Therefore, you are to set whole alleys of them, to
have the pleasure where you walk or tread." Sir William Temple says
Epicurus studied, exercised, and taught his philosophy in his garden.
Milton, we know, passed many hours together in his garden at Chalfont;
Cowley poured forth the greatness of his soul in his rural retreat
at Chertsey; and Lord Shaftesbury wrote his "Characteristics," at
a delightful spot near Reigate. Pope, in one of his letters, says,
"I am in my garden, amused and easy; this is a scene where one finds no
disappointment;"--and within the same neighbourhood, Thomson
"Sung the Seasons and their change."
England can likewise boast of very great names who have been attached to
this art, though they have not written on the subject. Lord Burleigh,
Sir Walter Raleigh, Lord Capell, William III--for Switzer tells us, that
"in the least interval of ease, gardening took up a great part of his
time, in which he was not only a delighter, but likewise a great
judge,"--the Earl of Essex, whom Lord William Russell said "was the
worthiest, the justest, the sincerest, and the most concerned for the
public, of any man he ever knew;" Lord William Russell too, who, as
Switzer tells us, "made Stratton, about seven miles from Winchester, his
seat, and his gardens there were some of the best that were made in
those early days, such indeed as have mocked some that have been done
since, and the gardens at Southampton House, in Bloomsbury Square, were
also of his making.
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