DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20000#0035
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND 5
in 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
in 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