i8 ENGLISH PLEASURE GARDENS 



was called by the Greeks a xystus, this name, as Vitru- 

 vius has pointed out, was given by the Romans to a 

 parterre composed of paths and flower-beds. Peristylium, 

 exedra, and hippodrome, among other words frequently 

 applied, rightly or wrongly, to different features in Roman 

 gardens, denote their derivation from the Greek. Some- 

 times the transposition led to mistakes as curious as 

 that which allowed the Romans to consult for a century 

 a Grecian sun-dial, brought from Catana in Sicily to 

 Rome, without realizing that the difference in latitude 

 made it a useless timepiece in the more northern city. 



This Graeco-Roman style of garden was brought to 



its perfection in the first century before Christ, the 



period of the conquest of England, and hence is most 



interesting to us as showing the style likely to have been 



increase of introduced by the Romans into Great Britain. In Italy, 



pleasure 



grounds. at this time, pleasure gardens were multiplying so rapidly 

 that scant attention was being given to agriculture and 

 market-gardening. Many querulous critics extolled the 

 good old days when farming used to be held in high 

 esteem, and bewailed a neglect entailing among other 

 evils a food supply insufficient for the population. The 

 cities, towns, and summer resorts were honey-combed 

 with gardens, which gradually overran the suburbs and 

 spread thickly throughout the country, until villas, 

 including vast pleasure gardens, were notable from the 

 Apennines to Mount Vesuvius. 



