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

DEFOE'S TESTIMONY 127
formal garden, in fact, went beyond its formality into
eccentricity, and so sank under the reaction begun by
the protests of Addison and the satires of Pope.
William and Mary were nothing if not systematic.
The very Wilderness was made symmetrical. It was
set in "regular strait walks, bounded on each side by
tall clipped hedges, which divide the whole ground
into angular quarters." Defoe gives details of the
work, which show that though Queen Mary did not
design the " Bower " called by her name, she actively
encouraged the custom of training trees on espaliers,
and trimming them till they form a compact and
complete protection from sun and wind. " Pleaching "
reached its culmination under William and Mary.
" On the north side of the house," says Defoe (to
the east, that is, of the old tilt-yard and beyond the
tennis-court), "where the gardens" — he means those
which were now developed at the east — " seemed to
want screening from the weather, or the view of the
chapel, and some part of the old building, required to
be covered from the eye, the vacant ground, which was
large, is very happily cast into a wilderness, with a
labyrinth and espaliers so high, that they effectually
take off all that part of the old building which would
have been offensive to the sight. This labyrinth and
wilderness is not only well designed and completely
finished, but is perfectly well kept;and the espaliers
fitted exactly at bottom to the very ground, and are
led up to proportioned height on the top: so that
nothing of the kind can be more beautiful."