30 THE BOOK OF TOPIARY 



perfection, that he cuts family-pieces of men, women, 

 or children. Any ladies that please may have their 

 own effigies in myrtle, or their husband's in horn-beam. 

 He is a puritan wag, and never fails when he shows his 

 garden, to repeat that passage in the Psalms, "Thy 

 wife shall be as a fruitful vine, and thy children as 

 olive-branches round thy table." I shall proceed to his 

 catalogue, as he sent it for my recommendation. 



" Adam and Eve in yew ; Adam a little shattered by 

 the fall of the tree of knowledge in the great storm : 

 Eve and the serpent very flourishing." 



"The tower of Babel, not yet finished." 



" St George in box ; his arm scarce long enough, 

 but will be in condition to stick the dragon by next 

 April." 



" A green dragon of the same, with a tail of ground- 

 ivy for the present. N.B. These two not to be sold 

 separately." 



"Edward the Black Prince in cypress." 



" A laurestine bear in blossom, with a juniper hunter 

 in berries." 



" A pair of giants, stunted, to be sold cheap." 



" A Queen Elizabeth in phylyrea, a little inclining 

 to the green sickness, but of full growth." 



" A topping Ben Jonson in laurel." 



" Divers eminent modern poets in bays, somewhat 

 blighted, to be disposed of, a pennyworth." 



" A quickset hog, shot up into a porcupine, by its 

 being forgot a week in rainy weather." 



" A lavender pig, with sage growing in his belly." 



" Noah's ark in holly, standing on the mount ; the 

 ribs a little damaged for want of water." 



Such was the crusade against Topiary ; in its train 

 came swift destruction. Bridgeman and Kent were the 

 landscape gardeners who, influenced by the writings 

 of their time and desirous of instituting a new order 



