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 will doubt that it still retains its attractions, and few perhaps have not suffered annoyance, and had to call
- ↑ Cf. Thomas Hill's "The Proffitable Art of Gardening."
