beautiful that it might have been Nature's own handiwork."
The "monticello" of which Heywood speaks is a great feature of Tudor gardens, and many besides More delighted to make the "animala tappezeria" of flowers. At Hampton Court this tapestry effect was heightened by the coloured palings and balustrades, green and white, with which the flower-beds were surrounded.
The "topiary art" came in vogue, too, to add quaintness to the Tudor gardens, and was seen, no doubt, by the southern walls of the Hampton Palace. Besides these gardens at the south, Henry had, at the north of his Palace, kitchen-gardens and two orchards, the "great" and the "new," in which grew hollies, and oaks, and elms, cherries, pears, and apples, yew, cypress, juniper, and bays. These are now entirely destroyed, and are partly covered by the "wilderness" which leads to Bushey Park, partly by the kitchen-gardens, which include also the old tilt-yard.
In 1539 the Honour of Hampton Court was by statute created a forest—the last, it appears, that was thus made. It was disafforested under Edward VI., but certain peculiarities of the forest jurisdiction still remain.
