Gardening manuals that gave instruction had existed since the 16th century, but the use of template illustrations gathered pace as the spread of prints grew. There was a division between gardens and architecture, and the latter often concentrated on garden features as relatively cheap and simple to construct from drawings. The first book for our purposes, which was of trans-European importance, was Andrea Palladio's I Quattri Libri dell’Architettura, published in Venice in 1570. The book covers the orders of architecture, houses, streets, bridges, piazzas, basilicas, Roman temples and the internal features of a building. Examples given include both actual Roman buildings and Palladio's designs based on the classical. Palladianism swept Britain in the early 18th century, the Augustan age, and although this primarily affected the style of houses, nonetheless some garden buildings and a significant number of bridges owe their origin to Palladio's opus. All four books were first translated into English by the Venetian architect Giacomo Leoni in 1715, who himself designed houses and garden buildings in England. The translation ran through two further editions, though Isaac Ware's closer translation and more accurate reproduction of Palladio's original plates in The Four Books of Architecture (1738) is accepted as the more definitive today. The list of subscribers includes the important cultural figures, patrons and practitioners of the day, such as Lord Burlington.

One of the bridges (Fig 3.1) is illustrated in Plate 3 of the Third Book and served as the model for the bridge at Painshill (see Fig 9.10): Charles Hamilton was a subscriber to the Ware edition. Other bridges, usually a single curved span of wood, had a criss-cross design that led to its being frequently and mistakenly described as Chinese. Stone bridges in the book (for example Fig 3.2) were imitated at Stourhead and elsewhere. Henry Hoare, owner of Stourhead, claimed that he took the design from Palladio's design for a bridge at Vicenza, but the two there have only three arches. Henry Flitcroft's five-arch design is actually a composite of Plate 7 (Fig 3.2, at Rimini) and Plate 12.

The archbishop's mandate

Venerabili in Christo patri ac domino Domino Willelmo, Dei gratia Wintoniensi episcopo, Willelmus, eiusdem permissione Londoniensis episcopus, slutem et sincerae dilectionis continnuum incrementum. Literas reverendissimi in Christo patris et domini Domini Simonis, Dei gratia Cantuariensis archiepiscopi, totius Angliae primatis et apostolicae sedis legati nuper recepimus, hunc habentes tenorem:

Simon, permissione divina Cantuariensis archiepiscopus, totius Angliae primas et apostolicae sedis legatus, venerabili fratri nostro Domino Willelmo, Dei gratia episcopo Londoniensi salutem et fraternam in Domino caritatem. Ingens et indissimulata negotiorum necessitas arduorum nedum Anglicanae concernentium utilitatem Ecclesiae, sed etiam domini nostri regis et regni sui statum, tranquillitatemque quietis eiusdem ac bonum publicum, ut speramus, multipliciter nos urget, licet cum fastidio, praelatos et clerum nostrae Cantuariensis provinciae convocare et ad hoc etiam faciendum cum frequenti et assidua ipsius regis nostri instantia breve regium recepimus in haec verba:

The names of the right reverend the bishops and clergy of the province of Canterbury cited to appear in convocation in the chapter house of the cathedral church of St Paul, London, on Wednesday the eleventh day of August in the year of our Lord 1790 [11 August 1790].

John [Moore], lord archbishop of Canterbury.

Beilby [Porteous], lord bishop of London.

Brownlow [North], lord bishop of Winchester.

William [Ashburnham], lord bishop of Chichester.

Charles [Moss], lord bishop of Bath and Wells.

Shute [Barrington], lord bishop of Salisbury.

John [Hinchcliffe], lord bishop of Peterborough.

James [Yorke], lord bishop of Ely.

John [Thomas], lord bishop of Rochester.

Richard [Hurd], lord bishop of Worcester.

John [Butler], lord bishop of Hereford.

John [Ross], lord bishop of Exeter.

John [Warren], lord bishop of Bangor.

James [Cornwallis], lord bishop of Lichfleld and Coventry.

Lewis [Bagot], lord bishop of St Asaph.

Richard [Watson], lord bishop of Llandaff.

