GARDENS. 231 



As to the produce of a garden, every middled-aged person 

 of observation may perceive, within his own memory, both 

 in town and country, how vastly the consumption of 

 vegetables is increased. Green stalls in cities now support 

 multitudes in a comfortable state, while gardeners get for- 

 tunes. Every decent labourer also has his garden, which is 

 half his support, as well as his delight ; and common farmers 

 provide plenty of beans, peas, and greens, for their hinds to 

 eat with their bacon ; and those few that do not are despised 

 for their sordid parsimony, and looked upon as regardless of 

 the welfare of their dependents. Potatoes have prevailed 

 in this little district, by means of premiums, within these 

 twenty years only, and are much esteemed here now by the 

 poor, who would scarce have ventured to taste them in the 

 last reign. 



Our Saxon ancestors certainly had some sort of cabbage, 

 because they call the month of February sprout-cale ; but 

 long after their days the cultivation of gardens was little 

 attended to. The religious, being men of leisure, and keep- 

 ing up a constant correspondence with Italy, were the first 

 people among us who had gardens and fruit-trees in any 

 perfection, within the walls of their abbeys* and priories. 

 The barons neglected every pursuit that did not lead to war, 

 or tend to the pleasure of the chase. 



It was not; till gentlemen took up the study of horticulture 

 themselves that the knowledge of gardening made such hasty 

 advances. Lord Cobham, Lord Ila, and Mr. "Waller, of 

 Beaconsfield, were some of the first people of rank that pro- 

 moted the elegant science of ornamenting, without despis- 

 ing the superintendence of the kitchen quarters and fruit 

 walls. 



A remark made by the excellent Mr. Ray in his Tour of 

 Europe, at once surprises us, and corroborates what has been 

 advanced above ; for we find him observing, so late as his 

 days, that " the Italians use several herbs for sallets, which 

 are not yet, or have not been but lately used in England, viz. 



* " In monasteries, the lamp of knowledge continued to burn, however 

 dimly. In them, men of business were formed for the state. The art of 

 writing was cultivated by the monks; they were the only proficients in 

 mechanics, gardening, and architecture." See DALRYMPLE'S Annals of 

 Scotland. 



