Hampton Court ... Illustrated with forty-three drawings by Herbert ...

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HAMPTON COURT
houses, the brave parks, the pleasant fields and delightful
gardens, that we have possessed without any right
and built at other men's cost ? Who shall enjoy the
delight of the new rivers and ponds at Hampton
Court, whose making cost vast sums of money, and
who shall chase the game in the hare-warren, that my
dear master hath inclosed for his own use, and for ours
also that are time-servers ? " 1
One of the first cares of Charles II. was the garden
at Hampton Court. In 166 1 one May was made their
superior, and " for fifty vears we find a succession of
famous gardeners." " A new era set in with the
Restoration. French influence became dominant. Le
Notre, who inspired the magnificent designs of Louis
XIV. in gardening, was widely followed in England.
Rose, the royal gardener, was his pupil, and brought
with him some of the lordly ideas of his master. The
small, delicate, systematic gardening of the past was
replaced by designs no less systematic indeed, but of
a much larger scope. Long avenues, broad terraces,
wide canals came in fashion, and with them the
delight in extensive views and the employment of
large areas.
At this time, too, were addedmanycharming decorations
in stone and in lead, such as the beautiful fountain
which Evelyn mentions, and which William III.
1 I take this quotation fromMr.Ernest Law's "History ofHampton
Court Palace," vol.ii. pp. 182-183.
2 "The Formal Garden in England," by Reginald Blomfield and
F.Inigo Thomas, p. 74.