102 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



the bredth the one way 60 foote and the other way 30 foote and 

 over the same a type or turret garnished. One other house in 

 Marybone Parke conteyninge in length 40 foote the same ad- 

 joined framed, made and wrought of tymber, brick, and lyme, 

 with their raunges and other necessary utensyles therto insi- 

 dent, and to the like accustomed, And 6 standinges whereof 

 were in either of the said parkes, 3 all of tymber garnished with 

 boughes and flowers every (one) of them conteynenge in length 

 10 foote and in bredth 8 foote * * * Employed on the above 

 works for 22 days, at all hours a space to eat and drynke ex- 

 cepted." Carpenters and bricklayers id. the hour, labourers 

 |d. the hour — plasterers nd. a day, painters yA. and 6d. a day. 

 " Charges for cutting boughs in the wood at Hyde Park for 

 trimming the banquetting-house, gathering rushes, flags, and 

 ivy." ... " Taylors for sewing the roof, &c. : basket makers 

 working upon windows. — Total cost, £169 . 7 . 8." 



In Stow's Annals another of these banqueting-houses is 

 described. It was made in 1581, at Whitehall, " for certaine 

 Ambassadors out of France." It was round, being 332 feet in 

 circumference, and was built on the south-west of the palace 

 near the river. Over the canvas roof, painted like clouds, 

 " this house was wrought most cunningly with ivy and holly, 

 with pendants made of wicker rods garnished with bay, rue, 

 and all manner of strange flowers garnished with spangles of 

 gold . . . beautiful with teasons ( = festoons) made of ivy and 

 holy, with all manner of strange fruits, as pomegranates, 

 oranges, pompions, cucumbers, grapes, with such like spangled 

 with gold, and most richly hanged." 



Of course, such banqueting-houses were only made on State 

 occasions, and could only be afforded by the wealthy. The 

 mount in an ordinary garden was surmounted by an arbour of 

 the plainest description. It may have been a great convenience 

 as a point from which a good view could be secured, especially 

 in a garden not sufficiently grand or large to have a raised 

 terrace ; but in these more modest gardens, unless planted with 

 flowering plants and creepers, a mount cannot have been a 

 beautiful object. In a book on Boscobel published in 1660 there 

 is a picture of such a mount, and it exists unaltered to the 

 present day. Nothing could be plainer than this ; and it is 



