108 A BOOK OF ENGLISH GARDENS 



Sir Thomas Egerton was no ordinary man. His 

 name figures in the history of his day Lord 

 Keeper of the Great Seal to Queen Elizabeth, 

 afterwards Baron Ellesmere and Lord Chancellor 

 to King James, and finally, in 1616, Viscount 

 Brackley. Lord Ellesmere when an old man 

 married for his third wife the celebrated Dowager 

 Countess of Derby (the cousin to whom Spenser 

 dedicated " The Teares of the Muses "), whose 

 daughter had married Lord Ellesmere's son John, 

 afterwards Earl of Bridgewater. There are many 

 amusing old documents concerning the Egerton 

 family, alluding to different festivities such as 

 the "Christening" of "Mrs. Magdalen Egerton, 

 1615," and then follows an amazing list of require- 

 ments for the feast, among which are a list of 

 " comforts," such as Collyanders, Anneseeds, 

 Roses, Violets, Muske, Orringe, Rosemary all 

 interesting from a Garden point of view. 



Milton's Masque of " Comus " owes its origin to 

 John, eldest son of the Earl of Bridgewater, and 

 his sister, Lady Alice Egerton, who once lost their 

 way in a dense forest called Haywood, near Ludlow, 

 and were benighted, which incident forms the 

 subject of the Masque, with fantastic additions. 



" Comus " was presented at Ludlow Castle in 

 1634 on the occasion of Lord Bridgewater's 

 installation as Lord President of Wales and the 

 Marches, when great feasts and entertainments 



