168 ENGLISH PLEASURE GARDENS 



Changes at this period were introduced gradually. 

 Garden architecture altered, like the rest of domestic 

 architecture, from the Elizabethan to the later styles 

 without any abrupt transition. The tendency was to 

 give additional breadth to the gravel walks and minor 

 importance to the flower-beds, producing a feeling of 

 space which may be attributed* to French influence. 

 Beautiful wrought-iron gates and palisades were an 

 importation from France or Holland. Leaden statues 



and vases, first designed in 

 France, were often executed 

 by Dutch workmen in Eng- 



Innovations. ]imtmmam ^ MmamaaBsmmssmHm 



probably a Dutch fashion 

 adapted to the miniature gar- 



le.T^YH.SHLOWHAU.mHA^CEl ^ . j^,,^ but seem 



to have become an important feature in every English 

 garden toward the close of the seventeenth century. 

 These innovations may be traced as far back as the 

 reign of James I, they continued rather in abeyance 

 through the troubled times of Charles I, and flourished 

 most extensively after the Restoration. During the 

 reigns of Charles II and of William and Mary, the 

 seventeenth-century garden was at its prime. 

 Botanical I n the reign of James I the most striking novelty 



was the cultivation of numerous collections of exotics. 

 Various private botanical gardens were founded, and the 



