FORMAN OF MAGDALEN 309 



At the present day, alas, the splendours of Lleweni are no more. 

 The far-famed agricultural wealth of the Vale of Clwyd has not 

 proved sufficient to maintain the larger country houses of the 

 Tudors, let alone their gardens, and the great house of the Salus- 

 burys is now only represented by a couple of large farm houses, 

 the one in the stables and the other in the offices of the old 

 mansion. A huge walled orchard still remains, though the trees 

 have run wild and its high walls have been partly removed for 

 building material ; and there are scattered fruit trees in the 

 woods. 



The original flower gardens seem to have been altered before 

 the demolition of the house, in accordance with the cult of the 

 ' landscape ' inculcated by the eighteenth-century school of Kent 

 and Capability Brown, while the architecture of the house was 

 being remodelled in the style of Adam. The present tenant, 

 Mrs. Roberts, informs me that the present garden is largely within 

 the lines of the foundations of the old Hall, but that all tradition 

 of the original gardens has been lost. 



iii. Dr. Simon Forman's Lambeth Garden, 1608. 



The strictly scientific character of Goodyer's writings, revealing 

 the practical attitude of his mind, is remarkable in an age when 

 so many of his ' scientific ' contemporaries were seduced by the 

 specious promises of astrology, alchemy, and divination, legacies 

 from Arabian civilization. The astrological gardening of the time 

 is illustrated by a fragment from the diary of a former member 

 of Magdalen College, which will at any rate be of interest to those 

 who make a detailed study of the topography of London. 



Thurneiser, Winckler, and Culpeper have all emphasized the 

 importance of gathering roots and ' enchanted herbs ' under particular 

 stars, but Forman evidently believed in the influence of the moon 

 on planting as well. 



The first entries evidently refer to the acquisition of the site. 



1596. 29 Jan. at 4 I went first to see the garden. On 30 Jan. ... I went to 

 speic with Mr. Katenns for his garden. 



1597. This yere betwen Michelmas and Christmas I toke Lambeth House 

 and entred yt a moneth after Christmas. Lambeth House at Westminster, nota, 



idoy. 



15 July at 7 p.m. I began to cut and bush up the garden of Roses at Lambeth 

 Marsh ^ and I began in the north west part and made som dossen bushes or 

 better. 



30 Aug. I put the gilliflowers in the flower (?) garden. 



^ Lambeth Marsh was due east of the end of Westminster Bridge. Seven 

 houses only are shown there in a map of 1560. 



