Other again to fresh beauty, making a glory of its rocks, and covering 

 Howth the whole top of the hill with a cloak of purple. That 

 Gardens however is a different story, and not a garden one. 



Of garden-pictures proper, which return to the memory 

 in connection with this hill of Howth, a few may be jotted 

 down here almost at random. Thus, in a garden upon the side 

 facing landwards, a succession of high slopes, clothed to the 

 very tops with Japanese Roses, chiefly of the Rugosa persuasion, 

 is one which stands out with special vividness. The wooded 

 grounds to the back of these rose-covered slopes possess a wealth 

 of creepers, festooning the trees and scenting the air in a fashion 

 which it is difficult to persuade oneself is a mere bit of artifice, 

 due to the cunning hand of an expert horticulturist. In 

 another and a smaller garden upon the other side of the head- 

 land a hollow, shut away from the rest of the grounds, and 

 brimming over with Wichuriana and other Roses, is what rises 

 first before my mind's eye. So brimming over indeed was it 

 when I saw it that the flowers appeared to have burst the bounds 

 assigned to them, and to have gone tossing and tumbling headlong 

 downhill of their own accord towards where, below a steep pitch 

 of ground, the pale gray rocks of the shore-line became visible. 



Unlike the shallow sandy type of shore usually found 

 upon this coast, the water upon this north-eastern side of 

 Howth is, even at low tide, deep. And this, combined with 

 the whole character of its scenery, with its suggestively-placed 

 lighthouse, and keenly penetrating air, tends to give it a certain 

 stamp of dignity I might almost say of austerity not readily 

 associable with that debased word " suburban " ; one which even 

 a recently constructed electric tram-line has, odd to relate, been 

 unable wholly to do away with. 



20 



