420 
Old Time Gardens 
Landor's, written from Florence in regard to a 
friend's garden : — 
“ I like white flowers better than any others ; they re- 
semble fair women. Lily, Tuberose, Orange, and the 
truly English Syringa are my heart’s delight. I do not 
mean to say that they supplant the Rose and Violet in my 
affections, for these are our first loves, before we grew too 
fond of considering ; and too fond of displaying our acquaint- 
ance with others of sounding titles.” 
In Japan, where flowers have rank, white flowers 
are the aristocrats. I deem them the aristocrats in 
the gardens of the Occident also. 
Having been informed of Tennyson's dislike of 
white flowers, I have amused myself by trying to dis- 
cover in his poems evidence of such aversion. I 
think one possibly might note an indifference to 
white blossoms; but strong color sense, his love of 
ample and rich color, would naturally make him 
name white infrequently. A pretty line in Walking 
to the Mail tells of a girl with “ a skin as clean and 
white as Privet when it flowers " ; and there were 
White Lilies and Roses and milk-white Acacias in 
Maud's garden. 
In The Last Tournament the street-ways are de- 
picted as hung with white samite, and “ children sat 
in white," and the dames and damsels were all 
“ white-robed in honor of the stainless child." A 
u swarthy one ” cried out at last : — 
“ The snowdrop only, flowering thro’ the year. 
Would make the world as blank as wintertide. 
