XXV 



fices." Part of this is confirmed by another bio- 

 grapher : " Une piete sincere, une foi vive et une 

 charite si grande, qu'elle ne lui a presque fait recon- 

 noitre d'autres heritiers que les pauvres." The Let- 

 tres of Mad. la Comtesse de la Riviere, and those of 

 de Sevigne, frequently mention the charm which at- 

 tended the visits of Boileau.* Rabutin du Bussy thus 

 speaks of him, in a letter to the Pere Rapin, after 

 eulogizing Moliere : " Despreaux est encore merveil- 

 leuse ; personne ne'crit avec plus de purete ; ses pen- 

 sees sont fortes, et ce qui m'en plait, tou jours vraies." 



The above is a very cursory and brief allusion to 

 what might be gathered respecting those superb gar- 

 dens in France, whose costly and magnificent deco- 

 rations so charmed many of our English nobility and 

 gentry, when travelling there, during the periods of 

 Charles II., James II., William, Anne, and during 

 subsequent reigns. One need recur only to a very 

 few, as to Rose, who was sent there by Lord Essex, 

 to view Versailles; to George London, who was com- 

 missioned to go there, not only by the same Rose, 



* I will conclude by mentioning a justly celebrated man, who, it 

 seems was not over fond of his garden, though warmly attached 

 both to Boileau, and to Mad. de Sevign6, — I mean that most elo- 

 quent preacher Bossuet, of whom a biographer, after stating that 

 he was so absorbed in the study of the ancient fathers of the 

 church, " qu'il ne se permettoit que des d£lassemens fort courts. 

 II ne se promenoit que rarement meme dans son jardin. Son jar- 

 dinier lui dit un jour: Si je plantois des Saint Augustins, et des Saint 

 Chrysostomes, vous les viendriez voir; mais pour vos arbres, vous ne 

 vous en souciez guere." 



d 



