -of the Beholder; on the other side of it there appears a -seeming Mound, made up of trees rising one higher -than another in proportion as they approach the -Centre. A Spectator who has not heard this account of -it, would think this Circular Mount was not only a real -one, but that it had been actually scooped out of that -hollow space which I have before mentioned. I never -yet met with anyone who has walked in this Garden, -who was not struck with that Part of it which I have -mentioned.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>The writer finishes his essay with a simple and rather -delightful passage:</p> - -<p class='c013'>“You must know, Sir, that I look upon the Pleasure -which we take in a Garden, as one of the innocent -Delights in human Life. A Garden was the Habitation -of our first Parents before the Fall. It is naturally apt -to fill the mind with Calmness and Tranquillity, and -to lay all its turbulent Passions at rest. It gives us a -great Insight into the Contrivance and Wisdom of -Providence, and suggests innumerable subjects for -Meditation. I cannot but think the very Complacency -and Satisfaction which a man takes in these -Works of Nature, to be a laudable, if not a virtuous -Habit of Mind.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Our opinion has not altered in these two hundred years. -The enjoyment of a garden is certainly one of the most -innocent delights in human life, the enjoyment of -the garden he mentions in particular is one of the most -innocent pleasures in London. Kensington Gardens -have inspired many people, the classic of them is undoubtedly -Mr. J. M. Barrie’s “Little White Bird.” -The patron Saint of them is, and I think ever will be, -“Peter Pan.” One has only to walk down the Babies -Mile to hear games from Peter Pan going on in all directions. -This peculiar spirit haunted the Gardens long -before the days of Mr. Barrie, and whispered much of his -charming story in the ears of a bewigged gentleman—Mr. -Tickell, by name—who, in a poem of some considerable -length, sang Kensington’s praises. Those tiny -fairy trumpets sounding in the walks of Kensington -sounded a tune which has never left the air, and -one fancies the creator of Peter Pan catching sight of -a dim ghost now and again, the ghost of Mr. Tickell, -Joseph Addison’s friend, as he walks in full-bottomed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>wig, his wide skirted coat, and sees the fairies too. He -begins:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Where Kensington high o’er the neighb’ring lands</div> - <div class='line'>’Midst greens and sweets, a regal fabric stands,</div> - <div class='line'>And sees each spring, luxuriant in her bowers,</div> - <div class='line'>A snow of blossoms, and a wild of flowers,</div> - <div class='line'>The dames of Britain oft in crowds repair</div> - <div class='line'>To groves and lawns, and unpolluted air.</div> - <div class='line'>Here, while the town in damps and darkness lies,</div> - <div class='line'>They breathe in sunshine, and see azure skies;</div> - <div class='line'>Each walk, with robes of various dyes bespread,</div> - <div class='line'>Seems from afar a moving tulip-bed,</div> - <div class='line'>Where rich biscades and glossy damasks glow,</div> - <div class='line'>And chints, the rival of the show’ry bow.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'> * * * * *</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Their midnight pranks the sprightly fairies play’d</div> - <div class='line'>On every hill, and danced in every shade.</div> - <div class='line'>But, foes to sunshine, most they took delight</div> - <div class='line'>In dells and dales conceal’d from human sight:</div> - <div class='line'>There hew’d their houses in the arching rock;</div> - <div class='line'>Or scoop’d the bosom of the blasted oak;</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>There is no doubt about it that these are the very same -fairies who are still at work in the Gardens, and who have -admitted Mr. Barrie into their confidence. All gardens -have ghosts, and Kensington Gardens, I think, more -ghosts than any other. What a club it must be to belong -to, to visit when all London is asleep. Here’s Mr. -Tickell with his version of the Peter Pan story:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>No mortal enter’d, those alone who came</div> - <div class='line'>Stolen from the couch of some terrestrial dame</div> - <div class='line'>For oft of babes they robb’d the matron’s bed.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>But beyond these, the vaguest hints, Mr. Tickell does -not carry. His story has no likeness to the immortal -tale of Peter Pan, but has, in common with it, the same -knowledge that there are fairies in the Gardens living -just as both he and Mr. Barrie know so well under the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>roots of trees. And then there are the children. It is -they who are the sweetest flowers of the town gardens.</p> - -<div id='o160' class='figcenter id010'> -<img src='images/opp_160.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>IN HYDE PARK.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>If any man wants an argument in favour of keeping -every available space open in towns and cities let him go -into some crowded neighbourhood and watch the children -playing in the gutters of the streets. Then let him -find one of those places, a disused burial ground, or the -garden of an old square, which has been preserved, and -kept open, and laid out for the benefit of the children, and -he will see the difference at once. There are two such -places easy for the Londoner to visit, the one Browning -Hall Garden, now a garden, once the York Road Burial -Ground, Walworth, the other Meath Gardens, eleven -acres of public garden, once The Victoria Park Cemetery, -Bethnal Green.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They say that one half of London doesn’t know how -the other half lives. They do not know, but worse still -they don’t care. It is equally true that half the people -who profess to care for flowers are ignorant of the wonderful -flower-beds carefully grown for their pleasure -within a two-penny ’bus ride of most parts of London. -The row of beds facing Park Lane; the flower walk (where -the babies walk, too) in Kensington Gardens; the flower -walk in Regent’s Park, the Houses at Kew, are sights as -well worth an afternoon’s excursion as any other form of -amusement. Most people almost unconsciously absorb -the colour of cities, vaguely realising grey streets, red -streets, white streets, spaces of grass and trees, big blots -of colour—like the huge beds of scarlet geraniums in -front of Buckingham Palace, but they do not trouble to -get the value of their impressions. People look on the -way from Hyde Park Corner to the Marble Arch as a -convenient means of crossing London instead of one of -the most interesting and delightful experiences to be had. -They go crazy over trees and sky in the country, when -<span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>they have at their doors sights the country can never -equal. The sun in late autumn setting behind the trees -of Hyde Park and glowing over the murky smoke-laden -skies is a sight for the gods. Smoke has its disadvantages, -but it certainly gives one æsthetic joys unknown -in clear skies, for instance alone the reflection of the -lights of Piccadilly on the evening sky.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After all, the time to see the wonder of town gardens -is at night. The streets are empty of people. Here and -there a few night workers walk the lonely streets, a -policeman tramps his beat, the huge carts bringing the -provisions for the city lumber along with sleepy carters -swaddled in sacks perched high among the heaps of -baskets. Here and there men with long hoses are washing -down the roads. The Parks and Gardens lie bathed -in peace, mysterious shadows make velvet caves sheltered -by leaves. Those trees standing close to the road are lit -by the electric lamps and fringe the street with vivid -green. Only the flowers seem really awake, alive, in a -tremendous dream city. Along the lines of houses, -blinds down, shutters closed, a window box here and -there breaks the monotony and seems to be the only real -thing there. If it is Spring, then from Hyde Park -Corner to the Kensington High Street, all along the side -of the Park, behind the railings are regiments of Crocus -flowers, spikes of Narcissus, and of Daffodil. Their -sweetness fills the air, their very presence fills the town -with gentleness, and purifies and softens its grimness. -Far above, in some citadel of flats, a solitary light burns, -some one is at work, or ill, or watching. Above all hang -the blazing stars.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span> - <h2 class='c006'>II<br /> <br />THE EFFECT OF TREES</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Of the pleasure and affect of trees no one speaks so -wisely as Bacon. Although those who have a feeling -for garden literature know his essay on Gardens as the -classic of its kind, still many do not recall his thoughts -when the planning of a garden is on hand. Too much, -I think, is given by the man who is about to make a -garden, to his own particular hobby, and many a man -wonders why his garden gives him not all the pleasure -he expected. You will hear of a man talk of his new -Rose beds, of the nursery for Carnations he is in the process -of making, of the placing of his Violet frames, of -his ideas for a rock garden (I think the distressful feeling -for a rockery of clinkers is dead), but you will seldom -hear of a man who deliberates quietly for effects of -trees, or who thinks of planting fruit trees as ornaments, -but always he places them in his kitchen garden, and -ignores their value in their other proper places.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Bacon rejoices in his arrangement of gardens for every -month of the year, and dwells, rightly, just as much on -the pleasure of his trees as in the ordering of his flower -beds. Naturally he had not such a large selection of -flowers from which to choose as we have to-day, but -to-day we neglect the beauty of many trees, and especially -the beauty of hedges.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Are there sights in any garden more beautiful than -the Almond tree and the Peach tree in blossom, or the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>sweet trailing Sweetbriar? Bacon would have us -notice these, make a feast of these. Also he recommends -the beauty of the White Thorn in leaf, the Cherry -and the Plum trees in blossom, the Cherry tree in fruit, -the Lilac tree, the wonder of the Apple tree, and the -Medlar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then, again, Bacon touches on a point all too little -counted: the perfume of the garden. He says: “And -because the breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air -(where it comes and goes like the warbling of musick) -than in the hand, therefore nothing is more fit for that -delight than to know what be the flowers and plants -that do best perfume the air.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers of their -smells; so that you may walk by a whole row of them -and find nothing of their sweetness; yea, though it be in -a morning’s dew. Bays likewise yield no smell as they -grow; Rosemary little; nor Sweet Marjoram.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That which above all others yield the sweetest smell -in the air is the Violet, especially the White Double Violet -which comes twice a year; about the middle of April, -and about Bartholomew-tide. Next to that is the Musk -Rose; then the Strawberry leaves dying, which yield -a most excellent cordial smell. Then the flowers of the -Vines; it is a little dust, like the dust of a Bent, which -grows upon the cluster, in the first coming forth: then -the Sweet Briar, then Wallflowers, which are very -delightful to be set under a parlour or lower chamber -window. Then Pinks and Gilly-flowers, especially the -matted Pink and Clove Gilly-flower: then the flowers of -the Lime tree; then the Honeysuckles, so they be somewhat -afar off.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of Bean flowers I speak not, because they are field -flowers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But those which perfume the air most delightfully, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>not passed by as the rest, but being trodden upon and -crushed, are three, that is Burnet, Wild Thyme, and -Water Mints. Therefore, you are to set whole alleys -of them to have the pleasure when you walk or tread. -I would add to these one or two more flowers whose -perfume is easily yielded. The Heliotrope, which at -night will scent a garden; and Stocks, very rich and -sweet scented; Tobacco Plant, a heavy sensuous smell; -Madonna Lilies, seeming almost to breathe; Evening -Primroses; and, after rain when the sun is warm, the -leaves of Geraniums, a faint musky smell, very attractive. -But of all these the garden holds one perfume -more delicious, a scent that, to me at least, is the Queen -of Garden scents since it is the breath of the whole garden -herself. After a Summer’s day when it has been hot -and the lawn has been cut, and the Sun has well baked -the earth, if there should come rain in the evening, a -soft warm rain pattering at first so that it seems each -leaf of flower and tree becomes a drum sounding with -rain beats, then it seems the garden breathes deep and -draws in great draughts of the delicious coolness. Then -after the rain the night comes warm again, and all warm -earth smells, and the new cut grass smells also, and -every tree and flower join force upon force until the -air is filled with a perfume which for want of better -names I would call the Odour of Gratitude.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Furthermore, Bacon speaks of the garden—“The -garden is best to be square, encompassed on all four -sides with a stately arched hedge.” One rich hedge is -there at Bishopsbourne, which it is traditionally supposed -was planted by Richard Hooker, of whom Walton writes: -“It is a hedge of over one hundred feet in length, from -twelve to fourteen feet in height, and some ten feet -thick. It is one of the finest Yew hedges in England, -a wonderful colour, an amazing strength and beautiful, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>when it is clipped and trimmed, to look upon.” Of -the pleasure and comfort of such hedges, of the health -to be gained by regarding them, many people have -spoken. There is, surely, something in the tough -green life of the Yew, something in its staunchness that -conveys a feeling of strength to the mind. I feel this -in different degree with every kind of tree, partly no -doubt from moments of particular association, from -memories that become attached to scenes as they will -(curious how scents, arrangements of colour, outlines -against a sky, will call up things and thoughts which -for the moment have no connection with them. I never -see Oranges but I think of a dark passage lined with -books, and a cupboard built round with books in shelves. -In the cupboard are dishes of fruit, and shapes, all tied -up in linen, of fruit cheeses, as damson cheese, and crab-apple -cheese, and a cheese made of Quinces and Medlars).</p> - -<p class='c012'>I remember a graveyard in a little Swiss village -where every grave had a tiny weeping willow bending -over it. It had, for us, infinitely more pathos than the -sombreness of many English graveyards. There was a -rushing torrent below, for the church and its graveyard -was on a height over a river, and the voice of the -river sang in the quiet graveyard, like a strong spirit -singing in the pride of vigour to those asleep. The -little willows bent and shivered in the breeze, looking -small and pathetic against the strong small church. -Outside the church, all along one wall was a seat very -smooth and worn, it faced the graves and the tiny -trees, and behind it, on the wall of the church, was a -great Wisteria with clusters of pale purple flowers. -There were no other trees there, or to be seen from the -seat, but these little bending weeping trees. And close -by, a hundred yards from the church gate, was the -undertaker’s shop, part farm, part garden, part stocked -<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>with elm planks. As I passed by the son was making a -coffin out in the middle of the road on trestles. Looking -back one could see the young man bending earnestly -over his work, the sound of his saw ripping the air. -Behind him was the grey stone of the church and the -forest of little shivering trees over the graves. A little -below, just across the river over a covered bridge, was a -beer-garden where a family was sitting drinking beer -out of tall mugs. They sat, father, mother, sons and -daughters, all dressed in black, under Chestnut trees -cut down very close and clipped to make alleys of shade. -And a little behind them was a forest rising on a hill -with great masses of trees all shades of green, and glowing -in the light of an afternoon sun. But of all this I carry -mostly the memory of those little trees, quiet weeping -sentinels, very pathetic.</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>Trees, especially isolated groups of trees, in towns -and cities have a wonderful fascination. The very -idea that they burst into bud and leaf in the midst of -all the smoke and grime, and the noise and hurry, is -health-giving. It brings repose, it brings hope. I -believe the trees in town squares get more love than -any country trees. They mean so much. It seems so -good of them to fight, and to come out year by year -clean and fresh and green, and in Winter when they are -bare they make a delicate webwork of twigs against -the background of soot-covered houses. Then in the -Spring when they turn faintly purple there is a haze -across the square, and it seems that even the pigeons -and the horses on the cab rank feel it, but cannot -scarcely believe it. Then, perhaps there is an Almond -tree in the square and it will suddenly break out into -the most exquisite finery, like the daintiest of women, -making the square gay and full of joy. The Spring -<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>has come. It is almost unbelievable. And people -passing through the square who have forgotten all -about the Spring look up suddenly and smile, and say: -“Look at the Almond tree. Spring is here.” Those -who know the country turn their minds inwards and -remember that the brown owls have begun to hoot, -that the gossamer is floating, that, here and there -yellow and white butterflies are flitting, looking strangely -out of season, that the raven is building, and the rooks -too, and that all sorts of birds they had forgotten are -seen in the land.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After that the big trees in the square become hazy -with bursting bud, and one morning, as if some message -had been whispered overnight, the far side of the square -is only to be seen through a screen of the tenderest -green. Bit by bit the leaves comes out, get bright, -clean washed by showers, get dingy with the soot. Then -comes the fall of the leaf and the crisp curl of it as it -changes colour, and the far side of the square begins to -show again through bronze-coloured leaves. At last -the Winter comes and all that is left is the tracery of -boughs and twigs, and heaps of dead, beautiful-coloured -leaves beneath the trees. These still provide an interest, -for the wind comes and picks them up and -whirls them right up into the air in all sorts of amazing -dances and games.</p> - -<div id='o169' class='figcenter id011'> -<img src='images/opp_169.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE SEAT BENEATH THE OAK IN THE POET LAUREATE’S GARDEN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>In the Winter one last beauty comes. The day has -been leaden, sad-coloured, bitterly cold. All the cabmen -on the rank stamp with their feet, and swing their -arms to keep themselves warm, and there is a little -mist where all the horses breathe. And people coming -through the square have forgotten the Almond tree, -and the look of the big trees when the hot sun splashed -gold on their leaves, and they say, looking at the sky, -“See how dark it is, it is going to snow.” The snow -<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>comes; the sky is darker; the trees stick up looking -black, like drawings in pen and ink. Flakes, white -flakes, twenty, forty, then a rush—a thousand; the sky -full of tiny white flakes, the air full of them whirling -down. All sounds begin to be muffled. Horses hoofs -beat with a thud on the ground. The sound of voices -in the air is deadened. The voices of men encouraging -horses sound sharp now and again, or a whip cracks -like a shot. The square is covered with snow, every -twig is outlined in white, black patches of bark show -here and there, and emphasise the dead whiteness. -When it has stopped snowing and a watery light comes -from the sun all the trees gleam wonderfully, looking -like fairy trees. And people passing through the -square making beaten tracks in the snow saying, “It -is Winter.”</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>In a country garden there is a tree stands on the end -of a lawn. It is an Acacia tree, old, gnarled, and twisted, -with Ivy round it, deep Ivy in which thrushes build -year after year; there is a stone near by on which the -thrushes break the shells of snails, the “tap, tap,” of -the birds at work is one of the peaceful sounds that -break the silence of the garden.