Britain as the Restored Eden : Action, Improvement, and Expanision in the Garden Theories of the Hartlib Circle, 1640-1660

It is a commonplace in the histories of the garden that the Puritan Revolution (1642-60) was an era of complete destruction of gardens. This period produced, however, not only a considerable number of gardens, but also numerous books and tracts on gardening (in a broad sense). This paper focuses on these garden theories, especially those by the Hartlib circle, whose manuscripts have been newly published. It is the aurthor's conclusion that an important moment towards the English landscape garden, which emerged at the beginning of the 18th century with the opening up of the traditional 'enclosed garden' onto free nature, had already been posited during this very Revolution. Samuel Hartlib (c. 1600-62) was the epicentre of the Scientific Revolution then under way in Britain, leaving an unquestionable influence on Restoration (1660) science. He and his circle earnestly demanded actions towards social reformation intended for the public good, on the basis of 'civic humanism'. Accordingly, the traditional type of the 'enclosed garden' became a metaphor for the confinement into the exclusive pursuit of private interests and factionality. On the contrary, they insisted on 'opening' the garden towards the public good by making it a branch of profitable husbandry. Finally, their proposals for agricultural and horticultural improvement led to the millenarian demand that the whole of Britain should be actually restored as the second Eden or God's Paradise by expanding or annihilating the borders of every existant garden. In fact, at least one member of the circle, John Beale, advocated a kind of the landscape garden. But, their views had certain limits. Firstly, reacting against the communist Puritan radicals, they urged the 'enclosure' of waste land and the commons, with the result that they were almost indifferent to the aesthetic pleasure of open nature or wilderness itself; such pleasure was obviously incompatible with their 'Protestant work-ethic', and would not come to the fore until the advent of Restoration Epicurean rural literature. Secondly, with the collapse of Puritan hegemony itself, the main part of their ideas sank into oblivion. Nevertheless, the circle's legacy formed a strong undercurrent after the Restoration, helping to bring into reality the open landscape garden