THE ENGLISH LANDSCAPE SCHOOL 



307 



offered the appointment of Commissioner for the establishment of a botanic 

 garden at Versailles, but as he had never been paid for his work at the Tuil- 

 eries he respectfully declined the appointment and preferred to return to 

 his old profession of garden-designer. He was one of the most famous 

 designers in the style anglais on the Continent, and his work extended 

 to Holland, Germany and Austria. At Monceau there was a grove of 

 tombs, an Italian vineyard, and a very curious hexagonal plot with central 

 space laid out for roses, to which were added three other gardens, each con- 

 taining flowers of one colour only ; there was a group of rustic cottages, a 

 Dutch windmill upon a foundation of rock, a Tartar tent, and lastly the 

 Jeu de Bague, with 

 real Chinese attend- W^M^^^^m 

 ants. 



In 1778 the 

 Comte d'Artois,who 

 had just completed 

 the little chateau of 

 Bagatelle, secured the 

 services of Blaikie to 

 lay out the gardens. 

 The pavilion had 

 been planned upon 

 an oblong piece of 

 land bordering the 

 kitchen gardens of 

 the " Chateau de 



Madrid" in the Bois de Boulogne, and remained until in 1777 the Count 

 made a wager with the Queen that he would erect another pavilion in 

 two months, a feat which he accomplished at enormous expense. In 

 later times Bagatelle came into the hands of Sir Richard Wallace, who 

 made the place famous for its wonderful flower display, and recently the 

 whole property has been bought by the City of Paris. 



In 1808 Alexandre Laborde published his Description des nouveaux 

 Jardins de la France et de ses Chateaux. Laborde's work gives the best 

 account we have of the " English garden " in France, and having been written 

 at the beginning of the nineteenth century gives an accurate picture of 



BAGATELLE. 



