“ANTICKE WORKS’’ 
229 
formed the garden borders—hyssop or thyme, laven¬ 
der, marjoram and such. These of course were not in¬ 
tended really to bewilder the uninitiated, but only to 
entertain by their tortuous ways. The labyrinth 
which set the limits for the restless feet of unhappy 
Mrs. Alexander of Boston was hardly of this order, 
but rather of the first, set with box probably, which 
is substantial and lasting. Low-growing and weak 
herbs would not have met the requirements of so ex¬ 
acting a gentleman as this lady’s husband, I am sure. 
The terms “maze” and “labyrinth” have practically 
the same meaning, and are used interchangeably, al¬ 
though “labyrinth” appears to have been the earlier. 
In the remote past, labyrinths were made by cutting 
their tortuous paths into the earth, like canals, so that 
a person within one was actually a prisoner between 
substantial walls of earth. The maze, on the other 
hand, has always been made by enclosing the walks 
with plantings of trees and shrubs, on the level ground 
surface. 
Neither of them is “any necessarie commoditie in a 
garden but rather ... as a beautifying unto 
your garden: for that mazes and knots aptly made, 
doe much set forth a garden, which neverthelesse I re¬ 
fer to your discretion, for that of all persons be not of 
like abilitie,” says Didymus Mountain. So he ad¬ 
vises putting them in that “void place . . . that 
