254 MYSELF AND MY FRIENDS

cellor" Mr Asquith could find peace in a garden
but I think he got it more from the paper which he read
than from the plants which blossomed there Mr
Lloyd George loves his garden but he hasn't been looking
at it long, before he begins to think of his farm Sir
John Simon, who has taken endless trouble to make the
garden of Fntwell Manor beautiful, betrays by his well-
groomed appearance as he shows his garden that he is not
on gardening terms with the plants that live in it Lord
Birkenhead, in his country house near Banbury, would
show with jovial pleasure the garden that he had made,
but none of them—no, not one—ever created in my
mind the impression that they were a part of their
gardens, or if they did, it was that of some garden
ornament, beautiful in itself, but none the less extran
eous

Yet there is one brilliant exception Sir Austen Cham
berlain, suavely charming always, brings gentleness
and sweetness with him when he walks in a garden in
perfect harmony with the sweetness and gentleness of
the garden itself

As inhabitants of Boar's Hill, our place in Nature,
or at all events, that second nature, the social system,
is ill-defined Oxford's beaux but brooding eyes are
apt to be averted from us We he a little outside its
range of vision We are too far away to be of the city
and too near to be "the county," yet how friendly all
the county is to us Lady FitzGerald would always
welcome us to that lovely house of hers near Fanngdon
Built, if I remember right, by the brothers West of Bath,
it is the most beautiful small country house that I have
ever seen, and one of such cunning charm as to compel
the countryside to live in harmony with it There
would be festivities at Blenheim, or sometimes when the
Palace was thrown open to visitors, the Duke and
Duchess of Marlborough would make us share their
retreat for lunch in one of the underground rooms,
safe or almost safe from the intrepid advances of sight-
seers The Duchess, wittiest and most brilliant of