THE DYING MAN IN HIS GARDEN. BY GEORGE SEWELL. [-1626.] WHY, Damon, with the forward day What do thy noontide walks avail, Vain wretch! canst thou expect to see Thy narrow pride, thy fancied green BEAUTIFUL GARDENS. BY SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. (From "Upon the Gardens of Epicurus; or, Of Gardening in the Year 1685.") [SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE, English diplomatist and essayist, was born in London, 1628; became prominent in public life, and negotiated, in 1668, the famous "Triple Alliance" of England, Holland, and Sweden against France, which saved Holland from danger at the time and nearly ruined it four years later. Ile took part in the congress at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668, as ambassador at The Hague, which post he filled again in 1674. He was one of Charles II.'s Council for a short time, then retired permanently to his estate at Sheen, then at Moor Park, where he spent his time gardening and writing, and where Swift was his secretary. He published "Memoirs" and "Miscellanea." He died January 27, 1699.] IF we believe the Scripture, we must allow that God Almighty esteemed the life of a man in a garden the happiest he could give him, or else he would not have placed Adam in that of Eden; that it was the state of innocence and pleasure; and that the life of husbandry and cities came after the fall, with guilt and with labor. Where paradise was, has been much debated, and little agreed; but what sort of place is meant by it may perhaps easier be conjectured. It seems to have been a Persian word, since Xenophon and other Greek authors mention it, as what was much in use and delight among the kings of those Eastern countries. Strabo, describing Jericho, says: "Ibi est palmetum, cui immixtæ sunt etiam aliæ stirpes Hortenses, locus ferax, palmis abundans, spatio stadiorum centum, totus irriguus, ibi est regi et balsami paradisus." He mentions another place to be "prope libanum et paradisum." And Alexander is written to have seen Cyrus' tomb in paradise, being a tower not very great, and covered with a shade of trees about it. So that a paradise among them seems to have been a large space of ground, adorned and beautified with all sorts of trees, both of fruits and of forest, either found there before it was inclosed, or planted thereafter; either cultivated like gardens, for shades and for walks, with fountains or streams, and all sorts of plants usual in the climate, and pleasant to the eye, the smell, or the taste; or else employed like our parks, for inclosure and harbor of all sorts of wild beasts, as well as for the pleasure of riding and walking; and so they were of more or less extent, and of different entertainment, according to the several humors of the princes that ordered and inclosed them. Semiramis is the first we are told of in story, that brought them in use through her empire, and was so fond of them as to make one wherever she built, and in all, or most of the provinces she subdued, which are said to have been from Babylon as far as India. The Assyrian kings continued this custom and care, or rather this pleasure, till one of them brought in the use of smaller and more regular gardens; for having married a wife he was fond of, out of one of the provinces, where such paradises or gardens were much in use, and the country lady not well bearing the air or inclosure of the palace in Babylon, to which the Assyrian kings used to confine themselves, he made her gardens not only within the palaces, but upon terraces raised with earth, over the arched roofs, and even upon the top of the highest tower, planted them with all sorts of fruit trees, as well as other plants and flowers, the most pleasant of that country; and thereby made at least the most airy gardens, as well as the most costly that have ever been heard of in the world. This lady may probably have been a native of the provinces of Chasimer or Damascus, which have in all times been the happiest regions for fruits of all the east, by the excellence of soil, the position of mountains, the frequency of streams, rather than the advantages of climate. And it is great pity we do not yet see the history of Chasimer, which Monsieur Bernier assured me he had translated out of Persian, and intended to publish, and of which he has given such a taste, in his excellent memoirs of the Mogul's country. The next gardens we read of are those of Solomon, planted with all sorts of fruit trees, and watered with fountains; and though we have no more particular description of them, yet we may find they were the places where he passed the times of his leisure and delight, where the houses as well as grounds were adorned with all that could be of pleasing and elegant, and were the retreats and entertainments of those among his wives that he loved the best; and it is not improbable that the paradises mentioned by Strabo were planted by this great and wisest king. But the idea of the garden must be very great, if it answer at all to that of the gardener, who must have employed a great deal of his care and of his study, as well as of his leisure and thought, in these entertainments, since he writ of all plants, from the cedar to the shrub. What the gardens of the Hesperides were, we have little or no account, further than the mention of them, and thereby the testimony of their having been in use and request in such remoteness of place and antiquity of time. The garden of Alcinous, described by Homer, seems wholly poetical, and made at the pleasure of the painter, like the rest of the romantic palace in that little barren island of Phæacia or Corfu. Yet, as all the pieces of this transcendent genius are composed with excellent knowledge, as well as fancy, so they seldom fail of instruction as well as delight, to all that read him. The seat of this garden, joining to the gates of the palace, the compass of the inclosure being four acres, the tall trees of shade, as well as those of fruit, the two fountains, the one for the use of the garden, and the other of the palace, the continual succession of fruits throughout the whole year are, for aught I know, the best rules or provisions that can go towards composing the best gardens; nor is it unlikely that Homer may have drawn this picture after the life of some he had seen in Ionia, the country and usual abode of this divine poet, and, indeed, the region of the most refined pleasure and luxury, as well as invention and wit: for the humor and custom of gardens may have descended earlier into the Lower Asia, from Damascus, Assyria, and other parts of the eastern empires, though they seem to have made late entrance and smaller improvement in those of Greece and Rome; at least in no proportion to their other inventions or refinements of pleasure and luxury. The long and flourishing peace of the two first empires gave earlier rise and growth to learning and civility, and all the consequences of them, in magnificence and elegance of building and gardening, whereas Greece and Rome were almost perpetually engaged in quarrels and wars either abroad or at home, and so were busy in actions that were done under the sun, rather than those under the shade. These were the entertainments of the softer nations that fell under the virtue and prowess of the two last empires, which from those conquests brought home mighty increases both of riches and luxury, and so perhaps lost more than they got by the spoils of the east.... Whoever begins a garden ought, in the first place and above all, to consider the soil, upon which the taste not only of his fruits, but his legumes, and even herbs and salads, will wholly depend; and the default of soil is without remedy: for, although all borders of fruit may be made with what earth you please (if you will be at the charge), yet it must be renewed in two or three years, or it runs into the nature of the ground where it is brought. Old trees spread their roots farther than anybody's care extends, or the forms of the garden will allow; and, after all, where the soil about you is ill, the air is too in a degree, and has influence upon the taste of fruit. What Horace says of the productions of kitchen gardens, under the name of caulis, is true of all the best sorts of fruits, and may determine the choice of soil for all gardens: |