There were four principles that were observed in all stately
Elizabethan gardens. The first was to lay out the garden in accordance
with the architecture of the house in long terraces and paths of right
lines, or "forthrights," to harmonize with the rectangular lines of the
Tudor buildings, yet at the same time to break up the monotony of the
straight lines with beds of intricate patterns, just as in the case of
architecture bay-windows, clustered and twisted chimneys, intricate
tracery, mullioned windows, and ornamental gables relieved the straight
lines of the building.
The second principle was to plant the beds with _mixed_ flowers and
to let the colors intermingle and blend in such a way as to produce a
mosaic of rich, indeterminate color, ever new and ever varying as the
flowers of the different seasons succeeded each other.
The third principle was to produce a garden of flowers and shrubs
for all seasons, even winter, that would tempt the owner to take
pleasure and exercise there, where he might find recreation, literally
re-creation of mind and body, and become freshened in spirit and
renewed in health.
The fourth principle was to produce a garden that would give delight to
the sense of smell as well as to the sense of vision--an idea no longer
sought for by gardeners.
Hence it was just as important, and infinitely more subtle, to mingle
the perfumes of flowers while growing so that the air would be
deliciously scented by a combination of harmonizing odors as to mingle
the perfumes of flowers plucked for a nosegay, or Tussie-mussie, as the
Elizabethans sometimes quaintly called it.
Like all cultivated Elizabethans, Shakespeare appreciated the delicious
fragrance of flowers blooming in the garden when the soft breeze is
stirring their leaves and petals. There was but one thing to which this
subtle perfume might be compared and that was ethereal and mysterious
music. For example, the elegant Duke in "Twelfth Night," reclining on
his divan and listening to music, commands:
That strain again! It had a dying fall.
O it came o'er my ear like the sweet south
That breathes upon a bank of violets
Stealing and giving odor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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