MAY 77 



covering upon them traces of Time's land- 

 marks, are enough to set one dreaming 

 of those former days, and for the moment 

 it is easy to live in many a bygone scene ; 

 to fancy the precise training of the fruit 

 trees to the wood-blocks; the daily traffic 

 through that little doorway. One could 

 see the gardeners with their quaint old- 

 fashioned wheel - barrows and watering- 

 pots going in and out; and I recalled the 

 day named in Evelyn's Diary, when 

 George Evelyn and his cousin John 

 Evelyn of Sayes Court, walked through 

 the door together George, showing his 

 gardens with due pride John, with grave 

 observant eye, noting how they were 

 'exquisitely kept though large.' That 

 afternoon was July 23, 1679. The sunny 

 wall stood then in deep shade on this 

 side, and where now, on May Eve, two 

 centuries after, Pear blossoms whiten all 

 over it, George Evelyn's young trees were 

 ripening their first fruits. Along the top 

 of the wall grow wild grasses and crested 

 moss. There is a plant of Shepherd's 

 Purse with glorious spread of seed and 



