FOUNTAINS HALL - 

 AND ABBEY, 

 YORKSHIRE. . 



GARDENS 

 OLD-&NEW 



Ft >l \ I \I\S MALI, is n mansion whose stones speak 

 ;is loudly o| a (||?H- Ion;; P-'st. I 111- house IN 

 Iv.in. .nul the terr.ues and hedges c>! the ^atdeii, 

 whkh .HI its immediate neighbours, tv.ir the aspect 

 nl th.it picturesque period, hut the materials out of 

 which it was Iniilt were quarried Irom the ruins of tlk- house 

 nt tin- ureat abbot ot Fountains. Our minds are carried I- 





THE EM RANCH GATE. 



therefore, to the time of the thirteen monks whom Archbishop 

 Thurst.in of York took from tin- M- 'v\ : M. \\e\'s. i ! 

 pl.inteil in wll.it w.is then the ru^ed \\ lUli-rne-.s by the little 

 river Skell, where tlu-\ " in.ule the desert smile." I 

 \\ere men with girded l"i'is and the l.imp lit, who cr.i\> I ' 

 stricter rule than prevailed in the Benedict. ne house .it York, 

 lor there were ro.its in the Hem-dMr e soil tint thirsted l^r 



the water spunks found in the 

 silenl rec-.-sses o| h Hint. nil I t.ile. 

 There h.ul Ix-ell the --.in 

 from laxity in the h m^ 

 ,'\ islesme, trolll which Al'l">t 

 Kol'ert had ^oile out to join with 

 Stephen liardm^, the l:n^lislriiaii, 

 in estahlishm^ the pa-eiit house 

 of the (^Mercians at (Iite.iux. 

 Harding was the master and 

 instructor ot the famous Bernard, 

 abhot of (Jairva'.ix, and I liiirst.ri 

 w.is Bernard's friend, aiul Iv.tn 

 had a keen interest m the new 

 th.it was to Iniilt l>y the 

 river Skell. 



Looking .it the smiling scene 

 that greets us in h'o'antain I Kile, 

 we recognise that these m mks 

 Were the pioneers and exemplars 

 of a^iiailtural development, and oi 

 the richness and virtue of country 

 life. To Ix-^in \\ith, there was 

 little but the ru^ed rck and 

 tile wilderness to ^ive proin^e i-f 

 plenty. I hey lab Hired in the 

 making of mats, in tilling th 

 in cutting ta^ots tor then oratory, 

 and such ol them as > .uld in that 

 pleasant art "I gardening, which, 

 in the M.its t i C"iiie, was t t ist 

 a new Clamour 0\ 1 i it.nn 

 l)ale. Wll'.-le the ancients wo il.l 

 h.ue found Pan and the l : auns 

 and l>ryads, tlK-se men disc .. 

 the incentives to a lu^lu: 

 " Your letters snu I! o! the tort st." 

 wrote I.eo \. to I;-! .In 

 Viterl, " and shed the odour of 

 the sha.le and of the delightful 

 spot in which your h->use is 

 reared." And v) wrote St. 

 Bernard to Ab!t MurJac of 

 Fountains, telling him, out of 

 the frint of ex|erience, that tin-re 

 was more to be found in the 

 wixiJIand than m books. "Li^na 

 et lapides docebunt te quoj a 

 ^tus audire non j 

 However much truth, or 

 hosve\er little, there may be in 

 the statement that the exquisite 

 which had sent out the 



