ON GARDENS 9 



life, had both time and inclination to turn their 

 attention to horticulture, tending with infinite 

 skill and care their quaint Physic Gardens. These 

 marvellous monastic Gardens were possessed by 

 men of learning, who had intercourse with foreign 

 Orders, and were thus enabled constantly to add 

 to their stock of " Simples," their Gardens being 

 chiefly cultivated for the growth of vegetables 

 and herbs used for drugs ; for, as learning and 

 love of books gradually crept within the grasp 

 of rich and poor through the monks, so did the 

 power and value of herbs as medicine become 

 known by their skill. 



The earliest actual record in England of 

 monastic Gardens is in the eleventh century, 

 though they must have existed at a much earlier 

 date. 



The Saxon people did not take to Gardening as 

 quickly as their French neighbours, and without 

 doubt William the Conqueror gave a great 

 impetus to horticulture, and many French fruits 

 and herbs were introduced into England by him 

 and his countrymen. 



The first Englishman who wrote upon Gardens 

 was the fascinating Alexander Neckam, born 1157, 

 foster brother of Richard Cceur de Lion. Educated 

 at St. Albans, he went when very young to Paris, 

 where he became a celebrated professor at the 

 university. In 1213, he was made Abbot of the 



