XLVI. Of Gardens.
God Almighty first planted a Garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man;[1] without which buildings and palaces are but gross handyworks: and a man shall ever see that when ages grow to civility[2] and elegancy,[3] men come to build stately sooner than to garden finely; as if gardening were the greater perfection. I do hold it, in the royal ordering of gardens, there ought to be gardens for all the months in the year; in which severally things[4] of beauty may be then in season. For December, and January, and the latter part of November, you must take such things as are green all winter: holly; ivy; bays; juniper; cypress-trees; yew; pine-apple-trees; fir-trees; rosemary; lavender;[5]
- ↑
"Friends, books, a garden, and perhaps his pen,
Delightful industry enjoy'd at home,
And Nature, in her cultivated trim
Dress'd to his taste, inviting him abroad—
Can he want occupation who has these?"
Cowper. The Task. Book III. The Garden.
- ↑ Civility. Civilization.
- ↑ Elegancy. Elegance.
- ↑
"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."
John Keats. Endymion. Line 1.
- ↑ Lavender. One of the Labiatae or mints, Lavandula Vera, a small shrub with small pale lilac-colored flowers, and narrow oblong or lanceolate leaves. It is a native of the south of Europe and northern Africa, but is extensively cultivated in other countries for its perfume.
"Here 's flowers for you;
Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram;
The marigold, that goes to bed wi' th' sun
And with him rises weeping: these are flowers
Of middle summer."
Shakspere. The Winter's Tale. iv. 3.
