"For fountains they are a great beauty and refreshment: the one that
sprinkleth or spouteth water; the other, a fair receipt of water of
some thirty or forty foot. For the first, the ornaments of images gilt,
or marble, which are in use, do well. Also some steps up to it and some
fine pavement about doth well. As for the other kind of fountain, which
may be called a bathing-pool, it may admit much curiosity and beauty,
as that the bottom be finely paved, and with images; the sides likewise
and withal embellished with colored glass and such things of luster
encompassed also with fine rails of low statues."
Hentzner saw three famous fountains on his visit to England in 1592,
at Hampton Court, Whitehall, and Nonsuch. He describes the one at
Hampton Court as follows:
"In the middle of the first and principal court stands a fountain,
splendid, high, and massy, with an ingenious water-work, by which you
can, if you like, make the water to play upon the ladies and others who
are standing by and give them a thorough wetting."
The one at Whitehall was also capable of playing practical jokes:
"A _jet d'eau_ with a sun-dial, which, while strangers are looking at
it, a quantity of water forced by a wheel, which the gardener turns
at a distance through a number of little pipes, plentifully sprinkles
those who are standing round."
More ornate was the fountain at the superb palace of Nonsuch in Surrey:
"In the pleasure and artificial gardens are many columns and pyramids
of marble, two fountains that spout water, one round the other like a
pyramid upon which are perched small birds that stream water out of
their bills. In the Grove of Diana is a very agreeable fountain with
Actæon turned into a stag, as he was sprinkled by the goddess and her
nymphs with inscriptions. There is besides another pyramid of marble
full of concealed pipes which spirt upon all who come within their
reach."
In the small formal garden a fountain looks well at the intersection
of the paths in the center of the quarters. It is not necessary to
have an ornate fountain, for the real charm of a fountain consists in
the upward plume of spray that glistens in the sunshine, that turns
to pearls in the moonlight, and that always charms the eye of man and
delights the neighboring flowers with its spray blown by the breeze.
XI
_The Dove-cote_
Every manor-house had its dove-cote, or columbary, as it was called.
Here doves and pigeons aided in making a very pretty picture as they
flew in and out of the architecturally designed bird-house. The right
to keep them was confined to the lords of the manor, and the law was
very strictly enforced.
Andrew Borde tells us that a dove-house is a necessary thing about a
mansion-place. It is, therefore, quite proper to include a bird-house
in the Shakespeare garden; and a pool for the birds' comfort is also a
pretty as well as necessary adjunct to the dove-cote.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account