6 A BOOK OF ENGLISH GARDENS 



gave the keynote to design in Gardening till the 

 end of the seventeenth century. The Mounts, the 

 Terraces, the Walks edged with Box, the Shrubs 

 cut into different shapes, the Fountains, and the 

 little flower Gardens with the Alleys and Summer- 

 houses, bear a very close resemblance to the French 

 and Dutch Gardens of later date. 



As Horace Walpole remarks, "All the in- 

 gredients of Pliny's corresponded exactly with those 

 laid out by London and Wise on Dutch principles. 

 He talks of slopes, terraces, a wilderness, shrubs 

 methodically trimmed, a marble basin . . . Bay 

 Trees alternately planted with Planes . . . and 

 hedges of Box ; there wants nothing but the 

 embroidery of a parterre, to make a Garden in the 

 reign of Trajan serve for a description of one 

 in that of King William." 



Strangely enough, not only was the formal style 

 in Gardening heralded in these early times, but the 

 Gardens of the Emperor Nero bore a great likeness 

 to the style of an English Park, and many people 

 consider that the modern Irregular School of 

 Gardening is as old as that of the Regular 

 Symmetrical style. 



Clearly from the Romans came many interesting 

 Garden features. They made a special study of 

 odoriferous trees, planting those which would blend 

 best together to form the choicest aroma, thus 

 remembering that beauty of colour and charm of 