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Under the tree is an oblong mark of pressed grass -greener than the rest of the lawn, where the garden-roller -rests. And there is a seat under the tree, and a -wooden foot-rest by it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Touch the tree and you go back at once to a picture -of a boy, the boy who helped to plant it over a hundred -and fifty years before. If you look from the tree across -the lawn to the house you will see the very door by -which he came out with his father to plant the tree.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The house and the tree have grown old together, both -of them have mellowed with the garden and wear a look -<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>of old security and calm, and have an air of wise old -age.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Up and down the five white steps from the garden -path to the house more than five generations have -passed, men in wide-skirted coats and full wigs hanging -about their ears in great corkscrew curls, men in powdered -wigs, rolled stockings, square buckled shoes, -men in stocks and immense collars, and big frills to -their shirts making them look like gentlemanly fish, -down to the man who comes out to day who looks a -little old-fashioned, and is square-built like the house, -and who parts his hair like the men in Leech’s pictures, -and who wears a rim of whisker round his face. And -troops of ladies have passed out by that door into the -garden in hoops, and sacques, and towers of hair, and -crinolines. But no lady comes out now to cut the -Lavender hedge, or snip at the Roses. The man is -alone. But when he sits alone under the tree, with a -spud by his side ready to uproot Plantains from his -lawn, he can see troops of the garden ghosts sitting -round him under the Acacia tree.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sometimes there seems to be a sound of the ghostly -click of bowls on the lawn, for it is a bowling-green -banked up on three sides (the fourth bank has been done -away with long ago), and there is a company of gentlemen -in their wide shirt sleeves playing bowls. Above -them, on the raised terrace next to the house where -there is a broad path, a group of old people sit by little -tables and drink wine, and smoke, and gossip. And -behind them are tall Hollyhocks, and Roses and a -tangle of old-fashioned flowers such as Periwinkles -and Sweet Williams, and Pinks. The Acacia tree, -which grows on the lawn beyond the bowling green, is -quite small.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The old man who dreams of these ghosts in his garden -<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>recognises them readily because they have stepped out -of pictures on his walls, and when they are not haunting -the garden are demurely hanging on the oak panels in -the old rooms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then he can see, if he chooses, a picture of the garden -when the acacia tree is quite tall, but still elegant and -slender, and in this picture an old, old lady walks down -the garden paths. She is dressed in a large hooped -skirt with panniers, and has high-heeled shoes, and a -perfect tower of hair on her head, and over that a calash -hood like the hood over a waggon except that it is black. -She carries an ebony stick in a silk-mittened hand, a -hand knotted with gout and covered with the mourning -rings of her friends. She it was who added largely to -the garden, and took in two acres more of land, and -planted a row of Elms and Beech trees. She kept the -garden as bright and gay as the samplers she worked herself. -She had a mania for set beds, and her Tulips were -the talk of the county. A long bed of them ran from -the house along one bank of the bowling-green to the -orchard, and it was arranged in pattern of colours, lines, -squares, interlaced geometrical designs of flaming red and -scarlet, pink and yellow and white and dull purple. -She it was who caused the sundial to be placed in the -garden and who found the motto for it, and designed the -four triangular beds to go round it, and placed a hedge -of Lavender and Rosemary all about it in a square.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The tap of her stick on the paths is one of the ghostly -sounds that haunt the place, and sometimes it is difficult -to know whether it is a woodpecker, or a thrush breaking -open a snail, or her stick that makes such a sharp crisp -sound on the Summer air.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There is another sound, too, that the Acacia tree -knows well. It is the click of glasses under its boughs. -On a table placed under the tree is an array of beautiful -<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>cut-glass decanters and a number of glasses which reflect -in the polished mahogany surface. Round the table -four gentlemen sit with white wigs and elegant lace falls -at their throats, and ruffles at their wrists. It is a hot -Summer afternoon, and so still that not a Rose leaf of -those spread on the lawn stirs. A large white sheet lies -on the lawn covered with thousands of rose petals left -to dry in the sun, and when they are dry, and have undergone -a careful mixture with spices, and have herbs added -to them by the mistress of the house, they will be placed -in china bowls in all the rooms, and will give out a subtle -delicious odour.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The man who is dreaming in his garden can see the four -gentlemen as plain as life raising their glasses and touch -them before drinking the silent toast. And it is difficult -to tell whether it is the gardener striking on his frames by -accident, or the chink of glasses that sounds so clearly -under the Acacia tree.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now, in another picture the garden holds, things are -somewhat altered. Instead of the big Tulip bed on the -lawn there are a number of small cut beds with long beds -behind them on either side of a new gravel walk. Instead -of the older fashioned borders there are startling -colour schemes of carpet-bedding in which the flowers -are made to look more like coloured earths than anything. -In the long beds, instead of the profusion of -Hollyhocks, Sunflowers and bushes of Roses, a primness -reigns. A row of blue Lobelia backed by a row of white -Lobelia, then scarlet Geraniums, then Calceolarias, -then crimson Beet plants, every ten yards a Marguerite -Daisy sticks up out of the middle of the bed. Only one -rambling border remains, and that is hidden from the -view of the house windows, but can just be seen from the -seat under the Acacia tree. In it Phlox and Red-hot -Pokers, Asters, Anemonies, Moss Rose, and French -<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>Marigolds grow profusely, and some merciful sentiment -has allowed an old twisted Apple tree to remain there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The old bowling-green is still beautifully kept, the -grass is smooth and fair, not a Daisy or Plantain is there -to mar the splendour of the turf. The Acacia tree, now -grown old and venerable, spreads out fine branches, and -gives delightful shade. Here and there new arches of -rustic woodwork, in horrible designs, stretch over the -paths, their ugliness partly hidden by climbing Roses of -the Seven Sisters kind, or Clematis, or Honeysuckle, or -Jasmine. Many trees in the garden are old enough to -exchange memories of a hundred years ago; the orchard -alone boasts a venerable congregation of old trees, some -grey with lichen, some bowed down with the result of -full crops.</p> - -<p class='c012'>New ghosts walk the garden paths in crinolines and -Leghorn hats, and side curls, talking to gentlemen with -glossy side whiskers, peg-top trousers, and tartan waistcoats.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On the bowling-green the new game is laid out, and -ladies and gentlemen talk learnedly of bisques, and the -correct weight of croquet mallets. There is a fresh -sound for the garden, the smack of croquet balls.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And now nearly all the ghosts vanish, and the old man -who is sitting under the Acacia tree looks around and -sees his garden as it is to-day, fuller of flowers than ever it -was, with the hideous set borders done away with, with -the little rustic arches pulled down and a pergola, properly -built, in their place, and all of the horrors of Early -Victorian gardening gone for good, the plaster nymphs -and cupids, the tree called a “Monkey Puzzler,” the -terrible rockery of clinkers and bad bricks. Here, as in -the house, taste has triumphed over fashion. Inside the -oak panels that had been covered over with hideous -wallpapers are brought to light. The wool mats have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>vanished, the glass domes over clocks, the worsted bell-pulls, -the druggets and the rep curtains all gone for -good.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Outside, wonders have been worked in the garden. -New beds filled with the choicest Roses and Carnations. -Water is now properly conveyed by a sprinkler. -The old water-butt, slimy and falling to pieces, gone to -give place to a well filled concrete tank of water, kept -clean and sweet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One more ghostly sound left, a sound the lonely man -unconsciously listens for as he sits under the tree. On -one bough, low growing and strong, shows the marks -deep cut where once depended the ropes of a swing. -In his ears he can sometimes hear the shouts of children -and the creak of the swing ropes, sounds he used to -hear in his childhood. And mingled with the children’s -laughter he can hear, very faintly, a boy’s voice, his own.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Such is the story of an hundred English Gardens, -where trees will tell secrets, and the lawn holds memories, -and the paths echo with footsteps out of the past.</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>The influence literature has on the mind is nowhere -more traceable than in a garden. A dozen thoughts -spring to the mind gathered out of the store cupboards -of remembered reading at the sight of flowers, trees, -sunlit walks, dark alleys. Trees call up romantic meetings, -hollow trunks where lovers have posted their -letters, dark shades where vows have been made, smooth -trunks on which are carven twin hearts pierced by a -single arrow and crowned with initials cut into the bark. -Gloomy recesses under spreading boughs remind one of -the hiding places of conspirators, of fugitives.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sometimes, on a winter’s night, to look into the garden -and see the trees toss and shake with an angry wind, or -stand bare, bleak, and black against the sparkle of a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>frosty sky, some written thing comes quickly into the -brain almost as if the printed letters stood out clear. -There is one scene of winter and trees comes often to me -very full and clear. It is from the beginning of “Martin -Chuzzlewit,” and heralds the entrance in the story of the -immortal Mr. Pecksniff.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The fallen leaves, with which the ground was strewn, -gave forth a pleasant fragrance, and, subduing all -harsh sounds of distant feet and wheels, created a -repose in gentle unison with the light scattering of -seed hither and thither by the distant husbandman, -and with the noiseless passage of the plough as it turned -up the rich brown earth and wrought a graceful pattern -in the stubbled fields. On the motionless branches of -some trees autumn berries hung like clusters of coral -beads, as in those fabled orchards where the fruits -were jewels; others, stripped of all their garniture, -stood, each the centre of its little heap of bright red -leaves, watching their slow decay; others again still -wearing theirs, had them all crunched and crackled up, -as though they had been burnt. About the stems of -some were piled, in ruddy mounds, the apples they -had borne that year; while others (hardy evergreens -this class) showed somewhat stern and gloomy in -their vigour, as charged by nature with the admonition -that it is not to her more sensitive and joyous favourites -she grants the longest term of life. Still athwart their -darker boughs the sunbeams struck out paths of deeper -gold; and the red light, mantling in among their -swarthy branches, used them as foils to set its brightness -off, and aid the lustre of the dying day.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A moment, and its glory was no more. The sun -went down beneath the long dark lines of hill and cloud -which piled up in the west an airy city, wall heaped on -wall, and battlement on battlement; the light was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>all withdrawn; the shining church turned cold and -dark; the stream forgot to smile; the birds were silent; -and the gloom of winter dwelt in everything.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“An evening wind uprose too, and the slighter branches -cracked and rattled as they moved, in skeleton dances, -to its moaning music. The withering leaves, no longer -quiet, hurried to and fro in search of shelter from its -chill pursuit; the labourer unyoked the horses, and, -with head bent down, trudged briskly home beside them; -and from the cottage windows lights began to glance -and wink upon the darkening fields.</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>“It was small tyranny for a respectable wind to go -wreaking its vengeance on such poor creatures as the -fallen leaves; but this wind, happening to come up -with a great heap of them just after venting its humour -on the insulted Dragon, did so disperse and scatter -them that they fled away, pell-mell, some here, some -there, rolling over each other, whirling round and round -upon their thin edges, taking frantic flights into the -air, and playing all manner of extraordinary gambols -in the extremity of their distress. Nor was this good -enough for its malicious fury; for not content with -driving them abroad, it charged small parties of them, -and hunted them into the wheelwright’s saw-pit, and -below the planks and timbers in the yard, and, scattering -the sawdust in the air it looked for them underneath, -and when it did meet with any, whew! how it -drove them on and followed on their heels!</p> - -<div id='o176' class='figcenter id012'> -<img src='images/opp_176.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>IN THE BOTANIC GARDEN, OXFORD.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>“The scared leaves only flew the faster for all this, -and a giddy chase it was; for they got into unfrequented -places, where there was no outlet, and where -their pursuer kept them eddying round and round at -his pleasure; and they crept under the eaves of houses, -and clung tightly to the sides of hayricks like bats; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>and tore in at open chamber windows, and cowered -close to hedges; and, in short, went anywhere for -safety. But the oddest feat they achieved was, to -take advantage of the sudden opening of Mr. Pecksniff’s -front door, to dash wildly down his passage, with the -wind following close upon them, and finding the back -door open, incontinently blew out the lighted candle -held by Miss Pecksniff, and slammed the front door -against Mr. Pecksniff, who was at that moment entering, -with such violence, that in the twinkling of an eye, -he lay on his back at the bottom of the steps. Being -by this time weary of such trifling performances, the -boisterous rover hurried away rejoicing, roaring over -moor and meadow, hill and flat, until it got out to sea, -where it met with other winds similarly disposed, and -made a night of it.”</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>Is not this wonderful and immortal passage as much -a part of the Charm of Gardens as the most delectable -poetry on the perfumed air of a summer night?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Often, when the logs are crackling on the hearth, one -hears those hunted leaves come banging on the window -panes, those gaunt trees tossing in the wind. When -all the garden lies cold and bare and stripped of green, -the trees roar out an answer to the wind, an hundred -garden voices swell the storm, and you sit happy by your -fireside and dream new colours for the garden beds; and -where a white frost sparkles on the earth, and trees lift -up bare fingers to the sky, you see deep wealth of green, -and jewelled borders brim full of spring flowers, and -there a set of bulbs you have nursed, come out sweet in -green sheathes, and here a tree, now naked, clothed in -young green.</p> - -<p class='c012'>That for the night. For the morning, trailing clouds -of mist over the trees like fairy shawls alive with dew-diamonds, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>each dew-drop reflecting its tiny world. The -trees, the world, the garden still asleep, or half asleep, -until the sun throws off the counterpane of clouds and -springs into the skies.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It is at that time, before the sun is awake, the trees -look strange as sleeping things look strange, with a -counterfeit of death, so still are they. And in the Spring -when the orchard is a pale ghost before the sun is up, a -man would swear it had been covered up at night in -silver smoke, or gossamer, or fairy silk that the sun tears -into weeping shreds that drip and drip and give the -grass a bath.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But of the effect of trees as a spiritual support no man -is at variance with another. That they give courage, -and help and hope, that the green sight of them is -good as being reminder that Heaven is kind, and that -the Winter is not always, no man doubts but, perhaps, -fears to voice, feeling his neighbour will call out at -him for a worshipper of Pan and of strange gods. But -to the garden dweller, or to him who must perforce make -his garden of one tree in a dusty court, and of one glass -of flowers on his desk, these things have voices, and they -are kindly voices, saying, “Despair not,” and “Regard -me how I grow upright through the seasons,” and also -“Give shade and shelter to all things and men equally as -I do, without distinction or difference, and if the grass -gives a couch, fair and embroidered with flowers, so do I -give a roof of infinite variety, and a shade from the sun, -and a shelter from the wind.” And again, “If a man -know a tree to love it he will understand much of men, -and of birds, and beasts and of all living things. And of -greater things too, for in the branches is other fruit than -the fruit of the tree. Just as the rainbow is set in the -sky for a promise, so is fruit in a tree set there; and the -leaves show how orderly is the Great Plan; and the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>branches show the strength of slender things, and of -little things, so that a man may know how Heaven has -its roots in earth, and its crest in the clouds. And a man -who holds to earth with one hand, and reaches at the -stars with the other, in that span he encompasses all that -may be known if he but see it. But men are blind, and do -not see the sky but as sky, and do not see the stars but -as balls of fire, or the green grass but as a carpet, or the -flowers but as a combination of chemical accidents. But -over all, and through all, and in all is God, Who still -speaks with Adam in the Garden.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>These things are to be learnt of trees both great and -small, withered and young, sapling and Oak of centuries. -And they are to be learnt also in the dust on a butterfly’s -wing; or of a blade of grass; or of a hemp seed. But -men are deaf, and hear no voice but the voice of water -in a rushing stream; and no sound but the sound of -leaves stirring when the wind rests in a tree; and no -voice speaking in a blaze of flowers who sing praises -night and day in scented voices.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A tree is not dumb, and the Creeping Briar is not -dumb, and the Rose has a voice like the voice of a woman -rejoicing that she is fair. But men are dumb, for though -their hearts speak, all tongues are not touched with fire.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So may trees be a solace in trouble, and secrets may -be whispered to bushes of Rosemary and Lavender, who -will yield their secret solace of peace, as the tree yields -strength. All these things are written in a garden in -coloured letters of gold, and green, and crimson, in blue -and purple, orange and grey, and they are written for a -purpose. And a man may seek diligently for the secret -of this great book and find nothing if he seek with his -head alone. He will tell of the growth of trees, their -years, their nature, their sickness. He will learn of the -power of the sap which flows down from the tips of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>leaves to the great tree roots all snug in the soil; and he -will learn of the veins in the leaves, and the properties of -the gum of the bark, yet will he never learn that of which -the tree speaks always, night and day—praising.