124 



.1 HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 



adds, " I, for my part, do not like iina.i^^es cut out in juniper or 

 other garden stuff— they be for children. Little low hedges 

 round like welts, with some pretty p}Tamids, I like well, and in 

 some places, fair columns." 



The idea that cut trees were generally yews is very 

 prevalent, and the remains of topiary work in old gardens 

 still in existence confirm this impression. All the cut trees 



HHSLINGTON. 



in the garden at Heslington, near York, are yews. This 

 garden was laid out soon after the house was built, about 

 1560. The quaintly-rounded hedge at Rockingham, and the 

 hedges and trees at Erbistock, are two examples of the 

 cut yews of this date. But in the books of the period, other 

 shrubs are spoken of more favourably than yews. It seems, 

 therefore, that it is only because the yew is a slow grower, a 

 sturdy tree, and an evergreen, that more yews than other shrubs 



