Various diagrams of the maze have been published, some of them very incorrect and therefore misleading. Our sketch was made on the spot and represents at any rate the present (1922) disposition of the paths and hedges. The gate almost opposite the entrance should normally be closed. It is for the purpose of affording the gardener or attendant direct access to the "goal" and its approaches, or occasionally for facilitating the release of impatient visitors; if left open it spoils the fun. The goal is provided with two bench seats, each shaded by a leafy tree. [Illustration: [_Photo: G. F. Green_ Fig. 110. Maze at Hampton Court.] [Illustration: [_Photo: G. F. Green_ Fig. 113. "The Little Maze."] The hedge was at first composed entirely of hornbeam, but, like most of its kind, it has required renewal at various points from time to time, and this has not always been carried out with the appropriate material. The result, as may be seen in our photograph, is a patchwork of privet, hornbeam, yew, holly, hawthorn and sycamore. It is nevertheless questionable whether the lack of uniformity in this respect causes any grief to the bulk of its visitors. The maze is as popular as ever, and in the financial year 1919-20 brought in a revenue of nearly £775, which exceeded the estimate of the Office of Works by £325! [Illustration: FIG. 111.--Maze at Hampton Court. Plan. (W. H. M.)] Long may it remain! It may be a sad sight to the "highbrows" of horticulture, but to the unsophisticated many it is a never-failing source of innocent merriment. Those who incline to deplore the perpetuation of these "topiary toys" should spend an hour or two in the Hampton Court maze on a sunny holiday and witness the undiluted delight which it affords to scores and hundreds of children, not to mention a fair sprinkling of their elders. The circular Troy-town or "Plan-de-Troy," formed of tall espaliers, which formerly co-existed with the present maze (see Fig. 112), has long been replaced by a sunken rockery, the path of which, however, is of a very meandering character and has earned from visitors the title of "The Little Maze" (Fig. 113). A topiary work of similar title, "The Siege of Troy," was one of William's pet horticultural adornments at Kensington Palace. It is said to have been a verdant representation of military defence works, cut yew and variegated holly being "taught," as Walpole says, "to imitate the lines, angles, bastions, scarps and counter-scarps of regular fortifications." [Illustration: FIG. 112.--Hampton Court. The "Wilderness," with Maze and "Plan-de-Troy," in Eighteenth Century. (Engraving by J. Rocque, 1736.)] [Illustration: Fig. 116. Maze Design by Batty Langley (from _New Principles of Gardening_, 1728).] [Illustration: Fig. 115. Maze Design by Batty Langley. (from _New Principles of Gardening_, 1728)]