THE ELIZABETHAN FLOWER-GARDEN 133 



had been developed by the fresh appreciation of the 

 beauty of classic design, so the desire to naturalize 

 these exotics stimulated gardening as a craft. 



A good comparison between the decadent condi- improve- 

 ment in hor- 

 tion of gardens in the past, compared with their pros- ticuiture. 



perity in his day, is prefaced by Harrison to the second 

 edition of Holinshed's "Chronicles," published in 1580. 



" Such herbs, roots, and fruits as grow yearly out 

 of the ground have been very plentiful in the time 

 of the first Edward and after his days; but in the 

 process of time they also grew to be neglected, so 

 that from Henry the Fourth until the latter end of 

 Henry the Seventh and the beginning of Henry the 

 Eighth there was little or no use of them in Eng- 

 land, but they remained either unknown or supposed 

 as food more meet for hogs and savage beasts than 

 mankind." 



After relating at length how good husbandry had 

 become almost a lost art, he begins to expatiate upon 

 its reestablishment. 



" If you look into our gardens annexed to our 

 houses, how wonderfully is their beauty increased 

 not only with flowers, which Columella calleth ' Ter- 

 rena Sidera,' saying ' Pinget in varios terrestria sidera 

 flores,' and variety of curious and costlie workmanship, 

 but also with rare and medicinable herbs sought up 

 in the land within these forty years, so that in 



