GARDENS OF CELEBRITIES 



and I, and Tom Hearne, know, was a labyrinth ; but as my 

 territory will admit of a very small clew, I lay aside all thoughts of 

 mazy habitation, though a bower is very different from an arbour, 

 and must have more chambers than one." Gardens probably 

 assumed the definite character to which I have referred, before 

 the reign of Elizabeth, and there was little or no variation 

 from this during that of her successor. The gardens of 

 Hatfield, where Elizabeth as Princess spent so much of her time, 

 are typical of the period. There is the pleached, or platted, alley 

 and the little " Privy Garden " enclosed by it. John Tradescent. 

 who succeeded his father as gardener to Queen Elizabeth, and 

 whose son founded the famous Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, 

 was gardener to the first Lord Salisbury, and ultimately to 

 Charles I. 



English gardens in Tudor times were distinguished from foreign 

 ones by the evidence of the gardener's greater pleasure in their culti- 

 vation. We are told that to make up for the disadvantage of our 

 damp atmosphere, and a comparative lack of sunshine, the English 

 4 indulged in bright flower parterres rather than in the use of 

 coloured earth, sculpture, and vases," as abroad. The Tudors 

 introduced the " knot," or intricately designed, box-bordered 

 flower-bed, of which, later, we hear so much. They rejoiced also 

 in sweet-smelling herbs; " the comfortable smell of their rooms," 

 says Lavinius Leminius, a Dutchman, who paid a visit to England 

 in 1560, " cheered me up and entirely delighted my senses," and 

 this was owing to the English custom of strewing their houses 

 with fragrant herbs and decorating them with flowers. Mar- 

 joram, thyme, rosemary, etc., were largely cultivated, and in 

 many cases formed the borders of the above-mentioned " knots," 

 that, as it were, divided the parterre into compartments. In 

 many instances the centre of this flowery area was occupied by 

 a fountain, and sometimes open conduits conducted water to all 

 parts of the garden. A fountain-pool might also often be found 

 in the middle of the turfed, or stone-paved fore-court in front of 

 the mansion. The servants' offices, stables, etc., surrounding the 

 base, or " bass-court," usually lay at one side of this fore-court. 

 On the other were the pleasure gardens and parterres ; very 

 often a wide terrace overlooked the garden, so raised as to com- 

 mand a view of the parterre. 



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