62 A BOOK OF ENGLISH GARDENS 



shine silver-grey in the sunlight. In the midst of 

 the upper Terrace there stands a semicircular basin 

 and fountain, behind which runs a red-brick wall, 

 alcoved on either side of the entrance to the crypta 

 or subterranean passage, being a short cut to the 

 house. It is supposed that the alcoves were ori- 

 ginally meant to hold lead or stone statues. This all 

 speaks of the wave that was passing over Europe, 

 and had already touched England, the love of 

 Renaissance architecture and design ; for the semi- 

 circular stone water-basin which fills the recess, its 

 straight edge bringing the curve into line with the 

 Terrace, points to the Italian feeling. On one 

 side of the water-basin stands the little low fountain 

 which bubbles up for ever, fed by the wonderful 

 Shireburn springs, the water being celebrated for 

 its coolness and purity. Water was just the one 

 beauty that these green Terraces might have lacked ; 

 this splashing little fountain and pond filled with 

 darting goldfish, sweet-smelling Water Soldier with 

 its glossy leaves and waxen flowers, have made 

 them perfect. 



The crypta, mentioned with such pride by Evelyn, 

 is quite twelve feet in height and wonderfully dry ; it 

 has only needed new brickwork to strengthen the 

 entrance which was endangered by the weight of a 

 splendid oak on the hill above, whose branches 

 spread out over the water below. Mr. Bray men- 

 tions, in his notes on Evelyn's Diary, that he adopted 



