IN THE ELIZABETHAN AGE. 3 



" As to the well standing of a 'garden, it behoveth the aptest and 

 most laudable placing of a garden-plot shall be, if thej3/«m ground 

 lying somewhat aslope shall have a course of spring water run- 

 ning through by several parts. But this course of water running 

 through the garden may in no wise he big." I do not think that 

 I have wrongly described the author's conception as Lilliputian. 

 It is clear that he did not contemplate the devoting of a large 

 space of ground to this purpose, from his caution that the 

 streamlet must be narrow ; or, on the other hand, if the whole 

 space were intended to be really large, the narrow rills of water 

 must have had an effect inconceivably ludicrous. Even so far, 

 largeness of conception is out of the question. Nothing is de- 

 signed or imagined worthy of being an accompaniment to a 

 noble and magnificent mansion. With the park beyond the 

 garden I have nothing to do : it is on the space between the 

 mansion and the park that the author operates, whether taste- 

 fully or not there can be little or no difference of opinion. 



The first feature of any importance which strikes the attention 

 is contained in his twelftli chapter, entitled thus : — " The framing 

 of sundry herbers delectable in a garden, with the walks and 

 alleys artly devised in the same." And he thus describes what 

 he evidently views as one of the principal ornaments. " The 

 herber (arbour) in a garden may be framed with juniper-poles 

 or the willow, either to stretch or be bound together with osiers 

 after a square form, or in arch-manner united, that the branches 

 of the vine, melon, or cucumber, running and spreading all over, 

 might so shadow and keep both the heat and sun from the 

 walkers and sitters therein. The herbers erected and framed in 

 most gardens are to their much refreshing comfort and delight." 

 This idea alone relishes exceedingly of the taste adapted to the 

 comfort of modern tea-gardens — specimens of which have long 

 abounded in the suburbs of London and along the shores of the 

 Thames. But whether we can term that taste refined or exalted 

 which would prescribe this as one of the chief beauties for the 

 external adornment of a stately mansion I cannot and dare not 

 say. But we can approximate to a clearer notion of the actual 

 appearance of these herbers by contemplating his description of 

 the square-formed and arched herbers respectively. For the 

 square-formed he recommends plants and flowers of a fragrant 

 savour, such as rosemary, jasmine, and the rose ; for the arched, 

 jasmine-tree, musk-rose, damask-rose, privet-tree, " vines also as 

 well." I honestly confess myself rather puzzled to account for the 

 careful classification of plants for the differently shaped herbers. 

 I do not know why the same plants should not have been equally 

 well designed for both — the flowers equally fragrant, and grapes 

 equally luscious. Probably, however, the arched herber was 



B 2 



