ENGLISH GARDENS OF i6th, 17TH AND i8th CENTURIES 205 



about with degrees like the turnings of cockil shelles to come to the 

 top without payn,"Js_very frequently to be fou nd^ jn_Tudor gardens, 

 and is in all probability a feature of great antiquity ; it was planned prin- 

 cipally in fiat situations and was a favourite expedient for getting a view 

 beyond the confines of the high walled gardens, and it did not die out until 

 the clairvoyee and the ha-ha began to take the place of the wall in the seven- 

 teenth century. William Lawson, writing in 161 8, suggests that mounts 

 might be placed near the stewpond, so that from within a shady arbour 

 " you might sit and angle a peckled trout, or a sleightie Eele." Old mounts 

 still remain in many English gardens. At Rockingham, in Northampton- 

 shire, the great terraced mount is raised against a high wall surrounding the 

 garden, and an even finer example may be seen at Boscobel, near Wolver- 

 hampton. Another Tudor innovation was the knot or knotted bed, which 

 corresponded to the French parterre. 



The most characteristic and original feature of Tudor gardens was, 

 however, the gallery. These were often constructions of considerable solidity 

 completely surrounding the gardens, and gave access to the various outlying 

 buildings, which could thus be reached under shelter from the main building. 

 The pond garden at Hampton Court was designed in this manner. 



By far the most famous Tudor gardens were those of Hampton Court, 

 where Cardinal Wolsey laid out a park with gardens and orchards covering 

 an area of close upon two thousand acres. When the Cardinal was disgraced 

 in 1529 and Henry VIII entered into possession, the pleasure gardens were 

 still further enlarged between the palace and the river. The King's new 

 garden was laid out in 1533 and occupied the space now known as the Privy 

 Garden. There is preserved a drawing of the garden in the Bodleian 

 Library which gives an idea of its appearance with its little knots and dividing 

 gravel walks, its alleys, arbours and banqueting houses ; its heraldic beasts 

 on gaily painted pedestals, distributed about the gardens and orchards, or 

 placed at intervals on posts round the parterre or on the stone copings of 

 the terrace, holding vanes with the King's arms and badges, or supporting 

 curious dials of brass. 



Another important Tudor palace was Nonsuch, near Ewell in Surrey, 

 which Henry VIII built towards the end of his reign. Hentzner, who- 

 visited the palace in 1591, says " it is so encompassed with parks full of deer, 

 delicious gardens, groves ornamented with trellis work, cabinets of verdure. 



