ON GARDENS 11 



considered " a Maze as proper adournementes upon 

 pleasure to a Garden." 



It is interesting to find that besides "the Royal 

 Gardens at Westminster, Charing, and the Tower," 

 FitzStephen mentions, in his " Life of St. Thomas 

 a Becket," that attached to the houses in London 

 were Gardens containing large trees "both spacious 

 and pleasing to the sight," showing that a love 

 of green leaves in Spring is not a modern fancy of 

 Londoners. 



Curious reading is the description of a Garden 

 in " Melbourne" in 1295, belonging to the Earl 

 of Lincoln, the records of which are to be found 

 in "the Record Office of the Duchy of Lancaster." 

 From these it appears that the property was so 

 large and well worked as to allow the owner to 

 sell Fruit, Vegetables, and Roses (the only flower 

 mentioned) in large quantities. From this time 

 onward the taste for Gardens and Gardening be- 

 came more and more general, and was helped in 

 no small measure by finding a place in current 

 literature. 



Although to-day nothing of the quaint me- 

 diaeval Garden remains untouched, illuminated 

 MSS. and poems fortunately exist These two 

 beautiful mirrors of the past show very clearly what 

 the Gardens of old time must have been like. In 

 " Piers Plowman " many little Garden details are 

 given, while Lydgate writes of a Garden where 



