HISTORICAL GARDENS 
3°5 
a long time. Such rabbit gardens were by no means 
uncommon. All gardening operations must at times 
have been rendered difficult by reason of the wet soil 
and frequent flooding of the river, but with the patient 
persistence characteristic of gardeners in those days, the 
gardens in monastic times were probably well kept, and 
yielded profitable crops. It is delightful to know that, 
in spite of all the changes, one portion of the old gardens 
actually remains to this day. 
Lambeth, on the opposite bank, fared no better than 
Westminster for high tides, and wet seasons did occasional 
damage there. In Archbishop Laud’s Diary, he notes 
the inroad of a high tide, which certainly would be de¬ 
structive:—“November 15, 1635, Sunday. At after¬ 
noon the greatest tide that hath been seen. It came 
within my gates, walks, cloysters, and stables at 
Lambeth.” Nothing of great antiquity now remains 
in these Lambeth Gardens, although they are indeed 
historic ground. The long terrace and wide herbaceous 
border, with a profusion of madonna lilies, backed by 
a wooden paling, and fruit-trees peeping over, is now a 
charming walk. The trees on the right of the illus¬ 
tration are planes, ailanthus, and catalpas, all smoke- 
resisting and suitable, but not such as would have 
ornamented the Garden in older days, when Archbishop 
Cranmer adorned his garden with “ a summer-house of 
exquisite workmanship.” It was designed by his chap¬ 
lain, Dr. John Ponet or Poynet, who is said to have 
had “ great skill and taste in works of that kind.” The 
summer-house was repaired by Archbishop Parker, but 
afterwards fell into decay and was removed, and in 1828 
not even a tradition of where it had stood remained. 
The site of “ Clarendon’s Walk,” another historical 