Edward [Smallwell], lord bishop of Oxford.

Christopher [Wilson], lord bishop of Bristol.

George [Pretyman], lord bishop of Lincoln.

Samuel [Horsley], lord bishop of St David's.

Richard [Beadon], lord bishop of Gloucester.

George [Home], lord bishop of Norwich.

Canterbury:

William Buller D. D. dean.

John Lynch LL. D., archdeacon.

George Berkeley D. D., proctor for the chapter.

John Fowell D. D.,

Houstonne Radcliffe D. D., proctors for the clergy.

London:

George [Pretyman], lord bishop of Lincoln, dean.

John Jeffreys D. D., proctor for the chapter.

William Bingham D. D., archdeacon of London.

James Waller M. A., archdeacon of Essex.

Stephen Eaton M. A., archdeacon of Middlesex.

Anthony Hamilton D. D., archdeacon of Colchester.

Joseph Holden Pott M. A., archdeacon of Saint Albans.

Henry Reginald Courtenay D. D.,

Henry Owen M. D., proctors for the clergy.

Winchester:

Newton Ogle D. D., dean.

William Lowth M. A., proctor for the chapter.

Thomas Balguy D. D., archdeacon of Winchester.

John Carver LL. B., archdeacon of Surrey.

Sir Charles Mill, baronet,

William Vyse LL. D., proctors for the clergy.

Bath and Wells:

Lord Francis Seymour, dean.

Thomas Eyre LL. D., proctor for the chapter.

Edmund Lovell LL. D., archdeacon of Bath.

William Willes M. A., archdeacon of Wells.

John Turner M. A., archdeacon of Taunton.

John Bishop D. D.,

William Keate M. A., proctors for the clergy.

The most evocative, detailed and informative prints are of course the large ones, so often issued in series, as we have seen. But there was a whole industry of small, cheap prints, which, while mostly lacking in precision and detail, may well supplement the larger ones and fill in gaps. Some important gardens, indeed, are recorded only in small prints. A range of publications carried such prints: magazines or books, with images sometimes sold separately. The problem today is that so many small prints were cut out from their original publications that it may be difficult to identify the source or date. Even if the caption survives, and it well may not, the publication can remain unknown, along with the identity of the artist or engraver, anonymity being the normal case.

A number of smaller prints have already been illustrated in previous chapters. Sometimes they are based on large originals, and sometimes they are just to give a general, rather vague impression. But rarely were the finest engravers involved: the quality of the prints leads to the inescapable conclusion that economy was all. Cheap to produce meant engaging lesser lights in the engraving profession, and the need to provide images quickly would rule out the painstaking practices of the great printmakers.

This chapter enables readers to make comparison between the quality of large, medium and small prints. Small does not always mean vague or generalised, and sharpness of detail is possible (vide the sets by Watts and Angus covered in Chapter 13). However, large prints have a distinct advantage when it comes to architectural detail or plantings: so often are trees depicted generically rather than portraying individual species in smaller prints.

Large prints

Most large prints have been covered in previous chapters, particularly with relation to Woollett, Sullivan, Vivares and Anthony Walker. There were a few others, however, that deserve mention. There is a pair by Joseph Wood, possibly a pupil of Chatelain and known for his landscape work, after John Harris the Younger, of Warfield, Berkshire, which is a site seldom mentioned by garden historians (Figs 15.1 and 15.2). The views are largely as seen today and indicate large-scale landscaping with some formality (lines of trees) combined with dense woodland, bare banks in Brownian style and a few follies, all at a transitional time (1753).

