PREFACE. 



IT is just a year ago since this Essay on " The 

 English Flower Garden " was published in the 

 Quarterly Review. 



It was written with a twofold object : to give 

 in the smallest compass an outline history of 

 English gardens, and to show once again what 

 makes the true charm and happiness of a garden. 

 Many perhaps too partial friends have urged 

 me to reprint this article. They have reminded 

 me that, when the immediate circulation of any 

 one number of a Review has ceased, its articles 

 are virtually lost and buried, and they assure me 

 that there are readers who may not have already 

 seen, and who would yet care to read, this Essay. 

 I hardly know how this may be, but I do know 



