ON GARDENS 19 



the outcome of Botanical or Herb Gardens. The 

 first Garden of Simples was founded at Padua in 

 J 545> to be followed very shortly by others in 

 various places, but it was nearly a century later 

 before England followed suit. The first English 

 Herbal was that of William Turner, written about 

 fifty years before the celebrated one of Gerarde. 

 Gerarde was well known through having super- 

 intended for twenty years Lord Burleigh's Gardens, 

 and also on account of his wonderful Physic Garden 

 in Holborn. 



One of the best remembered of these quaint old 

 writers is Parkinson, the author of " Paradisi-in- 

 Sole, Paradisus Terrestris, or a Garden of all sorts 

 of pleasant Flowers "; but they one and all did an 

 inestimable amount for Gardening by their travels 

 and research. 



The Gardens in the time of Elizabeth were the 

 outcome of French and Italian influence, combined 

 with the formal ideas of design. This proved the 

 best style for an English Garden, and it was a pity 

 when fashion carried many of the foreign features to 

 extremes, and especially when the Dutch influence 

 became too marked. It may be safely said that 

 what is now meant by "an old English Garden " is 

 one very similar to those that existed during the 

 reign of Elizabeth. The architects of this date, 

 especially John Thorpe, had not a little to do with 

 the Gardens of the period. According to his plans, 



