THE STORY OF THE GARDENS 89 



had two main schools, that might be styled the 

 Classic and the Gothic. The ancient model, 

 flourishing longer on the Continent, dealt in 

 straight lines and formal shapes, in parallel rows, 

 accurate vistas and such trim patterns as the 

 star and the quincunx. This prospered in 

 England while our mediaeval buildings were 

 being replaced by Palladian structures. Our 

 first great gardens of that period seem to have 

 copied the conceits of the Italian style, with its 

 terraces, balustrades, stairways, arcades, and stiff 

 arbours among walls of clipped hedge. Le 

 Notre in the seventeenth century headed in 

 France a school of geometric gardening on a 

 large scale, which spread across the Channel. 

 William III. patronised among us the Dutch 

 ideas of quaint formalism, especially shown in 

 thickets of box and yew. Now came into great 

 favour the Topiarian monstrosities of "verdant 

 sculpture " still kept up here and there, notably 

 in the Lakeland gardens of Levens Hall. So, 

 in the age of Queen Anne, English gardens 

 had fallen into the conventional affectation 

 satirised by Pope. 



No pleasing intricacies intervene, 



No artful wildness to perplex the scene ; 



12 



