SUNDIALS 



GARDEN craft has been taken up with such ardour 

 by the majority of English people, that there 

 is danger of the architectural and decorative side 

 becoming somewhat overdone and injudiciously executed. 

 The art of leisure has vanished. Is the power of restraint 

 in art hastening to take flight as well .■' 



In old gardens it is not unusual to count eight or more 

 sundials and some half-dozen weather-vanes, but they 

 are so carefully selected and executed, they fit with such 

 harmony into the surrounding scene, that they only form 

 a happy part of it. We are not especially conscious 

 of them ; it is only as we reflect later, at leisure, upon 

 the satisfactory whole impression, that the sundial or- 

 other ornament becomes in any sense individual or 

 detached from the picture. Time helps in this, for grey 

 lichen or green moss softens what would stand out more 

 prominently in freshly carved stone. Perhaps, too, it is 

 not only the careful placing of each object that pleases, 

 but the skilled craftsmanship with which it has been 

 carved. A small personal touch, such as hearts entwined 

 and the motto Bien /aire, laisser dire-^\Ga.v\n.g us 



191 



