140 A BOOK OF ENGLISH GARDENS 



glorious glimpses of the sea, often the colour in the 

 sunlight of the deepest turquoise. 



Another charming feature is a Sundial, formed by 

 a little lead figure of Cupid, supporting the dial 

 above his head. It stands on the grass in the 

 centre of the Rose Garden, between the Fountain 

 and two large Irish Yews. 



The whole feeling of this little Rose Paradise 

 if it may be so called with its Fountain, Amorini, 

 dark Yews, and flagged pathway is deliciously 

 Italian. For on a vivid Summer's day in the heavy, 

 scented air, and with the gentle lapping of the sea, 

 it might easily be thought to be some old Garden 

 upon the shores of the Mediterranean. Only, 

 beautiful as Italy is, and ever will be, there is here 

 a glimmer of some inexplicable light and shade 

 some touch of colour, some dreamy sadness not 

 found in the land of Petrarch and Tasso, but only 

 in sad, grey England, the home of Chaucer and 

 Shakespear. A Rose Garden must always possess 

 a magic fascination, perhaps because, as old Gerade 

 writes: " The Rose doth deserve the chiefest and 

 most principall place among all flowers whatsoever ; 

 being not only esteemed for his beautie, virtues, and 

 his fragrant smell, but also because it is the honour 

 and ornament of our English Sceptre." A book of 

 many volumes could be written upon this one 

 flower, of its beauty, its pride, its perfume, and last, 

 but not least, its exquisite grace. 



