ENGLISH GARDENS OF i6th, i/th AND i8th CENTURIES 213 



and endowed the institution, and built greenhouses for the reception of 

 tender plants. These houses were among the earliest of their kind to be 

 constructed. The garden still flourishes, and during its long career has 

 done much useful work in furthering the study of botany. 



^Fountains and pools were largely in use as decorative features and were 

 sometimes used for practical joking, when the water from hidden jets, being 

 ^ade to play upon unsuspecting visitors, caused much merriment to the 



STEW-POND AT BRICKWALL, SUSSEX., 



onlookexs. In the gardens of Whitehall Palace was a fountain with a sundial 

 which, whilst being inspected by strangers, suddenly sprinkled them well 

 with water, turned on by a gardener from a distance. These practical 

 jokes were not, however, carried to such an excess in England as they were 

 -inJFrance and Italy • 



Bacon speaks of bathing poojs as being frequently found in gardens 

 of his day and says they should be thirty to forty feet square. Every garden 

 had it^ fishporid or stew£ond. There are good examples of these at 



