8o Gleanings in Old Garden Literature. 



usage in London itself, if not in other 

 towns. 



This little pleasantry and hoax becomes of 

 peculiar interest as an aid to our knowledge 

 of this branch of the inquiry, and to a more 

 accurate realisation of the appearance of the 

 thoroughfares, or at least some of the minor 

 arteries, of Jacobean London. 



The liking for this sort of ornament has 

 of late years increased among the inhabitants 

 of all crowded centres. The earliest com- 

 mencement of the fashion preceded the 

 present necessity for it, and the casements 

 of the citizens of London were planted and 

 trellised, at a time when the City itself was 

 far more thinly populated and built, and all 

 beyond a limited area was open and verdant. 

 But the facilities for rendering the window- 

 sill a receptacle for flowers scarcely existed 

 until the apertures for the admission of light 

 and air into dwellings were placed on a more 

 or less modern footing. 



Speaking of a garden, Worlidge says, 

 writing in 1677 : 



" Such is its pre-excellency, that there is scarce a 



