Chap. VIII.] 



SQUARES, PLACES, ETC. 



115 



alongside the busy Boulevard St. Michel. As in many cities there 

 are old ruins and buildings bearing some resemblance to those in 

 this garden, it may not be amiss to say that they are always 

 greatly enhanced by being surrounded with the simplest kind of 

 garden. Ivy, grass, and a few hardy trees and shrubs are 

 sufficient to change their aspect from grimness, hardness, and 



streamlet in Faris Square with Yuccas and t^ater-side Plants. 



decay to great beauty. A few seeds of Alpine plants shaken in 

 the tufts of moss or cracks of mortar would give rise to a dwarf 

 vegetation interesting in itself, and also as illustrating the cease- 

 less spring of life even in the most unlikely places. For the 

 embellishment of gardens round old buildings, abbeys, &c., there 



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