our garden_.

In my transient review of the gardens of ancient times, at the
commencement of the following work, I have not even glanced at those of
the _Saxons_, in this island; when one should have thought that the
majestic name of ALFRED alone, would have made a search of this nature
interesting, even if such search were unavailing. I have also
inadvertently omitted any allusion to those of the _Danes_ and the
_Normans_. I have only then now to say, that Mr. Johnson's researches,
as to these gardens, in pp. 31, 37, 38, 39 and 40 of his lately
published History of English Gardening, with his elegant language and
the flow of sentiment that pervades those pages, would make any search
or review of mine presumptuous. In those pages, he dwells on the
tendency which the then introduction of the christian religion had to
soften the manners of the people, and by thus rendering them more
domestic, gardening became an art congenial to their feelings; and
whilst the country at large was devastated by war, the property of the
religious establishments was held sacred, and varieties of vegetables
preserved, which otherwise would soon have become extinct, if cultivated
in less hallowed ground. He then traces the existence of many gardens,
orchards, and vineyards, belonging to our monasteries, proving, that
even in the time of the _Danes_, horticulture continued "silently to
advance," and that at the time of the arrival of the _Normans_, gardens
were generally in the possession of the laity, as well as of the
ecclesiastics; and he refers to Doomsday Book for his assertion, that
"there is no reason to doubt, that at this period, every house, from the
palace to the cottage, was possessed of a garden of some size." He
concludes with interesting references to the gardens, vineyards, and
orchards, of the Abbot of Ely and other monks.

The above work of Mr. Johnson's is the result of original thought, and
of an ardent and extended scientific research. Mine is a compilation,
"made with a pair of scissors," to copy the words of Mr. Mathias, which
he applies to a certain edition of Pope. I content myself, however, with
the reflection of Mr. Walpole, that "they who cannot perform great
things themselves, may yet have a satisfaction in doing justice to those
who can."

Having alluded at pp. 71 and 120 to Dr. Alison, and having given at p.
211 Dr. Dibdin's tribute to him, I cannot omit reminding my reader, that
the graceful language, the subl