Notes and Reviews 
ural sun-dials formed by hill tops, window 
dials, pedestal dials in their infinite forms, 
portable dials and ring dials. It is, however, 
the stationary position upon pedestal or wall 
that the sun-dial must be content to hence¬ 
forth occupy, since watches and clocks have 
outstripped it in its primitive function of 
time-keeping. Of sun-dials of anv sort there 
is not only a sad dearth in new America, but 
compared with the highly wrought Scotch 
dials and such beautiful English examples 
as those at Wroxton Abbey or Eyam 
Church, we must confess to having almost 
no examples worthy of illustration in this 
country. Nevertheless, to Mrs. Earle is due 
the credit of having collected all American 
ones, however sterile may be their designs. 
Of these specimens, the setting of that at 
Ivy Lodge, Germantown, fares well in com¬ 
parison with foreign dials; while one would 
indeed travel far abroad to discover such 
a beautiful dial-face as the bronze example 
reproduced from a Pompeiian prototype and 
in place at Yeddo, N. Y. In so many cases 
the elaboration of sun-dials has been confined 
to their pedestals, that the illustration of the 
“dragon gnomon” on page 416, points the 
way towards new possibilities in the design of 
stiles. The many mottoes and quotations 
scattered through the book are not only in¬ 
teresting to a superficial reader and precious 
to one in search of a motto to make his own 
but, in most instances they sum up, in the 
words of sages, the profoundest wisdom of 
human life. The author’s manner of pre¬ 
senting the mass of valuable data she has 
collected is discursive to a degree; it is also 
avowedly sentimental, but her book, the first 
American one on the subject, is a creditable 
and exceedingly useful pioneer. 
W ERE it necessary to divide garden 
literature into two classes, it could be 
described as that of research and that of 
execution. The works of research, tell us of 
gardens in the past; the books of execution, 
bid us take up our tools and build gardens 
ourselves. “English Pleasure Gardens,” 1 
by Rose Standish Nichols, belongs to the 
former class, and illustrates the difficulty of 
1 English Pleasure Gardens, by Rose Standish Nichols. 324 pp., 
octavo, with 11 plans drawn by Allen H. Cox and 300 illustrations in 
line and half-tone. New York and London, Macmillans, 1902. 
Price, $4.00 net. 
detaching the art of a certain country from 
that of other parts of the world. Seeking 
to throw a true light on English garden 
craft, the author turns to the influence of 
Syria and Persia upon Egypt, that of 
Greece upon Rome, that of the Eloly Land 
and the Orient upon European gardening 
of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries ; 
above all, to the effect of French and Italian 
gardening upon English work, and also the 
later hues which Holland and China cast over 
the landscape art of Great Britain. With such 
a wide scope for its contents, much of the 
volume is necessarily devoted to gardens else¬ 
where than in England; but this is scarcely a 
demerit, for the author gives with that facility 
which comes of extended study, such precise 
data upon the arrangement of ancient and 
medieval gardens, their character, proportions 
and details, that the book teems with sugges¬ 
tions for our gardens of to-day and to-morrow. 
We are told that a lack of our variety and 
flowers, was the only deficiency of classic 
achievements. Whether, indeed, the ancients 
valued flowers as a part of their garden 
schemes may be asked by a sceptical student, 
inasmuch as classicism is an attitude of mind, 
once held by races and now by individuals, 
and is easily contented with a monumental 
and intellectual arrangement, in which the 
exuberance of flowers may have been con¬ 
sidered a barbarous intrusion. The part the 
garden occupied in the daily life of the past 
points out the limited role it is now permitted 
to play, and greater yet than in ancient times, 
is shown the importance of the garden, in the 
Middle Ages. For furthering gardening and 
horticulture, full credit is given to the mon¬ 
asteries ; and from their secluded confines, 
the next step is out upon castle wall or terrace 
constituting the medieval pleasaunce. A 
minute study of Emglish gardening divides it 
according to the reigning families. The 
Tudor garden, the Elizabethan flower-garden 
and the gardens of the Stuarts, are illustrated 
by exquisite examples. The planting of gar¬ 
dens is sufficiently dealt with to complete the 
author’s pictures of historic periods, while a 
brief account of Anglo-Saxon horticulture as 
well as a bibliography of works referring to 
gardens are contained in an appendix. 
Numerous line-drawings by the author in¬ 
crease the interest of the pages. 
50 
