202 THE FORMAL GARDEN IN ENGLAND ix 



stone, the roof to be covered with lead, 

 slates, or shingles. If they were square, about 



2 feet would go inside the niche of the wall, 

 and as much outside. The details of the seats 

 would be much the same as that of the ordinary 

 seventeenth-century settle. There is a good 

 example at the end of the raised grass walk at 

 Bingham Melcombe, in Dorset. Garden-seats 

 of good simple design continued to be made till 

 the beginning of the last century. The backs, 

 instead of being framed in solid, were formed 

 with a trellis of bars about an inch square, 

 framed into panels of various design. The 

 fashion appears to have been started by Sir 

 William Chambers, who took it from the 

 Chinese, though something of the same sort 

 had been done before in wooden balustrades to 

 stairs. Of wooden fences several varieties were 

 in use. The commonest were palings — that is, 

 pieces of wood about 3 to 4 inches wide and 



3 to 4 feet high, with variously shaped heads, 

 nailed to two rails. Worlidge gives as a varia- 

 tion a palisade of boards turned edgewise to the 

 garden, the rails passing through the boards. 

 The heads were to be shaped into two square 

 spikes, with a space between. These ought to 

 be raised above the ground on a low brick 

 plinth. Wooden balustrades were rarely used. 

 They are shown in Logan's view of Trinity, 

 Cambridge. A common form of fencing, 

 shown in Logan's views of Oxford and 



