162 



ENGLISH PLEASURE GARDENS 



Nonesuch. 



Elizabeth's 

 influence. 



her hand, the Earl of Arran. Here, too, occurred 

 some of her amusing meetings with the Queen of 

 Scots' agent, Lord Melville. 



The royal gardens at Whitehall, Windsor, None- 

 such, and Hampton Court, according to the account 

 of foreign visitors, were well kept up at the close of 

 the century, but we do not .Jiear that the queen 

 added much to them, except the terrace at Windsor 

 Castle. Of Nonesuch Hentzner has left us a descrip- 

 tion; in part he says: 



" The palace itself is so encompassed with parks 

 full of deer, delicious gardens, groves ornamented with 

 trelliswork, cabinets of verdure, and walks so em- 

 bowered by trees, that it seems to be a place pitched 

 upon by Pleasure herself to dwell in along with 

 Health." The Duke of Wirtemberg, who travelled 

 through England in 1592, speaks of Hampton Court 

 as comprising many beautiful gardens both for pleas- 

 ure and ornament; some planted with nothing but 

 rosemary, others laid out with various other plants, 

 which are "trained, intertwined, and trimmed in so 

 wonderful a manner and in such extraordinary shapes 

 that the like could not easily be found." 



Directly, Queen Elizabeth did very little for the 

 gardens of her day, but indirectly they owed much to 

 her influence. She encouraged her nobles to live on 

 their country estates and to build fine houses and 



