63 
Profitable Arte of Gardening,” published in 1568. He gives two designs, one of which is reproduced 
on this plate. He says that mazes are not “for any commoditie in a garden but rather that who so 
listeth, having such room in their garden, may place the one of them in that void place that may best 
be spared for the only purpose .to sport in them at times.” 
During the seventeenth century, Mazes were frequently formed. One existed at Theobalds which 
had a mount known as the “ Mount of Venus,” placed in its midst. Another which existed in the 
gardens of Queen Henrietta Maria at Wimbledon is mentioned in a parliamentary survey of 1649. 
The celebrated maze at Hampton Court which still exists, covers an area of a quarter of an acre. It has 
hedges of hornbeam, and the walks aggregate a half a mile in length. The one at Hatfield (shown on 
Plate 25) is of more recent date; it is oblong in shape and has two entrances, north and south. 
Two of the mazes shown on Plate 122 are from a small manuscript book among the Harleian 
Manuscripts at the British Museum. This book appears to have belonged to a journeyman gardener in 
the seventeenth century. The examples from Somerleyton Hall, Suffolk, and Arley Hall, Cheshire, 
have been constructed within the last fifty years, and both are good. The former has hedges of yew, 
and in the centre a quaint pagoda-like summer-house, while that at Arley has hedges of lime trees, 
and though quite small in extent is by no means easy to penetrate. The remaining example at Belton 
House is not a very difficult one and is very little used. 
FINIS. 
