CLASSIC PLEASURE GROUNDS 7 



basin for fish, where many-coloured lotuses rose above 

 the level of the water. Grape-vines and ivy, entwin- 

 ing the columns and clustering over the rafters, formed 

 a shady tunnel on the outer edge of the area, while 

 blossoming plants, set out symmetrically, brightened 

 the inner space. Roses, jessamine, myrtle, and cistus, 

 growing directly in the soil or cultivated in flower-pots, 

 presented a simple conception of a floral parterre. 



Secluded in these courtyards the ladies of the harem 

 loitered, with their pet monkeys for playmates, under 

 the shady colonnade or beside the cool fountain, then 

 as now jealously guarded from any contact with the Reason for 

 outer world. At a very early period, therefore, the idea 

 of seclusion came to be connected with Oriental pleas- 

 ure grounds, as it was later with those of the Greeks 

 and Romans, with the mediaeval pleasaunce, the mo- 

 nastic cloister-garth, and the garden called old-fashioned 

 nowadays. 



When Egyptian horticulture flourished extensively 

 from the eighth to the third centuries before Christ 

 plantations overran the courtyards and spread into the 

 grounds without. The scheme of these plantations 

 has often been found incised upon ancient blocks of 

 stone. It appears to have consisted of a collection of 

 walled, rectangular parallelograms, covering many acres. 

 Among these interesting representations is the plan 

 of a garden belonging to one of the Pharaohs engraved 