The first royal writ

Richardus, Dei gratia rex Angliae et Franciae et dominus Hiberniae, venerabili in Christo patri Willelmo, eadem gratia Cantuariensi archiepiscopo, totius Angliae primati, salutem. Quia certitudinaliter intelleximus quod inimici nostri Franciae et alii sibi adhaerentes inter se alligati et undique hostiliter congregati, multimode quaerunt et coniecturant qualiter nos et fideles nostros ecclesiam et regnum Anglicana miserabiliter conterere et destruere valeant, et ea maligna de causa dictum regnum nostrum accumulato toto posse so ad idem regnum et ecclesiam sanctam, nosque et totam linguam Anglicanam subvertenda invadere proponunt infra breve, nisi eis per nos gratia nobis favente divina cautius et virilius resistatur. Nos ex ferventi desiderio quod ad salvationem regni et ecclesiae praedictorum habemus de deliberato consilio praelatorum, magnatum et aliorum fidelium dicti regni nostri cum quibus communicavimus in hac parte, sumpsimus firmum propositum ad partes transmarinas fortiori exercitu et ad citius quo possumus in instanti aestate personaliter transmeare, ut sic impedito dictorum adversariorum nsotrorum imaginato proposito, ipsos magis offendere et debellare, succurrente nobis Altissimo, valeamus per quod sumptus ac census et expensas inaestimabiles effundere nos oportet. Verum quia ad ipsorum onerum et sumptuum supportationem absque maximo iuvamine fidelium nostrorum non sufficimus, sicut scitis; vobis in fide et dilectione quibus nobis tenemini, rogando mandamus quatenus tarn arduitate negotiorum praedictorum, quam grandibus periculis quae ecclesiae et regno praedictis oculata fide imminere conspicitis, attentis et debite consideratis, suffraganeos vestros, decanos et priores ecclesiarum cathedralium, abbates, priores, et alios electivos, exemptos et non exemptos, necnon archidiaconos, capitula, conventus et collegia, totumque clerum vestrarum dioceseos et provinciae ad comparendum coram vobis Londoniis ad certum diem citra mediam Dominicam quadragesimae proximo futuram [12 March 1385], more solito convocari faciatis; et eis dictis negotiis et periculis ibidem plenius expositis et declaratis, ipsos ad subsidium in hoc casu competens et necessarium in supportationem dictorum onerum et sumptuum nobis concedendum, eo specialius et cum efficacia qua magis sciveritis vel poteritis, tanta necessitate causante, inducatis, et partes vestras ad hoc effectualiter apponatis, nos in cancellaria nostra de quantitate subsidii illius, ac de terminis solutionis eiusdem certificantes. Et hoc sicut nos et honorem nostrum ac salvationem et defensionem ecclesiae et regni praedictorum diligitis, nullatenus omittatis. Teste meipso apud Westmonasterium, vicesimo quintodecimo die Ianuarii anno regni nostri octavo [15 January 1385].

The first royal writ

Rex venerabili in Christo patri W[illelmo], eadem gratia archiepiscopo Eboracensi, Angliae primati, salutem. Volentes pridem condescendere precibus et persuasionibus ex parte sanctissimi patris Domini Clementis papae sexti per literas et nuntios nobis factis, de pace seu treugis cum adversario nostro Franciae ineundis, paratos nos obtulimus ad tractandum cum deputandis per dictum adversarium de praemissis, et propter hoc alligatis nostris literas et nuntios transmisimus speciales, sed dictus adversarius noster, qui violatis treugis prius initis fideles nostros depraedare fecerat et interficere, tractatum pacis declinavit, in nostri et nostrorum subversionem coniurans pro viribus et conspirans; propter quod desiderantes tarn discriminosis periculis nobis ac regno nostro Angliae et Ecclesiae Anglicanae, nisi Deus avertat, obviare, magnum exercitium armatorum ad reprimendum ipsius adversarii nostri malitiam, et pro defensione nostri regni et ecclesiae praedictorum necessaria iam ad partes transmisimus transmarinas; nos etiam passagium nostrum versus partes illas propter hoc ordinavimus, sicut oportet, validum et festinum; et quia super his et aliis, nos ac statum, et regimen dicti regni defensionem et honorem dictae ecclesiae et utilitatem reipublicae summe tangentibus, ut communibus periculis per communia consilia obvietur, consilium, auxilium, et avisamentum vestrum suffraganeorum vestrorum ac cleri vestrarum dioecesis et provinciae habere volumus e vicinio; specialiter vos rogamus et in fide et dilectione quibus nobis tenemini, vobis iniungimus et mandamus, quod ad diem Lunae proximum post festum Sancti Andreae Apostoli proxime futurum [2 December 1342] dictos suffraganeos vestros et clerum apud Pontemfractum convocari faciatis; ita quod vos et ipsi sitis tune ibidem super praemissis cum deputandis per nos tractaturi, et vestrum consilium et auxilium impensuri, ulteriusque facturi, quod tune ibidem contigerit ordinari. Et hoc, sicut nos et honorem nostrum diligitis nullatenus omittatis. Dictum autem locum de Pontefracto vobis propter hoc duximus assignandum, quia civitatem Eboracum ante tempus intronisationis vestrae commode, ut dicitur, intrare non potestis. Teste rege apud Eastry tricesimo die Septembris [30 September 1342].

