332 



THE PRAISE OF GARDENS 



ground, suggesting the art of the goldsmith rather than of the 

 gardener. 1 



Dr Andrew Boorde (whom the Dictionary of National Biography 

 no longer allows to be the original 'Merry Andrew') in his 

 ' Dyetary of Health ' will have attached to a mansion a ' fayre 

 garden, repleted wyth herbes of aromatyck and redolent savours, 

 with a poole or two for fysche ' ; and the ' Me$nagier de Paris ' 

 gives a long list of all the herbs and plants which ought to be 

 cultivated in the garden. 



But the design of the garden, rather than its contents, is our 

 theme, and we must consult the work of .the French architect, 

 Androuet du Cerceau, ' Les plus Excellents Bastiments de France,' 

 for bird's-eye views and plans of the gardens of the ' Thuileries,' 

 Montargis, the Chateaux of Blois and Gaillon, and many others. 2 



The gardens of St. Germain-en- Laye built for Henry II., run- 

 ning down to the Seine in a series of terraces under which were 

 grottoes in rock and shell-work, and figures disporting themselves 

 in the waters, were considered one of the marvels of the age. 



The grotto has always played an important role in the history 

 of gardens from the mythical one of Calypso to those of Palissy 

 enamelled over with creeping things in pottery, and the be- 

 spa'd and be-mirrored creation of Pope at Twickenham. 3 



To come back to England in the days of Henry VIII. The 

 best known Tudor gardens were Nonesuch near Ewell in Surrey 

 described by Hentzner ; 4 Theobalds, of which we have a picture 

 from the Parliamentary Survey of 1650, to which date we may 

 assume it to have been undisturbed; 5 and greatest of all, Hampton 

 Court. They are characterised by moats and walls, while the 



1 I am indebted to Mr Sidney Colvin for drawing my attention to Professor 

 Max Lehr's monograph on this print, and to the latter for permission to re- 

 produce his collotype. 



2 See ante p. 51. 3 See ante pp. 45-50 and 143. 4 See ante p. 73. 



5 ' In the Greate Garden are nine large compleate squares or knotts lyinge 

 upon a levell in y e middle of y e said Garden, whereof one is sett forth with 

 box borders in y e likeness of y e Kinges armes, one other plott is planted with 

 choice flowers ; the other 7 knotts are all grass knotts, handsomely turfed in 

 the intervalls or little walkes. ... a Quicksette hedge of White Thorne 



