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show that he understood the laws of balance, variety, 

 and contrast, as well as those of symmetry. But in look- 

 ing at the plans it must be remembered that the 

 gardens were never actually seen from a bird's-eye point 

 of view, that perspective would give the straight paths 

 the appearance of converging, that trees and shrubs of 

 varying height filled the geometric outlines of the 

 " bosquets," that light and shadow played in and out of 

 the scene. Such gardens were far from rigidly formal 

 or monotonous when executed in the right spirit. Each 

 feature had its object. The broad paths were to afford 

 sufficient space for the enormous hoop-skirts of the 

 ladies, the covered alleys gave opportunity for private 

 conversation, the " bosquets " were " salons " for royal 

 entertainments. Even the ornamentation had its dis- 

 tinct purpose, and was not carelessly distributed. 



The most celebrated of these great gardens now re- The best 

 maining is Versailles, though in their day Marly and 

 St. Cloud were considered equally fine. During the life 

 of Louis XIV, Versailles underwent constant changes. 

 At first the palace was a hunting-lodge and the grounds 

 insignificant. In the middle of the seventeenth century, 

 Louis took up his abode there, and alteration succeeded 

 alteration, until, when the grounds were completely laid 

 out, he destroyed his own creations in order to replace 

 them by new marvels. The vast enclosure of the park 

 was a parallelogram divided into halves by a wide opening 



