i8 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 



still see in the Tuscan fields clumps of cypress, 

 clipped wheel shape, which might mark the very 

 spot." 



I may recall here that the early Italian and 

 Flemish painters were fond of representing the 

 Madonna and the Infant Jesus in a garden ; and the 

 garden that they pictured was always the familiar 

 little enclosed garden of the period. The flowers 

 that grew there were limited by the Church. Each 

 flower had its significance : the rose and the pink both 

 expressed divine love; the lily, purity; the violet, 

 humility; the strawberry, fruit and blossom, for the 

 fruit of the spirit and the good works of the right- 

 eous; the clover, or trefoil, for the Trinity; and the 

 columbine for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, 

 because of its dove-shaped petals. 



The enclosed garden is ancient indeed. 



O garden enclosed a garden of living waters 



And flowing streams from Lebanon: 



Awake O North Wind ; and come thou South ; 



Blow upon my garden that the spices may thereof flow out! 



So sang the esthetic Solomon. 



A garden enclosed, a garden of living waters, a 

 garden of perfumes these are the motives of the 

 Indian gardens of the luxurious Mogul emperors, 

 whose reigns coincide with Tudor times. 



