16 THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



of their avenues, may be ranked among their charac- 

 teristic embellishments. 



But during the madness of the Revolution, gar- 

 dens of course could not be allowed alone to remain 

 unaltered ; and as Reason and Nature were to carry 

 everything before them, here too the English style 

 was of course adopted with the same amount of en- 

 thusiasm and of intelligence as they showed in taking 

 up the democratic parts of our constitution, Ermc- 

 nonville, the seat of Viscomte Girardin, was the- lirst 

 place of consequence laid out in the natural style, 

 and a more complete specimen of French adaptation 

 was never heard of. We have not space even to 

 glance at half its charms ; but some idea of the genius 

 loci may be conveyed from the fact that " a garden 

 in ruins " was one of its lions. And it seems tluit 

 the Viscomte kept a band of musicians continually 

 moving about, now on water, now on land, to draw 

 the attention of visitors to the right points of view 

 at the right time of the day; while Madame and 

 her daughters, in a sweet mixture of the natural, 

 the revolutionary, and the romantic, promenaded the 

 grounds, dressed in brown stuff, " en amazones" 

 with black hats ; and the young men wore " habille- 

 ments les plus simples et le plus propres d les faire 

 confondre avec les enfants des campagnards" * One 

 instance, more Frenchified and ridiculous still, was 

 that of the " Moulin Joli" of Watelet. He was a 



statue, and seeming to flow for some miles, by being artificially con- 

 tinued in the painting, where it sinks down, at the wall." 

 * Gaz. Lit. de 1' Europe, quoted by Loudon, Encyc., p. 80. 



