INTRODUCTION. 



3 



open air of India and Arabia. These 

 gardens are embellished with the myrtle 

 and the crocus in flower : there you see 

 the balm tree of India and the cinnamon 

 tree covered with leaves, as well as the 

 tree of frankincense. Italy, this fertile 

 land, yields willingly to the wants of her 

 cultivators, and has learnt to contain the 

 fruits of the whole universe." The same 

 authority says, "It was for Tiberius to 

 show that cucumbers might be grown 

 fere toto anno, which was done in frames 

 filled with warm dung." But perhaps 

 the most conclusive evidence is that of 

 Seneca, who remarks, " Do those not live 

 contrary to nature who require a rose in 

 winter, and who, by the excitement of hot 

 water, and an appropriate modification of 

 heat, force from the equinox of winter 

 the lily bloom of spring?" The same 

 writer details at considerable length a 

 mode of heating by hot water almost 

 identical with that of Perkins, as com- 

 mon in his time. — {Vide Art. "Heating 

 by Hot Water.") 



During the dark ages, gardening, like 

 all other arts, languished; but upon the 

 revival of learning, the invention of 

 printing, and the Reformation, commerce 

 began to flourish and peace to prevail, 

 and Italy shared to a certain extent in 

 those blessings. The family of the 

 Medici revived and patronised the art of 

 gardening in Italy; and their gardens, 

 which were of the geometric and archi- 

 tectural style, long served as models for 

 most of Europe, and continued to be 

 imitated in France, Germany, and Bri- 

 tain, until the introduction of the English, 

 or, as it has been called, the natural 

 style, — the conception of Bridgeman, 

 Kent, Wright, Brown, Ernes, Price, 

 Knight, and Repton, aided by the pens of 

 Addison, Pope, Shenstone, George Mason, 

 Whately, Gray, and Mason the poet. 



Garden architecture, so far as hot- 

 houses are concerned, has made little 

 progress in the south of Europe, because 

 the climate is naturally sufficiently warm 

 to render them all but useless. There are, 

 however, instances of plant-houses both 

 in Spain and Portugal — as at Madrid, 

 Coimbra, and Montserrat. These coun- 

 tries are, at the same time, not deficient 

 in architectural gardens, — having, it is 

 presumed, upon the authority of Jacob, 

 (vide " Travels in the South of Spain,") 



still the remains of Moorish gardens ex- 

 isting. Other travellers inform us that 

 the walks of their gardens are paved with 

 marble, bordered with parterres planted 

 with evergreens, and shaded with orange 

 trees; and, however strange it may appear 

 to us, they have contrivances under these 

 walks by which they can force up jets of 

 water between the joints of the pave- 

 ment; and, as Sir John Carr remarks, 

 "they take much pleasure in directing 

 the water of these reversed showers 

 against the ladies." Fountains, alcoves, 

 terraces, statues, trellis-work, temples, 

 grottoes, covered seats, and bowers, are 

 the principal features of Spanish and 

 Portuguese gardens. 



The Dutch and French styles of gar- 

 dening very much resemble each other — 

 the characteristics of both being sym- 

 metry and abundance of ornament. The 

 gardens of the former are more confined, 

 crowded with frivolous and often ridicu- 

 lous embellishments, and almost invari- 

 ably intersected with canals of still and 

 frequently muddy water. So partial are 

 these people to water even to this day, 

 that, however limited the space, it must 

 have its place, even if reduced to a muddy 

 ditch. The humidity of the climate 

 being favourable to the growth of green- 

 sward, we see there grassy walks, terraces, 

 and slopes ; and these, with their straight 

 canals, may be said to form the really 

 distinctive character of their grounds. 



Evelyn describes the Dutch gardens at 

 the Hague in his day as being "full of 

 ornament, — close walks, statues, marbles, 

 grottoes, fountains, and artificial music." 

 And Sir James Edward Smith, more than 

 a century afterwards, says he found one 

 of these gardens as full of serpentine 

 walks as the other was full of straight 

 ones — evidently a first attempt to imi- 

 tate the English style. There are, how- 

 ever, many good specimens of the older 

 style — for the Dutch are a people not fond 

 of changes. At Alkmaar, Utrecht, and 

 elsewhere, specimens exist where "the 

 grand divisions of the garden are made 

 by tall thick hedges of beech, hornbeam, 

 and oak, and the lesser ones by yew and 

 box. There are avenue walks, and ber- 

 ceau walks, with openings in the shape of 

 windows in the sides ; verdant houses, 

 rustic seats, canals, ponds, grottoes, foun- 

 tains, statues, and other devices;" and, as 



