is what is now called "Queen Mary's Bower," from a tradition that she spent long hours there with her maids of honour, walking or resting in the shade. It is a walk of one hundred yards long, the trees meeting overhead.[1] There can be little doubt that it is this of which Evelyn speaks as the "cradle-work of horn-beam in the garden," and as, "for the perplexed twining of the trees, very observable;" and again, "the close walk, with that perplext canopy, which lately covered the seat in his Majesty's garden at Hampton Court." The horticultural books of the period give rules for the construction of these quaint artificialities, and many, particularly of yews, still remain in old English gardens. But the Hampton Court walk is in the stronger wych-elm,[2] which was especially commended by the gardeners of the day.
IV
So the gardens remained for some years, all changes being undertaken on the same plan, and under the ruling influence of Le Notre. The accession of William and Mary effected an alteration. William had all a Dutchman's delight in gardening, and Mary had the liking of a homely Englishwoman for sweet flowers. A new scheme was at once undertaken, which
