SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 191 



he thanks Portland for the present of a chain, which, he 

 says, is more than he deserves for the Httle work he has done, 

 and accepts it only on condition that he would allow a portrait 

 of the King (WilUam III.) to be attached to it, and speaks of 

 his collection of medals. He then begs Portland to give his 

 protection to his nephew, and to enable him to see " the 

 houses," and to tell him to write his opinions to Le Notre, who 

 was probably to furnish plans for these places. The nephew 

 was Claude Desgots, who was born about 1655, and died in 

 1734, and was a favourite pupil of Le Notre, and directed for 

 him the works at Chantilly. He went to England in 1698, 

 and returned to France when his work was finished, " with 

 praise and presents," in 1700.^ 



In the second letter from Le Notre to Portland, dated 

 July nth, 1698, he thanks him for the kindness shown to this 

 nephew, and says with what pleasure he had heard how much 

 the Earl had admired Chantilly, and regrets that an attack of 

 jaundice had prevented him from personally showing him over 

 it. He begs Portland to submit his drawings to the King, and 

 asks that any instructions he might have to give might be ex- 

 plained to his nephew (Desgots). Le Notre ends by hoping he 

 may again have the pleasure of showing the beauties of Ver- 

 sailles, etc., to Portland. There is no word of recollection of any 

 place in England, although this letter would seem a favourable 

 moment for recalling any former acquaintance with places he 

 was about to lay out. It is probable that the drawings were 

 plans for the garden at Windsor, as, in a letter written at Paris 

 on March 7th, 1698, from the Earl of Portland to William III., 

 the following passage occurs : " M. Le Nostre me fera un plan 

 pour les jardins projettez a Windsor."^ It is not known 

 whether Le Notre actually designed anything for Portland 

 himself ; there is no record of his employment at Bulstrode, 

 the Earl's place in England, or at Zorgoliet, near The Hague, 

 although his garden there was a fine one, in the French 

 style. 



* M. Edouard Andre quotes me Le Mercure de France, which says : 

 William III., " le renvoya avec louanges et presents, 1700." 



^ Extract from a letter in the possession of the Duke of Portland at 

 Welbeck Abbey. 



