48 GARDEN-CRAFT. 



old writer of the sixteenth century, describes them as 

 placed in divers corners of the orchard, their ascent 

 being made by " stares of precious workmanship." 

 When of wood, the mount was often elaborately 

 painted. 



An account of works done at Hampton Court 

 in the time of Henry VIII., mentions certain ex- 

 penses incurred for " anticke " works ; and referring 

 to Bailey's Dictionary, published early in the last 

 century, the word " antick," as applied to curiously- 

 shaped trees, still survives, and is explained as " odd 

 figures or shapes of men, birds, beasts, &c., cut out." 

 From the above references, and others of like nature, 

 we know that the topiary art ("opus topiarum"), 

 which dealt in quaintly-shaped trees and shrubs, was 

 in full practice here throughout the latter half of the 

 middle ages. Samuel Hartlib, in a book published 

 in 1659, writes thus : " About fifty years ago Ingenu- 

 ities first began to flourish in England." Lawson, 

 writing in a jocose vein, tells how the lesser wood 

 might be framed by the gardener "to the shape of 

 men armed in the field ready to give battelj ; or 

 swift-running greyhounds, or of well-scented and 

 true-running hounds to chase the deere or hunt 

 the hare"; adding as a recommendation that "this 

 kinde of hunting shall not waste your corne, nor much 

 your coyne ! " 



I find that John Leland in his Itinerary, 1540, 

 further confirms the use of highly-decorated mounts : 

 as at Wressel Castle, Yorkshire, he tells of the gar- 

 dens with the mote, and the orchards as exceeding 



