130 OLD-FASHIONED GARDENING 
is the first hint of the very popular “sunken fence” 
which the craze for natural effect brought into general 
use in England early in the century. 
Gardens of great beauty came rapidly into existence 
after the fashion had been set by the building of 
“Pennsbury,” notwithstanding the Quaker simplicity 
of taste and disapproval of display. But the Quakers 
were warm-blooded and human in spite of their doc¬ 
trines, and the beauty of Nature was never frowned 
upon, nor was lavish living deemed a sin. Flowers 
and fruits and trees, and all the produce of the fields 
were a part of the bounty of God, to be enjoyed ac¬ 
cordingly. So there was an elegance about their sim¬ 
plicity quite foreign to the ascetic cast of mind. 
Their silent worship, too, and the long, tranquil 
hours of meditation, bred the keenest of sensibilities, 
and there was probably never one among them who 
lacked in taste or in appreciation of that which was 
truly beautiful. They despised learning, to be sure— 
theoretically; yet there were many learned among 
them, and many who had traveled and seen all that 
was best in the civilized world. Add to all this the 
fact that they were men of marked individuality of 
thought, else would they never have been Quakers— 
and the individuality of their gardens is at once ex¬ 
plained. 
No style of design prevailed; but a sweet and rest- 