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of what is the colour of green that the earth’s best -page is made of it? Of what is the colour of young -green that it brings, unbidden, tender thoughts? It is -more than the gold of Corn, and the brown of ploughed -earth, and the glory of flowers. By it comes peace to the -eyes, and through the eyes to the heart of man, so that -men say of youth and the times of youth that they are -salad days; and of old age, if so be it is a fine old age, -that it is green. It is the colour of the body as blue is -the colour of the soul. The sky and the sea are blue, -and they are things of mystery, deep and profound, and -because of their great depth and profundity they are -blue. The grass and the trees, and the leaves of flowers, -and blades of young Corn are green. They are mysterious -things but they are nearer to man, and he has them to his -hand to be near them, and get quick comfort of them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Daisies are the stars of the grass, as stars are the -Daisies of Heaven; and if a man look long at the stars -set out orderly in the sky he may become fearful, for -God may seem far off and difficult; yet if he be near he -may pick a Daisy and take his fill of comfortable things, -for God will seem near and His voice in the Daisy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yet many a man will walk over a field of grass pressing -the Daisies with his feet, and take no heed of them, or of -the stars over above his head; and the night and the day -will be to him but light and darkness, and the stars but -lanterns to show him home, and the Daisies but flowers -of the field. But if he be a man who sees all, and -in everything can feel the finger and pulse of God, his -staff will blossom in his hand, and he will go on his way -rejoicing.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>In this way can man regard the trees in his garden, -and speak with them, loving them, and learning of them, -for learning is all of love. And he may yet be an ordinary -man, not poet, or artist, but he must be mystic because -he has the true sight. Many a man, stockbroker, -clerk, painter, labourer, soldier, or whatever he seems to -be, has his real being in these moments, and they are -revealed through love or sorrow, but not by hard learning -or text-books.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span> - <h2 class='c006'>III<br /> <br />A LOVER OF GARDENS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>There are many who say this and that of Sir John -Mandeville, his Travels; that he was not; that he was a -Frenchman; that no one knows who he was. For years -he was to me an English Knight who lived at St. Albans, -and from there set out to travel over all the world seeking -adventure, and relating the peculiarities of his -journey in fascinating, if slightly imaginative, language. -I rejoiced when he saw a board from the Noah’s Ark, -when he talked with the Cham of Tartary; and told of the -wonders of Ind. But comes along this and that expert -who upset the figure of the gallant Knight, and heave -him from horse to ground as a dummy figure, and burn -him for firewood as a fallen idol. And why? It appears -that Sir John is no more a real being than Homer, -or Æsop, or any other of those personal names for great -bundles of collected literature; and is a literature all by -himself, and a series of impudent thieves who stole -travellers’ tales and jotted them together in a personal -narrative. For all that I believe in a figure of the blind -Homer, and the impudent slave Æsop who played -tricks on his master, and I firmly believe in a stalwart -figure of Sir John Mandeville, Knight, “albeit,” he says, -“I be not worthy, that was born in England, in the town -of St. Albans, and passed the sea in the year of our Lord -Jesu Christ, 1322, in the day of St. Michael.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>There is one thing, a touch of character, put in, maybe, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>by the skilful editor of these travels, that makes us -lean to the man as being a real person. It is his love of -Gardens, and his pains to tell of them, and the stories -of trees, and legends. And whether one who confessed -to the fraud of putting these travels together—Jean de -Bourgogne, by name—was a keen gardener or herbalist, -or whether it was a literary habit of the fourteenth -century (which, when I come to think of it, is so), somehow -I feel that there is a garden-loving spirit in forming -the book, and for that I love the man.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In his wanderings Sir John meets many things, and -of these I beg leave to choose here and there one or two -of his anecdotes when they touch an idea such as gardeners -love. The first is of the True Cross, and the story -of its origin. All of Sir John I have read in Mr. Pollard’s -edition, than which nothing could be more satisfactory -and clear expressed.</p> - -<h3 class='c017'><span class='sc'>Of the Cross</span></h3> - -<p class='c018'>“And the Christian men, that dwell beyond the sea, -in Greece, say that the Tree of the Cross, that we call -Cypress, was one of that tree that Adam ate the apple -off; and that find they written. And they say also, that -their Scripture saith, that Adam was sick, and said to his -son Seth, that he should go to the angel that kept Paradise, -that he would send him the oil of mercy, for to -anoint with his members, that he might have health. -And Seth went. But the angel would not let him come -in; but said to him, that he might not have of the oil of -mercy. But he took him three grains of the same tree, -that his father ate the apple off; and bade him, a soon -as his father was dead, that he should put these three -grains under his tongue, and grave him so; and so he -did. And of these three grains sprang a tree, as the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>angel said it should, and bare a fruit, through the which -fruit Adam should be saved.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And when Seth came again, he found his father near -dead. And when he was dead, he did with the grains -as the angel bade him; of the which sprung three trees, -of the which the Cross was made, that bare good fruit and -blessed, our Lord Jesu Christ.”</p> - -<div id='o185' class='figcenter id013'> -<img src='images/opp_185.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE PRIDE OF SPRING, SURREY.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span> - <h2 class='c006'>IV<br /> <br />OF THE CROWN OF THORNS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“And if all it be so, that men say, that this crown is of -thorns, ye shall understand that, it was of jonkes of the -sea, that is to say, rushes of the sea, that prick as sharply -as thorns. For I have seen and beholden many times -that of Paris and that of Constantinople; for they were -both one, made of rushes of the sea. But man have -departed them in two parts: of the which one part is at -Paris, and the other part is at Constantinople. And I -have one of those precious thorns that seemeth like a -White Thorn; and that was given to me for great -speciality. For there are many of them broken and -fallen into the vessel that the crown lieth in; for they -break for dryness when the men move them to show to -great lords that come hither.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And ye shall understand, that our Lord Jesu, in that -night that he was taken, he was led into a garden; and -there he was first examined right sharply; and there -the Jews scorned him, and made him a crown of the -branches of the Albespine, that is White Thorn, that -grew in that same garden, and set it on his head, so fast -and so sore, that the blood ran down by many places of -his visage, and of his neck, and of his shoulders. And -therefore hath the White Thorn many virtues, for he -that beareth a branch on him thereof, no thunder or no -manner of tempest may dere him; nor in the house that -it is in may no evil ghost enter nor come into the place -<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>that it is in. And in that same garden, Saint Peter -denied our Lord thrice.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Afterward was our Lord led forth before the bishops -and the masters of the law, into another garden of -Annas; and there also he was examined, reproved, -and scorned, and crowned eft with a Sweet Thorn, that -men clepeth Barbarines, that grew in that garden, and -that hath also many virtues.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And after he was led into a garden of Caiphas, and -then he was crowned with Eglantine.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And after he was led into the chamber of Pilate, -and there he was examined and crowned. And the -Jews set him in a chair, and clad him in a mantle; -and there made they the crown of jonkes of the sea; -and there they kneeled to him, and scorned him, saying, -‘Ave, Rex Judeoram!’ That is to say, ‘Hail, King -of Jews!’ And of this crown, half is at Paris, and -the other half at Constantinople.”</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>From these fanciful byways Sir John goes on his way -looking, as before, for curious things, and for marvels -of trees and fruits. He tells of the fine plate of gold -writ by Hermogenes, the wise man who foretold the -birth of Christ. He passes the Isles of Colcos and of -Lango where the daughter of Ypocras is yet in the form -of a dragon. And he goes by the town of Jaffa—“for -one of the sons of Noah, that bright Japhet, founded -it, and now it is called Joppa. And ye shall understand, -that it is one of the oldest towns of the world, -for it was founded before Noah’s flood. And yet -there sheweth in the rock, there as the iron chains were -fastened, that Andromeda, a great giant was bounden -with, and put in prison before Noah’s flood, of the -which giant, is a rib of his side that is forty foot long.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then he finds in Egypt some curious Apples.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span> - <h2 class='c006'>V<br /> <br />OF APPLES</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“Also in that country and in others also, men find -long Apples to sell, in their season, and men clepe them -Apples of Paradise; and they be right sweet and of -good savour. And though ye cut them in never so -many gobbets or parts, over-thwart or endlong, evermore -ye shall find in the midst the figure of the Holy -Cross of our Lord Jesu.</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>“And men find there also the Apple of the tree of -Adam, that have a bite at one of the sides; and there -be also small Fig trees that bear no leaves, but Figs -upon the small branches; and men clepe them Figs of -Pharoah.”</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>Sir John, on his constant look out lets no oddment -pass him by, and the more peculiar the better. It -appears he would rather see a well in a field—“that -our Lord Jesu Christ made with one of his feet, when -he went to play with other children”—than many -things political or notable to the country. And he -will never come to a country but he will mention the -state of its trees and fruits, these, naturally, being -important items to the traveller of his day who might -at any moment have to fall back on the natural fruits -of the field for his food. So, when he goes by the -desert to the valley of Elim, he notes the seventy-two -<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>Palm trees there growing—“the which Moses found -with the children of Israel.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then he comes by Mount Sinai, and there he finds the -convent by the spot where was the burning bush; and -the Church of Saint Catherine is there—“in the which -be many lamps burning; for they have of oil of Olives -enough, both to burn in their lamps and to eat also. -And that plenty they have by the miracle of God; for the -raven and the crows and the choughs and other fowls of -the country assemble them there every year once, and fly -thither as in pilgrimage; and everych of them bringeth a -branch of the Bays or of the Olive in their beaks instead -of offering, and leave them there; of which the monks -make great plenty of oil. And this is a great marvel.”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span> - <h2 class='c006'>VI<br /> <br />OF THE FIRST GARDENER</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Now Sir John, who had a great feeling for our first -father Adam, came frequently on stories of him and of -places where he lived. And he went from Bathsheba, -the town founded, as he says—“by Bersabe, the wife of -Sir Uriah the Knight,”—and journeyed to the city of -Hebron. “And it was clept sometime the Vale of -Mamre, and sometimes it was clept the Vale of Tears, -because that Adam wept there an hundred year for the -death of Abel his son, that Cain slew.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>There, in this Vale of Hebron, where Sir John says -Abraham had his house, and is buried, as are Adam and -Eve, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Leah, and Rebecca, is also the -first dwelling-place of Adam after the Fall.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And right fast by that place is a cave in the rock, -where Adam and Eve dwelled when they were put out of -Paradise; and there got they their children. And in the -same place was Adam formed and made, after that some -men say (for men were wont for to clept that place the -field of Damascus, because that it was in the lordship of -Damascus), and from thence he was translated into -Paradise of delights, as they say; and after that he was -driven out of Paradise he was there left. And the same -day that he was put in Paradise, the same day he was -put out, for anon he sinned. There beginneth the Vale -of Hebron, that dureth nigh to Jerusalem. There the -Angel commanded Adam that he should dwell with his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>wife Eve, of the which he gat Seth; of which tribe, -that is to say kindred, Jesu Christ was born.”</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>Here then is the legend of the first Garden in which -Adam delved, and lived by the sweat of his brow. -Again Sir John tells us of a place where he noticed the -trees, especially the Dry tree, and it can be seen how -much a lover of Gardens and of growing things he was, -and how he looked for and noticed these things and set -them down.</p> - -<p class='c012'>This Dry Tree was an Oak of Abraham’s time.</p> - -<h3 class='c017'><span class='sc'>Of the Dry Tree</span></h3> - -<p class='c018'>“And there is a tree of Oak, that the Saracens clepe -Dirpe, that is of Abraham’s time; the which men clepe -the Dry tree. And they say that it hath been there -since the beginning of the world, and was some-time green -and bare leaves, until the time that our Lord died on the -Cross, and then it dried; and so did all the trees that -were then in the world. And some say, by their prophecies, -that a lord, a prince of the west side of the -world, shall win the Land of Promission, that is the Holy -Land, with the help of Christian men, and he shall do -sing a mass under that Dry tree; and then the tree shall -wax green, and bear both fruit and leaves, and through -that miracle many Saracens and Jews shall be turned to -Christian faith; and, therefore, they do great worship -thereto, and keep it full busily. And, albeit so, that it -dry, natheles yet he beareth great virtue, for certainly he -hath a little thereof upon him, it healeth him of the falling -evil, and his horse shall not be afoundered: and -many other virtues it hath; wherefore men hold it full -precious.”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span> - <h2 class='c006'>VII<br /> <br />OF THE FIRST ROSES</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Then Sir John tells of a field nigh to Bethlehem, called -Floridus, and here was a maiden wrongfully blamed, and -condemned to death, and to be burnt.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And as the fire began to burn about her, she made -her prayers to our Lord, that as wisely as she was not -guilty of that sin, that he would keep her and make it to -be known to all men, of His merciful grace. And when -she had thus said, she entered into the fire, and anon was -the fire quenched and out; and the brands that were -burning became red Rose trees, and the brands that were -not kindled became white Rose trees, full of Roses. And -these were the first Rose trees and Roses, both white and -red, that every any man said; and thus was this maiden -saved by the grace of God. And therefore is that field -clept the Field of God Flourished, for it was full of Roses.”</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>And later Sir John tells how he saw the Elder tree on -the which Judas hanged himself. And he tells of the -Sycamore tree that Zaccheus the dwarf climbed into. -And of a plank of Noah’s ship that a monk, by the Grace -of God, brought down from Ararat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then Sir John comes to Java on his wanderings, and -by that isle is another called Pathen, and here he saw -wonderful trees, bearing bread, and honey, and wine, and -poison. Of the tree that bears the venom he says:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And other trees that bear venom, against which -<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>there is no medicine, but one; and that is to take their -proper leaves and stamp them and temper them with -water, and then drink it, and else he shall die; for triacle -will not avail, ne none other medicine. Of this venom -the Jews had let seek of one of their friends for to -empoison all Christianity, as I have heard them say in -their confession before their dying; but thank be to -Almighty God! they failed of their purpose; but always -they make great mortality of people.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yet again Sir John has marvels of other countries, -where are men who—“when their friends be sick they -hang them upon trees, and say that it is better that birds -that be angels of God eat them, than the foul worms of -the earth.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And near by is the isle of Calonak, where gardeners -would indeed be evily distressed by reason of the snail—“that -be so great, that many persons may lodge them in -their shells, as men would do in a little house.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>By taking ship Sir John goes from isle to isle discussing -the sights, and arrives at length at an isle where—“be -white hens without feathers, but they bear white wool as -sheep do here”; and he passes by Cassay, of the -greatest cities of the world, and goes from that city by -water to an abbey of monks.</p> - -<div id='o192' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_192.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A ROSE GARDEN IN BERKSHIRE.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span> - <h2 class='c006'>VIII<br /> <br />OF THE ABBEY GARDEN</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“From that city men go by water, solacing and disporting -them, till they come to an abbey of monks that is fast -by, that be good religious men after their faith and law.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“In that abbey is a great garden and fair, where be -many trees of diverse manner of fruits. And in this -garden is a little hill full of delectable trees. In that hill -and in that garden be many diverse beasts, as of apes, -marmosets, baboons, and many other diverse beasts. And -every day, when the convent of this abbey hath eaten, the -almoner let bear the relief to the garden, and he smiteth -on the garden gate with a clicket of silver that he holdeth -in his hand; and anon all the beasts of the hill and of the -diverse places of the garden come out a 3,000 or a 4,000; -and they come in guise of poor men, and men give them -the relief in fair vessels of silver, clean over-gilt. And -when they have eaten, the monk smiteth efftsoons on -the garden gate with the clicket, and then anon all the -beasts return again to their places that they come from.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And they say that these beasts be souls of worthy -men that resemble in likeness of those beasts that be fair, -and therefore they give them meat for the love of God; -and the other beasts that be foul, they say be souls of -poor men and of rude commons.”</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>Many other marvels did Sir John see, of which I shall -not tell; but he writes always with his eye open and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>easy for miracles, and talks as a gardener talks of strange -flowers and fruit, as of gourds that when they be ripe—“men -cut them a-two, and men find within a little beast, -in flesh, and bone and blood, as though it were a little -lamb without wool. And men eat both the fruit and -the beast. And that is a great marvel.” Then he writes -of the wonders of the country of Prester John, and of -trees there that men dare not eat of the fruit—“for it is -a thing of faerie.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of Gatholonabes, he writes, and of the sham Garden of -Eden he made, and of the birds that—“sing full delectably -and moved by craft.” The fairest garden any man -might behold it was. And of the men and girls clothed -in cloths of gold full richly, that he said were angels.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And of Paradise he cannot speak, making towards the -end of the book confession.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of Paradise ne can I not speak properly. For I was -not there. It is far beyond. And that forthinketh -me. And also I was not worthy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so, after a little more, ends Sir John, and so I end, -though I love him. Yet I doubt some of his stories.