OAltDEJJlNO.] 



PUACTICE OK IIOKTICULTURE. 



[in ENGLAND. 



parka full of deer, delicious gardens, grovea 

 surrounded with trellia-wurk, cabinets of 

 veriiuiv, and walks so embowered by trees, 

 that it seems to be a place pitched on by 

 Pleasure herself to dwell in along with Heulth. 

 lu the pleasure and artificial gardens are 

 many columns and pyramids of marble; two 

 fountains that spout water — one round the 

 other like a pyramid, upon whicb are perched 

 small birds that stream water out of their 

 bills. In the grove of Diana is a very agree- 

 able fountain, with Actteon turned into a 

 stag (as he was), sprinkled by the goddess and 

 her nymphs, with inscriptions. There is, 

 besides, another pyramid of marble, full of 

 concealed pipes, which spurt upon all who 

 come within their reach." Such was the 

 style of a royal garden in the time of 

 Henry VIII. Taste, however, has entirely 

 changed ; and great as may be the opulence 

 of modern garden proprietors, whether of 

 the patrician or the plebeian orders, '" statues 

 that seem to breathe," where they do exist, 

 do not take such a promiiieut place as they 

 did in the days of " Bluff King Hal." 



PROGRESS OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 



Passing by the immediate successors of 

 Henry, the art met with great encourage- 

 ment from our Stuart kings. James I. greatly 

 improved the gardens at Theobalds and 

 Greenwich. Of the former, Maudelso, who 

 visited this country in 1G40, says — " It is 

 a large square, having all its walls covered 

 with phillyrea, and a beautiful jet d'eau 

 in the centre. The parterre hath many 

 pleasant walks, part of which are planted 

 on the sides with espaliers and others, 

 arched over. Some of the trees are limes 

 and elms ; and at the end is a small mount, 

 called the Mount of Venus, which is placed in 

 the midst of a labyrinth ; and is, upon the 

 whole, one of the most beautiful spots in the 

 world." Lord Bacon, who himself bad a lair 

 garden, endeavoured to improve the taste of 

 the time, but w ith little success. " As for 

 the making of knots or figures," says he, 

 "with divers coloured earths, they be but 

 toys. I do not like images cutout in juniper 

 or other garden stuff; they are for children." 

 No great advance was made during the Com- 

 monwealth; but in the reign of Charles II. 



tho art was iniprovod. It waa in this reign 



that Chatsworth, the splendid neat of the 

 Duke of Devouhhire, wua laid out ; and Daincii 

 Barrington tiiinks that gard«'n buildings were 

 first erected in England during this reign, at 

 Beckett, near Farringdon ; and the celebrated 

 Inigo Jones was the archiifct. Evelyn 

 fiouri.shed in this reign ; and, by his writings 

 and his taste in gardening, did much to im- 

 prove tho art. 



During tho reign of AVilliam and IVIary, 

 Switzer says that gardening had attained to 

 tho highest point of perfection ; and we daro 

 say that it is the opinion of many that such 

 is the case at the present day. But anv 

 sudden revolution in the taste of the nation 

 would change the whole of its features, now 

 deemed beautiful and perfect, within the com- 

 pass of a very few years. Dainea Barrington 

 informs us that King William greatly ex- 

 tended what is called to])iary-icorJc, which 

 consists of giving fanciful forma to arbours 

 and thickets, trees and hedges. This gro- 

 tesque style "Was patronised by William, who 

 loved to see clipped yews, accompanied with 

 magnificent gates and rails of iron. The 

 largest iron screens of this kind in England, 

 after those of Hampton Court, were formed 

 by Switzer, at Leeswold, Flintshire, the 

 grounds of which were laid out by that artist 

 in a mixed style. Mr. Loudon informs us, 

 that Hampton Court being, at this time, the 

 actual residence of the royal family, the 

 gardens underwent considerable improvement. 

 " An elegant alcove and arched trellis were 

 added at the end of one of the alleys, and 

 four urns placed before the principal part of 

 the house — supposed, by Daines Barrington, to 

 have been the first that were thus used in 

 England. Towards the end of this century, 

 Tegetable sculptures and embroidered par- 

 terres were probably in their highest vogue — 

 a conjecture confirmed by the works of 

 Le Blond, James, Switzer, &c., published 

 during this and the following reign." Longleat, 

 the tiiagnificent seat of the Marquis of Bath, 

 was laid out in this reign. 



In the reign of Queen Anne, the principal 

 alteration which appears to have been made, 

 took place in the royal garden.s at Windsor, 

 when the parterre before the great terrace 

 was covered with turf. It was this queen who 



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