FRENCH FASHIONS 199 



Henry IV, whose example was followed by Louis The previ- 



ous policy. 



XIII, had kept the peace by insisting that the great 

 noblemen should disperse from Paris and live prac- 

 tically isolated on their country estates. His own 

 tastes were simple, and he did not encourage others 

 to indulge themselves with needless luxuries. The 

 gardens attached to the royal palaces and to those of 

 the aristocracy, as we see them depicted by Du Cer- 

 ceau and described by Mollet, the head gardener of 

 both Henry IV and Louis XIII, were neither extensive 

 nor elaborate compared to those of Louis XIV. To 

 be sure, the former contained most of the component 

 parts of the later gardens; Mollet, in 1582, had already 

 planted "parterres" and " compartements " of "broderie," 

 according to the designs of the Sieur du Perac, the 

 king's architect, which were illustrated by De Serres. 

 Both Du Perac and De Serres were evidently well 

 acquainted with ornamental avenues of trees, par- 

 terres, bosquets, labyrinths, high and low palisades, 

 trelliswork, alleys whose vistas were terminated by 

 statues, fountains or perspectives painted on canvas, 

 grottoes, terraces, canals, and other water-works. There 

 was, however, a lack of freedom and continuity in the 

 contours, which gave the design a cramped appearance. 



Louis XIV, with his passion for power, splendour, The new 

 and centralization, began his reign by concentrating 

 the aristocracy in the neighbourhood of Paris, to shine 



