284 THE PRAISE OF GARDENS 



there sparkles in the light; and how happily the miniature 

 prospect, framed by the gnarled branches of those gigantic oaks, 

 discloses the white spire of the village church in the middle 

 distance ! While in the background the smoke, drifting athwart 

 the base of the purple hill, gives evidence that the evening fires 

 are just lit in the far-off town. 



At the right-hand corner of the lower terrace the ground falls 

 more abruptly away, and the descent into the lawn, which is 

 overlooked from the high western terrace, is, by two or three 

 steps at a time, cut out in the native rock of red sandstone, 

 which also forms the base of the terrace itself. Rock plants 

 of every description freely grow in the crevices of the rustic 

 battlement which flanks the path on either side ; the irregularity 

 of the structure increases as you descend, till, on arriving on the 

 lawn below, large rude masses lie scattered on the turf and along 

 the foundation of the western terrace. 



A profusion of the most exquisite climbing roses of endless 

 variety here clamber up till they bloom over the very balustrade 

 of the higher terrace, or creep over the rough stones at the foot 

 of the descent. Here stretching to the south is the nosegay of 

 the garden. Mignonette, 'the Frenchman's darling,' and the 

 musk-mimulus spring out of every fissure of the sandstone ; 

 while beds of violets, 



' That strew the green lap of the new-come Spring,' 



and lilies of the valley scent the air below. Beds of heliotrope 

 flourish around the isolated block of sandstone; the fuchsia, 

 alone inodorous, claims a place from its elegance; and honey- 

 suckles and clematis of all kinds trail along the ground, or twine 

 up the stands of rustic baskets, filled with the more choice odori- 

 ferous plants of the greenhouse. The scented heath, the tuberose, 

 and the rarer jasmines have each their place, while the sweet-briar 

 and the wall-flower, and the clove and stock gilliflower are not 

 too common to be neglected. To bask upon the dry sunny rock 

 on a bright spring morning in the midst of this 'wilderness of 

 sweets,' or on a dewy summer's eve to lean over the balustrade 



