We wonder in England, when ■v^e hear it related 

 by travellers, that peaches in Italy are left under the 

 trees for swine ; but, when we ourselves come into 

 the country, our wonder is rather that the swine do 

 not leave them for animals less nice. 



Walter Savage Landor. 



The earliest Spanish gardens were the creation 

 of the Moors, and bear the Arabian stamp of their 

 origin, half Asiatic, half African. Perhaps their 

 design has the strongest affinity to the gardens of 

 Persia, with their shallow water running down the 

 centre over coloured tiles, and their innumerable 

 fountains, for water in one form or another is the 

 predominant feature. Selected. 



And in Spain, like a scene in the Arabian Nights, 

 comes back to us the old Moorish garden of Granada, 

 with marble-lined canal and lofty arcades of trimmed 

 yew, tipped with crescents, pyramids and crowns. 



"E. r. B." 

 {Hon. Mrs. Boyle.) 



The garden beneath my window., before wrapped 

 in gloom, was gently lighted up, the orange and 

 citron trees were tipped with silver; the fountain 

 sparkled in the moonbeams, and even the blush of 

 the rose was faintly visible. I now felt the poetic 

 merit of the Arabic description on the walls 

 (The Alhambra) : 



"How beautiful is this garden, where the flowers 

 of the earth vie with the stars of heaven ! What can 

 compare with the vase of yon alabaster fountain filled 

 with crystal water? Nothing but the moon in her 

 fulness, shining in the midst of an unclouded sky !" 



Washington Irving. 



