327 



niiniiferp, ail)i)ios annosas non esse transferendas." — Ilislor. Rcr. m 

 Bras, gcstar. [u 210—212. 



Note XII. Page 61. 



As gardening, in its largest sense, is so intimately connected with 

 our present subject, and as Le Notre was the person whose example 

 swayed the taste of all I'jurope, Great Britain only excepted, for more 

 than a century, and still continues to sway tlie greater part of it, it may 

 be worth while, in this place, to bestow a brief notice on the style and 

 character of both the man and his works. 



Le Notre was by profession an architect, and by his uncommon turn 

 for garden-decoration, became a first-rate favourite with Lewis XIV. ; 

 who, besides ennobling him, bestowed on him the appointment of comp- 

 troller-general of buildings, and director of the royal gardens. To the 

 rectilinear gardens, and elaborate topiary works handed down from 

 antiquity, he added rich parterres, and magnificent triumphal arches, 

 .ong and straight alleys, lofty cascades and fountains, with their gro- 

 tesque and strange decorations, grottos filled with architecture, and 

 trellis-work covered with gilding ; and these, intermixed with a multi- 

 tude of thermes and statues, seemed to the French, unaccustomed as 

 they were to relish the real beauties of nature, the ne plus ultra of 

 human invention. Professor Hirschfeld of Kiel, the German historian 

 of modem gardening, from whom we derive these particulars, says, that 

 it was the personal character of the monarch himself, and the taste of 

 the age, which began to be attracted towards the restoration of the fine 

 arts, that chiefly raised Le Notre to the summit of fame and popularity. 

 But the nation, as well as the court, wanted to be dazzled ; and both 

 were captivated and enchanted with what seemed at once to unite 

 novelty with singularity. Ornament and tinsel, pomp and brilliancy 

 were thus universally preferred to correct taste, and true greatness of 

 design. It must, however, be acknowledged, adds this judicious 

 writer, that Le Notre's genius was admirably suited to the taste of 

 the times in which he lived, and fully gratified the leading prejudices of 

 the French character. Die nation, so xoohl als tier hof wolten nur ge- 

 blendet, nur durch das neue und ausserordentliche angezaubert wer- 

 den. Man sake mehr auf das, was glanz und pracht hatte, als aitf 

 reinen geschmack, und stille grosse. Es ist aber nicht zu Idugnen, 

 dass die manier des Le Notre gerade dieses herrschende vorurtheil, 

 diesen geschmack seiner zeit bcfriedichte. — Theorie der Gartenkunst, 

 B. V. p. 255. 



