ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND 5 
m these cases they had to traverse at least one court on their arrival. On one side of the forecourt lay the base 
or bass court, surrounded by the kitchens, stables and other buildings which it was intended to serve, and in it 
was hidden away all the untidiness associated with its uses, while on the other side were situated the more 
ornamental pleasure grounds and parterres, with probably one small enclosed garden known as “ my lady’s ’’ 
garden, a survival from the Middle Ages. 
Overlooking the garden, and generally next to the house, would be the terrace, usually some twenty to 
thirty feet wide, as at Bramshill and Bradford-on-Avon, and of considerable length, with perhaps an 
arbour at either end. The terrace would be protected by a balustrade either of detached balusters or of a 
design pierced in stone, and from it flights of steps would lead to the broad sanded walks dividing the 
parterre into several subdivisions, which were again divided by narrow paths into smaller designs. 
The general shape of such a garden would be square, a shape which would commend itself to the taste 
of the Elizabethan and Jacobean times as being that adopted in classic ages, for the antique garden was 
designed in a square with enclosures of trellis-work, espaliers and clipped box hedges, regularly ornamented 
with statuary, fountains and vases. The square shape was common to the Italian and French gardens also. 
Bacon, in his essay, says : “ The garden is best to be square, encompassed on all the four sides, with a Stately 
Arched Hedge: the Arches to be upon Pillars of Carpenters work some ten foot high, and six foot broad, and 
the Spaces between of the same Dimension with the breadth of the Arch. Over the Arches let there be an 
Entire Hedge, of some four foot high, framed also upon Carpenters work, and upon the upper Hedge, over 
every Arch, a little Turret with a Belly, enough to receive a Cage of Birds, and over every space between the 
Arches some other little Figure, with broad plates of round Coloured Glass, gilt, for the sun to play upon.” 1 
Bacon also recommends the construction of alleys at the sides of the garden, excepting those sides which 
command a view over the surrounding country. He goes on to say: “ For the ordering of the ground within 
the great hedge, I leave it to Variety of Device. Advising nevertheless, that whatsoever form you cast it into, 
first it be not too busie or full of Work ; wherein I for my part do not like Images cut out in Juniper or other 
garden-stuff, they are for Children. Little low Hedges, round like welts, with some pretty Pyramids, I like 
well; and in some places Fair Columns upon frames of Carpenters Work. I would also have the Alleys 
spacious and fair.” He approves of fountains, but not of pools; these, he says, “ mar all, and make the 
Garden unwholesome and full of Flies and Frogs.” This essay of Bacon’s is an attempt to improve the 
national taste, and should be studied as such. It must not be taken as an exact picture of the formal 
gardens of his day, but this does not lessen its value as explaining the general motives of formal gardening 
at that time. 
The mount was not always a raised detached mound, but often took the form of a long bank raised 
against an outer wall. Fountains and ponds were introduced into the Elizabethan gardens, and made very 
decorative features. They were frequently used for practical joking, where the water from the fountains being 
made to play upon unsuspecting visitors caused much merriment. Hentzner, in his description of the gardens 
at Whitehall, says: “ In the garden adjoining to this palace, there is a jet d’eau, with a sun-dial which, while 
strangers are looking at, a quantity of water forced by a wheel, which the gardiner turns at a distance, 
through a number of little pipes plentifully sprinkles those who are standing round.” 
The design of these gardens usually fell within the province of the architect-builder of the house, and this 
continued to be the custom until about the middle of the eighteenth century, when the landscape gardener 
established a new profession. 
In the Soane Museum are drawings and designs for houses by John Thorpe, one of the most celebrated 
architects of his day, and the designer of several noble mansions. One of these drawings shows a design for 
the laying out of the grounds, with a note to the effect that there is to be “nothing out of square.” In these 
1 The essay is quoted at length in “ The Praise of Gardens.” 
C 
