MADAME DE SEVIGNE 117 



MY little trees are of a surprisinsr beauty. Pilois raises them MADAME 

 up to the clouds with a wonderful adroitness : all the (1626-1696). 

 same, nothing is so beautiful as those alleys whose birth you 

 have seen. You know I gave you a kind of device which pleased 

 you : here is a motto I have written on a tree for my son who 

 has returned from Candia, Vago difama : is it not pretty although 

 so brief? Only yesterday I had written in honour of the idle, 

 Bella cosa far niente. Aux Rockers. 31 May, 167 1. 



As to my labyrinth, it is neat, it has green plots, and the 

 palissades are breast-high ; it is a lovable spot ; but, alas ! my 

 dear child, there is scarcely a sign of my ever seeing you in it. 



Di memoria midrirsi, piu che di speme. 



It is indeed my true device. — Aux Rockers, 26 July, 1671. 



I do not know what you have done this morning; for my 

 part, 1 have been in the dew up to my knees laying lines ; I 

 am making winding alleys all round my park, which will be 

 of great beauty ; if my son loves woods and walks, he will be 

 sure to bless my memory. — 28 October, 167 1. 



There is the Palace of the Luxemburg belonging to Made- 

 moiselle,^ and we shall enter it soon. Madame had ordered 

 all the trees in the garden on her side to be cut down, out 

 of pure contradiction : this beautiful garden had become 

 ridiculous ; Providence has provided for it. Mademoiselle 

 will be able to have it cleared on both sides, and put Le 

 Notre in it, to make it like the Tuileries. — Farts. 6 April, 1672. 



We were at Clagny . . . the building is growing visibly, the 

 Gardens are made. You know the manner of Le Notre ; he 

 has left a little dark wood, which does very well. There is a 

 grove of orange-trees in great tubs ; you walk there ; and they 

 form alleys in the shade ; and to hide the tubs there are two rows 

 of pallisades high enough to lean on, all aflower with tube-roses, 

 ^ Marguerite de Lorraine, second wife of Gaston, Duke of Orleans. 



