OF HERB GARDENS 15 



line, it will have a certain vagueness like the gait of a 

 leisurely man the owner will not be anxious to open up 

 fine prospects in the distance. The taste for points of view 

 and distances comes from the tendency which most men 

 have to be pleased only where they do not happen to be : 

 they are always longing for what is far from them, and the 

 artist who does not know how to make them sufficiently 

 satisfied with what surrounds them allows himself this 

 resource to amuse them ; but the man of whom I speak has 

 not this anxiety, and when he is well where he is he does 

 not desire to be elsewhere." As Mrs. Bardswell has already 

 told us, the only possible addition to a herb garden is a 

 sun-dial. In the seventeenth century it was customary to 

 have a sun-dial surrounded by herbs, and 



" How could such sweet and wholesome hours 

 Be reckoned but with herbs and flowers ?" 



There is much to be learned from the old herbalists 

 besides a knowledge of herbs and herb gardens. Could any 

 one give better advice than old Tryon ? " Let not Carking 

 Cares nor Perturbations afflict your Minds about such things 

 as are out of your power to help or remedy, nor abandon 

 yourselves too much to any Passion, be it Love, Hate, 

 Revenge or the like; avoid envy, strife, violence and 

 oppression either to man or Beast; Stillness and Com- 

 placency of Mind are two main props to support our Adamical 

 Building; a Chearful heart causeth the countenance to 

 shine, a good conscience is a continual Feast and Content 

 is Nectar to the Spirits, and Marrow to the Bones. There- 

 fore study to be satisfied with your Portion and thank and 

 bless God for his Bounties which you enjoy, and use his 

 creatures for the end they were given thee, and above all, 

 consider that thou art made in the image of God and in thee 

 is truly contained the Properties of all Elements ; therefore 

 thou art obliged to imitate thy Creator and so to conduct thy 

 ways that thou mayest attract the benign influences of the 

 Celestials and Terrestrials and the favourable irradiations 

 of the Superior and Inferior worlds, and on the other side 



