Hentzner saw three famous fountains on his visit to England in 1592, at Hampton Court, Whitehall, and Nonsuch. He describes the one at Hampton Court as follows:
"In the middle of the first and principal court stands a fountain, splendid, high, and massy, with an ingenious water-work, by which you can, if you like, make the water to play upon the ladies and others who are standing by and give them a thorough wetting."
The one at Whitehall was also capable of playing practical jokes:
"A jet d'eau with a sun-dial, which, while strangers are looking at it, a quantity of water forced by a wheel, which the gardener turns at a distance through a number of little pipes, plentifully sprinkles those who are standing round."
More ornate was the fountain at the superb palace of Nonsuch in Surrey:
"In the pleasure and artificial gardens are many columns and pyramids of marble, two fountains that spout water, one round the other like a pyramid upon which are perched small birds that stream water out of their bills. In the Grove of Diana is a very agreeable fountain with Actæon turned into a stag, as he was sprinkled by the goddess and her nymphs with inscriptions. There is besides another pyramid of marble full of concealed pipes which spirt upon all who come within their reach."
In the small formal garden a fountain looks well at the intersection of the paths in the center of the quarters. It is not necessary to have an ornate fountain, for the real charm of a fountain consists in the upward plume of spray that glistens in the sunshine, that turns to pearls in the moonlight, and that always charms the eye of man and delights the neighboring flowers with its spray blown by the breeze.
XI
The Dove-cote
Every manor-house had its dove-cote, or columbary, as it was called. Here doves and pigeons aided in making a very pretty picture as they flew in and out of the architecturally designed bird-house. The right to keep them was confined to the lords of the manor, and the law was very strictly enforced.
Andrew Borde tells us that a dove-house is a necessary thing about a mansion-place. It is, therefore, quite proper to include a bird-house in the Shakespeare garden; and a pool for the birds' comfort is also a pretty as well as necessary adjunct to the dove-cote.