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

128 HAMPTON COURT
About the truth of this judgment there may be
two opinions; and indeed, though something of the
formality of the " wilderness " still remains, it has not
been unaffected by the influence of the " landscape
gardeners," who came before long to destroy all the
symmetry they could. But whatever audacity may
have done in the " Wilderness " by cutting down
hedges and allowing the trees to grow with comparative
freedom, no one has been hardy enough to
disturb the Maze.
Now mazes were not uncommon in the sixteenth
century,1 and it is possible that the Maze at Hampton
Court may have been made earlier than the
reign of William and Mary; but the reconstruction
of the whole of the gardens near it make it
probable that it was altered, if not entirely designed,
at this time. No one who has visited the Palace
willdoubt that it still retains its attractions, and few
perhaps have not suffered annoyance, and had to call
1 Cf. ThomasHill's "The Proffitable Art of Gardening."