16 A BOOK OF ENGLISH GARDENS 



spout water, one round the other like a pyramid 

 upon which are perched small birds that stream 

 water out of their bills . . . and another pyramid 

 of marble full of concealed pipes, which spirt 

 upon all who come within their reach." So writes 

 Paulus Hentzner, a German who visited England 

 and describes the quaint conceits of the Garden of 

 Nonsuch. 



Henry began Nonsuch about 1538, and its house 

 and Gardens rivalled many a larger palace. It was 

 a favourite residence with Queen Elizabeth and 

 Henrietta Maria. In the Parliamentary Survey 

 mention is made of the many beauties of Nonsuch, 

 "the walled Gardens, Alleys, thick Thorn Hedges, 

 Wilderness, Privy Garden." 



Charles II. gave this beautiful Garden filled with 

 quaint devices to the Duchess of Cleveland, who 

 pulled down the house and sold the contents ! It 

 is strange to think that later in the eighteenth 

 century Nonsuch, once an extreme example of 

 the Formal Style, should have become the pro- 

 perty of the brother of George Whateley, one of 

 the chief writers upon the subject of modern 

 English Gardening. He altered the Garden and 

 Park to suit his own views, and Nonsuch ended 

 by being an extreme example of a diametrically 

 opposite school. 



The Reformation and the dissolution of the 

 monasteries made havoc with the beautiful old 



