THE MEDIEVAL PLEASAUNCE 71 



much admired by Charles I, encircles the ancient castle 

 walls and is more than half a mile in compass. On 

 the borders of such a terrace, beside the hedge, a few 

 herbs were usually cultivated by the chatelaine to be 

 used in sickness, or to make a poignant sauce for whet- 

 ting the satiated appetite. 



At last the comparative cessation of internal warfare The devei- 



-11 opment of 



permitted the precincts of the castle to become still less the picas- 

 restricted without loss of security. Then the pleasaunce France, 

 (developing from the terrace walk containing the little 

 collection of herbs already described) began to enjoy 

 a less precarious existence. In France, earlier than in 

 England, its form became more clearly defined, and, by 

 covering more area, answered more varied requirements. 

 From contemporary documents its appearance has been 

 reconstructed and described in detail by M. Georges 

 Riat in " L'Art des Jardins " : 



" In the twelfth century the garden was habitually sit- Description 



of atwelfth- 



uated outside the ramparts, and was entered from the century 

 castle by a secret door in the fortifications. Later gar- 

 dens, answering to the following description, were laid out 

 in the courtyards of most seigneurial habitations. A 

 fence, when the garden was in the courtyard, or palisades, 

 when it was outside, surrounded it. A low wall, built 

 in three parts so as to furnish a back for a grass-covered 

 seat, formed a frame for intimate conversations. In a 

 corner, a fountain in the Gothic style often served to 



