GARDENS OF CELEBRITIES AND 

 CELEBRATED GARDENS 



CHAPTER I 



AFTER the Romans left Britain, about A.D. 300, the art 

 of landscape gardening, in which they had instructed 

 the islanders, died out, and under the Saxons the garden 

 was merely a yard; the word ' yard " etymologieally derived 

 from the Anglo-Saxon geard, i.e., hedges, enclosure signifying the 

 small, enclosed space in which those plants intended for domestic 

 use were sheltered. But though neglected in England, the art 

 had advanced in France ; and when, in 1066, the Normans came 

 over, they reintroduced it, bringing with them many plants and 

 fruits hitherto unknown in Britain, and an appreciation of flowers 

 for their own sake. The author of " Gardens Old and New " tells 

 an anecdote that attests this : Christina, Abbess of the famous 

 Abbey of Romney, in Hampshire, who was closely allied to the 

 former royal house of England, had under her care her young 

 niece, Matilda, afterwards Queen of Henry I. She must have 

 been considered beautiful, for William Rufus desired to see her, 

 and when (his reputation being dubious) the Abbess demurred, 

 lie pretended that he had only come to see the flowers in the 

 convent garden, reported to be worth a visit. 



Henry of Huntingdon, an early authority, tells us that Henry II. 

 made a " Parke," or chase, at Woodstock, in Oxfordshire. In a 

 bower in its leafy groves, approached by a labyrinthine path, 

 accessible only to one who had the clew, the King concealed his 

 love, fair Rosamund Clifford. It was there his Queen discovered 

 her, and offered her the choice of death by the poison bowl or 

 the dagger. Tradition has it that she chose the former. 



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