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span> - <h2 class='c006'>IX<br /> <br />THE OLYMPIAN ASPECT</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>There are many ways of regarding a garden of flowers; -from the utilitarian view it is a reasonable method of -utilising a space of ground for horticultural purposes, but -I prefer to take the Olympian view and quote from “The -Poet’s Geography,” to the effect that a garden of flowers -is—“A collection of dreams surrounded by clouds.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>At first sight the somewhat expansive imagery of this -definition might appear over-vague and unsatisfactory -where a very definite question, like a garden of flowers, -is concerned. But, come to see it in a lofty light, and at -once its truth stands clear. A garden is the proper -adjunct of a house, and a house, fully said, is a dream -come true, yet still surrounded by the clouds of infinite -possibilities. It is always growing, is a true home. -Like a flower it expands to every sweet whisper of the -wind. Like a flower it shuts at night, or opens to accept -the dew. It is something so elusive that only the garlands -of love hold it together.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The garden, to the real house, is, like the dwelling, a -place of the most subtle fancies. Every flower there, -every tree and each blade of grass holds mystery and -imagination. The Gods walk there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The flower beds (accepting the Olympian idea) are not -mere collections of flowering herbage, but are volumes of -poetry growing in the sun. Take your hedge of Sweet -Peas, for example, and tell me what they are—no—tell -<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>me who they are. There is a dream there if you like; -and while you look at them, and sniff them delicately, is -not the fussy world shut off from you by clouds. Sweet -Peas are like a bevy of winsome girls all in their everyday -frocks, scented by an odour of virginity, something indescribably -refined after the manner of the flesh, and -something lofty in their removal from the earth after the -way of the spirit. I wonder how many people feel this.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Take it more broadly in the true Olympian spirit. -Take it that a house and garden is an Olympus to each -man and woman who is happy, and you will see that your -heaven for all its head in the clouds has its feet upon the -earth. Then what do the flowers mean? Lilies with -pale faces like a procession of nuns. Roses all queens of -regal beauty. Violets to whom the thrushes sing, deny -it if you dare. Majestic Peonies. The plants of soft -and courtly wisdom, Thyme, Rosemary, Myrtle. Lavender, -the House-dame, prim, neat, beloved of bees and -butterflies, Quakerishly dressed in grey with a touch of -unsectarian colour, yet vaguely an ecclesiastical purple; -rather slim, with full skirts, with the suggestion that -Cowslips are her bunches of keys, and the Dandelion her -clock.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One could go on for ever.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then the gardener, like those half-immortals who -worked for the gods, or some like a god of old, even, with -god-like grumbles, and god-like simplicity.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They are a strange race, these gardeners, given to -unexpected meals, and sudden appearances.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Walter!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And after that, from some fragrant bush, or waving -forest of Asparagus, a bronzed man stands erect, as if he -had sprung from the bowels of the earth, where he had -been contemplating the mysteries of human weakness.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And how amazed they are with us and our foibles and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>follies. We remonstrate—a question of weeds, perhaps,—and -are listened to with incredulous wonder.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Weeds!” says the being, “weeds!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>He emerges more completely from the bush, showing a -hand occupied with a lot of little twigs, and a knife rather -like himself to look at—not too sharp.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As if a voice from the unknown had wafted over the -desert, he stands in wonder, looking reproachfully at -those who have interrupted his toil.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The weather makes them grow.” Of course it does. -We knew that. We did not come here to call Walter -to ask him what made weeds grow, but to know why he -had not weeded, at our special request, the Carnation -border.</p> - -<p class='c012'>From a cavernous pocket in a much-mended pair of -trousers of a shape never designed by mortal hands, he -produces a quantity of felt strips, and some wall nails.</p> - -<p class='c012'>We repeat our original suggestion, that the Carnation -border is choked with weeds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So it be!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then, after the great being has taken observations of -the sky, causing him to screw up one eye and wag his -head sagely as if he had communication with the unseen -powers, he admits that he has been watering the greenhouse.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The Vines take a deal o’time about now.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>It would be useless to remark to this calm person that -we found, only yesterday, a dozen plants dying in the -greenhouse, and all for want of water. But, from a sort -of foolhardy courage, we do say as much.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes,” says the immortal, “they need a power of -water. A good drop is no good.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>We venture to remonstrate with him, saying, in a few -well chosen words, that it would be useful of him, then, -to give them “a good watering while he was about it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>He agrees at once. “It would do them a power of -good.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Realising that we are drifting from the main grievance, -we return hot to the bed of Carnations. We admit to -having but just this moment come from weeding them -ourselves, and in so saying we hope to make appeal to his -better nature. Nothing of the kind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I noticed,” he says, “you sp’iled some of the layers -where you’d a-been treading.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>When we have turned away defeated, he sinks again to -his mysterious task, and it seems that the ground swallows -him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then again, in the early morning, he seems to have had -overnight talks with Mercury, or Apollo, or whoever it is -who arranges the weather, as he invariably greets us with -some curt sentence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Rain afore noon,” or “Wind’ll be in the nor’west -afore night.” Thereby giving us to understand that -he has been given a glass of nectar in some lower servants’ -hall in Olympus, and has picked up the gossip of what -Jupiter has decreed for the day. We feel, as he intends -us to feel, vastly inferior. In fact we have given way to -a habit of asking his advice on certain points, which has -proved fatal.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He doles out our fruit to us just as he likes, and we feel -quite guilty when we pick one of our own peaches from -our own walls.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I see you pick a peach last night,” he says. “’Tisn’t -for me to say anything, but I was countin’ on giving you -a nice dish <span class='fss'>NEXT</span> week.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>What is there to do but hang one’s head, and plead -guilty?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Boys are his pet aversion. Whether boys have in -some way a fellowship with the gods (which I suspect), -or whether they are victoriously antagonistic, it matters -<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>not. They are to the gardener so many creatures whom -he classes along with snails, bullfinches, rabbits and wasps -as “varmints.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>One can hear him sometimes invoking a god of the -name of Gum. “By Gum! them young varmints a-been -’ere again. By Gum!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>He then makes an offering to this god in the shape of a -bonfire, the smell of which is more than most scents for -wonder.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It is when Walter makes a bonfire that he is more god-like -than ever. He stands, a thick figure, deep in the -chest, broad in the shoulder, by the pile of dead leaves, -twigs, and garden rubbish, the smoke enveloping him in -misty wreaths, and the sun flashing on his fork as he -pitches fresh fuel on the smouldering fire. A tongue of -flame, greedily licking up leaves and dry sticks, lights on -his impassive face, and a quivering orange streak along -the muscles of his arms. We are fascinated by his arms. -They contain, I believe, the history of his mortal life and -ambitions, and are a key to his hidden emotions.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On one arm is a ship under full sail, done in blue and -red tattoo. Below the ship is the word “Jane”; below -that is a twist of rope. On the other arm is a heart, the -initials S.M., and an anchor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When we were young these two arms of Walter’s were -an entire literature to us. We read him first, I think, -a pirate, very grim and horrible, and we translated “S.M.” -as Spanish Main. A little later we dropped the idea of -the pirate, and took to the notion that Walter had been -(if he was not still) a smuggler who landed cargoes of rum -from the good ship “Jane,” and deposited them with the -landlord of the “Saucy Mariner.” It is noticeable that -we left out the heart in all these romances. Then, at -some impressionable moment, Walter became a seaman -who had given his heart to Sarah Mainwaring, which -<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>name we got from a man who had given us a dog, and in -spite of that we accepted it as fact. I think we once -descended so low as to think that the whole thing had no -nautical significance, and was a secret sign of some -terrible society who met for purposes of revenge. This, -of course, was the result of contemporary reading.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then came the great day upon which Walter was -definitely asked what the signs and pictures on his arms -did mean.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Mind out,” was all the answer we got, and Walter -retired with the wheelbarrow to his citadel—the potting -shed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was tried again a little later, and this time met with -a little better response, because, I suppose, we had done -more than half his day’s work for him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I had them done at a fair.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And,” we asked breathlessly, “what was the ship?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Two shillin’s,” he replied, “and I never regretted it. -Money well spent.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Was she your ship?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Mine?” said the god.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Was she the ship you were in when you were a -sailor?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Me?” said Walter. “I aint never been a sailor.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The blow was crushing. We retired hurt, amazed, -incredulous.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One day we tried the remaining arm, the one with -S.M., the heart, and the anchor emblazoned on it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What does S.M. mean?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was a moment of terrific suspense. We had -drawn a mental picture of some wonderful creature, -half Princess, half like a schoolgirl, we sighed after. -The god was tying Carnations to wire spirals, and his -expression was limited, since he had a knife in his mouth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“S.M. on me arm,” he said, removing the knife.</p> - -<div id='o201' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_201.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A SHEPHERD OF CONISTON.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>We nodded mysteriously, full of breathless expectation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Walter began to smile. He stood up and surveyed -us with his face alight with the memory of some great -day. To us he looked an heroic figure, even despite -the pieces of old drawing-room carpet tied to his knees -with string, and his very unkempt beard.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You won’t exactly understand,” he said, mopping -his forehead. “But I tell ’ee if you’ve got to mind -some-at after a day at a fair, you’d be fair mazed. -I give my word to my mother as I’d a-put sixpence -in a raffle for to try to win her a sewing machine, and -so when the fellow was making they images on my arm, -I sed to un, I sed, put me S.M., I sed, so’s I’ll mind to -put in the sewing machine raffle, I sed, or else if so -be as I don’t I shall get a slice of tongue pie when I -do get home along.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Our faces fell. Our hearts, full of romance, now -became like lead. In despair we put the last question, -a forlorn hope in the storming of his heart’s citadel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And the other thing on your arms, Walter? The -heart.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Cooriosity killed a monkey,” said he. “Mind out, -I’m going round the corners.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>So was our romance killed. “Going round the -corners,” was Walter’s sign that all conversation was -closed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>If one followed him “round the corners,” talk as -one might, Walter directed all his conversation to the -flowers. To hear him address the plants in the green-house -was to think him indeed a god, who by some -magic spell turned the water in the can into a life-saving -potion. To-day we think that much of the -soliloquy was done for our especial benefit.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Just a wee drop, my pretty,” he would say to some -<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>flower. “Just a drink with lunch. That’s right. -Perk up now. By Gum, you do want your drop regular, -you ’ardened teetotaler. Hello, hello, what’s up with -you? Looks to me as if a snail had bided along o’ you -too frequent.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>His great hand, covered with ancient scars, would -lift the leaves tenderly, and search beneath for the -offending snail which, when found, would be held up -to view.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Five-and-twenty tailors!” he would exclaim.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He would be instantly corrected. “Four-and-twenty.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You got your history wrong,” he used to say.</p> - -<p class='c012'>We repeated</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Four-and-twenty tailors went to catch a snail,</div> - <div class='line'>And the best man among them dare not touch his tail.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>“Come the twenty-fifth,” Walter added. “That -be I. So here goes, Master Snail.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>With that the snail was sharply crushed underfoot, -and the soliloquy continued. He is with us still, older -in years, younger than ever in heart, with the same -immortal personality, the same atmosphere of friendship -with the gods about him. He listens to orders with -a smile of amusement, just as if he had been laughing -about our ways only an hour before with some inhabitant -of an unseen world. He carried his own peculiar -atmosphere with him of indulgent superiority and -warm-heartedness combined, just as the tortoise carries -his house on his back. If that story is unknown by -any chance, here it is.</p> - -<h3 class='c017'><span class='sc'>Jupiter’s Wedding</span></h3> - -<p class='c018'>When the toy had once taken Jupiter in the head to -enter into a state of matrimony, he resolved for the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>honour of his Celestial Lady, that the whole world -should keep a Festival upon the day of his marriage, -and so invited all living creatures, Tag-Rag and Bob-Tail, -to the solemnity of his wedding. They all came -in very good time, saving only the Tortoise. Jupiter -told him ’twas ill done to make the Company stay, -and asked him, “Why so late?” “Why truly,” -says the Tortoise, “I was at home, at my own House, -my dearly beloved House,” and House is Home, let -it be never so Homely. Jupiter took it very ill at -his hands, that he should think himself better in a Ditch -than in a Palace, and so he passed this Judgment upon -him: that since he would not be persuaded to come -out of his House upon that occasion, he should never -stir abroad again from that Day forward without his -House upon his head.</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>This, as may be seen at once, is the Olympian aspect -not only of the house, but of the garden as well. We -mortals do carry our Homes with us, breathing a closer, -less free air than the air of Olympus, when the reigning -monarch has merely to take a toy in the head to enter -into a state of matrimony. We, tortoise-like, are bound -and tied by a thousand pleasant associations to our -plot of earth and our patch of stars. Sooner than -attend the ceremonies of the greatest, we linger by -our house and in our garden, so that though we may not -boast with the great world and say that we know -“Dear old Jove,” or “that charming wife of his, -Juno,” still we know that we live on the slopes of -Olympus, and have a number of charming flowers for -society.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span> - <h2 class='c006'>X<br /> <br />EVENING RED AND MORNING GREY</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Your old-fashioned man with a care to his garden will -look through the quarrel of his window to spy weather -signs. This quarrel, the lozenge-pane of a window -made criss-cross, shows in its narrow frame a deal of -Nature’s business, day and night. For your gardener -it takes the part of club window, weather glass and eye -hole onto his world. Through it day and night he -reviews the sky and the trees, the wind, the moon -and the stars. When he rises betimes there’s the sky -for him to read. When he returns for his tea there -in the pane is the sunset framed. When he goes to -bed the moon rides past and the friendly stars twinkle.</p> - -<p class='c012'>No man is asked his opinion of the weather so much -as the gardener, except, may be, the shepherd; both -men having, as it were, a Professorship in weather -given to them by the Public. It is they who have -given rise to, or even, perhaps, invented the rhymes by -which they go.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Evening red and morning grey,</div> - <div class='line'>Send the traveller on his way;</div> - <div class='line'>But evening grey and morning red,</div> - <div class='line'>Send the traveller wet to bed.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>There is a verse full of ripe experience. The evening -sun glows red through the lozenge-panes and into -the cottage, lights up with sparks of crimson fire the -silver lustre ornaments, makes the furniture shine again, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>gives the brass candlesticks a finger lick of fire, shines -ruddy on the tablecloth, and flashes back a friendly -scarlet message from the square of looking-glass. On -the deep window ledge stand a row of ruddled flower -pots in which fine geraniums grow, behind them a tidy -muslin curtain stretches across the window on a tape, -on the sides of the window are hung a photograph or -two, an almanac, and a picture cut from a seed catalogue, -above hangs a canary in a small cage. Only -the narrowest slip of window is clear, not more than -one clear pane, and it is through this that the evening -sun streams into the cottage room. In the morning -when our friend rises, if he finds the room flooded -with a clear grey light, a light matching the silver lustre -jugs, then he quotes his verse, to be sure, and passing his -neighbour says, “A fine day, to-day.”</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>2</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>A rainbow in the morning</div> - <div class='line'>Is the shepherd’s warning</div> - <div class='line'>But a rainbow at night</div> - <div class='line'>Is the shepherd’s delight.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>That sign is for the shepherd and the traveller by -night, since no ordinary being is expected to watch for -rainbows by night to the detriment of his night’s rest -and his morning temper. But the shepherd must keep -a keen eye to such signs, and marks, day and night, all -the little movements of Nature, to learn her whims. As -for instance, the signs of bad weather to come:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>1</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That swallows will fly low and swiftly when the upper air is -charged with moisture for then insects fly low also.