THE MEDIEVAL PLEASAUNCE 79 



common, which could not be grown without artificial heat. 

 Many of these were neglected and forgotten after his 

 death, until even the memory of them so completely 

 passed into oblivion that their reintroduction after the 

 Wars of the Roses is spoken of as though they had 

 never been known before. 



" Nor were the triumphs of horticulture limited to the importation 



. . of exotics. 



improvement in our indigenous fruits. New varieties 

 were introduced at this time. Figs, oranges, lemons, 

 citrons, almonds, and even olives are noted among the 

 fruits growing in the gardens of some of the large land- 

 owners of this country. These natives of a southern 

 clime could not have ripened their fruits unless in ex- 

 ceptionally warm seasons or by means of hothouses ; the 

 evidence, however, that they existed is overwhelming." 1 



All classes of people now seem to have had gardens. Gardens be- 



Those belonging to the king were principally in the aii classes 

 neighbourhood of London, at Charing, Westminster, 

 Clarendon, the Tower, and at Windsor Castle. In them 

 were grown peaches, first mentioned, in 1276; pears and 

 apples, of which several new varieties were introduced ; 

 quinces and strawberries, well known to the Anglo- 

 Saxons, and gooseberries, which seem to have been a 

 novelty. There were also royal vineyards at Windsor 

 and Westminster. One of the great nobles, De Lacey, 

 Earl of Lincoln, cultivated extensive market gardens 



1 "England in the Fifteenth Century." Rev. W. Denton, M.A. 