The archbishop's mandate following a second royal writ

Willelmus, permissione divina Eboracensis archiepiscopus Angliae primas venerabili in Christo patri Domino Richardo, Dei gratia Dunelmensi episcopo, suffraganeo nostro, salutem et fraternae caritatis in Domino continuum incrementum.

The names of the right reverend the bishops and clergy of the province of Canterbury cited to appear in convocation in the chapter house of the cathedral church of St Paul, London, on the twenty-fourth day of November 1847 [24 November 1847].

John [Bird Sumner], lord archbishop of Canterbury.

Charles James [Blomfield], lord bishop of London.

Charles Richard [Sumner], lord bishop of Winchester.

Christopher [Bethell], lord bishop of Bangor.

George Henry [Law], lord bishop of Bath and Wells.

Ashurst Turner [Gilbert], bishop of Chichester.

Thomas [Turton], lord bishop of Ely.

Henry [Philpotts], lord bishop of Exeter.

James Henry [Monk], lord bishop of Gloucester and Bristol.

Renn Dickson [Hampden], lord bishop of Hereford.

John [Lonsdale], lord bishop of Lichfield.

John [Kaye], lord bishop of Lincoln.

Alfred [Ollivant], lord bishop of Llandaff.

Samuel [Hinds], lord bishop of Norwich.

Samuel [Wilberforce], lord bishop of Oxford.

George [Davys], lord bishop of Peterborough.

George [Murray], lord bishop of Rochester.

Edward [Denison], lord Bishop of Salisbury.

Thomas Vowler [Short], lord bishop of St Asaph.

Connop [Thirlwall], lord bishop of St David's.

Henry [Pepys], lord bishop of Worcester.

Canterbury.

William Rowe Lyall D. D., dean.

James Croft M. A., archdeacon.

Benjamin Harrison M. A., archdeacon of Maidstone.

Honourable John Evelyn Boscawen M. A., proctor for the chapter.

William Eden M. A.,

William Hodge Mill D. D.,1187 proctors for the clergy.

London:

Henry Hart Milman D. D., dean.

Thomas Dale M. A.,1189 proctor for the chapter.

William Hale Hale M. A., archdeacon of London.

Hugh Chambers Jones, archdeacon of Essex.

John Sinclair M. A., archdeacon of Middlesex.

Charles Parr D. D., archdeacon of Colchester.

Anthony Grant LL. D., archdeacon of Saint Albans.

John Hume Spry D. D.,

Thomas Randolph M. A., proctors for the clergy.

Winchester.

Thomas Gamier D. C. L., dean.

William Wilson D. D., proctor for the chapter.

Joseph Cotton Wigram M. A., archdeacon of Winchester.1194

Charles James Hoare M. A., archdeacon of Surrey.

Thomas Woodroofe M. A., proctor for the clergy of the archdeaconry of

Winchester.

George James Cubitt M. A., proctors for the clergy of the archdeaconry of

Surrey.

The archbishop's mandate

[284r] Henricus, Dei gratia [Eboracensis archiepiscopus, Angliae primas et apostolicae sedis legatus,] venerabili fratri nostro Domino Thomae, Dei gratia Dunelmensi episcopo, suffraganeo nostro, salutem et fraternam in Domino caritatem. Breve regium nuper recepimus in haec verba: