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Essay XLVI: Of Gardens
Essay XLVI: Of Gardens
God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed it is the purest of human
pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man; without which
buildings and palaces are but gross handiworks; and a man shall ever see that
when ages grow to civility and elegancy, men come to build stately sooner than
to garden finely; as if gardening were the greater perfection. I do hold it,
in the royal ordering of gardens, there ought to be gardens for all the months
in the year; in which severally things of beauty may be then in season. For
December, and January, and the latter part of November, you must take such
things as are green all winter: holly; ivy; bays; juniper; cypress-trees; yew;
pine-apple-trees; ^1 fir-trees; rosemary; lavender; periwinkle, the white, the
purple, and the blue; germander; flags; orange-trees; lemon-trees; and
myrtles, if they be stoved; ^2 and sweet marjoram, warm set. There followeth,
for the latter part of January and February, the mezereon-tree, which then
blossoms; crocus vernus, ^3 both the yellow and the grey; primroses; anemones;
the early tulippa; hyacinthus orientalis; chamairis; fritellaria. ^4 For
March, there come violets, specially the single blue, which are the earliest;
the yellow daffodil; the daisy; the almond-tree in blossom; the peach-tree in
blossom; the cornelian-tree in blossom; sweet-briar. In April follow the
double white violet; the wall-flower; the stock-gilliflower; the cowslip;
flower-delices, and lilies of all natures; rosemary-flowers; the tulippa; the
double peony; the pale daffodil; the French honeysuckle; the cherry-tree in
blossom; the damson and plum-trees in blossom; the white thorn in leaf; the
lilac-tree. In May and June come pinks of all sorts, specially the blush-pink;
roses of all kinds, except the musk, which comes later; honeysuckles;
strawberries; bugloss; columbine; the French marigold, flos Africanus;
cherry-tree in fruit; ribes; ^5 figs in fruit; rasps; vine-flowers; lavender
in flowers; the sweet satyrian, with the white flower; herba muscaria; ^6
lilium convallium; ^7 the apple-tree in blossom. In July come gilliflowers of
all varieties; musk-roses; the lime-tree in blossom; early pears and plums in
fruit; jennetings, ^8 codlins. ^8 In August come plums of all sorts in fruit;
pears; apricocks; berberries; filberds; musk-melons; monks-hoods, of all
colors. In September come grapes; apples; poppies of all colors; peaches;
melocotones; ^9 nectarines; cornelians; wardens; ^10 quinces. In October and
the beginning of November come services; medlars; bullaces; ^11 roses cut or
removed to come late; holly-hocks; and such like. These particulars are for
the climate of London; but my meaning is perceived, that you may have ver
perpetuum [perpetual spring], as the place affords.
[Footnote 1: Pine trees. The cones were called pineapples.]
[Footnote 2: Kept in a hothouse.]
[Footnote 3: Spring crocus.]
[Footnote 4: A kind of lily.]
[Footnote 5: Currants or gooseberries.]
[Footnote 6: Grape-hyacinth.]
[Footnote 7: Lily of the valley.]
[Footnote 8: Kinds of apples.]
[Footnote 9: A kind of peach.]
[Footnote 10: Large baking pears.]
[Footnote 11: A sort of plum.]
And because the breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air (where it
comes and goes like the warbling of music) than in the hand, therefore nothing
is more fit for that delight, than to know what be the flowers and plants that
do best perfume the air. Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers ^12 of their
smells; so that you may walk by a whole row of them, and find nothing of their
sweetness; yea though it be in a morning`s dew. Bays likewise yield no smell
as they grow. Rosemary little; nor sweet marjoram. That which above all others
yields the sweetest smell in the air is the violet, specially the white double
violet, which comes twice a year; about the middle of April, and about
Bartholomew-tide. ^13 Next to that is the musk-rose. Then the
strawberry-leaves dying, which [yield] a most excellent cordial smell. Then
the flower of the vines; it is a little dust, like the dust of a bent, ^14
which grows upon the cluster in the first coming forth. Then sweet-briar. Then
wall-flowers, which are very delightful to be set under a parlor or lower
chamber window. Then pinks and gilliflowers, ^15 especially the matted pink
and clove gilliflower. Then the flowers of the lime-tree. Then the
honeysuckles, so they be somewhat afar off. Of bean-flowers I speak not,
because they are field flowers. But those which perfume the air most
delightfully, not passed by as the rest, but being trodden upon and crushed,
are three; that is, burnet, wild-thyme, and watermints. Therefore you are to
set whole alleys of them, to have the pleasure when you walk or tread.
[Footnote 12: Not yielding odor freely.]
[Footnote 13: August 24.]
[Footnote 14: A kind of grass.]
[Footnote 15: Carnations.]
For gardens (speaking of those which are indeed prince-like, as we have
done of buildings), the contents ought not well to be under thirty acres of
ground; and to be divided into three parts; a green in the entrance; a heath
or desert in the going forth; and the main garden in the midst; besides alleys
on both sides. And I like well that four acres of ground be assigned to the
green; six to the heath; four and four to either side; and twelve to the main
garden. The green hath two pleasures: the one, because nothing is more
pleasant to the eye than green grass kept finely shorn; the other, because it
will give you a fair alley in the midst, by which you may go in front upon a
stately hedge, which is to enclose the garden. But because the alley will be
long, and, in great heat of the year or day, you ought not to buy the shade in
the garden by going in the sun through the green, therefore you are, of either
side the green, to plant a covert alley upon carpenter`s work, about twelve
foot in height, by which you may go in shade into the garden. As for the
making of knots or figures, with divers colored earths, that they may lie
under the windows of the house on that side which the garden stands, they be
but toys; you may see as good sights many times in tarts. 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 carpenter`s work, of 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 carpenter`s 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 colored glass gilt, for the sun to play upon. But this hedge I
intend to be raised upon a bank, not steep, but gently slope, of some six
foot, set all with flowers. Also I understand, that this square of the garden
should not be the whole breadth of the ground, but to leave on either side
ground enough for diversity of side alleys; unto which the two covert alleys
of the green may deliver you. But there must be no alleys with hedges at
either end of this great enclosure; not at the hither end, for letting ^16 your
prospect upon this fair hedge from the green; nor at the further end, for
letting your prospect from the hedge, through the arches upon the heath.
