Spanish Gardens (Batsford, 25s.) is one of a series on
the arts and crafts of Spain, and speaks well for the series. After a hot day in London one can almost fancy, from Miss Villiers- Stuart's book, that one has just wandered in from the parterres and terraces of which she writes, along the cool, canal-bordered paths into the bare high rooms. Indeed it is difficult to say, in this country, whether the gardens are attached to the houses, or the houses are part of the " lay-out " of the gardens, so much are they part of each other. Both have grown up under the influence of the East—traces of the Moorish conquest are to be found in gardens laid out since the late War—and the most illuminating comparison is to be found among the gardens of India and Persia, governed by the same conditions and worship. The style has remained singularly pure, having been protected by war or other influences from what the author calls the " destructive " English style. It is certainly a delight to come upon a thing so unspoilt, and the author's manner is such as to leave the impression unimpaired, for she gives us the history without which the gardens would lose half their charm, though they could never be deprived of their beauty.
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