CHAPTER II 



MONASTIC GARDENS 



URING the tumultuous Anglo-Saxon 

 period immediately succeeding the with- 

 drawal of the Romans from Britain, their 

 civilization died into a vague tradition 

 of the past. "The villas, the mosaics, 

 the coins which we dig up in our fields, are no relics 

 of our English fathers, but of a Roman world which 

 our fathers' swords swept utterly away." The peace- 

 ful arts were lost in oblivion. Horticulture, least of 

 all, could flourish while the country was being dev- 

 astated by internal anarchy and barbarian invasions. 



The coming of St. Augustine to Canterbury in 

 597 A.D. was the beginning of a new era. "The 

 civilization, arts, and letters which had fled before 

 the sword of the English conquest returned with 

 the Christian faith." Toil, which had sunk into the 

 greatest dishonour, was raised from the dust by the 



45 



appearance 



of Roman 



cu it ur e. 



tine> 



