202 A BOOK OF ENGLISH GARDENS 



you may walk as in a gallery ; and these closer 

 alleys must be ever finely gravelled, and no grass, 

 because of going wet." 



The Pleached Alley would indeed shut out any 

 wind, and the gravel (urged so earnestly by Bacon 

 instead of "grass, because of going wet ") has been 

 superseded by an even drier substance, namely, 

 asphalt one quite out of his knowledge, man of 

 science as he was. 



There is always some old-world charm to be 

 found in this little Garden, filled as it is with the 

 many Garden delights belonging to the days of 

 Elizabeth. Entering it from the north-west side, 

 passing down a few steps, the Pleached Alley, a 

 perfect covered way runs round the four sides of 

 the Privy Garden, formed of closely planted Lime 

 trees, whose branches are so wonderfully inter- 

 woven that they form overhead quite a thick roof 

 of boughs and leaves. Pleached is an old word 

 and comes from a French root, "plesser," to plait ; 

 and the art too is a very old one, as old as the 

 Romans and freely used in their day. The north- 

 east corner of the Pleached Alley is closed up by a 

 wall, on which is a bas-relief representing Queen 

 Elizabeth opening the first Royal Exchange, Sir 

 Thomas Gresham presenting the keys, and Lord 

 Burleigh as Prime Minister. This relief was part 

 of the pediment of the second Royal Exchange, 

 built on the site of Sir Thomas Gresham's, which 



