GARTINCABEE 



with narrow selvage of flowering things, overhung 

 here and there by aged apple trees. Nothing can 

 have been further from the designer's intention 

 than landscape effect : use, not ornament, was his 

 purpose, flowers being admitted in grudging con- 

 cession to feminine frivolity ; but age has brought 

 about delectable results age, and the affectionate 

 tending of generations. Lofty holly hedges, such 

 as John Evelyn praised, screen the litter in such 

 corners where litter must be ; a few massive syca- 

 mores add dignity to the scene in winter and shade 

 from summer heat, without, as it seems, impoverish- 

 ing the borders, for these teem with blossom to 

 the very feet of the trees. But they are flowers 

 of modest requirements winter aconites and snow- 

 drops, daffodils and wind-flowers, bloodroot, violets 

 white and purple, primroses and oxlips of many 

 hues all old friends, the older the better to be 

 loved. On this mid-April morning in a late a 

 very late season, what strikes one as most notable 

 is the abundance of double white primroses on 

 usually long footstalks, surely a strain peculiar to 

 the place. 



I have dwelt on the simplicity of this garden, 

 but every yard of it bears witness to affectionate 

 care, and in one respect this affection has evinced 

 itself in a manner reflecting agreeably the classical 

 taste of a bygone age. Thus at the foot of the 

 slope has been placed a wide stone bench, whereof 

 the back bears this inscription : 



47 



