Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/137

 were eaten wild out of the woods, as we gather blackberries to-day.

Let us picture for a moment the garden of this period. There is a square enclosure bounded by walls of stone, brick, or thick-set hedge with two entrances, one opening from the house, the other into an orchard or field. It is very neatly kept and the air is sweet with fragrant herbs: at intervals there are recesses with seats and benches covered with turf, "thick-set and soft as any velvet," past which run little paths covered with sand or gravel, intersecting the garden. Surrounding the arbour are periwinkles, marigolds, lilies, wild geranium, mallow, or cowslips, daffodils, and foxgloves. Here the ladies come to gather flowers to make wreaths and garlands for their heads. We see again Chaucer's "Emilie" wandering in the garden at sunrise, her braided yellow hair hanging down in its long plait below her waist, singing out of the very lightness of her heart as she weaves a garland for her head.

The ladies of the fifteenth century were very much taken up with their head-dresses. These were truly wonderful. They were large, heavy, and ungraceful, and excited much wrath and