DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0478
England in the Time of the Renaissance
449
must not, of course, be led away by present-day appearances to fancy one has a picture
of what things looked like at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
King James himself was an ardent garden lover, and when he was King of England
he took an active part in introducing foreign plants. He made manifest his interest in
the castles and gardens round about him in the lordly fashion (we must admit) of his
forefathers. It is at all times a dangerous undertaking for a subject to play host to his
king. Burleigh's son, the first Lord Salisbury, in the summer of 1606 entertained James
and his guest, the King of Denmark, with extraordinary festivities at his family seat,
Theobalds. Ben Jonson enhanced the glory of the foreigner's visit by producing one of his
masques, in which three " Hours," Law, Justice, and Peace, present an address in Latin verse.
The eyes of James were dazzled by the splendour of it all, and his desire to call this
beautiful country place his own became irresistible. Salisbury made the best of a bad
job, and accepted the proposed exchange of Hatfield, at that time the king's property.
Less than a year afterwards, on 22 May, 1607, the new master entered Theobalds with
great pomp and ceremony, and once more Ben Jonson's muse honoured the feast: the
grieving Spirit of the House is brought into the presence of the new mistress, Queen
Anne, and the beauty and glamour of the lady change lament to joyfulness. But Ben Jonson
is a bad prophet when he makes Mercury reply to the Genius, who has asked what
induced the former master to leave his home:
Nor gain, nor need; much less a vain desire
To frame new roofs, or build his dwelling higher;
He hath with mortar busied been too much,
That his affections should continue such.
For Lord Salisbury had hardly turned his back on the home of his fathers when he
started with undiminished energy at Hatfield "to frame new roofs, and build his dwelling
higher" (Fig. 348).
In his time the fine house stood almost as it is still inhabited by the successors
of the man who founded it. True, the greater part of the garden itself is made on a site that
was acquired later, but it follows the old style, only on a larger scale. All the gardens on
the east side are fairly new: one of them leads from the terrace next the house to a par-
terre, from which you first come to the bowling-green, then to a labyrinth somewhat sunk,
and on the other side to a charming water-garden, which has lately been remade. It is
only the western sections that have kept their old appearance, at any rate in the main
features (Fig. 349). One square of about 250 feet is shut in by a kind of arcade of
clipped limes. The parterre is confined by a rather low hedge, and among other ornaments
has a simple, beautiful fountain. A small rose-garden, to-day in front of the stables, very
likely dates from the king's time, for we find part of the Elizabethan house built up
into the stable.
It is obvious that these were not the only gardens. In the records of accounts we
find mention of a handsome Neptune fountain in marble, which Salomon de Caus erected
for £113; and another Frenchman of the name of Simon Sturtevant was to have added
an important water-piece, but this was put a stop to by the death of Lord Salisbury in 1612.
The accounts also speak of a garden at the foot of the declivity, and its flowers and avenues:
it was called the Valley Garden, and had pretty bridges across its stream.
On the other side was a fine vineyard, which Lord Salisbury, who was full of enter-
449
must not, of course, be led away by present-day appearances to fancy one has a picture
of what things looked like at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
King James himself was an ardent garden lover, and when he was King of England
he took an active part in introducing foreign plants. He made manifest his interest in
the castles and gardens round about him in the lordly fashion (we must admit) of his
forefathers. It is at all times a dangerous undertaking for a subject to play host to his
king. Burleigh's son, the first Lord Salisbury, in the summer of 1606 entertained James
and his guest, the King of Denmark, with extraordinary festivities at his family seat,
Theobalds. Ben Jonson enhanced the glory of the foreigner's visit by producing one of his
masques, in which three " Hours," Law, Justice, and Peace, present an address in Latin verse.
The eyes of James were dazzled by the splendour of it all, and his desire to call this
beautiful country place his own became irresistible. Salisbury made the best of a bad
job, and accepted the proposed exchange of Hatfield, at that time the king's property.
Less than a year afterwards, on 22 May, 1607, the new master entered Theobalds with
great pomp and ceremony, and once more Ben Jonson's muse honoured the feast: the
grieving Spirit of the House is brought into the presence of the new mistress, Queen
Anne, and the beauty and glamour of the lady change lament to joyfulness. But Ben Jonson
is a bad prophet when he makes Mercury reply to the Genius, who has asked what
induced the former master to leave his home:
Nor gain, nor need; much less a vain desire
To frame new roofs, or build his dwelling higher;
He hath with mortar busied been too much,
That his affections should continue such.
For Lord Salisbury had hardly turned his back on the home of his fathers when he
started with undiminished energy at Hatfield "to frame new roofs, and build his dwelling
higher" (Fig. 348).
In his time the fine house stood almost as it is still inhabited by the successors
of the man who founded it. True, the greater part of the garden itself is made on a site that
was acquired later, but it follows the old style, only on a larger scale. All the gardens on
the east side are fairly new: one of them leads from the terrace next the house to a par-
terre, from which you first come to the bowling-green, then to a labyrinth somewhat sunk,
and on the other side to a charming water-garden, which has lately been remade. It is
only the western sections that have kept their old appearance, at any rate in the main
features (Fig. 349). One square of about 250 feet is shut in by a kind of arcade of
clipped limes. The parterre is confined by a rather low hedge, and among other ornaments
has a simple, beautiful fountain. A small rose-garden, to-day in front of the stables, very
likely dates from the king's time, for we find part of the Elizabethan house built up
into the stable.
It is obvious that these were not the only gardens. In the records of accounts we
find mention of a handsome Neptune fountain in marble, which Salomon de Caus erected
for £113; and another Frenchman of the name of Simon Sturtevant was to have added
an important water-piece, but this was put a stop to by the death of Lord Salisbury in 1612.
The accounts also speak of a garden at the foot of the declivity, and its flowers and avenues:
it was called the Valley Garden, and had pretty bridges across its stream.
On the other side was a fine vineyard, which Lord Salisbury, who was full of enter-