X PREFACE. 



each successive fashion ; and to enumerate others would 

 only have been to multiply instances. It is hoped rather 

 that this work, inadequate though it is in comparison with • 

 the vastness of the subject, may in some measure serve as 

 a handbook by which to classify gardens, and fix the dates 

 to which they belong. In many cases it must always be 

 difficult to assign an exact date to a garden, as although 

 frequently a garden adjoining the house has existed from 

 very early times, the changes, though few, have been so 

 gradual that it is almost impossible to determine for 

 certain the time at which they assumed their present 

 condition. I have to thank the many friends who have 

 very kindly afforded me information respecting their 

 gardens, and provided me with plans or photographs, 

 or who have given me ready access to the MSS. in their 

 possession in public or private collections. 



I also wish gratefully to acknowledge the kindness of 

 Mr. J. G. Baker, f.r.s., in looking over the following 

 pages whilst still in proof sheets. The correction of the 

 proofs had been rendered an easy task for me by the kind 

 co-operation of my friend. Miss Margaret MacArthur. My 

 thanks are also due to Professor Skeat and Mr. James 

 Britten for their help in the identification of some of the 

 plants mentioned in the fifteenth century MSS., and to 

 Mr. R. E. G. Kirk who assisted me in decyphering some 

 of the earlier Latin ones, also to Mr. Michael Kernev for 

 revising my bibliography of printed books on gardening to 

 the end of the seventeenth century. I regret that the 



