PAVED GARDENS 163 



occupant of these houses owned a small plot of ground. 

 Some time ago these plots were done away with, and in 

 their place big slabs of grey stone were laid down to form 

 instead a dry court, where the old people could walk and 

 sit. It seems, when we see it to-day, as if the poor 

 flowers regretted former times, when the old ladies in 

 their caps and shawls came out to tend them in the beds, 

 since many plants struggle up between the stones. There 

 are small gaps in the paving, and in them are bright red 

 valerian and tall yellow helianthus, the successors no doubt 

 of those which once formed gay gardens. The old people, 

 encouraged by the sight of these, have utilized other little 

 holes and gaps, have filled them with good soil, and have 

 scattered seed upon it. Sweet-peas, sunflowers, mignon- 

 ette, all come up at random in the court, and a lovely 

 garden is thus made. It is about twenty feet wide and 

 sixty feet long, and at the back is a high wall, one mass 

 of red and yellow wallflowers. " They be rightly named 

 so," said an old dame, as she sat knitting a sock in the 

 shade of it. 



This garden may be copied anywhere, for dwarf rock- 

 plants can be put in the chinks which occur in paved 

 spaces where people are likely to walk or sit, while the 

 taller flowers may be kept for parts of the garden that 

 are to be looked at but not used for traffic. 



Somewhat the same style of gardening has been adopted 

 in little forecourts of London houses ; but these, being 

 more formal in design and grander than the almshouse 

 garden, are more restricted, and little six-inch-high stone 

 edgings surround beds and paths which keep them neat 

 and smart-looking. 



There is nothing more fascinating than a quiet walk 

 along Cheyne Row upon a sunny April morning. The 

 houses there, as in Kensingston Square, seem to take us 

 back to hoops, powdered hair and patches, sword-hilts, 



