Ill THE FORMAL GARDEN 59 



ment it has ever reached, and this by no 

 violent reform or blundering originality, but 

 by profound thought on the lines laid down by 

 his predecessors. Something of the grandeur 

 of Le Notre, some flavour of his lordly 

 manner, spread to England, and for the next 

 fifty years or so the grounds of the great 

 noblemen's country-houses were laid out on a 

 scale compared with which even Bacon's 30 

 acres seems a trifling afl^air ; for Le Notre 

 had covered 200 acres with gardens at Ver- 

 sailles, and the great terrace which he built 

 at St. Germain- en -Laye is li mile long and 

 1 1 5 feet wide. There is a story that Le 

 Notre actually came to England to lay out the 

 grounds of Greenwich and St. James's Parks ; 

 but there appears to be no evidence of this. 

 There is a plan of the palace and grounds of 

 St. James's in Kip's book. The gardens covered 

 the whole of the space now taken up by 

 Marlborough House and Carlton House Terrace, 

 and terminated in a grove laid out as a patte- 

 d'oie, or goose foot, on the site now occupied 

 by the oflices of the London County Council 

 and other buildings. A straight canal bordered 

 by double rows of trees extended from the 

 Chelsea Gate to opposite the Tiltyard. The 

 only vestige of the original laying out is the 

 quadruple avenue which runs from Buckingham 

 Palace to Spring Gardens. It is also doubtful 

 whether Le Notre personally had anything to 



