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THE HOUSE IN GOOD TASTE
Almost all Arabian decorations have their basis in
trellis design or arabesques filled in with the intricate
tracery that covers all their buildings. If we examine
the details of the most famous of the old Moorish
buildings that remain to us, the mosque at Cordova
and the Alhambra at Granada, we shall find them full
of endless trellis suggestions. Indeed, there are many
documents still extant showing how admirably trellis
decoration lends itself to the decoration of gardens and
interiors. There are dozens of examples of niches
built to hold fine busts. Pavilions and summer
houses, the quaint gazebos of old England, the grace-
ful screens of trellis that terminate a long garden path,
the arching gateways crowned with vines-all these
may be reproduced quite easily in American gardens.
The first trellis work in France was inspired by
Italy, but the French gave it a perfection of archi-
tectural character not found in other countries. The
manuscript of the "Romance of the Rose," dating
back to the Fifteenth Century, contains the finest pos-
sible example of trellis in a medieval garden. Most
of the old French gardens that remain to us have im-
portant trellis construction. At Blois one still sees
the remains of a fine trellis covering the walls of the
kitchen gardens. Wonderful and elaborate trellis
pavilions, each containing a statue, often formed the
centers of very old gardens. These garden houses
were called gazebos in England, and temples d'Amour
(Temples of Love) in France, and the statue most
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