AUGUST 395 



at Chelsea was acquired by the Apothecaries as far back 

 as 1674. Evelyn visited the Chelsea Gardens in 1685, 

 and mentions that he saw there a Tulip-tree and a Tea 

 shrub. Here too, it has been said, one of the first 

 attempts was made to supply plants with artificial heat, 

 the greenhouse having been heated by means of embers 

 placed in a hole in the ground. Poor plants ! they must 

 have been rather smoke-dried, I fear. It was here, too, 

 that Philip Miller, the ' prince of gardeners ' so styled 

 by Linnaeus spent nearly fifty years. He managed the 

 gardens from 1722 to 1771, during which period they 

 attained a great reputation throughout Europe. Miller was 

 the author of the much-admired ' Gardener's Chronicle.' 



August llth. Towns are never so pleasant as when 

 out of season. Florence in June, and London in August, 

 how immensely emptiness increases their charm ! 



Flat-hunting in London is more bewildering and 

 difficult even than house-hunting, so I was indeed lucky 

 to find one with perfect views, very high up, with a lift, 

 and just what I wanted in every way. I always have 

 thought the garret was the nicest part of a London 

 house. It has the best air and generally some sort 

 of view. A high flat has all these advantages, and the 

 lift does away with the fatigue of the stairs. A French 

 landlady once said, when we had panted up her five 

 storeys to her airy apartment and complained a little of 

 the pull up : ' Le cinquieme n'est au cinquieme que pour 

 les monstres de la rue. C'est au premier pour les Anges ! ' 

 One does feel nearer the sky, and the gulls fly by the 

 windows in stormy weather. The cloud-effects can be 

 endlessly studied, and often smoke rather adds to than 

 detracts from the beauty of sunsets, as Mr. Euskin puts 

 it in that beautiful chapter on the truth of colour in 

 the first volume of ' Modern Painters ' : ' When Nature 

 herself takes a colouring fit, and does something extra- 



