ON GARDENS 17 



monastic Gardens, which became private pro- 

 perty, and only in a few cases is there any of 

 the original Garden left. 



Thomas Tusser's ardent book on " Husbandrie " 

 did good service on behalf of the practical side of 

 Gardening. His chief work was published in 1557 

 a year before the accession of Elizabeth, the Queen 

 in whose reign every art and science flourished, 

 and none more so than the art of Gardening ; 

 an extraordinary impetus being given to the art 

 by the many men of genius of the time, who not 

 only took an absorbing interest in the culture of 

 flowers, but wrote upon the subject. Elizabethan 

 literature is rich in the names of these men, who 

 vied with one another in praising the joys of a 

 Garden. Bacon's essay "On Gardens" is known 

 and quoted all over the world, suiting every taste 

 and every school. Sir Philip Sidney mentions a 

 Garden "neither field, Garden, nor orchard"; and 

 Sir Henry Wotton says that " Gardens should be 

 irregular." All three are claimed as prophets of 

 the later Landscape School. 



Spenser's descriptions of Gardens and flowers 

 leave a deep impression upon the reader of his 

 wish to impart his love of their beauties to 

 others, and there is no doubt that the praise 

 of Gardens so passing into literature had an 

 immense influence upon the culture and discovery 

 of plants. 



