PICTURESQUE ENGLISH COTTAGES AND THEIR 
DOORWAY GARDENS 
By P. H. Ditchfield, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.H.S. 
V. 
M ANY English cottages can boast of their 
rose-gardens. In fact roses are the chief 
glory of the gardens, whether they be large 
or small. Even the stern old Abbot of Read¬ 
ing in the fifteenth century, Abbot Thorne, 
loved his roses, and took for his badge, bla¬ 
zoned on a window in his summer residence 
at Pangbourne, an “Eagle perched on a thorn 
bush ” with the legend : 
“ Sa?pe creat pulchras 
Aspera spina rosas,” 
which a poetical friend has translated : 
“ Roses fair are often born 
On the rough and rugged Thorne.” 
Our cottagers echo the sentiments of all the 
poets from classical times downwards, when 
they sing the praises of their roses. They 
are often puzzled by the foreign names as¬ 
signed to the flowers, and strangely transform 
and Anglicize them. Just as our sailors call 
the “ Bellerophon” the Billy Ruffian and the 
“Nautilus” the Naughty Lass ; so we villag¬ 
ers twist the Gloire de Dijon into “ Glory 
to thee John,” and the rose named after the 
great rose-grower, Dean Reynolds FI ole, is 
called “Reynard’s Hole.” General Jacquemi¬ 
not becomes, in popular nomenclature, “Gen¬ 
eral Jack-me-not,” and the bright crimson 
Geantdes Batailles becomes “Gent of Battles.” 
But the roses bloom no less beautifully on 
account of this murdering of their names, 
just as the famous race-horse ran no less well 
because the public changed his name from 
the Oneida Chief to the “ One-eyed Thief.” 
A GARDEN WITH A SUN-DIAL 
