New-York tribune., 1900-09-09

W. II
svo. PIP S07- Lcngmans, Green & CO.
ELIZABETH AND HER GERMAN GARDEE-
New Edition. with Additions l2rno. pp -
The Macmillan Company.
TRAVELS IN ENGLAND. BY Richard lie Gal
henne. 12mo, pp- Z9l- John Lane
Mrs Boyle is one Of the most delightful OF
contemporary writers on Nature. and in her
Seven Gardens and a Palace she holds her
reader with a spell not TO be resisted. Her gin
of observation has been prompted By genuine
love for her subject, and guided by innate taste
and a generous and refined culture. These chap
ters on the old gardens she knows as friends are
known are singularIy vivid; plant and tree and
bird take for US, too. the interest almost
human which this devotee finds in them We
do not presume To doubt the story Of the two
acacias at Hampton Court planted when tiny
saplings by two sisters who lived together n
rooms looking upon the garden. They grew in
beauty for years. these trees; but when the elder
sister died her acacia drOOped and withered
away. The other sister lived to a ripe old age,
and on the very day Of her death the tree she
had planted began to fail, and that. too. died
So runs the story. and Mrs Boyle tells US that
she knew the trees Well Many glinpses she
gives US of friends beloved among her flowers.
There is the green rose too fine a thing to rank
only a curiosity. and one which she has grown
to think beautiful in its own weird way. Yet
is there something of the sOrceress in it; and IN
June, when bees are humrning round II. the
name 'SidOnia' seems TO tTembe on the air So
I call her SidOnia. When the green rose is gen
erously treated in good south border it VIII
grow to be a large well furnished shrub. fresh
green from June TO January, not much with
leaf as flower SidOna's roses are round and
full. in cOlOring deep green, the OutmGst petals
| flushed with red. You must go close up and
look it in the face, or you viii not know the
bush is really Towering. Then what seemed at
| first all LEAKAGE is transformed into mass,of
| roses green AS for perfume, strange TO SAIL
know not whether it has scent OF no." - sdt
In the early English spring her whole Haasas-
| cOmbe garden sparkles with vioIets- The al
pervading wild white ones among the rugged
stones of the rOckery run and play in sporLive
waterfalls of snowy foam. tUmbling over into
seas of purple viOets interTningIing and fretting
them into whiteness. There is scarcely rose or
iris clump in all the garden that yioIets white or
blue. do not cluster round" And here the gar
dens lady goes TO describe her tendance Of
these darlngs OF the spring and their ardent
response, until the page itself seems to breathe
forth fragrance. Mrs. Boyle believes that IN
gardening the formalty OF the old style, tenn
pered with love OF trees and plants in Natures
own undress must always be the best; the plan
she invokes for the modern garden is that which
most nearly embOdies the idea Of some delicious
pleasaunee of old time. But people now do not
glOrify their homes with such gardens Every
one in these days must have a garden Of some
sort; but few have time 10 live much in it. and
a first-sight glare of color from the windows
sufices for the many"
Full Of the fresh sweetness of upland breezes
are Mr.. Hudson's notes of his Wanderiugs over
the English downs or mOOrs- He is deeply
skilled in all the strange and delicate lore OF
Nature. and feels and reveals all the poetry OF
its prose. OF the wild life OF wood and field
and healthy hill. of man and beast and bird he
writes with equal enjoyment and effectiveness.
He has fascinating page the fashion in
which butterflies go 10 bed on the downs and
/ he dwells on the philosophy OF the humhIe-bse,
who remains at work when all the small butter
flies and diurnal flies and beetles and quaint
goat faced grasshoppers have gone to rest But
there are moments. the observer reminds Us.
when Master Humble-Bee is tempted to depart
from this homsly and judciOus philosophy
The thistle flower OvercOnnes him with its de-
liciOusness. and he will stick TO it. feasting on
its sweets fOrSetfuI of the community's claim
on him and of the law Of his being until he is
no longer in a fit condition to so home At au
events he refuses to do So Walking about on
the downs in the fading light you Will find the
belated reveller half buried in the purple disk
clasping it affectiOnately TO his bosom. and
however stupefed with the nectar he may seem