78 



GARDEN CRAFT IN EUROPE 



PARTERRES AT ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE, 

 DESIGNED BY CLAUDE MOLLET. 



Parrtrrt4 Ju cjUsdt U/<'itr.unf JuMrrcurt aS§t^m.un J Uyc thc firSt adommeilt of E Royal 



palace should be a grand double 

 avenue or triple row of elms or 

 limes, " which ought to be laid 

 out at right angles with the front 

 of the house ; at the beginning of 

 the avenue there should be a large 

 semicircle or square, so that the 

 general design can be better ob- 

 served. Then at the back of the 

 house there should be constructed 

 parterres en broderie near it so that 

 they can be easily enjoyed from the 

 windows without any obstacles of 

 trees, palisades or any other high 

 objects that might impede the eye 

 from seeing their full extent." 



Another garden author of 

 the. sixteenth century was Andre Mizauld, who published many works, 

 chiefly in Latin. The first one which relates to gardening appeared in 

 1564; it was followed by other pamphlets and the whole was collected 

 by Caille, a physician, and published in 1578 in French.^ The work 

 was translated into German and printed at Basle in 1675. Mizauld 

 was known in his day as the Escula-pe de France^ and his writings were held 

 in great repute, but the descriptions relating to the design of gardens 

 cannot compare in charm with those of Bernard Palissy. 



In examining the maps of Paris at this period it is astonishing to find 

 the large number of beautiful gardens that existed in the sixteenth and 

 seventeenth centuries, of which hardly any trace now remains. Their 

 sites, that might have been used to so great advantage for the creation of 

 public squares, have in many cases been built over, and in this respect Paris 

 has suffered much more than London. The plan of Gomboust, 1642, shows 

 the botanic garden of Nicholas Houel, famed for its pavilions and fountains ; 



* Le jardinage de Mizauld contenant la manure d'embellir les jardins et comment il faut enter 

 es arbres et lesrendre medicinaux. Paris, 1578. Andre de la Caille. Another edition published 

 in 1607 is entitled La Maison Champestre, by E. Vinet et A. Mizauld. 



