130 OLD-FASHIONED GARDENING 



is the first hint of the very popular "sunken fence" 

 which the craze for natural effect brought into general 

 use in England early in the century. 



Gardens of great beauty came rapidly into existence 

 after the fashion had been set by the building of 

 "Pennsbury," notwithstanding the Quaker simplicity 

 of taste and disapproval of display. But the Quakers 

 were warm-blooded and human in spite of their doc- 

 trines, and the beauty of Nature was never frowned 

 upon, nor was lavish living deemed a sin. Flowers 

 and fruits and trees, and all the produce of the fields 

 were a part of the bounty of God, to be enjoyed ac- 

 cordingly. So there was an elegance about their sim- 

 plicity quite foreign to the ascetic cast of mind. 



Their silent worship, too, and the long, tranquil 

 hours of meditation, bred the keenest of sensibilities, 

 and there was probably never one among them who 

 lacked in taste or in appreciation of that which was 

 truly beautiful. They despised learning, to be sure — 

 theoretically; yet there were many learned among 

 them, and many who had traveled and seen all that 

 was best in the civilized world. Add to all this the 

 fact that they were men of marked individuality of 

 thought, else would they never have been Quakers — 

 and the individuality of their gardens is at once ex- 

 plained. 



No style of design prevailed; but a sweet and rest- 



