PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 



KNOWING that I was fond both of practical gardening 

 and the study of old garden literature, Mr. Percy 

 Newberry suggested to me in the spring of 1891 that I should 

 edit some articles he had written on the " History of Gardening 

 in England down to the Reign of Elizabeth," which had 

 appeared in the Gardener's Chronicle in 1889, and that I should 

 carry on the history from that point. I became so much 

 interested in the subject, and had collected so much new 

 material, that I decided to enlarge on the original plan, and 

 not only to continue the history, but to traverse again all 

 the earlier part, drawing my information afresh from the 

 original authorities. I wish, therefore, to acknowledge my 

 indebtedness to Mr. Newberry, who so kindly put his articles 

 and notes at my disposal in the first instance. 



This work does not pretend to be a history of the gardens 

 of England, which would, indeed, be a delightful task to carry 

 out; therefore many well-known gardens have not been 

 mentioned in the following pages, only a few examples having 

 been cited to serve as illustrations of 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 



