212 THE FORMAL GARDEN IN ENGLAND ix 



and carved into various mysterious scoops and 

 hollows, which look exceedingly picturesque, but 

 to the lay mind are unintelligible. There is 

 a curious instance in the market-place at 

 Wilton, apparently dating from the seventeenth 

 century. 



Statuary has never played such an important 

 part in the English garden as it did on the 

 continent, and this is probably due not merely 

 to difference of climate, but to the greater 

 sobriety of English taste. Wood, stone, marble, 

 bronze, and lead have all been used for the 

 purpose in England. The wooden beasts in 

 Henry VIII. 's garden at Hampton Court have 

 been already mentioned ; these were painted 

 no doubt in all sorts of cheerful colours, any- 

 how in red and green and white. Wood, how- 

 ever, is not a very suitable material for garden 

 sculpture. Unless its forms are very simple, 

 the sun and rain soon destroy its effect. Marble 

 was often used in the more important seven- 

 teenth-century gardens, not only for fountains 

 but for pieces of isolated statuary. In the 

 gardens at Kenilworth in the centre of each of 

 the four plots there stood obelisks 1 5 feet 

 high, formed of a single piece of porphyry. 

 The obelisks stood on a base 2 feet square, 

 and were pierced, and carried a ball at the top 

 10 inches in diameter. At Wilton there were 

 statues of Bacchus and Flora in white marble 8 

 feet high. Fortunately marble was found too 



