8 



ROYAL GARDENS 



mentions many flowers in other poems. Some of them are 

 called by obsolete names, but in 



"Strowe me the ground with Daffadowndillies, 

 And Cowslips, and King cups and loved Lillies" 



there is no difficulty. Others he alludes to are pink and 

 purple columbines, gilly flowers, eglantines, " caprifole " or 

 honeysuckle, hyacinths, narcissus and amaranth or " Love lies 

 bleeding." 



The progress of horticulture in England during the seven- 

 teenth century was, on the whole, more rapid and far-reach- 

 ing than in any other before or since. In 1629 Parkinson 

 wrote his Paradisi in Sole Paradisum Terrestris, in which he 

 gives a list of twelve distinct varieties of fritillaries, eight 

 of grape-hyacinths, twenty-one of primroses and cowslips, 

 and even more of roses and lilies. Besides many improve- 

 ments in flower culture, vast strides were made in garden 

 design. Each of the three outstanding political events of the 

 century had a direct result. The Civil War is responsible 

 for Charles IL's education in France, and for the travels 

 of John Evelyn. The latter's influence on the gardens of his 

 time and after can scarcely be over-estimated. No account 

 of gardening in England, however brief, can omit a reference 

 to him. Born in 1620, during his long lifetime he was 

 not only an acute observer and amateur of the arts, but an 

 accurate recorder of his impressions. At the time of the 

 Great Rebellion he travelled on the Continent and especially 

 in France and Italy. His diary contains nearly fifty descrip- 

 tions of magnificent foreign gardens, and almost as many 

 of those he visited in England afterwards. And, although 

 principally devoted to tree culture, his Syha teaches many 

 valuable lessons on country life in general. Evelyn's advice 

 on laying out gardens was frequently asked for and acted 

 upon by illustrious persons, and even by the King himself. 

 The sum of the entries on the subject in his inestimably 

 valuable diary presents a fairly complete record of English 

 gardening from about 1647 to 1700. 



