THE ELIZABETHAN FLOWER GARDEN 
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wide " enough for four to walk abreast/' and the main walks 
were wider still, broad and long, and covered with “ gravel, 
sand, or turf." 1 There were two kinds of walks—those in the 
open part of the garden, with beds geometrically arranged on 
either side, and sheltered walks laid out between high clipped 
hedges, or between the main enclosure wall and a hedge ; there 
were also the “ covert walks," or “ shade alleys," in which the 
trees met in an arch over the path. Some of the walks were 
turfed, and some were planted with sweet-smelling herbs. 
“ Those which perfume the air most delightfully, not passed by 
as the rest, but being trodden upon and crushed, are three—that 
is, burnet, wild thyme, and water-mints ; therefore you are to 
set whole alleys of them to have the pleasure when you walk 
or tread." 2 It appears from a passage in Shakespeare, 
i Henry IV ., Act II., Scene 4, that camomile was used in the 
same way. Falstaff says : ‘‘For though camomile, the more 
it is trodden on the faster it grows ; yet youth, the more it is 
wasted, the sooner it wears." 
In contrast to this, the “ closer alleys must be ever finely 
gravelled, and no grass, because of going wet." 3 Thomas Hill 4 
writes : “ The walkes of the garden ground, the allies even 
trodden out, and leuelled by a line, as either three or four foote 
abroad, may cleanely be sifted ouer with riuer or sea sand, to 
the end that showers of raine falling, may not offend the walkers 
(at that instant) in them, by the earth cleauing or clagging to 
their feete." Parkinson also has something to say about walks : 
‘ ‘ The fairer and larger your allies and walks be, the more grace 
your garden shall have, the lesse harm the herbs and flowers 
shall receive by passing by them that grow next unto the allies 
sides, and the better shall your weeders cleanse both the bed 
and the allies." 
The hedges on either side the walks were made of various 
plants—box, yew, cypress, privet, thorne, fruit trees, roses, 
briars, juniper, rosemary, hornbeam, cornel, “ misereon," and 
pyracantha. “ Every man taketh what liketh him best, as 
either privet alone or sweet Bryar, and whitethorn interlaced 
together, and Roses of one, two, or more sorts placed here and 
1 Lawson, A New Orchard, 1597. f Bacon, Essay. 
3 Bacon, Essay. 4 Gardener's Labyrinth. 
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