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>2</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That the cricket will sing sharply.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>This last, of course, in wet countries, for in dry -places, as in meadows under southern mountains, there -is a perfect orchestra of rasping crickets in the grass. -But in the north, on the most silent and golden days, -they say that the chirrup of a cricket foretells rain. -Just as they say:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>3</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>As hedgehogs do foresee evening storms</div> - <div class='line'>So wise men are for fortune still prepared.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>This they say, because the story runs that a hedgehog -builds a nest with the opening made to face the -mildest quarter thereabout, and the back to the most -prevalent wind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Again, and this a sign everybody knows:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>4</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That distant hills look near.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As indeed they do before rain, and many times one -hears—“such a place is too clear to-day”—or, “One -can see such a land much too well,” and this means -near rain.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Like the swallows so do rooks change their flight -before rain, and so, also, do plover, for it is noticed:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>5</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That rooks will glide low on the wind, and drop quickly. -And plover fly in shape almost as a kite and will not rise -high, one or two of the flock being posted sentinels at the -tail of the kite formation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then, if the shepherd is near to a dew-pit, or any -water meadow, or passing by a roadside ditch he will -notice:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>6</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That toads will walk out across the road. And frogs will -<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>change colour before a storm, losing their bright green and -turning to a dun brown.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To all of these signs with their significance of coming -rain your shepherd will give a proper prominence in his -mind, marking one, and then searching for another -until he is certain. His first clue on any hilly ground is:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>7</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That sheep will not wander into the uplands but keep -browsing in the plain.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Having taken note of this he turns to plants, particularly -to his own weather glass, the Scarlet Pimpernel, -as he sees:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>8</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That the Pimpernel closes her eye. That the down will -fly from off the dandelion, the colts-foot, and from thistles -though there be no wind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of night signs there are many, but chiefly:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>9</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That glowworms shine very bright.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>10</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That the new moon with the old moon in her lap comes before -rain.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>11</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>That if the rainbow comes at night</div> - <div class='line'>Then the rain is gone quite.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>12</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Near bur, far rain.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>This of the bur, or halo, to be seen at times about the -moon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For a last thing they say:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>13</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>On Candlemas Day if the sun shines clear,</div> - <div class='line'>The shepherd had rather see his wife on the bier.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>Our friend, the weather-wise gardener,—and, by the -way, there is the unkind saying:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Weatherwise, foolish otherwise—</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>has several things in his neighbourhood to tell him of -coming rain, as:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>1</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That heliotrope and marigold flowers close their petals.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>2</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That ducks will make a loud and insistent quacking.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>3</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That—so they say—the cat will sit by the fire and clean her -whiskers.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>4</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That the tables and chairs will creak.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>5</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That dogs will eat grass.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>6</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>That moles will heave.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the garden he too will observe the birds, more -especially that pert friend to all gardeners, the robin. -For they say:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>If the robin sings in the bush</div> - <div class='line'>Then the weather will be coarse;</div> - <div class='line'>But if the robin sings in the barn</div> - <div class='line'>Then the weather will be warm.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div id='o208' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_208.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A DOVECOTE IN A SUSSEX GARDEN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>I must confess that I have not found this come -true of robins, any more than I have found waterwag-tails -coming on the lawn to be a harbinger of rain, or that -thrushes eat more snails than worms in the dry season. -Of this last I get enjoyment enough, for there is a stone -in my garden to which the fat thrushes come dragging -snails. They give them a mighty heave, and down -come the snails, “crack” on the stone, until the shell -is burst asunder and the delicious morsel is down Master -Thrush’s gullet in the twinkling of an eye. The thrush -is certainly my favourite garden bird, both for his looks -and his song, and the blackbird I like least, for they -are bundles of nerves, screaming away at the slightest -suggestion of danger. The robin is a fine impudent -fellow and friendly in a truly greedy way, following the -smallest suggestion of digging with an eye for a good -dinner, so that if you are only pulling the earth up in -weeding you will have the brisk little gentleman at -your elbow, head cocked on one side, and an eye of the -greatest intelligence sharply fixed on you. Pigeons -I regard as an absolute nuisance, their voices sentimental -to a degree, in this way quite at variance with their -selfish, greedy and destructive characters. So they say:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>If the pigeons go a benting</div> - <div class='line'>Then the farmers lie lamenting.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Starlings are very handsome birds but as they live -in congregations, or like regiments, one can have no -personal feeling for them, though I love to watch them -on winter evenings when they come in thousands from -the fields and fly to their roosting place, making the air -rustle with the quick beat of their wings.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The bullfinch is a gardener’s enemy, for he will strip -the fruit buds from a tree out of pure wantonness, and -yet he is a brave bird and nice to see about.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>All the small birds give one joy though they be -robbers or enemies to young plants, or bee eaters like -the blue-tit, or strawberry robbers, or drainpipe chokers -like the house-sparrows, or murderers of the summer -peace like the woodpecker with his quick insistent -“tap, tap.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>In royal and fine gardens, of course, one must have -two birds; the peacock and the owl, for these two -give all the air of romance needful, though I have -never myself regarded the peacock as a King of -birds, for he makes too much of a show of himself, and -his wife is a humble creature. I feel, rather, that he is -a courtier strutting up and down waiting the King’s -pleasure; a place-seeker, one who will cheer the side -that pays. As for the owl, that dusky guardian of -secrets, he is a far more solid and trustworthy fellow -than the gay peacock, and though he snores in the daytime, -his great round yellow eyes are open at the least -sound in his haunt.</p> - -<p class='c012'>This is far afield from the weather, so let us give the -remaining saying of birds that the gardener may notice.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>November ice that bears a duck</div> - <div class='line'>Brings a winter of slush and muck.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>That I hold to be very true.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There are still one or two rhymes that should be well -noted, three of the rain.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>1</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>When it rains before seven</div> - <div class='line'>It will cease before eleven.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>2</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>March dry, good rye</div> - <div class='line'>April wet, good wheat.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>3</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>If the ash before the oak</div> - <div class='line'>Then we are in for a soak.</div> - <div class='line'>But if the oak before the ash</div> - <div class='line'>We shall get off with a splash.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Then they say:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>Between twelve and two</div> - <div class='line'>You’ll see what the day will do.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>And again:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Cut your thistles before St. John</div> - <div class='line'>You will have two to every one.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>And,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The grass that grows in Janiveer</div> - <div class='line'>Grows no more all the year.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>And also:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>That flower seeds sown on Palm Sunday will come up double.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<p class='c012'>These are all very well, and what with one thing -and another will come true, at least as true as the -rhyme that says:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>A mackerel sky</div> - <div class='line'>Is very wet, or very dry.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Still it is really to the wind that the gardener looks -most, and if he have a weathercock in his garden (which -with a sundial, a rain gauge, and an outside thermometer -he should always have) he will note each turn of -the wind. If he has no weathercock then he will read -the wind by the smoke of chimneys, or the turn of the -leaves of trees.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And, after regarding the wind, he may remember this:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>When it rains with the wind in the east,</div> - <div class='line'>It rains for twenty four hours at least.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>And this also:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>When the wind is in the south,</div> - <div class='line'>’Tis in the rain’s mouth;</div> - <div class='line'>When the wind is in the east</div> - <div class='line'>’Tis neither good for man nor beast.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>This weather lore is naturally gleaned out of many -years, some of the sayings being of real antiquity, -others, perhaps, newly coined, though I fancy not. In -spite of them you will find every gardener has a different -manner of reading the sky and the wind, some having -it that mares-tails in the sky come after great storms, -others that they are the portent of a gale. Some, if -asked will reply to a question on the weather:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“With these frostises o’ nights, and the wind veered -roun’ apint west, and taking into consideration the -time o’ year, and the bad harvest”—then follows -a long look into the heavens—“I don’t say but what -’er won’t rain, but then again, I dunno, perhaps come -the breeze keeps off, us mighten have quite a tidy drop.” -This you are at liberty to translate which way you -choose, since the advice is generally followed by a -portentous wink, or, at least, some motion of an eyelid -curiously like it.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span> - <h2 class='c006'>XI<br /> <br />GARDEN PROMISES</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>It is Winter, and when it is winter the earth is very -secret, but it lies like pie-crust promises waiting to be -broken. A little graveyard of the tombs of seeds and -bulbs spreads before one’s eyes. Each tomb has a -nice headstone of white with the name of the buried -life below written upon it. The virtues of the buried -are not written in so many words, but their names -suffice for that. In my imagination I see my graveyard -like this:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>HERE LIES BURIED</div> - <div>A</div> - <div>ROSE COLOURED TULIP</div> - <div>WHO CAME ACROSS THE SEAS</div> - <div>FROM THE KINGDOM</div> - <div>OF</div> - <div>HOLLAND</div> - <div>UNDER THIS EARTH</div> - <div>SHE</div> - <div>AND ONE HUNDRED OF HER SISTERS</div> - <div>ARE WAITING FOR THE SPRING</div> - <div>WHEN THEY WILL UNFOLD THEMSELVES</div> - <div>FROM THEIR LONG SLEEP AND ADORN</div> - <div>WITH THEIR PLEASANT FACES THE SOUTH</div> - <div>BORDER FACING THE STUDY WINDOW</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>That I see most clearly written over the spot where I -tucked the hundred and one beautiful sisters in their -bed of rich brown earth, and I am looking for the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>time when the graveyard shall begin to be green with -the shafts of their first leaves. Besides these, there -are the headsticks to the Carnations, but this patch -of the graveyard is different since the tufts of Carnation -grass make long grey lines against the brown -earth. Somewhere, in each of these grey tufts, is -hidden the beautiful germ of life that is growing, -growing all the time, and the wonderful chemical process -is at work there (for all the plants look so silent -and quiet), that is mixing colours and rejecting colours, -and is secreting wax, and preparing perfume. Of all -moments in a garden this is to me the most wonderful. -No glory of colour or variety of shape; no pageant -of ripe Summer, or tender early day of Spring appeals -to me quite in the way this silent time does, when a -thousand unseen forces are at work. I have often -wondered (being quite ignorant of the chemical side -of this) what happens to that drop of fresh colour the -bee brings like a careless artist flicking a brush. Sometimes -in a Carnation of pure white, one flower, or two, -will show a crimson streak—a sport, one calls it. But -more curious still is the fringe edge of the Picotee. How, -I have often asked myself, does the colour edge find -its way to its proper place? How does the plant -manage to produce just enough of that one colour to -go round each of its flowers? I have stood by a row -of these plants that I have just planted in some new -bed, and wondered at the amazing industry going on -within them. They are fighting disease, supplying -themselves with proper nourishment, mixing colours, -and building buds and stems. It is a regular dockyard -of a place except that there is no sound. I imagine -(quite wrongly, but merely because an instinct causes -me to do so) a lot of orderly forces like little drilled -men hard at work in green-grey suits. Those who -<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>work underground are not in green but are in white, -but should they go above the surface they would change -colour owing to contact with the light, and this is due -to the presence of a matter called chlorophyll in the -cells which gives plants their green colour.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The underground workers are hard at it always, -getting water from the ground, and in this water are -gases and minerals dissolved. The workmen send -this up to those in the leaves. Those who work in the -leaves are taking in supplies of carbonic acid gas from -the air, and the leaves themselves are so formed as to -get as much light as possible on one surface. When -the light meets with the carbonic acid gas in the leaves -starch is formed. This is distributed through the plant -to the actual builders.</p> - -<p class='c012'>You stand over the row of Carnations all silent, -all still, and yet here is this tremendous activity going -on, building, distributing, selecting, rejecting. A -thousand workmen making a flower.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The two sets of workers, in the roots and leaves, the -one sending up water and nitrogenous matter, the other -making starch, are manufacturing albumenoids for -more building material. And it is more easy to think -of such creatures at work since a plant, unlike an -animal, has no stomach, or heart, or bloodvessels, and -its food is liquid and gaseous.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now of these marvels the greatest is that of the -existence of life in the plant on exactly the same initial -principles as the existence of life in man. That is the -substance known as the protoplasm. It is too amazing -for me, and too great a thing to be dealt with here, -but, as I look at my silent dockyard, there are these -protoplasms, in the cells of these plants, dividing into -halves and, so to speak, nestling with fresh cells in walls -of cellulose.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>Think of the work actually going on beneath our -eyes in the one matter of the starch factory in the plant, -where the chlorophyll (the green colouring matter) -separates the carbon from the carbonic acid, returns -the oxygen to the air, and mingles the carbon and the -oxygen and the hydrogen in the water and so makes this -starch.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All this goes on when we open our windows of a -morning and look out over the garden and see just a grey -line of Carnations we planted over-night. The workers -at the roots who are so busily engaged in sending up -water, are also sending with it all those things the plant -needs that they can get from the earth. Thus the -water may contain iron, nitrogen, sulphur, and potash. -All that goes from the roots to the leaves is called -sap. This, when it comes to the leaves and all parts -of the plant exposed to the light, transpires, and so -keeps the plant cool.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The stem, on which the supreme work, the flower, -will be born, is, in the case of our Carnations, divided -into nodes and internodes, the nodes being those solid -elbows one sees. It is towards the supreme work -that our eyes are turned. It is part, if not chief part, -of the pleasure of our vigil to look forward to the day -when the first faint colour shows in the bursting bud. -It is for this moment that we wait and wear out the -chill of Winter. It is towards the idea of a resurrection -that our thoughts, perhaps unconsciously, are fixed, -to the knowledge that our garden is to be born again, -fresh and new in colour, in warmth and sunshine. The -very secret workings going on before our eyes, all that -Heavenly workshop where none are ’prentices and all -are master-hands, where the bee, and the ant, and the -unseen insect in the air, go about their exact duties, -give one, as Autumn declines into Winter and Winter -<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>rouses into Spring, some vague conjecture of the mighty -magic of the growing world, where no particle of energy is -ever wasted.</p> - -<div id='o217' class='figcenter id014'> -<img src='images/opp_217.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A NORTHAMPTONSHIRE GARDEN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Life in the Winter takes on this aspect of waiting -wonderment. While the rivers are in flood, and the -fields are ruled with silver lines where the ditches are -full, and the Sun uses them for a mirror; while the -gulls are driven inland and follow the plough, and the -starlings congregate in the open fields, we prepare -our pageant of flowers against those days when the -slumber of the earth is over, and the now purple hedgerows -are alive with tender green. St. Francis of Assisi -impressed the very sentiment on his friars, in bidding -them make scented gardens of flower-bearing herbs to -remind them of Him who is called “The Lily of the -Valley,” and “The Flower of the World.