The garden of pleasure containing several draughts of gardens, both in embroyder'd-ground-works, knot-works of grass, as likewise in wildernesses, and others : with their cuts in copper / by Andrew Mollet.

THE PREFACE TO THE READER.

GOD hath never made himself better known to Men then by his Works in the Creation, which doth equally prove his Power and his Bounty: But, although that this So∣veraign Majesty hath as it were Limn'd and Character∣ised its self in all Beings; yet it appears, that the good pleasure of his Will, which is (to speak properly, nothing else but that which we call Nature) hath in nothing more been pleas'd to set forth so many vari∣eties of Beauties, and so many different Species of things, then in that which the whole kind of Vegetables furnishes us with, as namely Trees, Shrubs, and other Plants; with their leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds, which yield us so much delight in the variety of their Enamel, Colours, pleasant Odors, that there is not one of our senses which finds not it self charmed by them; and, though Nature furnishes us with all these things, yet it is with a rustical confu∣sion, which nevertheless doth not want its beauties; But, when Art helps this good Mother, and disposes all these Vegetable Productions according to the Or∣ders which she borrows from the divers situations and Soiles which the said Nature provides; It then appears in a regularity, which offends neither the understanding nor the eye-sight, but affords wonderful satisfaction and plea∣sure,

and contributes to the delights of the greatest Monarchs, and Migh∣ty'st Princes, which do find no Divertisement more agreeable, more whole∣some, and of more efficacy, to refresh both the Body and Mind after the toilsomness of Political Studys, and the weighty affairs of State, then Walk∣ing under shady covertures, and in Garden-Allies, where the pleasant Green, and unimitable Tapistry, composed of fruits and leaves of the (Espaliers, (Wall-fruits) the Counter Espaliers) and of the Palissadoes, and curious, and pleasant variety of Enamel'd Flowers, doth furnish a wonderful ra∣vishing object, both to the inward and the outward senses, and which insensibly brings them back to their Palaces with an Appetite, which renders them more capable then before to savour and taste the delicious Cates of their Table. Hence it was, that Lewis the Thirteenth, and the Duke of Orleans his bro∣ther (Princes of most happy Memory) have joyn'd so many fair Ground-Works to their Royal Houses, where, not contenting themselves with the rare works and contrivances of their Overseers and Directors of their Gardens, and their Workmen, they disdained not to change the Scepter, sometimes for the Pruning Knife; using great Art and Dexterity in Cultivating divers curious sorts of Plants, and also in Grafting and Inoculating Fruit-Trees, thereby to ennoble their kind, better their substance, and correct their taste. But, we need look no farther for Examples of a Royal Magnificency, than to what our invincible Monarch, Charles the Second, hath, with excellent choice, ac∣companied with great solidity of Judgment begun, and with incessant care and concernment still prosecutes in his Royal Houses of St. James's, Hampton-Court, and Greenwich, where this mighty Prince hath made more notable Changes, and added more Royal Decorations since the 10 years of His happy ••estoration, then any of His Ancestors ever thought on in the space of a whole Age. It is assuredly (Friendly Reader) this high and rare example of skil∣ful curiosity, and of honourable and necessary expence, which ought to oblige all

the chief Gentry and Nobility of this Kingdom, to follow, as much as in them lies, the Tracks which His Majesty hath markt them out, since the Climate, and the goodness of their Soyle, affords them at home that agreeable variety of Fruits, Herbs, Pulse, Grain, and other necessaries belonging to Gardinage, without being obliged to buy or beg them from their neighbours from beyond-Sea. Hereupon it is that I have composed this Book, whose designs are all of my own invention, and drawn with my own hand, and that also at large, to the end, that they might be made the more intelligible to the curious. I shall believe to have attained the end I proposed to my self, if I can in any wise be useful to the Pub∣lick, and particularly to the Reader, whom I intreat to receive with a good will the sincerity of my intentions, and to excuse my defects.