irntro&uction 3 



grace and charm and thus described in Eothen by 

 Kinglake: 



"Wild as the highest woodland of a deserted 

 home in England is the sumptuous Garden of Da- 

 mascus. Forest trees tall and stately enough, if 

 you could see their lofty crests, yet lead a bustling 

 life of it below, with their branches struggling against 

 strong numbers of bushes and wilful shrubs. The 

 shade upon the earth is black as night. High, high 

 above your head, and on every side down to the 

 ground, the thicket is hemmed in and choked up by 

 the interlacing boughs that droop with the weight of 

 roses, and load the slow air with their damask breath. 

 The rose trees which I saw were all of the kind we 

 call damask — they grow to an immense height and 

 size. There are no other flowers. Here and there 

 are patches of ground made clear from the cover and 

 these are either carelessly planted with some common 

 and useful vegetable, or left free to the wayward ways 

 of nature, and bear rank weeds moist looking and cool 

 to your eyes, and refreshing the sense with their 

 earthy and bitter fragrance. There is a lane opened 

 through the thicket, so broad in some places that you 

 can pass along side by side — in some so narrow (the 

 shrubs are for ever encroaching) that you ought, if 

 you can, to go on the first, and hold back the bough 

 of the rose tree. And through this wilderness there 

 tumbles a loud rushing stream, which is halted at last 

 in the lowest corner of the garden and then tossed up 