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>So goes my workshop through the winter days, while -a few pale ghosts of late Roses linger on the trees, sighing -doubtless to themselves, like old gentlemen—“Ah, -I remember this place before Autumn pulled down all -the green leaves, and long before all that ground was -laid out for seed plots.” And all the while my Roses -are growing and, could one see into the colour chambers -of the trees, into those wonderful studios hidden in the -tiny cells, one would see these artists at work rivalling -the blush of morning, the flames of fire, the white soul -of innocence, the crimson of king’s robes, and the -orange flush of sunset. There are men, I suppose, -who know to a certain extent how the secretion of -these wonderful colours is arranged; why this or that -colour runs to flush a petal to the edge, or stays to -dye only the flower’s heart. But it will ever be a -marvel to me to see how these veins flow crimson, -those hold orange, and those again hold a rich yellow. -The work that creates the colour of a Pansy, that gives -<span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>to the Sweet Peas those soft tints, that shapes and -colours the trumpet flower of the Convolvulus, and -builds the long horn of the sweet-scented Eglantine, -gives one a joy to which few joys are equal, and a -feeling of security with the great unknown things by -which life is encompassed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Looking again at the garden of promises, and thinking -of it still as a graveyard with headstones, I see -one which is, to me, particularly pleasant. It is by -an old bush of lavender, the mother bush of my long -hedge; I read it to be written like this:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>HERE LIES</div> - <div>IMPRISONED IN THIS GREY BUSH</div> - <div>THE SCENT OF</div> - <div>LAVENDER</div> - <div>IT IS RENOWNED FOR A SIMPLE PURITY</div> - <div>A SWEET FRAGRANCE AND A SUBTLE</div> - <div>STRENGTH IT IS THE ODOUR OF</div> - <div>THE DOMESTIC VIRTUES AND THE</div> - <div>SYMBOLIC PERFUME OF A QUIET LIFE</div> - <div>RAIN</div> - <div>SHALL WEEP OVER THIS BUSH</div> - <div>SUN</div> - <div>SHALL GIVE IT WARM KISSES</div> - <div>WIND</div> - <div>SHALL STIR THE TALL SPIKES</div> - <div>UNTIL SUCH TIME AS IS REQUIRED</div> - <div>WHEN IT SHALL FLOWER AND SO</div> - <div>YIELD TO US ITS SECRET</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>There stands the bush all neatly tied, its venerable -head at the moment covered with a powdering of fine -snow, and round it the first sharp spears of Crocus -leaves show, and the fat buds of Snowdrops, and the -ready bud of the yellow Aconite. All the garden is -waiting, the Pea-sticks are prepared, the paths have -been cleaned, and I am waiting and watching the little -<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>things. The trees even now are whispering that it -will soon be Spring, for all they look from a distance -like a collection of dried and pressed roots sticking up -in the air, how they are drawn in purple ink against -the sky; but one day my eyes will see a faint haze over -them as if a little mist hung about them and was caught -in the branches, and then they will change so quietly -that it is impossible to tell quite when they began to -look like very delicate green feathers, and then they -will change so suddenly that it is a shock to one’s eyes -to find them in a full flush of sticky bud and leaf, and -one says in accents of delighted surprise, “Why, the -trees are out!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Not every one takes pleasure in a garden during the -Winter time, many regarding it as a chill and a desolate -place in itself, and taking only an interest in the green-houses -and the Violet frames; and few would find a -pleasure in washing flower-pots by the dozen on a -rainy day, and in putting fresh ashes on the paths, and -in banking up Celery. But to the keen gardener every -inch of work in his garden is full of interest, he realises -the daily value of each thing he does, he knows of that -great silent work that is going on so near him, and so -enjoys even the burnishing of a spade, the rolling of -lawns, and loves, as I think every one does, the surgical -work of pruning the fruit trees.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then, when the promise is fulfilled, and the world -is full of green and colour, the wondrous alchemy of the -Winter months shows its result in the glorious painting -of the flowers of Spring and Summer.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span> - <h2 class='c006'>XII<br /> <br />GARDEN PATHS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>You can get no symbol finer than a path, no symbol -is more used. Of necessity a path must begin somewhere -and have a destination. Of necessity it must -cross certain country, overcome obstacles, or go round -them. By nature you come at new views from a path -and so obtain fresh suggestions. A path entails labour, -and by labour ease. It must have a purpose, and so -must originate in an inspiration. And yet the man -who makes a path ignores, as a rule, the high importance -of his task.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It is a peculiar thing that paths made across fields, -and made by the very people whose business it is to -reach from point to point in the shortest possible time, -are never straight. Their very irregularities reflect -the nature of man more than the nature of the ground -they cross.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So unmethodical is man by instinct that if he were -to lay out a garden in the same frame of mind in which -he crosses a field, that garden would abound in twisted, -tortuous paths, beds of irregular shapes, spasmodic -arrangements of trees, flowers, shrubs and vegetables, -a veritable hotch-potch. To overcome that he imprisons -the wanderings of his mind, divides his garden -into regular shapes, and drives his paths pell-mell -from point to point as straight as his eye and a line -will allow him. This planning of a garden is an absorbing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>joy. To come new to a fresh place untouched by any -other hand and to work your will on it gives one all the -delights of conquest, and the pleasant fatigue of a war -in which you are bound to win. You can make your -own traditions, founding them for future ages—as, -for instance, you may so plant your trees as to force -one view on the attention. You can emulate Rome -and carry your paths straight and level. In fact, that -little new world is yours to conquer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To me a winding path offers the more alluring prospect, -just as it is more pleasant to walk on a winding -road where each turn opens out a fresh vista, and the -coming of every hidden corner is in the way of an adventure. -I have just made such a path.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To be precise my path is eighteen feet long and two -feet and a quarter wide. It curves twice, really in a -sort of courteous bow in avoiding a Standard Rose -tree, and begins and ends in a little low step of Box; -this to prevent the cinders of which it is made from -mingling with gravel of the paths into which it runs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I began it on a Monday. It is made through a Rose -bed that was too wide to work properly. At about -nine in the morning the gardener and I stood regarding -the unconscious Rose-bed with much the same gravity -as men might regard a range of hills through which a -tunnel was to be drilled.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I said, “This seems the best place to make a path -through the bed.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The gardener made a serpentine movement with his -hand to indicate the possible curve of the path and -replied, after an interval: that such a place seemed as -good as any.</p> - -<p class='c012'>We then, with a certain lightening of heart after -this tremendous thought, walked into the bed and -surveyed it. This tree would have to be moved, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>that one, and these half standards shifted. Good. It -should be done.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It seems that the earth requires a little ceremonial -even when the merest scratch is to be made on her -surface. I am sure we wheeled a barrow containing -spades, a line, and sticks with some feeling of processional -pride. The gardener then, having come to a -stop with the barrow, spat, very solemnly on his hands. -It appeared to be the exact form of ritual required. In -a few minutes we had pegged a way.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I suppose a spade is the first implement of peace ever -made by human kind. It is certainly the pleasantest -to hold. A rake is a more dandified affair, a hoe not so -well-formed. The scythe and the sickle have a store -of poetry and legend about them, but the rake and the -hoe contain no romantic virtues. Although the plough -is the recognised implement of peace in symbolical -language, it joins hands with war in that same language—“turning -their swords into ploughshares”—and -so loses much of its peaceful meaning, but the spade -remains always the sword of the man of peace, one -weapon by which he conquers the ground and makes -the earth yield her fruits. For me the spade.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The gardener, having spat upon his hands regarded -the earth and sky as if to mark and measure the earth -and the heavens, and them to witness his first cut. -The spade, lifted for a moment, drove deep into the -earth. The soil, pressed by the steel, turned. A new -path was begun. How long is it to last?</p> - -<p class='c012'>There are garden paths, so commenced, have made -history in their day, why not mine? Kings, Princes, -Lords, Queens, Maids of Honour, spies and honourable -men have trodden garden paths, measuring their small -length and discussing everything in the states of Love -or Country to come to some decision. The Poppies -<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>Tarquin slew gave their message. The Pinks that -Michonis brought to Marie Antoinette grew by some -garden path; that very bunch of Pinks in which lay a -note promising her safety, brought her death more -near. What comedies, what tragedies, vows made and -broken, kisses stolen and repented, have not had for -platform just such a path as mine.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At the first hint of broken soil a robin, pert and ready, -took up a position on a bare limb of Penzance Briar, -and began to eye us merrily just as if he, I and the -garden were all out for a day’s worm hunting.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Said I, “Dick, we are out to make a garden path, -incidentally to make history.” For I had my idea -of the “History of Paths” well at the back of my -mind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The robin replied (or as good as replied), “If it’s -history you’re after, it’s insects I’m here for, so we’ll -come at a bargain.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile the gardener turned another clod.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Said the robin, “I never saw any one so slow.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Slow as we might have been we were quick enough -in imagination. For one thing there was the question -of edging. Tiles, bricks, box, stones, which was it -to be?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Half-way down the trench we had made, just at the -acute point of the greater curve, the gardener propounded -the question of the edging. He leaned on his -spade, and turning to me asked if I had thought to -something to edge the path with. Now my thoughts -were far away from that idea and were hovering -like butterflies over a vision of the Path Complete. I -saw, for Springtime, a row of Daffodils nodding and -yellow in the breeze. For Summer I saw Carnations -gleaming richly, and the Roses all blooming. Overhead -the driven sky hung out blue banners of distress -<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>as if signalling for fine weather. Plumb to earth my -thoughts came.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“About something to edge with?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Almost before I had time to speak, he continued. -I had begun with the word, “Box.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Every one knows what it is to come on the rocks -in the soil of a gardener’s mind. It is, as a rule, some -old idea taken deep root which forms a rock of -resistance. Sometimes it is a rock idea about taking -Geranium cuttings, sometimes an idea about the time -for pruning fruit trees or the method of pruning them, -sometimes it concerns certain plants which he refuses to -allow will live in the garden and so lets them die. One -is never quite certain when or how the objection will -arise. I had sent out a feeler for Box and I struck a rock.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Box!!” he said in a voice of awe, as if the gods -overhearing would be angry. “Where am I to get -Box from? And if I was to get Box, Box don’t grow -so high,”—he held his hand a mustard seed height from -the ground—“not in ten years. It’s awkward stuff, -Box, to deal with. In a garden this size that needs an -extra man—and plenty of work for a boy too, when all -these leaves is about—growing hedges of Box or what -not is not possible. Not that I have anything to say -against Box, far from it. No. It looks well in some -places, but if you was to ask me, sir, I think it’ud be -the ruin of this Rosebed.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Said the robin to me, “The man’s mad.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I answered quickly, “It was merely a sudden idea -of mine.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>He relapsed into silence for a moment. Then he said, -“flints.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I knew it was to be a battle. I hate flints. Nasty, -ugly, tiresome eyesores. Gardeners love flints just as -many of them love Laurels and Ivy.</p> - -<div id='o224' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_224.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A PATH IN A ROSE GARDEN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>I said very rashly, “But where are we to get flints?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of course I should have known that he had a cartload -of flints up his sleeve. He scraped his boots, walked -away, and returned with a jagged thing like one petrified -decayed tooth of a mammoth. This he thrust into the -ground, and then surveyed it with pride.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That,” he said, “is something like.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Something like what?” said I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A double row of these,” he said, “with here and -there one of a different colour would never be equalled.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I agreed with him sarcastically. “Never,” said I, -“would they be equalled for utter hideousness. Far -be it from me,” I said, “to fill the hearts of my neighbours -with envy of this border.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You don’t care for them?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Chuck it at him,” said the robin.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I wouldn’t be seen dead in a path bordered with -flints,” I said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>More in sorrow than in anger he removed the offending -flint, and we resumed work. The last time we had -used bricks for an edging they had all cracked with -the frost, so that idea was left alone. Not, of course, -that all bricks crack, but the bricks about here seem to -be very soft.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I asked if we had any tiles.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He knew of some tiles, a lot of them, nearly buried -in the earth and covered with Moss. They were an old -line running by the path inside the wall by the paddock; -the path by the rubbish heap.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But,” he said, having the rout of the flints in his -mind, “it would take a man all day to dig them up, -and scrape them and wash them, and then he couldn’t -say they would be any use when it was done. And -in a garden where an extra man——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will do it myself.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>“Fight it out,” said the robin.</p> - -<p class='c012'>More or less in silence, and really in excellent tempers, -we finished the trench that was to receive the cinders -and ashes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I washed the tiles. There were exactly ninety of them -required. I started to wash them in the cold water -of a stable bucket, and I regarded each one as a thing -of beauty as I did it. After having done forty I began -to think it would be a good thing to give prisoners to do to -teach them discipline. After seventy, I decided to recommend -that particular form of torture to some Chinese -official. By the time I had finished I felt that some -medal should be struck to commemorate the event.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The gardener, at the close of that day, looked at my -heap of tiles.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I said, “I have finished them.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>He replied, “I was just coming to lend a hand.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>To which, as I was not going to let the sun go down -upon my wrath, I answered, “Thank you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I think an ash-heap is the most desolate object I -know. The dreary remains of burnt-out fires make a -melancholy sight, but I remember that as a child that -corner of the garden where stood the heaps of ashes -and ancient rubbish was as the mines of Eldorado to -me. Here, if one dug deeply enough, one found pieces -of broken pottery, in themselves equal, by power of -imagination, to any discovery of Roman remains. To -the whitened bones I found I gave names, building -from them adventures more lurid than those of Captain -Kydd. To the ashes I gave gold and jewels, delving -as if in a mine, sifting, with childlike seriousness, the -heap of fire slack, and coming on some bright bit of -glass that shone for me like a kingly diamond, I held it -to the light and renewed the ardour of my soul in its -gleaming rays. After all, are not pieces of broken glass -<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>as beautiful as many jewels if they are self-discovered -and lit by the light of joy? That corner of the garden, -hidden by shrubs, by low-growing nut trees and shaded -by ancient Elms, has been for me the Forest of Arden, -of Sherwood, the deeps of the Jungle, an ambush, a -hiding-place, a tree covered island, each in its turn -absolutely satisfying to my mind. The sun’s rays -shooting down through the branches have found me -seated, dirty, dishevelled, but incomparably happy,—a -King with an ash heap for a throne.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To an ash heap, then, I repaired on the following -day, there to gather loads of cinders and slack for my -garden path. Already in my mind the Roses bloomed -by the path side; the tiles, evenly set, were leaned -against by blue-eyed Violas; Carnations waved gorgeous -heads at my feet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>My friend the robin was there betimes and took upon -himself to sing a little song to cheer me. After that, -with his bright eyes glinting, he hopped upon the bed -and inspected my labours.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The gardener coming upon me glanced at the row -of neatly placed tiles.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’m glad I thought o’ they,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hit him,” the robin chirruped.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You think they look well?” said I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“As soon as I thought of they tiles,” he answered, -“I knew I’d a thought of a grand thing.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>So he took all the idea to himself, and went on solemnly -pounding down the cinders with a heavy stone fastened -onto a stick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And now the path is finished, and curves smooth and -sleek between the Rose trees, and answers firmly to -the tread. All day long I have been planting cuttings -of Violas alongside the path; and behind them are -rows of Carnations.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>I wonder who will walk upon my path in a hundred -years time, and if by then they, whoever they be, -will think our methods of gardening very old-fashioned -and odd. And I wonder if we shall seem at all quaint -to people who will come after us, and if our clothes will -be regarded as odd and wonderfully ugly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Once, I remember, I saw into the past in such a vivid -way that I still feel as if I were living out of my date by -living now. It was on the occasion of some fête in the -country which was to be held in some big gardens. -Certain ladies were presiding over an entertainment that -set out to represent a series of Eighteenth Century -booths. The daughter of the house where I was stopping -had spent time, money, and taste in getting very accurate -and beautiful dresses of about 1745. They wore these, -powdered their hair, and placed patches on their cheeks, -and prepared baskets of lavender tied up in bundles to -sell at the fair.