ENGLISH PLEASURE GARDENS 



frequently clipped, and then, as always, considered the 

 best shrub for edgings. 



Labyrinths. Labyrinths are said to have been originally con- 

 structed to conceal the royal Egyptian tombs. The 

 word is of Egyptian origin. The idea of Greek 

 and Roman labyrinths may have come from Egypt; 

 but in the great prehistoric palace at Knossos most 

 archaeologists recognize the origi- 

 nal of the traditional labyrinth; it 

 was the house of the double axe, 

 symbolizing Zeus and reverenced 

 as the sanctuary of the god, as well 

 as the palace of the king. In the 

 centre of the building were two 

 sacred columns engraved with double axes. The plan 

 of this labyrinth is commemorated on the ancient money 

 of Knossos. During the Roman Empire, labyrinths 

 were often constructed to ornament gardens. One is 

 sketched on a wall at Pompeii with the inscription 

 Labyrinthus hie habitat Minotaurtis. Others were used 

 as designs to embellish the mosaic pavement of the 

 peristyle. 



Finally, in Italy during the third century, as in 



England at the close of the eighteenth, formality and 



artificiality, artificiality were carried to meaningless extremes of 



magnificence, and provoked much abuse and ridicule. 



One writer complains that the cities have been in- 