[Footnote 16: Hindering.]
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 busy, or full of work. Wherein I, for my part, do
not like images cut out in juniper or other garden stuff; they be for
children. Little low hedges, round, like welts, with some pretty pyramids, I
like well; and in some places, fair columns upon frames of carpenter`s work. I
would also have the alleys spacious and fair. You may have closer alleys upon
the side grounds, but none in the main garden. I wish also, in the very
middle, a fair mount, with three ascents, and alleys, enough for four to walk
abreast; which I would have to be perfect circles, without any bulwarks or
embossments; and the whole mount to be thirty foot high; and some fine
banqueting-house, with some chimneys neatly cast, and without too much glass.
For fountains, they are a great beauty and refreshment; but pools mar
all, and make the garden unwholesome, and full of flies and frogs. Fountains
I intend to be of two natures: the one that sprinkleth or spouteth water; the
other a fair receipt of water, of some thirty or forty foot square, but
without fish, or slime, or mud. For the first, the ornaments of images gilt,
or of marble, which are in use, do well: but the main matter is so to convey
the water, as it never stay, either in the bowls or in the cistern; that the
water be never by rest discolored, green or red or the like; or gather any
mossiness or putrefaction. Besides that, it is to be cleansed every day by
the hand. Also some steps up to it, and some fine pavement about it, doth
well. As for the other kind of fountain, which we may call a bathing pool, it
may admit much curiosity and beauty; wherewith we will not trouble ourselves:
as, that the bottom be finely paved, and with images; the sides likewise; and
withal embellished with colored glass, and such things of lustre; encompassed
also with fine rails of low statuas. But the main point is the same which we
mentioned in the former kind of fountain; which is, that the water be in
perpetual motion, fed by a water higher than the pool, and delivered into it
by fair spouts, and then discharged away under ground by some equality of
bores, that it stay little. And for fine devices, of arching water without
spilling, and making it rise in several forms (of feathers, drinking glasses,
canopies, and the like), they be pretty things to look on, but nothing to
health and sweetness.
For the heath, which was the third part of our plot, I wish it to be
framed, as much as may be, to a natural wildness. Trees I would have none in
it, but some thickets made only of sweet-briar and honeysuckle, and some wild
vine amongst; and the ground set with violets, strawberries, and primroses.
For these are sweet, and prosper in the shade. And these to be in the heath,
here and there, not in any order. I like also little heaps, in the nature of
mole-hills (such as are in wild heaths), to be set, some with wild thyme; some
with pinks; some with germander, that gives a good flower to the eye; some
with periwinkle; some with violets; some with strawberries; some with
cowslips; some with daisies; some with red roses; some with lilium convallium;
some with sweet-williams red; some with bear`s-foot: and the like low flowers,
being withal sweet and sightly. Part of which heaps are to be with standards
of little bushes pricked ^17 upon their top, and part without. The standards
to be roses; juniper; holly; berberries (but here and there, because of the
smell of their blossom); red currants; gooseberries; rosemary; bays;
sweet-briar; and such like. But these standards to be kept with cutting, that
they grow not out of course.
[Footnote 17: Planted.]
For the side grounds, you are to fill them with variety of alleys,
private, to give a full shade, some of them, wheresoever the sun be. You are
to frame some of them likewise for shelter, that when the wind blows sharp
you may walk as in a gallery. And those alleys must be likewise hedged at both
ends, to keep out the wind; and these closer alleys must be ever finely
gravelled, and no grass, because of going wet. In many of these alleys;
likewise, you are to set fruit-trees of all sorts; as well upon the walls as
in ranges. And this would be generally observed, that the borders wherein you
plant your fruit-trees be fair and large, and low, and not steep; and set with
fine flowers, but thin and sparingly, lest they deceive ^18 the trees. At the
end of both the side grounds, I would have a mount of some pretty height,
leaving the wall of the enclosure breast high, to look abroad into the
fields.
[Footnote 18: Rob.]
For the main garden, I do not deny but there should be some fair alleys
ranged on both sides, with fruit-trees; and some pretty tufts of
fruit-trees, and arbors with seats, set in some decent order; but these to be
by no means set too thick; but to leave the main garden so as it be not
close, but the air open and free. For as for shade, I would have you rest
upon the alleys of the side grounds, there to walk, if you be disposed, in
the heat of the year or day; but to make account that the main garden is for
the more temperate parts of the year; and in the heat of summer, for the
morning and the evening, or overcast days.
For aviaries, I like them not, except they be of that largeness as they
may be turfed, and have living plants and bushes set in them; that the birds
may have more scope, and natural nestling, and that no foulness appear in the
floor of the aviary. So I have made a platform ^19 of a princely garden,
partly by precept, partly by drawing, not a model, but some general lines of
it; and in this I have spared for no cost. But it is nothing for great
princes, that for the most part taking advice with workmen, with no less cost
set their things together; and sometimes add statuas and such things for
state and magnificence, but nothing to the true pleasure of a garden.
[Footnote 19: Plan.]
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