GARDENS OF THE STUARTS 175 



A quaint feature in a little grass court near the house 

 was an elaborate bird-cage. It was described as having 

 "three open turrets very well wrought for the sitting A bird-cage, 

 and perching of birds ; and also having standing in it 

 one very fair and handsome fountain, with three cisterns 

 of lead belonging to it, and many several small pipes 

 of lead, gilded, which, when they flow and fall into the 

 cisterns, make a pleasant noise. The turrets, fountain, 

 and little court are all covered with strong iron wire 

 and lie directly under the windows of the two rooms of 

 the said Manor House called the Balcony Room, and 

 the Lord's Chamber; from which Balcony Room one 

 pavement of black and white marble containing 104 

 foot, railed with rails of wood on each side thereof, 

 extends itself into the said alley over the middle of 

 the said bird-cage. This bird-cage is a great orna- 

 ment both to the House and Garden." Such aviaries 

 were very popular in the seventeenth century. They 

 were sometimes intended to contain people as well as 

 birds. It will be remembered how during the reign 

 of Charles II, Lady Castlemain used to receive her 

 admirers in an aviary, and was playfully entitled the 

 " bird of passage." The " Bird-cage " at Melbourne was 

 practically an arbour intended entirely for people. 



An account of the maze and the wilderness is espe- me maze 

 cially interesting. " The Maze consists of young trees, 

 wood, and sprays of good growth and height, cut into 



