The garden in Britain features in Western Europe garden system which is a part of three typical garden styles of the world. Form this article, I will introduce English garden from 17th century to 19th century according to a documentary in BBC named The Secret History of English Garden. Now,let’s start from 17th century.
英国园林是世界三大园林体系中的西欧园林的典型代表。从这一次开始，我将依据BBC纪录片《英国园林的秘密历史》为大家介绍17世纪到19世纪的英国园林。那么，让我们从17世纪开始。
In this era, although English garden still remains regular style and fails to move to landscape style, there are some vital characters of its own.
17世纪的园林虽然还没有脱离园林的规则式，演变成自然风格的园林，但是这一时期的园林同样有着自己的重要特征。
In 17th century ,religious belief has a significant impact on the development of English gardens and buildings. For example,the most typical one is Lyveden New Bield,one of the most famous and distinguished garden buildings of that time,which is built by Sir Thomas Tresham. He was a wealthy and successful nobleman as he was knighted by Elizabeth Ⅰ. Of course,the most important thing is his identification:a catholic. So it is no wonder that there are filled with religious messages and codes in the building: the whole building is a shape of cross if looked from the top; the corner of the protruding wall is composed of five sides,each of which is five foot long,and we can easily find that five times five is twenty five,which symbolizes the December 25th (Christ birthday) and 25th of March (the annunciation of the virgin Mary)...... Out of the garden building,there are another religious clues: guests can reach his house through a series of seven terraces,which represents seven sorrows of the virgin Mary. Besides,in his garden, researchers have found an unique garden style:labyrinth, which was named after “circular beds”by Sir Thomas Tresham and means a true path of catholic through life and on to heaven. This is the well-known labyrinth of white roses and raspberries and the roses shows the purity of virgin Mary and the raspberries symbolizes the blood of Christ.
在17世纪的英国园林中，宗教思想始终在影响着园林和园林中的建筑的发展，其中最著名的是Lyveden new bield，这是一座园林建筑，17世纪英国最著名和伟大的园林建筑之一，被一位叫做Sir Thomas Tresham建造，他是一位富有成功的贵族，被伊丽莎白一世封为骑士。当然更重要的是他是一位天主教徒，建筑中充满着宗教的信息和线索:整个建筑从上面俯瞰是一个十字架的形状，而建筑的每一个突出的墙角有五边构成，每一边的长度是五步长，五乘以五是二十五，这就象征着，12月25日，耶稣的生日，3月25日，代表了圣母玛丽亚的······，而在建筑之外同样有宗教性的线索，客人如果要到达他的房子，会经过七片田，代表着圣母玛丽亚的七哀歌。在Sir Thomas Tresham所建造的花园中，有研究者发现了一种独特的园林形式：迷宫。Tresham叫它作循环的草地，这是一条穿过人间通向天堂的路，这也是为后世所熟知的种着白玫瑰和野生草莓的迷宫。鲜艳血红野生草莓代表着基督的血，玫瑰表现出圣母玛利亚的纯洁。
In the gardens of 17th century, other two significant thoughts are having control over nature and showing off wealth. This kind of control “invaded” every corner of garden——the owner of the garden could clip everything to any shape he wanted. And it was through the elaborate and magnificent garden that they could show off the owner’s control over nature, his wealth and status. In a garden named Hampton Court, there are four unusual plain and plat lawns,and there is no hedges and patterns,which is surprising and confusing,but it has a simple result:symbol of wealth and control. The owner should have enough money to employ people to cut them. And it doesn’t matter for these noblemen.
在17世纪的园林中，另外两个重要的思想就是掌控自然和炫耀财富。这种征服掌控自然的思想“侵入”了园林的各个方面。园林的主人会修剪园林中的植物，几乎可以修剪任何东西，修剪成任何他想要的东西。17世纪的园林是及其精美的，因为园林主以此来显示自己掌握着自然，显示他的财富、地位。在Hampton Court中，花园有四块超级大的完全平坦的草坪，没有任何树篱和园林模式，这是非常令人吃惊的，但是原因非常简单：财富和掌控自然的象征。园林主必须有足够的经济能力雇佣人来为他修剪草坪。而作为贵族的园林主们，当然是有这个财力的。
What appeals to me most is the delicate and grand style in garden of that age; what enlightens me is the inner thoughts and religious historical background under the gardens and garden buildings. Wish this short article can deepen and broaden your understanding of garden in Britain,in that beautiful and grand era.
17世纪园林中的那种精美和宏大一直吸引着我，那蕴藏在建筑园林中的思想和厚重的宗教历史一直启发着我，希望这篇小小的文章可以增加读者们对于那一个美丽庄重的时代的英国园林的理解。
Time:2019-5-1
