30 THE BOOK OF TOPIARY 
perfection, that he cuts family-pieces of men, women, 
or children. Any ladies that please may have their 
own effigies in myrtle, or their husband’s in horn-beam. 
He is a puritan wag, and never fails when he shows his 
garden, to repeat that passage in the Psalms, ‘‘ Thy 
wife shall be as a fruitful vine, and thy children as 
olive-branches round thy table.’”’ I shall proceed to his 
catalogue, as he sent it for my recommendation. 
‘¢ Adam and Eve in yew; Adam a little shattered by 
the fall of the tree of knowledge in the great storm: 
Eve and the serpent very flourishing.” 
‘<The tower of Babel, not yet finished.” 
‘“St George in box; his arm scarce long enough, 
but will be in condition to stick the dragon by next 
April.” 
‘‘ A green dragon of the same, with a tail of ground- 
ivy for the present. N.&. These two not to be sold 
separately.” 
‘¢ Edward the Black Prince in cypress.” 
‘<A Jaurestine bear in blossom, with a juniper hunter 
in berries.” 
‘<A pair of giants, stunted, to be sold cheap.” 
‘““A Queen Elizabeth in phylyrea, a little inclining 
to the green sickness, but of full growth.” 
‘¢ A topping Ben Jonson in laurel.” 
‘‘Divers eminent modern poets in bays, somewhat 
blighted, to be disposed of, a pennyworth.” 
‘“A quickset hog, shot up into a porcupine, by its 
being forgot a week in rainy weather.” 
‘<A lavender pig, with sage growing in his belly.” 
‘©Noah’s ark in holly, standing on the mount; the 
ribs a little damaged for want of water.” 
Such was the crusade against Topiary; in its train 
came swift destruction. Bridgeman and Kent were the 
landscape gardeners who, influenced by the writings 
of their time and desirous of instituting a new order 
