202 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 
very much in vogue. The ideas for them came from abroad, 
both from France and Holland. Fountains in the French style 
were conspicuous jets of water or cascades falling into stone 
basins, but these “ waterworks ” of quaint forms and surprise 
arrangements were typical of Dutch gardens, and William of 
Orange brought them into popular favour in this country, 
together with many other Dutch fashions. In 1621, Lord 
Chaworth in his diary 1 remarks on the “ verie fyne gardens ” 
surrounding the house of the Infanta Isabella in Brussels, 
“ wherein are y e most varietie of the best waterworks of y e 
world.” The gardens at Boughton, Northamptonshire, were 
laid out during this reign, when the house was rebuilt by 
Ralph, first Duke of Montague. They were very extensive, 
covering over a hundred acres, and were remarkable for the 
“ sumptuous waterworks.” There was the “ parterre of 
statues, the parterre of Basins and the water parterre, wherein 
is an octagon basin whose circumference is 216 yards, which 
in the middle of it has a jet d’eau, whose height is above 50 
feet, surrounded with other smaller jet d’eaus. . . . The 
Canal at the bottom of all, is about 1,500 yards in length in 
four lines falling into each other at right angles. At the lower 
end of it is a very noble Cascade . . . adorned with vases and 
statues. The Cascade has five falls. The perpendicular about 
seven feet. A line or range of jet d’eaus in number thirteen are 
placed at the Head of the Cascade. . . . There are also several 
jet d’eaus in the basin underneath. Also the knot of regu¬ 
larly figur’d Islets beset with Aquatick Plants.” 2 Such cascades 
were quite formal, all built of solid masonry, and are totally 
unlike the “ cascades ” or miniature waterfalls of a later period. 
The gardens at Boughton were in the French style, but the 
head-gardener at this time was a Dutchman called Vandert- 
meulen. 
The gardens described by Celia Fiennes have all alike 
gravel and grass walks, shady alleys of clipped trees, “ some 
walks like arbours close, others shady, others open, some 
gravel, some grass.” Standard cypress or yews “ cut in 
severall forms were dotted about.” Trim hedges of holly, 
1 Loseley MSS. 
2 Natural History of Northamptonshire, by John Morton, 1712. 
