XV111 



whose biography is interestingly drawn in the Biog. 

 Univers. ; Lezay de Marnesia, whose poems de la Na- 

 ture Champetre, and le Bonheur dans les Campagnes, 

 have passed through many editions, and of whom 

 pleasing mention is made in the above Biog. Univers. ; 

 M. de Fontaine, author of Le Verger; Masson de 

 Blamont, the translator of Mason's Garden, and 

 Whately's Observations; Francois Rosier; Berth olan, 

 the friend of Franklin. 



I am indebted, in a great measure, for the above 

 list of French authors, to that immense body of dif- 

 fuse and elaborate information, the Encyclopaedia 

 of Gardening, by Mr. Loudon. 



Those who are more conversant with the literature 

 of France, than my very limited researches have ex- 

 tended to, can, no doubt, easily enumerate many very 

 distinguished persons of that country, many talented 

 men, who though they may not have written on the 

 subject of gardens, yet evinced an ardent attachment 

 to them, and became their munificent patrons. Let 

 us not then omit the name of Charles the Great, or 

 Charlemagne, in one of whose Capitulaires are Di- 

 rections concerning Gardens, and what plants are best 

 to set in them. He died in 814, after reigning forty- 

 seven years over France : " Quoiqu'il ne sut pas 

 ecri^re (says the Nouv. Diet. Hist.), il fit fleurer les 

 sciences. Aussi grand par ses conquetes, que par 

 1'amour des lettres, et en fut le protecteur et la restau- 

 rateur. Son palais fut i'asyle des sciences. Le nom 



