THE OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN 167 



were beautiful when they were made, and still more 

 teautiful, perhaps, when they fell into ruin, are worthy 

 the consideration and investigation of to-day. 



Let me emphasize the fact, too, that all gardens of 

 this old time were not beautiful; not more than half 

 of them indeed — possibly not that number — could lay 

 claim to any merit whatsoever, as garden achievements. 

 It is Time's silvery enchantment which has made them 

 seem so, which has held us spellbound, so that no 

 doubt has ever entered into the modern conception of 

 them. By reason of their antiquity we have accepted 

 their beauty as a matter of course; it were heresy to 

 question where veneration was so obviously the due. 

 Hence, I think, the glamour of the term by which they 

 have been designated. May it not be more rationally 

 interpreted in the future? 



