THE MEDIEVAL PLEASAUNCE 69 



that a garden was laid out on the site of a ruined 

 Roman villa by one of William the Conqueror's fol- 

 lowers. A few other gardens probably existed under 

 exceptionally favouring circumstances, although fre- 

 quently threatened with devastation. But as an abun- 

 dance and variety of fish and game took the place of 

 vegetables in the diet of the upper classes, except in 

 monasteries, horticulture was of no vital importance. 



A miniature on one of the pages of a beautiful fif- A Norman 

 teenth-century manuscript of the " Roman de la Rose," portrayed in 

 belonging to the British Museum, represents a Norman 

 castle of the earliest substantial design. Here the 

 massive stone keep, strongly protected by double crenel- 

 lated walls, and by both an inner and outer moat, is 

 intended as a representation of the Louvre in the time 

 of Philip Augustus. Then a marvellous treasure was 

 guarded there, symbolized in the romance as the 

 Rose. Hedges of roses, in extraordinarily full bloom, 

 line the walks beneath the ramparts. Underneath, the 

 moats are deep enough to have contained a large sup- 

 ply of carp to feed the garrison, and sufficiently broad 

 to have permitted swans, also often eaten, to sail freely 

 about on the surface of their smooth waters. 



During a truce of hostilities, life in such a feudal 

 castle must have been as dull and isolated as on board 

 a sailing vessel becalmed at sea. The bored passengers 

 crowding on deck to watch a flock of sea-gulls devouring 



