HISTORICAL NOTICES. 
19 
The ornamental gardening of England in the early ages, 
and during the reigns of Elizabeth, James, and Charles, 
was in the same courtly and formal taste. Always fonder 
than any other people of great landed estates, their parks, 
even in the days of the Henrys, were grand wooded sur- 
faces, full of wild sylvan beauty ; but that part considered 
the ornamental grounds, near the house, was always laid 
out in right lined avenues, labyrinths, parterres, and knot- 
ted gardens. 11 Nonsuch,” a royal residence, was the gar- 
dening wonder of the reign of Henry the VIII. ; and the 
chroniclers have left enthusiastic notes of its various charms. 
Keutzner, in his account of these gardens, says, “ in the 
grove of Diana is a very agreeable fountain, with Acteon 
turned into a stag, as he was sprinkled by the goddess and 
her nymphs, with inscriptions ; besides another pyramid of 
marble, full of concealed pipes, which spirt on all who come 
within their reach.” 
Charles II. startled, like the rest of Europe, with the 
fame of Versailles, sent for Le Notre, who, it is said, plant- 
ed St. James and Greenwich parks, and inspired the nobility 
with a taste for some of the more splendid formalities of 
the French school of design. 
Vegetable sculpture, and all the accompaniments of Dutch 
taste were introduced with King William, and had their hey- 
day of fashion ; and we may get a good notion of the subjects 
most in vogue, by an extract from Pope’s keen satire on 
the popular taste, written as late as 1713, when it was be- 
ginning to get into disrepute. 
Inventory of a Virtuoso Gardener. Adam and 
Eve in yew ; Adam, a little shattered by the fall of the 
tree of knowledge in the great storm ; Eve and the 
serpent, very flourishing. Noah’s ark in Holly ; the 
ribs a little damaged for want of water. 
