VERSAILLES. 15 



veiled terraces, long alleys of yew and hornbeam, 

 vast orangeries, groves planted in the quincunx 

 style, and waterworks embellished with, and con- 

 ducted through, every variety of sculptured orna- 

 ment. It takes the middle line between the other 

 two geometric schools ; admitting more sculpture 

 and other works of art than the Italian, but not 

 overpowered with the same number of " huge masses 

 of littleness " as the Dutch. There is more of pro- 

 menade, less of parterre ; more gravel than turf ; 

 more of the deciduous than of the evergreen tree. 

 The practical water-wit of drenching the spectators 

 was in high vogue in the ancient French gardens ; 

 and Evelyn, in his account of the Duke of Richelieu's 

 villa, describes with some relish how " on going, two 

 extravagant musketeers shot at us with a stream of 

 water from their musket-barrels." Contrivances for 

 dousing the visitors " especially the ladies " which 

 once filled so large a space in the catalogue of every 

 show-place, seem to militate a little against the 

 national character for gallantry ; but the very fact 

 that everything was done to surprise the spectator 

 and stranger evinces how different was the French 

 idea of a garden from the home and familiar pleasures 

 which an Englishman looks to in his. Paintings on 

 a large scale, and illusive perspectives* at the end 



* An instance of these " agreeable deceptions," perfectly character- 

 istic of the French taste of the day, may he given from Evelyn's 

 tour: " In the Rue de la Seine is a little garden, which, though 

 very narrow, by the addition of a well-painted perspective is to ap- 

 pearance greatly enlarged ; to this there is another part, supported by 

 arches, in which runs a stream of water, rising in the aviary, out a 



