NOTES. 83 



tonsile evergreens, shaped into a variety of forms. 

 Beyond it is the gestatio [a sort of avenue in which to 

 take exercise] laid out in the form of a circus, orna- 

 mented in the middle with box cut in numberless 

 different figures, together with a plantation of shrubs 

 prevented by the shears from running up too high ; the 

 whole is fenced in with a wall, covered by box, rising by 

 different ranges to the top." Further on he says, 

 " Having passed through these several winding alleys, 

 you enter a straight walk, which breaks out into a variety 

 of others, divided off by box-hedges. In one place you 

 have a little meadow ; in another the box is cut into a 

 thousand different forms, sometimes into letters expressing 

 the name of the master, sometimes that of the artificer, 

 whilst here and there little obelisks rise intermixed 

 alternately with fruit-trees. " x Martial too gives a curious 

 illustration of the Ars topiaria. A grove of Plane trees 

 was adorned with topiarian wild beasts, among them a 

 bear ; a young boy thrust his hand into the bear's wide 

 mouth, and a viper hiding there stung him to death. 

 What a misfortune, adds Martial, that the bear had not 

 been a real one. This Ars topiaria had been for some 

 time in fashion in England when Addison first attacked 

 it in the Spectator of June 25th, 1712 : "Our British 

 gardeners, on the contrary, instead of humouring nature, 

 love to deviate from it as much as possible. Our trees 

 rise in cones, globes, and pyramids. We see the marks 

 of the scissors upon every plant and bush. I do not 

 1 I have adopted Professor Amos's translation. 



G 2 



