HATFIELD HOUSE 215 



solemn as those Yews, quaint and fantastic as 

 they could only have been in a retreat like this." 



From the first moment of seeing this retreat filled 

 with solitude the question arises, Who designed 

 this beautiful green Dell ? and only one answer 

 can be given a Frenchman, viz., Simon Sturtivant. 

 But from all accounts not half the wonders planned 

 were accomplished, and even many that were dis- 

 appeared in the lapse of years ; such as Arbours and 

 flowers, to say nothing of the Fountain and the 

 marvellous ''waterworks" planned by the French- 

 man, so popular in those days. Bridges across 

 the river gave access to the Vineyard on the 

 other side, from which Vineyard this strange 

 Garden still takes its name, though the Vines 

 have all disappeared. 



Long before this date, however, Hatfield pos- 

 sessed a Vineyard, in which grew the Grapes used 

 first by the Abbots and then by the Bishops of Ely 

 to make their wine. But from all accounts the 

 Grapes grown in England were generally very poor, 

 and consequently the wine made from them was 

 bad in quality, probably not unlike the vin ordinaire 

 drunk by the French peasants ; and this was no 

 doubt why Vineyards ceased to be cultivated in 

 England. 



When Sir Robert Cecil determined to replant 

 the old Vineyard, which had been associated 

 with Hatfield for so many centuries, he did every- 



