66 GARDENS: THEIR FORM AND DESIGN 



slender painted battens. Upon one side grow white 

 roses, upon the other are red ones. 



Probably the origin of light trellis fences is to be traced 

 to the way vines are trained in Italy. In Pompeian 

 gardens, seen upon some of the frescoes that have fortu- 

 nately been preserved to us, we find high pergolas, and 

 also, near them, small plots of ground partially railed off 

 by low trellis-work. This forms half-circles, squares, 

 oblongs, any device that is formal and can be repeated 

 several times to give symmetry to the whole. The love 

 of it came from the vineyards, where the young vines form 

 natural espaliers, pergolas, arches, almost of their own 

 accord. So Pliny and others, we feel sure, copied in their 

 gardens, with rather more elaboration and formality, 

 what they had lived among upon their native hillsides. 



We know that, with the Crusaders, all these ideas from 

 the East and from the South were brought to our country. 

 We can well picture how useful these light trellis fences 

 were round medieval gardens, for there were many large 

 hounds, used for hunting deer, boars, and other wild 

 animals, that were allowed within the castle precincts. 

 What damage they could do to flower-beds and ornamental 

 plots of ground ! Then, too, these fences were probably 

 a means of keeping out rabbits, hares, and other destruc- 

 tive creatures, and so, in the place of the ugly wire-netting 

 that we have nowadays, these ornamental rails were put. 

 They formed a charming decoration, and when they were 

 painted different colours they added to the bright appear- 

 ance of the garden. 



One example that is ornate, and has charming twisted 

 balls at the corners, with dense wooden lattice-work, is 

 round that gem-like garden which holds the " Emblemes 

 symboliques de Marie." It is in the Grimani Breviary.* 



* A good photographic reproduction is in the Victoria and Albert 

 Art Library (Press Mark, 5, J), Sketch 105. 



