French 

 ascendency. 



CHAPTER VII 



FRENCH FASHIONS 



DISTINCTIVE style of garden plan- 

 ning and planting developed in France 

 and spread thence all over Europe in 

 the latter half of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury. Previously, although the French 

 had excelled in many kinds of horticulture, their gar- 

 dens had developed no especial characteristics to dis- 

 tinguish them from those laid out at the same time in 

 neighbouring countries. Contemporary designs were 

 decidedly inferior to those of the Italian Renaissance. 

 But when Louis XIV came into power, French society 

 underwent a revolution which had a far-reaching effect 

 upon the outward expression of literature and art. A 

 new policy was inaugurated by the young king, the 

 reverse of that adopted by his predecessors. 



