]\1 KoDl ^ I I 



XXXI. 



..f water," such .1- "Neptune sounding his trum|x-t, 

 his eharn.it drawn In MM horse's," .uul the stor\ of" 

 Perseus and Andromeda. All these extravagances 

 were condemned by Bacon. Tricks he WOUM not 

 i mention, though ih. it Nonsuch, 



which he must have known well, aiul while specially 

 remarking on the "great Beauty ami Retreshmcnt ' 

 of fountains, he sits ilnwn "fine Devices of' Arching 

 Water without Spilling" as merely "pretty things tn 

 lookc on." Herein he was superior to his contem- 

 porancs, tor even Sir I Icnry Wotton, the Ambassador, 

 in his short work on architecture, dismisses fountains 

 in few words ; but as to one of these "devices " he 

 dec lares it "doth merit some larger Fxpression : 

 There went a long, streight, mossy W.tlk of lomjH-tent 

 breadth, green and soft under fcxit, lifteil on lx>th 

 sides with an .Irj tuieJtiit of white Stone, Breast-high, 

 which had a hollow Channel on Top where ran a 

 pretty trickling Stream ; on the F.dge whereof, were 

 couched very thick all along, certain Small Pipes of 

 Ixrad, in little holes, so neatly, that they could not be 

 well jx-rceived, till by the turning of a Cock, they did 

 spurt over interchangeably from side to side, above 

 Man's height, in form of Arches, without any inter- 

 section or meeting aloft, because the Pipes were not 

 exactly opposite, so as the Beholder, k-sidcs that 

 which was fluent in the Aquacducts on lx>th hands in 

 his view, did walk as it were under a continual Bower 

 or Hemisphere of Water, without any drop falling 

 on him. An Invention for Refreshment, surely 

 far excelling all the .Hfx,in,lri,iH Delicacies, and 

 Pncumaticks of Hen." Such " water curtains," 

 fashionable as Fvelyn found them abroad, were 

 but little adopted in our damper climate, though 

 Chatsworth had its dripping tree. But the simpler 

 and more legitimate use of water for fountains and 

 jxx)ls was universal in all fine seventeenth century 

 gardening, and in 1651, during John Fvclyn's 

 second stay in Paris, we find him corresponding 

 with his elder brother on the subject of the fountains 

 and other garden embellishments which were then 

 making at Wotton, no doubt, under John's advice. 

 Indeed, he was so pleased with the result that when, 

 some years after, he wrote the prefatory pages of his 

 " Diary," he says he " should speake much of the 

 gardens, fountaines, and groves, that adorne it, 

 were they not as gencraly knowne to be amongst 

 the most natural, and (til this later and universal 

 luxury of the whole nation, since alx>unding in such 

 expenses) the most magnificent that Fngland afforded, 

 and which indccdc gave one of the first examples to 

 that elegancy since so much in vouge, and follow'.: 

 in the managing of their waters, and other ornaments 

 of that nature." The Kvelyns were in a position 

 to be pioneers in garden improvement IKC.UISC 

 their loyalty fell short of fighting for, or of 

 openly espousing, their Sovereign's cause. They 

 were, therefore, unaffected, in person or in purse, 

 by the Civil Wars, and Wotton was one of the 

 few gardens laid out under the Commonwealth. At 

 the Restoration, Charles II., accustomed to ! ranee and 

 \ iolland, remarks on " y* improvement of gardens 

 and buildings, now very rare in Kngland comparatively 

 to other countries.' I lowcver, not only Charles, but 

 his nobles, financiers and merchants, set to work 

 to make up for lost time, and hence the " universal 

 luxury of the whole nation," which threw Wotton 

 somewhat into the shade. The restraining effect of 

 the Commonwealth period is well shown by the 



extremely modeM views as to extent and outlay held 

 Me of the most .u five garden makers and plant 

 growers of the time. Little is known of John Ri-a 

 ;-t that he had a nursery garden near Bcwdlcy 

 in Worcestershire, where he Claimed to jvisscss the 

 largest collection of tulips in Fngland, and also 

 many other " noble things of newer discovery " 

 than those known to Parkinson, whose "( lardcn of 

 Pleasant Mowers " apjxMred in \<>l(). He designed 

 gardens for Lord (tcrard in Staffordshire, and then 

 wrote an .mount of what he would plant in them, 

 and this he extended into a "Complete l-'loriU 

 published in iWi$. As he tells us that his Ixxik 

 lay long neglected in manuscript, it is clear that it 

 was written in the Cromwcllian jHTiiul and represents 

 its conditions, so that we can fully understand his 

 saying that "fair Houses are more frequent 

 than fine gardens." It was a period when little 

 gardening was done, and that little as ehe.ipU 

 as possible, for he plaintively declares: "I ha\e 

 known many Persons of I-'ortune pretend much 

 affection to 1- lowers, but very unwilling to part with 

 anything to purchase them ; yet if obtained by 

 beggary, or perhaps by stealing, contented to give 

 them entertainment : an I 'nworthmcss more un 

 pardonable in the Rich than punishable in such 

 Poor as steal through want." As to si/e, he differen 

 tiates between what is due to a nobleman and what 

 is sufficient for a mere private gentleman. l-'or the 

 latter, something under half an acre MI trices for lx>th 

 the vegetable and flower gardens, and even the 

 former is considered capable of supporting his 

 dignity with an acre and a-half, and of this the 

 walled flower garden occupies but one eighth. Rea 

 merely follows Fsticnnc (as we have seen him trans 

 lated by Markham) when he Ixrgins by saying : "To 

 the Habitation of every dentlemin or person of 

 considerable Fortune and Ingenuity there shouKl 

 In-long 2 several (iardens joined together and onl\ 

 divided by a wall." But after that he is more origin il, 

 and there crop up amusing little personal touches. 

 It would seem that meanness went so far that persons 

 wanting gardens were not only inclined to beg or 

 steal the requisite plants, but also to do their own 

 laying out and not employ a professional ! Or, e\en 

 when they went to this expense, they chose a wrong 

 one, a man of architectural pnx:livit:es and not .1 

 cultural expert and nursery gardener like himself ! 

 If gardening fashions have frequently changed in the 

 interval, human nature has remained the same, and 

 we are well acquainted to-day with these habits 

 against both of which Rea has somcthin.; to tell us. 

 He declares his preference for a green meadow 

 many a garden "on the tuw model in unskilful 

 hands." , attains and statues may very likely have- 



merit it well done, but if ill arc mere " Blocks in the 

 Wav." But "a Choice Collection of living Beiutics, 

 rare Plants, Mowers and Fruits are indeed the wealth, 

 glory and delight of a (Jardcn, and the most abso- 

 lute indication of the Owners ingenuity, whose 

 skill and care is chiefly required in their Choice, 

 Culture and Position." He recommends a perfect 

 flat ; "the most graceful ground is an entire level" 

 is his somewhat surprising dictum, while " hanging 

 grounds unc apable to he cast into a I x-vcl seldom make 

 handsome gardens," and if folks have the misfortune 

 to be troubled with such, all the more reason, con- 

 sidering the troubles of the divisions and descents, to 

 " put themselves in the hands of an honest skilful 



