LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



so to 



im- 



plates for parterres and labyrinths. Botany began ah 

 be cultivated about this time, the taste having been 

 ported from Italy, where it originally had its rise, this 

 country being now looked up to by all Europe as the 

 fountain of learning and elegance. 



The Royal Botanic Garden of Paris was first opened 

 in 1634; and Boyceau published his 'J'railt- du Jurtli- 

 nagf telon la raison dr la nature et de I' art, with figures, 

 in 1658. From this book it appears, that considerable 

 ptugrim had been made in the more common and easy 

 descriptions of planting and orcharding, but very little, 

 a Bernard, a modern writer also infonns us, in the cul- 

 ture of exotics. 



Le Notre, during the reign of Lewis the XIV. im- 

 proved and ettleil the French taste in Inying out 

 grounds. ThU taste, Eustace mentions, they acquired 

 originally, as they did every thing else, from Italy ; to 

 wrnch country Le Notre was sent to study the art. He 

 returned, and seem^ to have determined on exceeding, 

 at least in magnitude, every thing he had seen. His 

 chief work i* that of Versailles ; though there is scarce- 

 ly a country in Europe for which he has not given de- 

 ttgm. His taste and manner continued in full repute 

 for above a century ; and appears to have been in gene- 

 ral vogue to late as 1771, 50 years after the introduc- 

 tion of the modern style in England ; for the editor of 

 the Journal EncyclojjeHiqut of that year, in a critique-on 

 the French translation of Wheatly's Observations on Mo- 

 dem Gardening, after the most liberal encomiums on 

 the work, expreuea his doubts as to how it would be 

 received in Franc*, where he adds, " Le Notre's school 

 is still followed, and every rich proprietor is anxious 

 that his garden, if it doe* not resemble, shall, at least, 

 recal to hit mind those of the court at Versailles, 



<-V. ; .r, .- 



Trianon, Meudon, Sceaux, or 



The editor. Millin, mentions Diifresnoy, cotempo- 

 rary of Le Notre, as an artist of greater genius, and 

 more attached to natural beauties, though less known 



rib talent for designing gardens than by his corae- 

 The French nobles, as Hir.ihfivld has remark- 

 ed, were not attached to a country life. As they did 

 not engage in agriculture, and took little or no interest 

 in the welfare of their tenantry ; all that they had to de- 

 tain them at their chateaus was the enjoyment of field 

 sport,(to which, as a nation, they are not greatly attach- 

 ed, ) and the inability of supporting the expences of 

 a residence in town. The splendour of the court, and 

 the gaiety and bustle of a city life, better suited their 

 natural character ; which this erudite author thinks 

 may account for their best gardens being in or near to 

 their Urge towns, as well as for a too profuse introduc- 

 tion of little and trifling ornaments. Among these he 

 reckons vases and flower-pott, with which, in Lord 

 Walpole's time, every walk in Marshal Biron's garden, 

 of 14 acres, was " carefully buttoned." 



It is very probable that gardeningwas never entire- 

 ly neglected in Italy from the time of the Romans ; 

 dtoiijn in what consideration it was held during the 

 r periods of the Western Empire does not appear. 

 the othi-i 



With the other arts, it was revived and patroni-d by 

 the Medici family, in the beginning of the 16th cen- 

 tury ; and the most celebrated garden*, we are in- 

 formed by Mr. Roscoe, were those of Lorenzo de Me- 

 dici, and of the wealthy Bernard Ruccllai. The latter 

 served as a mode] for the famous Boboli garden at 

 Florence, and those of the Vatican, and of the Medici, 

 Borghese, Aldobrandini, and other palaces in Rome." 

 (Quaritri, Her it*. Jan. 1817 ; Roscoe's Life of Lio the 



VOL. III. P4T II. 



X. vol. ii. octavo edit.) Public botanic gardens, esta- History. 

 blished in Italy about the middle of the preceding cen- *" " V~ ' 

 tury, (Istoria Bolanicn di Giacomo, Bologna, 1(57.5,) led 

 to an extension of the culture of flowers in private 

 gardens, and rendered them less exclusively architec- 

 tural than formerly. Warton, in his Essay on Pope, 5th 

 edit, mentions, that in t'Adamo, a poem written and 

 published at Milan in 1(517, by G. B. Andreini, a Flo- 

 rentine, " the prints that are to represent Paradise are 

 /ull of dipt hedges, square parterres, straight walks, 

 trees uniformly lopt, regular knots and carpets of flow- 

 ers, groves nodding at groves, marble fountains and 

 water-works ;" a fact which gives rise to many curious 

 reflections. In a very complete and learned work, Is- 

 toria e coltura delie piante con vn Traltato dell Architet- 

 tura d"nn Gtardino, &c. published at Venice in 1726, 

 by B. C'larici, the same style is treated of and dis- 

 played in an elegant engraved bird's-eye view of the 

 palace and gardens of S. Gerardo Sagredo, at Morocco, 

 near Venice. In Percier's L'hoix dcs plus Celebrex mai- 

 lontde plaisance de Rome, Kraft's l'ii:ies, and Laborcle's 

 Design*, may be seen the general arrangement of an 

 Italian villa, both of the last century, and the present 

 day. It differs nothing in the general features from 

 the description of the French style which we have just 

 given ; but in detail is much more architectural ; and 

 the area of the garden being less, the statues, termini, 

 marble fountains, seats, &c. which characterize it, are 

 placed more closely together. Their effect, however, 

 is well harmonized by the exuberant vegetation, rich 

 display of oranges, and other fruits and flower?, and 

 by the clear sky, and mild climate. 



From Italy the taste for gardening, and especially Gardens of 

 systematic botany, was tint carried to Holland and the Low 

 the Belgic provinces during the flourishing periods of Countrics ' 

 Dutch commerce in the beginning of the 16th century. 

 This attachment to the study of plants led to a great 

 degree of horticultural perfection among the Dutch, 

 and ultimately characterized their style. We are in- 

 formed by Deleuze that, in I SCO, exotic plants were 

 more cultivated in the Low Countries than any where 

 else. This taste, which had existed among them from 

 the time of the crusades, and increased by the commer- 

 cial intercourse of the Flemings with the West Indies, 

 was particularly prevalent under the Dukes of Burgun- 

 dy. During the civil wars which afterwards desolated 

 these provinces, many of the estates of the wealthy were, 

 ravaged and destroyed. Lohcl, in his " Histoirc des 

 Planle*,'' published in 157ft. deplores the misfortunes 

 of hu time, and gives a Hat of the most considerable 

 country seats and gardens which had been desolated by 

 the enemy. 



The parterre and botanic gardens appear to have ar- 

 rived at perfection in these countries, probably from 

 the great number of species, then introduced and culti- 

 vated, requiring to be arranged in some regular form. 

 This characteristic of the Dutch style is a very natural 

 invention of a plodding industrious people, with few 

 overgrown nobles, and occupying a dull flat country. 

 The Dutch have still the reputation of excelling every 

 other people in the culture of bulbous roots ; and it is 

 only in Holland that a citizen's garden can be found 

 wholly occupied by beds and knots of flowers, without 

 either trees, shrubs, or culinary productions. 



To the flatness of the country may also be traced, in 

 some degree at lea--t, their attempts to find resources in. 

 grassy terraces and slopes, perspectives of hedges, and 

 other topiarian works, which they carried to a greater 



3x 



