Sun Rose and Spiraea 



ing, it is, of course, a fraud, but between having 

 alpine plants and having none, I do not think the 

 most scrupulous person need hesitate : and to have 

 these lovely things growing in an ill -constructed 

 place is to make them feel outlandish and unhappy. 



I had to obliterate the rockery, and for three 

 days I toiled to perpetuate the existing fraud upon 

 Nature, who has been entirely deceived by it. The 

 result has for three years been the greatest joy in 

 the garden, and the very pride of the English 

 spring. The tomb has become a dell. 



At the bottom is a little pool, about which ferns 

 and spiraeas and other water plants grow, and toads 

 and frogs live in the pool. The tortoise keeps his 

 lettuce there, and the lizards have been seen 

 drinking. Its waters are cooler than those of the 

 river and the lake, and the dogs prefer it when 

 they are consumed with thirst. 



You may enter from the lawn on the north, 

 or by the bridge on the south, but best of all is to 

 descend the steps under the roses and walk along 

 so that the " cliffs " rise above you on either side. 

 They are much taller than the tallest man and, 

 therefore, may be called " cliffs " without too wide 

 a stretch of truth. 



Above the pool rises a sheer wall of quite twelve 

 feet. One side of this is damp, the other is not. 

 n 193 