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I saw them one morning start for the place where the -fair was to be held. They came into the garden all dressed -and in white caps, and they walked arm-in-arm down a -path bordered with Pinks and overhung with Roses, and -the sun gleamed on their flowered gowns and on their -powdered hair. I could almost hear them say—“La, -Mistress Barbara, but I protest it is a fine morning.” -There was nothing incongruous in sight, just these -walking flowers passing the banks of Roses, pink as their -cheeks, and the Pinks white as their powdered hair. I -felt at my side for my sword, and put up my hand to my -neck to smooth the fall of my lace ruffles, but, alas, nor -sword nor lace was there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the ordering of paths such as I have written there -are many ways, and some are for paths all of grass, and -some for tiles, and some for flags of stone, some for -gravel, and some for brick laid herring-bone ways. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>Each has its proper and appointed place, as, for instance, -that flags of stone are proper by a balustrade where -are also stone jars to hold flowers and stone seats -arranged. And brick, which of all the others I most -prefer, as it is more warm to look at and helps the -garden by its rich colour, is good in intimate small gardens -as well as in big, and gives a feeling of cosiness to old-fashioned -borders, and is nice near to the house, and is -good to set tubs for trees on, or tubs filled with gay -flowers. Of grass paths, in that they are soft and inviting, -I like them well enough, but they are wet underfoot after -rain and dew, and need a deal of care and trimming; but -in such cases as small set gardens with queer-shaped beds -and low Box borders, I mean bulb gardens, to be afterwards -used for carpet bedding or for a show of some one -thing, as Begonias, or Zinnias, or Carnations, they are -without equal. They should be kept very precious, and -well free of weeds, otherwise their beauty is gone and -they have a lack-lustre air, very uncomfortable. As for -gravel, it is a good thing in place where the ground is low -and moist, for it will remain dry better than anything -if it is properly rolled and well made. Often it is not -properly curved and drained, and Moss and weeds collect -at the sides, whereby your garden will seem unkempt -and dull. Indeed the garden paths are of supreme importance -to the appearance of your garden, as if they be -left dirty, or covered with leaves or moss they will spoil -all the neat brightness of the flowers, and are apt to look -like an unbrushed coat on a man otherwise well dressed. -This is especially the case with broad paths and drives. -How often one has judged of a gardener by the appearance -of his drive! The first glance from the gate up the -drive will give you a fair guess at the gardener and his -methods, and you can tell at once if he be a man of decent -and tidy habits, or a man to leave odd corners dirty and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>full of weeds. That last man is just such an one as will -burnish up his place on the eve of a garden party, and -give everything a lick and a promise, and will stand by -his greenhouses with an expression on his face of an holy -cherub when the visitors are being shown his stove plants. -That man will be for ever complaining of overwork and -will wear a face as long as a fiddle if he is asked pertinent -questions of unweeded paths. “Such a work,” he will -say, “should be done by an extra boy. As for me, am I -not by day and by night protecting the peas from the -birds, and the dahlias from earwigs, and the melons from -the ravages of slugs?” And you may know from this -that he is the type of man who loses grape scissors, and -who leaves bast about, and mislays his trowel, and -neglects to give water to your favourite plants, so that -they wither and die. No. Look well that you get a -man who is fond of keeping himself clean, and he will -keep his paths clean, as is the case in a man I know who -started a fruit garden in the country. He, it was, who -showed me his men working on a Saturday afternoon at -cleaning up the paths. And when I stood amazed at this -he took me into the shed where the tools were kept, and -there I saw spades shining like silver, and forks burnished -wonderfully, and everything very orderly. I clapped -my hands, and looked round still in wonder, for I marvelled -to see such neatness and order in a place that is the -shrine of disorder—as tool sheds, potting sheds, and the -like, which are a medley of stick, earth, leafmould, old -pricking-out boxes, tools, wire, and other miscellaneous -objects. And I marvelled still more to see through the -open door men at work—on the afternoon devoted to -holiday—picking leaves from the paths, and setting the -place in order.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I said, “This is well done indeed.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he answered, that this was the secret of all good -<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>gardening, pride and carefulness, and that now he had -shown them the way his men were so proud of their tool-shed -that they brought admiring friends to see it of a -Sunday afternoon. Then I knew if there was money -to be made growing fruit in England (which there is) -then this man would make it (which he does).</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now this talk of paths gives one the idea that people -do not here make enough of their paths, as the Japanese -do, for there they are skilled in small gardens, and -especially in landscape gardens on a tiny scale, making -little hills and woods, and views, lakes, streams, and rock -gardens in a space about the size of the average suburban -garden. Then they are very choice of trees, and value -the turning colour of Maples, and the droop of Wisteria, -and the shape and blossom of Plum and Cherry trees as -fine garden ornaments, while we grow our wonderful -lawns. Our lawns, indeed, are remarked by all the -world, and wherever you see the words “English Gardens” -abroad you will know that the people have made -a lawn and watered it, and are proud of its fat smooth -surface of velvet. But we make the mistake, I think, of -growing forest trees on the edge of our lawns and do not -enough encourage the wonderful and beautiful varieties -of flowering shrubs that there be. Above all we seem to -have a passion for dank, black, lustreless Ivy, beloved only -of cats, spiders and snails. I have seen many beautiful -walls of stone and brick utterly destroyed and defaced -by ill-growing Ivy, where the bare walls would give a fine -warm background to our flowers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The great thing in paths is to make them a little secret, -leading round trees to a fresh view, and interlacing them -in pretty and quaint ways, but we, a conservative people, -are ill-disposed to cut new paths except in new gardens, -and often leave badly designed paths for lack of a little -good courage. But we are learning by degrees, and I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>think the abominations of gardening are leaving us, such -as the monkey-puzzle tree in the centre of a round bed, -and the rows of half-moon beds cut by the side of our -lawns and filled with Geraniums and Lobelias, and the -rustic seat (horror!), and the rustic summer-house made -of rough pieces of tree limbs badly nailed together -(horror of horrors!). Now we know more of the way to -make pergolas, and terraces, and how to build summer-houses, -and the curse of the Mid-Victorian gardening is -come to an end with the antimacassar, and the wax -fruit under a glass case, and the sofa with horsehair -bolsters.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of course, true gardening is the work and interest of a -lifetime, like the collecting of objects of Art, and as such -inspires much the same eager passion and healthy rivalry. -Therefore let the setting of your collection be as perfect -as possible, and those paths leading to the choice collections -as fine as the velvet on which priceless enamels are -laid. Indeed enamel is a happy word, for what do -your flowers do but enamel the earth with their sweet -colours, and in pattern, choice, and variety, will surpass -all things made by man alone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And here I take my leave of paths, that great subject -that should indeed be a book to itself, for if a man sit -down to think of paths he begins to follow one himself, -and, starting from the cradle, ends at the grave, or, -pursuing some path of history, comes into the broad high-road -of all learning, or looking up and observing the stars -finds a train of thought in following the path of a star. -In a garden path, or from it, he may meditate all these -things with right and proper circumstance of mind, for -he has flowers at his feet full of the meat of good things, -rare remembrancers of history, and exquisite things on -which to base a philosophy; while, as for the stars, are -they not the Daisies of the Fields of Heaven?</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span> - <h2 class='c006'>XIII<br /> <br />THE GARDENS OF THE DEAD</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>It is a beautiful custom that we put flowers on the -graves of our dead, and is more fraught with meaning -than many know, for it is as a symbol resurrection that -they are so placed, inasmuch as the flower that seems -to perish perishes only for a while but comes up again as -beautiful, and though it die into the soil it reappears all -fresh and lovely with no sign of the soil to mar its beauty. -But it is more beautiful to plant the graves of those we -love with flowers, as then we symbolise that they are alive -in our hearts and for ever flowering in our thoughts. -And the shadow of the church over them is but the -shadow of the wing of sleep. All our lives, said a French -King, we are learning how to die; and when the time -comes we cannot help but think of that Garden of Sleep -where we must be placed along with other sleepers, there -to wait.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In England it has long been a habit to plant the more -melancholy trees and shrubs in churchyards, as Yew trees, -Myrtle, Bay, and the evergreen Oak. In this way a -sense of gloom was intended, much at variance with the -Christian doctrine that proclaims a victory over death. -But instead of this effect of sombreness the presence of -these evergreens gives an extraordinary air of quiet peace, -of something perpetually alive though at rest. Often -and often I have taken my bread and cheese into a country -churchyard, and have sat down on the grass and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>leaned my back against some venerable monument, and -there lunched. I take it that this is no disrespect to the -dead, that the living should join company with them -even to the extent of spreading crumbs of bread over -their resting places. I take it that the smoke of a pipe -is no sacriligeous sight in the neighbourhood of tombs; -for it is but a friendly spirit prompts it, and no violation -of the repose of these dead people. No; no more than -does the distant roar of the ship’s guns at practice disturb -these quiet souls.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In more than one churchyard there are the stocks -remaining where malefactors were placed, and so seated -were they that all the good folks passing in and out of -church were forced to pass, almost to touch the feet of -the wrongdoers as they trod the path to the porch. One -place I know in particular where the stocks remain, and a -goodly Yew tree having grown thick and strong behind -the seat forms a fine back to lean against. From here I -have surveyed the landscape over the tops of grey old -tombs, now all aslant over the heads of the sleepers. -Here the squire of 1640 rests facing the Cornfields once he -cut and sowed and stacked. There a lady, Christabel by -name, faces the flagged walk to the stone porch. There -is grass over them now, and the merriest Daisies grow, -and Moss covers the laughing cherubims, and Lichen has -crept into the words that set forth their marvellous -number of virtues. Spring comes here just as it comes -to other gardens, and the trees bud just as daintily, and -the young grass is every bit as green, and the first Crocus -lights his lamp, and the Dandelion flares as bravely with -his crown of gold.</p> - -<div id='o235' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_235.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A CHURCHYARD IN THE COTSWOLDS.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>There are these quaint quiet churchyards over the -length and breadth of England, where the dead lie so -comfortably under the fresh English grass. Some -are full of flowers planted by loving hands; Roses -<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>grow beside the church and shower their petals over the -grey stones of the tombs, and Spring flowers have been -set in the grass to nod beside the headstones sleepily. -Others are bare and bleak, standing exposed to wind and -weather on a hillside, with stone walls about them, and a -church buffeted by every storm; yet these are sometimes -most peaceful gardens, and Ling and Gorse scent the air, -and twisted Fir trees, and gnarled old Pines, all leaning -over, wind-bent, stand guard over the sleepers; bees busy -in the heather, lizards green as emeralds, and the bright -butterflies give the feeling of incessant life; they give -that glorious feeling that the great pulse still beats; -that Nature all alive is yet at one with the dead.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The gardener of these our dead, what a queer man is -he! What a peculiar profession he follows! To bury -is but to plant the dead that they may flower into that -new life. And he is usually a humorous character, a -man of well-chosen words who surveys his garden of -headstones and has a word for each. He is no respecter -of persons, since in the tomb all are equal, and to see him -at work preparing a fresh place for burial is to think that -the gravedigger’s work is no melancholy task. In the -heat of summer, half buried in the grave himself, he sings -some old catch as he shovels up the earth. “Poor little -lamb,” he may say of a dead child; “well, thee’ll bide -here against our Lord wants ’e.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>I have seen such a man, his clothes brown with grave -earth, a Daisy between his lips (something to mumble, -as he does not smoke on duty), and watched his face as -the lytchet gate clicks. His daughter, a flower herself, -is bringing his dinner, which he eats cheerfully leaning -against one side of the grave for support. This, with a -thrush singing somewhere, and the wheeze of the church -clock, and the frivolous screams of swifts make death a -comfortable picture.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>Here we have Nature triumphant, the Earth with her -children asleep in her lap. But a monstrosity has crept -into our graveyards—God’s Gardens—and in place of -flowers with their joy, their symbolical message of resurrection, -one sees ghastly things of bead work and of wax, -enclosed in hideous glass cases with a mourning card in -the centre of them. This is not seemly nor decent in a -place where the Earth reclaims her children, where nothing -ugly should be. It is within the reach of everyone -to buy fresh flowers and to renew those flowers from -time to time, and they should be left, if they are placed -there, to die. Away then with glass jam-jars filled with -water, with bead wreaths, and all ill-taste and hideous -distortion of grief, and let us have our offerings made as -if to the living, for our dead live in our hearts, nor torture -them with horrid and distressing objects on their graves. -I would have every churchyard a garden kept by the -pence of those who have laid their dead there to rest; -and I would have flowers and shrubs planted and paths -made, and seats placed, so that all should be kept fair and -bright.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In Switzerland, where I was once, I saw the most -delightful graveyard I have ever seen. The church -stood on a bluff overlooking a river, a swift running noisy -river that sang songs of the mountains and of the big -fields and of the bustling towns, a dashing river alive -with music, loving the sound of its own voice. Above -was this church and its yard, and a little below, the village. -The church was low-built and old, with a wooden -tower on which a cock stood guard; and it was whitewashed, -and toned by sun and rain, and a clock in the -tower marked the passage of time, solemnly, “tick-tock; -tick-tock.” Along the south wall outside the church was -a bench, and a Wisteria over the bench, and a little jutting -roof over the Wisteria. This bench, time-worn as all -<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>else was time-worn (as the wall was polished by several -generations of backs), faced the graveyard. If you sat on -this bench you might take a glance at a man’s life there -in one long look, for there was a mill near by, and an Inn, -and a shoemaker’s, and a forge—the blacksmith was the -undertaker, too, any one could see from the fact that he -was making a coffin. Besides these you could see mountains -covered with snow and wreathed in clouds; great -stretches of country, a wood, and the river. What more -can there be, saving only a sight of the sea?</p> - -<p class='c012'>But what struck me most forcibly was the appearance -of the graveyard, for each grave had flowers growing by -it, and a little weeping willow planted to hang over it, -and there was something so pleasant to me in this that I -was filled with delight of the place as I sat there. It was -a real garden, so fresh and bright with flowers and with -ugly bead-wreaths as are so usual in foreign countries, -and now, alas! in our own. And it was so homely to -think of the elders of that place who sat looking at the -graves and meditating—very likely—on the spot where -they themselves would lie. I remembered then, as I sat -there, the description of the graveyard in David Copperfield, -and the words came almost exact into my head.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“One Sunday night my mother reads to Peggotty and -me in there, how Lazarus was raised from the dead. -And I am so frightened that they are afterwards obliged -to take me out of bed, and show me the quiet churchyard -out of the bedroom window, with the dead all lying in -their graves at rest, below the solemn moon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There is nothing half so green that I know anywhere -as the grass of that churchyard; nothing half so shady -as its trees; nothing half so quiet as its tombstones. The -sheep are feeding there, when I kneel up, early in the -morning, in my little bed in a closet within my mother’s -room, to look out at it; and I see the red light shining on -<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>the sun-dial, and think within myself, ‘Is the sun-dial -glad, I wonder, that it can tell the time again?’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Even as I remembered those words I looked up and -noticed a sun-dial on the wall of the church just over my -head, and, curiously enough, just that peace that those -words give to me seemed to come to me from the sight of -the sun-dial, and the repose of the scene before me.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It is good, I think, to meditate on these things, and all -who garden, who are, as it were, in touch with the soil, -must sometimes let their thoughts linger over the other -gardens where the dead are, and where Spring comes as -blithely as in any other spot.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Although the gardens that are what are called “show-places,” -tended and nursed by a staff of men, do not -bring one into such close contact with earth as earth, still -in the greater garden is a peace no other place knows but -the graveyard. This is no morbid thought, nor over -introspective, but, I think, makes me feel more sanely -and not so fearfully of death. In the same way do the -poor keep their grave clothes ready and neat in a drawer, -with pennies sewn up in linen to put over their tired eyes, -and everything decent for the putting away of their -bodies. So does the wood of trees enclose them, and -good and polished wood in the shape of coffin-stools is -there to bear them up. And I have heard many talk of -how they wished to lie facing the porch of the church; -and others who wished they might be near by the gate so -that folks passing in and out might remember them.</p> - -<div id='o238' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/opp_238.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>AUTUMN COLOUR AT BONCHURCH OLD CHURCH, NEAR VENTNOR.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>This may seem a subject not quite fitted to a book -which is to tell of the Charm of Gardens, and yet I am -sure lovers of gardens will know just what I mean. To -think of and know of the peace and beauty of certain -graveyards is to gain consolation and quietude such as -the knowledge and thought of all beauty gives. What a -wonderful thing it is that we can paint the earth with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>flowers, set here crimson, and there orange, here purple, -and there blue; range our colours from white to cream, to -deep cream, to all the shades of all the colours, to deep -impenetrable purple, more black than black, like the -dusky eyes of anemonies.