SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 205 



to and corresponded with the principal Englishmen of rank 

 who followed the fashion, and were lovers of gardens. His 

 works were translated by Evelyn and London and Wise, 

 and were quite the standard books in England, and his 

 illustrations of the manner of grafting and pruning, are 

 admirable. Rose, who was considered the best practical 

 gardener of his time, was sent by the Earl of Essex to study 

 at Versailles, and on his return he was appointed Royal 

 Gardener by Charles II. Thus the .French influence was 

 strong in England, and grand gardens, belonging to the 

 largest houses of the nobility, not old-fashioned manor-house 

 gardens, were laid out in the French style. 



One good reason w 7 hy it was in large gardens only that 

 this style was adopted, was, that to carry out such vast ideas 

 as those of Le Notre, space was required. The trees were 

 planted in longer, larger, bolder avenues. There were wide 

 paths and terraces, adorned with statues, and fountains and 

 cascades. All French pictures of gardens show also numbers 

 of seats, and arbours of stone, with a background of trellis- 

 work, or closely-clipped trees, in the form of alcoves and arches. 

 The semi-circular garden at Hampton Court was also laid out 

 during the reign of Charles II. under the direction of Le Notre. 

 He designed the avenues, and the canals which were " near 

 completed " in 1662. The gardens were somewhat altered a 

 few years later. In the time of Charles II. there was a 

 large central fountain, with syrens and statues, by Farrelli, 

 which was removed under William III., besides twelve smaller 

 fountains. The work was begun soon after the Restoration, 

 when Charles returned fresh from having seen the glories of 

 Versailles, spent large sums of money, perhaps with some 

 idea of rivalling the magnificence of Louis XIV. Among the 

 fountains were laid geometrical beds and plots of grass, each 

 with a conical-shaped yew in the centre. Some of these yews,, 

 no longer clipped into stiff forms,, still remain. 



One of the French gardeners who helped to carry out the 

 alterations at Hampton Court was Beaumont, who was the 

 designer of Levens in, Westmorland, though the work he did 

 there is certainly not in the style of Le Notre. At Levens there 



