They were, however, so much frequented by all the fashionable world of London, that the foreigner arriving there naturally took them for public gardens. Mr. Grosley, who came to London in 1765, thus describes them:- "Besides St. James's Park, the Green Park, and Hyde Park, the two last of which are continuations of the first, which, like the Tuileries at Paris, lie at the extremity of the metropolis, London has several public walks, which are much more agreeable to the English, as they are less frequented and more solitary than the Park. Such are the gardens contained within the compass of the Temple, of Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. They consist of grass plots, which are kept in excellent order, and planted with trees, either cut regularly, or with high stocks: some of them have a part laid out for culinary uses. The grass plots of the gardens at Lincoln's Inn are adorned with statues, which, taken all together, form a scene very pleasing to the eye." The students must certainly have aimed at keeping their gardens from the vulgar gaze, and showed their displeasure at some one who had built a house with windows overlooking the Garden in 1632 in an uproarious manner. They flung brickbats at the offending window until "one out of the house discharged haile shot upon Mr. Attornie's sonne's face, which though by good chance it missed his eyes yet it pitifully mangled his visage."
Old maps of the gardens show a wall dividing the large upper garden from the smaller, but by 1772 the partition had disappeared. It was doubtless unnecessary when the terrace was made and the rabbits done away with.
Old maps of the gardens show a wall dividing the large upper garden from the smaller, but by 1772 the partition had disappeared. It was doubtless unnecessary when the terrace was made and the rabbits done away with.
