NOVEMBER 239 



distinctly instructive as portraying, among what are called 

 ' Alpines,' the most showy and the best worth cultivating 

 in English gardens. 



1879. ' A Year in a Lancashire Garden,' by Henry A. 

 Bright. This little book is the one I alluded to in March, 

 and to which I consider I owe so much. It often gives 

 me pleasure to read it over now. It has qualities like the 

 garden itself. The same flowers come up each year, the 

 same associations link themselves on to the returning 

 flowers, and the verses of the great poets are unchanged ; 

 so this little book will always be to me like poor Ophelia's 

 Eosemary, ' that's remembrance.' 



The quotations throughout the book are quite un- 

 usually original and appropriate. 



(No date.) ' Gleanings from Old Garden Literature,' 

 by W. Carew Hazlitt. Of all the recent little books 

 referring in some way directly or indirectly to gardens, 

 this one, I think, gives me the most pleasure. It has 

 all the charm of a conversation with a clever and sym- 

 pathetic man on subjects that are dear to him and to 

 oneself. Mr. Hazlitt quotes, from Cowley's preface to 

 his poem of 'The Garden,' the delightful wish which 

 comes home to so many when the strife and toil of 

 life are more or less over and evening is drawing 

 near : ' I never had any other desire so strong and 

 so like covetousness as that one which I have had 

 always, that I might be master at last of a small house 

 and large garden, with very moderate conveniences 

 joined to them, and there dedicate the remainder of my 

 life to the culture of them and the study of Nature.' To 

 anyone who has found any interest in my book-notes, I 

 would say, ' Get this little book ; you will find pleasure in it.' 



1881. ' Notes and Thoughts on Gardens and Wood- 

 lands,' by the late Frances Jane Hope. This is a most 

 excellent and helpful work to the true amateur gardener. 

 Though without the unique literary flavour of that book, it 



