SEVKXTEKXTII CEXTL'RY. 197 



One good reason why 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 

 is a portrait of him with this inscription on it, " M. Beaumont, 

 gardener to James II., and Colonel James Grahme. He laid 

 out the gardens at Hampton Court and at Levens." Colonel 

 Grahme was a staunch adherent of James II., and after the 

 Revolution of i68g, for political reasons, found it safest to 

 live in the North, on the estate he had lately purchased, .and 

 it was during his tnne, and under the direction of Beaumont, 

 that the gardens assumed the form which they retain almost 

 unaltered to this day. They are, therefore, a most perfect 

 example of the Dutch type of garden of this period. One 

 feature which was apparent in every garden of this date, 

 was the bowling-green or alley, which had come into fashion 



