Ifntrofcuctton 



excluded for an obvious dulness, from which 

 the undoubted scholarship of their authors could 

 not redeem them. No contemporary writings 

 have been inserted, nor indeed any written 

 within this century, though most of the masters 

 of English prose during this period have sung 

 the praises of the garden. 



Wordsworth, Scott, Rogers, Mitford, Shelley, 

 Ruskin might all be cited. Bvery one must re- 

 call Leigh Hunt's delightful plea for window 

 gardening, now so common in England, possibly 

 as a result of that appeal ; and Charles Lamb's 

 account of the "Temple " gardens in his essay 

 on the " Old Benchers" ; while no reader of 

 Disraeli can forget the sumptuous descriptions 

 of the parks and gardens provided for his 

 heroes and heroines in " Contarini Fleming," 

 "Henrietta Temple," "Lothair," and the rest 

 of those dreamy romances. 



Although many such passages seemed to 

 have a claim to admission to this little collec- 

 tion, it was thought best to keep to the earlier 

 writers, whose pages at all events may claim 

 that esteem which may be due to their anti- 



