86 



HISTORY OF GARDENING 



Part I. 



says, this artist gave the model of natural gardens on a piece of ground winch belonged 

 to him in the Faubourg Saint Antoine, already alluded to, and thus fixed the principles 

 of natural (that is, English] gardening in France about the commencement of the last 

 century Lauder is the first French author who espoused the English style of garden- 

 ing in his Essai sur V Architecture, published in 1753 ; and next in order Prev6t, in his 

 Homme du Gout, published in 1770. About the same time, the first notable example 

 was preparing at Ermenonville, the seat of Viscount Girardin, about ten leagues 

 from Paris. An account of this place was written by Girardin himself in 1775, and 

 published in 1777. It was soon after translated into English by D. Malthus, Esq. 

 and is well known for its eloquent descriptions of romantic and picturesque scenes. 

 Morel observes, in his Theorie des Jardins, published in 1766, that very little had been 

 done previously to 1766 : he mentions Ermenonville, as to which he had been con- 

 sulted, and the Due d'Aumont's park at Guiscard, and a seat near Chateau 

 Thiery, chiefly laid out by him. Soon after Morel's work, Delille's celebrated poem, 

 (Les Jardins,) made its appearance, and is perhaps a more unexceptionable performance 

 than The English Garden of Mason. The French, indeed, have written much better 

 on gardening and agriculture than they have practised, a circumstance which may be 

 accounted for, from the general concentration of wealth and talent in the capital, where 

 books are more frequent than examples ; and of professional reputation in that country, 

 depending more on what a man has written, than on what he has done. It does not ap- 

 pear that English gardening was ever at all noticed by the court of France. 



167 Ermenonville (fig.ll.), still in the Girardin family, but now rather neglected, appears to have been 

 laid out in a chaste and picturesque style, and in this respect to have been somewhat different and superior 



to contemporary English places. The chateau (a) was placed on an island in the lake, near the village (A). 

 Among other objects in the grounds were Rousseau's cottage (c) ; his tomb in the Island of Poplars (d) ; 

 that of the landscape-painter Mahier, who had assisted Girardin in designing the improvements in an 

 adjoining island (e) ; a garden in ruins (/), and the grand cascade (g). Useless buildings were in a great 

 degree avoided, and the picturesque effect of every object carefully considered, not in exclusion of, but in 

 connection with their utility. There is hardly an exceptionable principle, or even direction referring to 

 landscape-gardening laid down in the course of Girardin's Essay ; and in all that relates to the pictu- 

 resque, it is remarkable how exactly it corresponds with the ideas of Price. Girardin, high in military 

 rank, had previously visited every part of Europe, and paid particular attention to England, and before 

 publishing his work, he had the advantage of consulting those of Wheatley, Shenstone, G. Mason, ami 

 Chambers, from the first of which he has occasionally borrowed. He professes, however, that his object 

 is neither to create English gardens, nor Chinese gardens, and less to divide his grounds into pleasure- 

 grounds, parks, or ridings, than to produce interesting landscapes, " paysages interessans" &c. He re- 

 ceived the professional aid of J. M. Morel, the Kent of France, who' afterwards published Theorie des 

 Jardins, and probably that of his guest Rousseau, who seems to have composed the advertisement to 

 his book. Magellan, in the Gazette Litteraire de P Europe for 1778, in giving some account of the last 

 days of Rousseau, who died at Ermenonville, and was buried in the Island of Poplars (d) there, informs us, 

 that Girardin kept a band of musicians, who constantly perambulated the grounds making concerts some- 

 times in the woods, and at other times on the waters, and in scenes calculated for particular seasons, so 

 as to draw the attention of visitors to them at the proper time. At night they returned to the house, 

 and performed in a room adjoining the hall of company. Madame Girardin and her daughters were 

 clothed in common brown stuff, en amazones, with black hats, while the young men wore " habillcments 

 le plus simple et le pluspropres a les /aire confondre avec les enfans du campagnards," &c. 



