1 64 A GARDEN OF PLEASURE 



I inhabit were enlarged and modernised. 

 Here then, are two very large sash windows, 

 their aspect almost due south, with the large 

 frames and dull bald character usual to such 

 windows. Ugly as they are, they were 

 never altered, for the sake of the fine wide 

 opening made when the sash is thrown 

 up. Covering the entire space of the 

 upper half, and enframing the whole, hang 

 my curtains : green for summer, and in 

 autumn, golden yellow. The pair is odd, 

 for there must be nothing commonplace 

 about the room ! so the one is magnolia, 

 the other chiefly vine. On the right is a 

 bold intricate pattern of glossy leaves with 

 perhaps a great white creamy blossom 

 a chalice of so rich a scent set here or 

 there upon the branches, with blue sky 

 between. The left is all vine, made admir- 

 ably to suit the seasons. In winter the 

 curtain is drawn back, as it were; for a 

 few interlacing barren lines keep out no 

 light. The thin delicate arabesque of 

 spring gives place to summer, when the 

 green comes full and cool and shades 

 the noonday sunlight. And now in 



