222 THE FORMAL GARDEN IN ENGLAND ix 



Melbourne is slowly taking a header into the 

 grass in front of his pedestal. Lead has a 

 beautiful colour of its own, and it is not, like 

 bronze or marble, a material too grand and 

 sumptuous for use in the quiet English garden. 

 These figures are invaluable for giving a point 

 of interest here and there. They are charming 

 in summer, when "the lilac waves its plumes 

 above them, and the syringa thrusts its flowers 

 under their arms," ^ and when autumn has 

 dropped its last red leaf at their feet, they will 

 carry the memory of summer through the 

 dreary days of winter. 



1 W. R. Lethaby, Mr. Lethaby says that during the War of Inde- 

 pendence many of those lead figures were exported to America as " works 

 of art " in order to be melted down into bullets. 



