MEDIEVAL GARDENS 



to the sanctuary, so making it, as it were, the 

 " open sesame " to higher things. 



In Books of Hours and illuminated MSS., 

 before the complete border of flowers, birds, and 

 small grotesques was developed, we find orna- 

 mental flourishes, like the growth of ivy and 

 hawthorn, splendidly free in design, and painted 

 with evident joy even in the minutest bud or 

 tendril. Everywhere may this love of Nature 

 striving for expression be seen. But we must 

 turn to the poems and romances if we would 

 fully realise it in all its simplicity and truth, 

 since it is in these alone that we get at the 

 actual mediaeval feeling unalloyed with all that 

 we ourselves have, perhaps unwittingly, read 

 into it. 



" All hearts are uplifted and made glad in the 

 time of April and May, when once again the 

 meadows and the pastures become green." So 

 says one of the old romancers. And this joy 

 in returning spring seems to have pervaded 

 mediaeval thought and expression. Little is 

 this to be wondered at when we call to mind the 

 long dreary winters spent in cold and ill-lit 

 castles, or in dark, draughty houses and hovels. 

 Before glass, long regarded as a luxury, came into 

 general use in dwellings, the only protection 

 from rain and cold consisted in wooden shutters, 

 or movable frames with horn slabs (necessarily 

 small)," or varnished parchment. In truth, the 

 only warm, bright place was the chimney 

 corner, and here, as near as might be to the 



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