THE CHARM OF GARDENS 



with our Wild Strawberries. These things might all 

 come out of our country garden and give us a ghostly 

 Greek flavour for our pains. There were Wild Straw- 

 berries, I think, on Mount Ida where Paris was shep- 

 herd, whence they fetched him when Discord threw the 

 Golden Apple. 



It is almost impossible to reach out a hand and pick a 

 flower without plucking a legend with it. 



I had taken, I thought, England for my garden, and 

 Wild Strawberries for my dish, but I find that I have 

 taken the world for my flower patch, and am sitting to 

 eat with ancient Greeks. Let me but pick the Pansy by 

 my hand and I find that Spenser plucked its fellow 

 years ago : 



" Strew me the ground with Daffe-down-dillies, 

 And Cowslips, and King-cups, and loved Lilies, 

 The pretty Paunce (that is my wild Pansy) 

 The Chevisaunce 

 Shall watch with the fayre Fleur de Luce." 



And you may call it Phcebus'-paramour, or Herb- 

 Trinity, or Three Faces-under-a-Hood. 



To our forefathers the fields, lanes, and gardens were 

 a newspaper far more valuable than the modern sheet 

 in which we read news of no importance day by day. 

 To them the blossoming of the Sloe meant the time for 

 sowing barley ; the bursting of Alder buds that eels 

 had left their winter holes and might be caught. The 

 Wood Sorrel and the cuckoo came together ; when Wild 

 Wallflower is out bees are on the wing, and linnets have 

 learnt their spring songs. Water Plantain is supposed 

 to cure a mad dog, and is a remedy against the poison 

 of a rattlesnake ; ointment of Cowslips removes sun- 

 burn and freckles ; the Self-heal is good against cuts, 

 and so is called also, Carpenter's Herb, Hook-heal, and 

 Sicklewort. Yellow Water-lilies will drive cockroaches 



60 



