2/o ENGLISH PLEASURE GARDENS 



the natural garden to men who had only walked between 

 tonsured yews and rectilinear flower-borders." It was 

 praised by the poets and exemplified by many owners 

 of fine estates. The Abbe de Lille (entitled " le nou- 

 veau Dieu des Jardins " by the Prince de Ligne), whose 

 book called " Les Jardins " went through twenty edi- 

 tions, is loud in admiration 'of the pictorial side : 



" Moins pompeux qu'etegant moins de'core' que beau 

 Un jardin a mes yeux est un vaste tableau. 

 Les arbres, les rochers, et les eaux et les fleurs 

 Ce sont la vos pinceaux, vos toiles, vos couleurs." 



The Prince de Ligne, who wrote an essay called the 



the Prince 



de Ligne. Coup d'ceil sur les Jardins," laid out his estate at 

 Belceil in a style " tout a la fois magnifique et champetre." 

 His taste was for moderation ; he preserved tl\e gardens 

 of the old school designed for his father, while adding 

 pleasure grounds comprising all that was best in the 

 English fashion. He visited many of the gardens in 

 England, and showed his discrimination by objecting to 

 the temple mania at Stowe and to the cheap manufac- 

 ture of classic ruins and Gothic architecture, "apparently 

 inspired," he says, " by the delirium of a nightmare." 



Ermenon- At Ermenonville the Marquis de Girardin laid out 



rille. 



some gardens in the height of the new style, which 

 attracted much attention. One of his treasures on a 

 little island was Rousseau's grave. It was overshadowed 

 by tall poplars and marked by a monument of antique 



