French Gardening and Its Master 



is a name known to all men, — and of how many other names 

 in his art can that be said ? How many of the names I have 

 mentioned are kno\vn, except Palissy, whose work in other 

 lines is his chief claim to renown, beyond the circles of those 

 who have made a special study of the history of horticulture ? 

 In other arts one can run through a dozen names with ease, 

 but in gardening there is one man, and one only, of such com- 

 manding genius that his name is a household word and his 

 chief work a recognized classic. Le Notre resembled Shakes- 

 peare in another point, namely, that he was content to take 



THE CHATEAU FROM THE LAKE 



CHANTILLY 



the material ready at hand and perfect it, rather than run 

 to the ends of the earth for new motives on which to build, 

 new forms in w^iich to cast his work. The poise, the insight, 

 the imagination of genius of the first order was his ; but he 

 saw his field to be large enough in perfecting and in inter- 

 preting what his predecessors had prepared for him. The 

 quintessence of genius and of wisdom, this, — not to throw away 

 as nothing worth the skill of preceding ages and his own ; but to 

 seize it, treasure it, transmute it in the alembic of his own per- 

 sonality, — put it forth at last pure gleaming metal of creative 

 power. Of such stuff was the originality of Shakespeare in 