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When it is night, and “the dead all lying in their -graves at rest, below the solemn moon,” the thousand -thousand Daisies of the fields have closed their eyes, and -the Buttercups’ golden glaze is mellowed by the moonlight, -still there are flowers gay in the sunshine somewhere -in the world. Though the garden is chequered in -the blue-green light and heavy shadows, and the owls -hoot in their melancholy voices, still there are birds somewhere -in the world singing. And though, across the way -behind the wall, white in the moonlight, lies the dark -churchyard, and all is very still there, still, I think, they, -whose names are carved there on the stones, are not in -the dark, and do not know the damp and mouldy earth, -but are somewhere in some world more light and beautiful -than this.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The solemnity of this type of thought is seldom given -to me by flowers; it is more the breath of trees, and the -deep places of a wood, that gives one this feeling of hush -and peace. Flowers are gay, stately, exuberant, -simple, but always joyous, as witness the pert questioning -faces of Pansies, and the languorous droop of Roses, -the stately propriety of Lilies, the romantic splendour of -purple Clematis, and the passionate beauty of the -coloured Anemonies. In a garden are all moods, from -that given by a school of white Pinks, to the masterly -exactitude of the Red-Hot Poker, or the limpid and very -virginal appearance of Lavender. Youth itself comes in -full blood with the blossom on fruit trees; the slim -elegance of childhood with the Narcissus and the Daffodil. -Daintiness herself is in Columbine; maidenly virtue is in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>the hang-head Snowdrop. Zinnias have the melodious -colours of the East; Jasmine and Honeysuckle hold the -spirit of the porch. Sweet Peas, all laughing and chattering, -are like a bevy of young girls; while the proud Hyacinth, -erect up his stem, his hair tight curled, his breath -strong and sweet, is to me like some hero of the days of -William of Orange, a hero in a curled full-bottomed wig. -The Iris has the poetry of river banks; the Sunflower -peering over a cottage garden wall, spells rustic ease. -Fuschias I count very Victorian, like ladies in crinolines; -Geraniums also are prim and most polite. Wallflowers -I place as gipsy-like, a scent somehow of the wind on the -road; while the Snapdragons have a military spirit and -grow in brightly uniformed regiments. Carnations are -courtiers, elegant, superbly dressed, yet with a refinement -all their own; and Larkspurs, like charity schools -of children, all dressed alike and out for a walk, on the -tall stalk. Primulas, deep-coloured or pale, I feel somehow -to be the flowers of memory; and Sweet Sultans are -like Scots lords in foreign clothes. There are a hundred -others, all with some little fanciful meaning to those who -grow them, but all, I think, are full of joy; no flower is -sad. It is the trees, the voices whispering in whose -leaves bring deeper thoughts.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There are those who say that happiness would come -could we but find the Blue Rose; and others that there -are places one must need find like El Dorado; and others -that a magic charm will bring us the joy we desire. They -are all wrong. Happiness lies in the Rose at your hand, -El Dorado is at your door, the magic charm!—listen, -there is a thrush singing.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>THE END</div> - <div class='c014'><span class='sc'>Printed by Ballantyne & Co. Limited, London</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c006'>OTHER BEAUTIFUL BOOKS<br />ON FLOWERS & GARDENS</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>EACH CONTAINING FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id015'> -<img src='images/ad_1.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>THE FLOWERS AND</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>GARDENS OF JAPAN</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Painted by ELLA DU CANE</p> - -<p class='c012'>Described by FLORENCE DU CANE</p> - -<p class='c012'>Containing 50 full-page Illustrations in Colour. Square demy 8vo, cloth, gilt top. -Price 20s. net (<i>by post</i> 20s. 6d.)</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='sc'>Note.</span>—Japan has often been called the Land of Flowers, and to judge from the -beautiful illustrations in this volume, it is aptly named. The artist may be said to have -given us a diary of the year’s flowers from the opening of the first plum blossom to the -falling of the last maple leaf, and all are depicted in their natural surroundings. The -illustrations also include flowering trees amid old temples, charming landscape gardens, -flower feasts, and many natural scenes of great beauty. The author, who has spent two -floral seasons in the country, not only gives an attractive description of the flowers as -they appeal to the eye of the foreigner, but has also collected and reproduced in the -book many of the native legends which show that sentiment and tradition play a large -part in the feelings with which the Japanese regard their flowers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This ‘gardening’ book is one of the most fascinating that has ever been published, -and is worthy of its most fascinating title.”—<i>Morning Post.</i></p> - -<p class='c012'>“A charming volume, one of the most satisfactory of its kind that has appeared for -some time.”—<i>Pall Mall Gazette.</i></p> - -<p class='c012'>“The book has the best account we have seen anywhere of the way in which -Japanese gardens, including the landscape garden, are planned, planted, and made -effective.”—<i>Outlook.</i></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>THE FLOWERS AND</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>GARDENS OF MADEIRA</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Painted by ELLA DU CANE</p> - -<p class='c012'>Described by FLORENCE DU CANE</p> - -<p class='c012'>Containing 24 full-page Illustrations in Colour. Square demy 8vo, cloth, gilt top. -Price 7s. 6d. net (<i>by post</i>, 7s. 11d.)</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='sc'>Note.</span>—From the title of this volume it will be seen that it is not intended as a -guide-book to the island. Its aim is to help those lovers of flowers who are fortunate -enough to spend a winter in Madeira to appreciate the very varied vegetation of that -flowery land. From the author’s description of the never-ending succession of floral -treasures, it would appear to be perpetual summer in that favoured island, while the -so-called winter is almost the best time of year to see the gorgeous creepers for which -Madeira has long been famous.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The illustrations suggest warmth, sunshine, and flowers, and should tempt many a -wanderer to escape from the cold grey skies of an English winter, and spend his time -basking in the sun, and enjoying the succession of flowering trees, shrubs, and plants -which are gathered together from every part of the New and Old World.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A charming book.... The coloured illustrations are not only instructive, but -gems of their kind.... Should be in every library.”—<i>Garden.</i></p> - -<p class='c012'>“No one knows better than Miss Du Cane how to paint flowers.”—<i>Standard.</i></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>GARDENS OF ENGLAND</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Painted by BEATRICE PARSONS</p> - -<p class='c012'>Described by E. T. COOK</p> - -<p class='c012'>Containing 20 full-page Illustrations in Colour. Square demy 8vo, cloth, gilt top. -Price 7s. 6d. net (<i>by post</i>, 7s. 11d.)</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='sc'>Note.</span>—“Gardens of England” does not follow the conventional lines of recent -works, but is descriptive of the modern development of the love of picturesque horticulture. -All who have a love of the garden and the country in their hearts are aware of -and welcome the intense interest that has been slowly asserting itself in this fair land of -ours, and this, surely, is of physical advantage to the race. In this book the sketches -show the beauty of the modern rose garden when planned with taste, the flood of colour -that comes from rambling roses over the pergola, and the brilliancy of the herbaceous -border in summer. The text follows the same lines, and, as indicating the character of -the book, there are chapters on “Cottage Gardens,” “Rosemary and Lavender,” “The -Rose Garden,” and the four seasons in the garden.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A book of very great value.... Highly deserving of a place in the country-house.... It -is instinct with the spirit of the garden, and no one could turn its leaves, or look -at the pictures, without obtaining many a hint that could be put to practical purpose.”—<i>Country -Life.</i></p> - -<p class='c012'>“Miss Parson’s pictures are almost fragrant, so truly does she realise the atmosphere -of her subjects. The volume is one which the garden lover ... will find full of delight.”—<i>Truth.</i></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>ALPINE FLOWERS</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>AND GARDENS</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Painted and Described by G. FLEMWELL</p> - -<p class='c012'>Containing 20 full-page Illustrations in Colour. Square demy 8vo, cloth, gilt top. -Price 7s. 6d. net (<i>by post</i>, 7s. 11d.)</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='sc'>Note.</span>—This is an attempt to present, in word and picture, a broad and general -view of the Swiss Alpine flora in its wild home and in the gardens established for it in -the Alps. It is an attempt to break away from the mass of specialist literature on the -subject, and to depict, not merely something of the floral wonders themselves, but something -also of the unique and fascinating atmosphere which surrounds them—something -which will appeal both to those who know the Alps and to those who know only of -them. To quote from the Preface contributed by Mr. Henry Correvon, one of the -greatest living authorities on Alpine plants: “The Alpine flora has never yet been -described or offered to the public at the angle at which it is here presented to us. Here, -then, is a profoundly original work which lovers of beauty and truth cannot but applaud.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Mr. Flemwell’s paintings will at once attract those who open this book, for he has -accomplished with singular skill the difficult task of making the Alpine air breathe -round Alpine flowers. And lovers of Alpland who do not look for a specialist technical -work on the flowers will be pleased with his letterpress, which, though botanical lore is -not lacking, studies them from rather a new angle.”—<i>Times.</i></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>DUTCH BULBS</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>AND GARDENS</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Painted by MIMA NIXON</p> - -<p class='c012'>Described by UNA SILBERRAD and SOPHIE LYALL</p> - -<p class='c012'>Containing 24 full-page Illustrations in Colour. Square demy 8vo, cloth, gilt top. -Price 7s. 6d. net (<i>by post</i>, 7s. 11d.)</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='sc'>Note.</span>—Miss Una Silberrad has had exceptional facilities for studying life in the -Bulb Fields in and around Haarlem, which has been the centre of the industry ever -since its first introduction, and here sets down for us the quaint customs of the growers, -and their manner of life. Miss Sophie Lyall treats of the Hyacinth; her chief authority -being St. Simon, a learned Frenchman of the eighteenth century. Garden-lovers will -appreciate his enthusiasm, and the loving exactness with which he describes the life of -the plant, its treatment, and the environment best suited to its needs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Over the pictures in this book it is difficult not to wax enthusiastic, for they are -veritable triumphs of colour-printing.”—<i>Globe.</i></p> - -<p class='c012'>“Her pictures as a whole are as successful as the subject and the letterpress in -helping to endow this volume with a unique charm which no flower- or garden-lover can -fail to appreciate.”—<i>World.</i></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>BY THE POET LAUREATE</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>THE GARDEN</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>THAT I LOVE</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Containing 16 full-page Illustrations in Colour by GEO. S. ELGOOD, R.I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Square demy 8vo, cloth, gilt top.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Price 7s. 6d. net (<i>by post</i>, 7s. 11d.)</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='sc'>From the Author’s Introduction to this Edition.</span> “What!” said Lamia, -“<i>Another</i> Illustrated Edition!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I believe so,” I replied, trying to look as meek as I could, but betraying, I fear, -that special kind of hesitation which proceeds less from conscious guilt than from -embarrassment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Have you consulted Veronica?” she asked. “If you have, I am sure she must have -informed you ‘The Garden that I Love’ will soon be as hard to put up with as the -Fiscal Question.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Despite the opinions of Lamia and Veronica the publishers believe that this edition -will be welcomed by many who have read the book with pleasure, but have never had -an opportunity of seeing the beauty of the Garden itself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The illustrations are worthy of the book, which is one of the most charming -books about a garden in the language.”—<i>Daily Chronicle.</i></p> - -<p class='c012'>“This sumptuous edition will enhance the appreciation even of this much appreciated -book.”—<i>Aberdeen Free Press.</i></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>BRITISH FLORAL</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>DECORATION</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>By R. F. FELTON, F.R.H.S., F.N.C.S. &c.</p> - -<p class='c012'>FLORIST TO KING EDWARD VII AND MANY COURTS OF EUROPE</p> - -<p class='c012'>Containing 26 full-page Illustrations (12 in Colour). Square demy 8vo, cloth. -Price 7s. 6d. net (<i>by post</i>, 7s. 11d.)</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='sc'>Note.</span>—It has been felt for some time past that owing to the vast strides which are -yearly being made in Floral Decoration in Great Britain that there was need for a book -on so highly interesting a subject. The publishers have been fortunate in securing the -co-operation of Mr. R. F. Felton to write such a book and to select and supervise the -preparation of the illustrations.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As Mr. Felton’s art brings him in touch with the Courts of Europe, he is able to give -examples of many important and interesting floral works with which he has been -professionally associated.</p> - -<p class='c012'>An important feature of the book is a complete and carefully compiled list of the -best varieties of all flowers to grow for cutting and decorative purposes. The work has -been largely subscribed by many influential people in this country.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Flowers play such a large part now in the decorations of the home that the many -useful hints given here will prove widely acceptable.”—<i>Evening Standard.</i></p> - -<p class='c012'>“<span class='sc'>The Passion for Flowers.</span>—Every phase of the subject has received attention in -these pages and the book provides many valuable hints. Especially interesting are the -chapters on certain flowers such as Roses, Orchids, Tulips, Lilies and Violets, Sweet Peas, -Daffodils, &c.”—<i>Daily Mail.</i></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='xlarge'>KEW GARDENS</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Painted by T. MOWER MARTIN, R.C.A.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Described by A. R. HOPE MONCRIEFF</p> - -<p class='c012'>Containing 24 full-page Illustrations in Colour. Large crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top. -Price 6s. net (<i>by post</i>, 6s. 4d.)</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='sc'>Note.</span>—Kew Gardens contain what seems the completest botanical collection -in the world, handicapped as this is by a climate at the antipodes of Eden and by -a soil that owes less to Nature than to patient art. Before being given up to -public pleasure and instruction, this demesne was a royal country seat, especially -favoured by George III in days when it would be almost as rural as now is Osborne -or Sandringham. This homely king had two houses here, and began to build a more -pretentious palace, a design cut short by his infirmities, but for which Kew might have -usurped the place of Windsor. For nearly a century it had a close connection with the -Royal Family, as the author illustrates in his story of the village and the gardens, -while the artist has found most effective subjects in the rich vegetation gathered into -this enclosure and in the relics of its former state.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Mr. Martin’s drawings add much to the value of this fascinating book.”—<i>T.P.’s -Weekly.</i></p> - -<p class='c012'>“Mr. Martin’s pictures are charming.”—<i>Pall Mall Gazette.</i></p> - -<div class='figcenter id015'> -<img src='images/ad_2.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>PUBLISHED BY ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK</div> - <div>SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>Transcriber’s note:</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c020'>Headings and subheadings in the Kalendarium, pages 108-148, have been regularised.</p> - -<p class='c020'>Variations in spelling in the Kalendarium have been retained.</p> - -<p class='c020'>Illustration captions have been regularised.</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 21, full stop inserted after ‘light,’ “in a fluster of bright light.”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 38, double quote inserted after ‘madam,’ “this is why, madam,” I could”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 55, full stop inserted after ‘Head,’ “from some once lovely Head.”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 62, comma inserted after ‘led,’ “me, willing to be led,”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 62, comma inserted after ‘thread,’ “Though by a slender thread,”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 76, ‘Falerian’ changed to ‘Falernian,’ “sat drinking Falernian wine poured”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 82, ‘glimmmering’ changed to ‘glimmering,’ “glimmering amidst their greenery”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 102, ‘Orgilly’ changed to ‘or Gilly,’ “Clove Pink, or Gilly-flower, a variety”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 116, ‘Minabile’ changed to ‘Mirabile,’ “Flos Africanus, Mirabile Peruvian”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 126, ‘alter’ changed to ‘after,’ “Ranunculus’s after rain (if it come”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 129, ‘Paterre’ changed to ‘Parterre,’ “In the Parterre, and Flower”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 133, ‘Michaemas’ changed to ‘Michaelmas,’ “Malacoton, which lasts till Michaelmas”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 134, ‘Candi-tufts’ changed to ‘Candy-tufts,’ “Larks-heel, Candy-tufts, Iron-colour’d”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 139, ‘Cand-tufts’ changed to ‘Candy-tufts,’ “Delphinium, Nigella, Candy-tufts”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 144, comma inserted after ‘Cabbages,’ “Parsneps, Turneps, Cabbages, Cauly-flowers”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 151, colon struck after ‘GARDENS,’ “TOWN GARDENS”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 163, ‘that’ changed to ‘than,’ “more beautiful than the Almond tree”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 176, ‘wheelrights’ changed to ‘wheelwright’s,’ “into the wheelwright’s saw-pit”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 186, ‘Aglantine’ changed to ‘Eglantine,’ “was crowned with Eglantine”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 206, full stop inserted after ‘grass,’ “crickets in the grass. But in”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 212, ‘er’ changed to ‘’er,’ “but what ’er won’t rain”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 222, ‘vitual’ changed to ‘ritual,’ “the exact form of ritual required”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Page 232, ‘antimaccassar’ changed to ‘antimacassar,’ “end with the antimacassar, and”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Ad page 3, ‘Full-page’ changed to ‘full-page,’ “Containing 16 full-page Illustrations”</p> - -<p class='c020'>Ad page 3, comma inserted after ‘Lamia,’ ““What!” said Lamia,”</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Charm of Gardens, by Dion Clayton Calthrop - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHARM OF GARDENS *** - -***** This file should be named 54641-h.htm or 54641-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/6/4/54641/ - -Produced by MFR and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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