64 HISTORY OF GARDENING. PART I. 



which are more numerous than those which were cultivated by the Greeks and Romans. 

 The recent substitution of a representative for a despotic government, so happily brought 

 about ( 1 820), can hardly fail of acting as a stimulus to exertion in our art, in common 

 with every other. 



SUBSECT. J . Spanish Gardening, as an Art of Design and Taste. 



291. The oldest garden in Spain is said to be that of the Moorish palace of Alcazar, 

 near Seville ; the greater part of this palace was constructed by Peter the Cruel, between 

 the years 1353 and 1364, who exactly copied the Arabian style of the ancient part of the 

 edifice ; and the remainder was erected by Charles V. The outside of the Alcazar is 

 miserable in its appearance, but the first court after entering the gate has a very grand 

 effect; the part looking into that court is purely Arabic in its style, though ascertained 

 to have been constructed since the conquest by the Christians. The courts are orna- 

 mented with marble fountains, and are well shaded with corridors, supported by marble 

 pillars. The garden of the Alcazar is said to have been laid out by the Moors, and is 

 preserved in its original state. It contains walks paved with marble, parterres laid out 

 with evergreens, and shaded with orange-trees. In many parts of it there are baths, 

 supplied by marble fountains from an aqueduct, and they have a contrivance for ren- 

 dering the walks one continued fountain by forcing up small streams of water from 

 minute pipes in the joinings of the slabs, which in this climate produces a most grateful 

 effect. As a specimen of an Arabian garden in its original state, this is an interesting 

 object, and we naturally associate with it recollections gathered from the Eastern 

 writers ; especially from the Song of Solomon, in which the descriptions very well agree 

 with this garden ; for, in addition to the other circumstances, it is completely walled 

 round, and is secluded from every one, except the inhabitants of one part of the palace. 

 (Jacob's Travels in the South of Spain.) 



292. The remains of a reputed Moorish garden still exists at Grenada, another residence 

 of the Arabian kings. It is situated on the Serra del sol, or mountain of the sun, occu- 

 pies above twenty acres, is covered with wood cut into quarters by straight and winding 

 walks, and interspersed with fountains ; the latter sometimes ostentatiously displayed, 

 and at other times secreted so as to escape notice till they are brought to play on the 

 spectator, and raise a laugh at his expense. Sir John Carr mentions that they take a 

 particular delight in playing off these reversed showers which rise from the principal 

 walks and places of repose, against the ladies. Several of these fountains, and many of 

 the walks were formed by Charles V., so that excepting certain venerable cypresses, and 

 the old palace, no other part can with certainty be traced to the days of the Moorish 

 kings. 



293. In the beginning of the jifteenth century, soon after the union of Spain under one 

 monarch, Charles V. made considerable improvements, and formed gardens and foun- 

 tains at different palaces, of which little now remain. 



294. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, under the reign of Philip IV. were 

 laid out the finest gardens in Spain. These are the gardens of the Escurial in Madrid, 

 of Ildephonso in its neighbourhood, and of Aranjuez near Toledo. Evelyn in 1667, 

 being anxious to receive some account of them, writes to the Earl of Sandwich, then the 

 English ambassador at Madrid, who answers him in such a way that Evelyn was " ex- 

 ceedingly affected with the descriptions, and greatly instructed in many particulars." 



The gardens of the Escurial adjoin the palace from which you descend to them by vast terraces and stairs 

 of marble varied by fountains. The garden, or rather park below, is of great extent, and the compart- 

 ments formed by the intersection of the alleys, are filled with different sorts of fruit-trees. This is the gene- 

 ral outline, and for the details of the statues, fountains, trellis-work, basins, &c. we must refer the reader 

 to Thompson's Description of the Escurial , or the art. Escurial, in the Encyc. Brit. 



The garden of Ildephonso is situated around a summer-house, or Chateau de plaisance of that name; 

 and here nature and art, says P. Caimo (Lettres d'un vago Italiano, &c.), combine to spread their respec- 

 tive beauties, and render this garden as magnificent as agreeable. Fountains, jets-d'eau, canals, temples, 

 covered seats, cabinets, bowers, grottoes, labyrinths, pastures, hedges of myrtle and laurel, are so distributed 

 as to produce the best effect. The water is collected in streams from the surrounding mountains, and 

 made to unite in a torrent which precipitates itself into an immense reservoir. Hence, from this abundant 

 source, the fountains are as powerful as numerous, and no species of artificial ornament is omitted that 

 can embellish a garden. The alleys are very long, some of them three fourths of a league. Most of them 

 are kept shorn on the sides forming a thick close surface from the ground to the summits of the trees, and 

 statues are placed at regular distances. 



The garden of Ildephonso occupies a ridge, rising to the south, and falling both to the east and to the 

 west. Near the palace it is laid out in the old taste, with clipped hedges and straight walks, highly adorned 

 and refreshed with numerous fountains; but in proportion to the distance it becomes more wild, till it ter- 

 minates in the uncultivated and pathless forest, where the craggy rocks appearing among oaks and pines, pre- 

 sent a striking contrast with the works of art. This garden, Townsend observes, is delightful for its walks, 

 which although shady, are neither damp nor gloomy ; and if it be true that beauty is founded on utility, this 

 place will always deserve to be admired. In the present day, it is not uncommon to build the mansion in the 

 middle of a field, open and exposed to every wind, without shelter, without a fence, wholly unconnected 

 with the garden. Near the habitation all is wild ; and art, if any where, appears only at a distance. In all 

 this we can trace no utility, nor will succeeding generations discover beauty. On the contrary in the gar- 

 den of St. Ildephonso, we find every thing, which in a sultry season is desirable ; a free circulation of air, 

 a deep shade, and refreshing vapors to absorb the heat ; whilst from its contiguity to the mansion the 

 access to it is easy, and at any time these comforts may be instantly enjoyed ; yet without their numerous 



