HISTORICAL EPILOGUE 357 



Charles Estienne or Stephens, a member of the family of 

 France's first and greatest printers, was also one of the first of 

 her scholars and garden-lovers ; and by his little book, * De re 

 hortensi libellus,' a sort of grammar and syntax of the garden-art, 

 and his larger and more practical work in collaboration with 

 Liebault, the 'Prcedium Rusticum' or 'Maison Rustique,' 1 

 showed that for him the w r ell-known printing emblem of his family 

 had a literal as well as symbolic meaning. 2 



7 his work prepared the way for Olivier de Serres, 'the Father 

 of Agriculture,' and his * Theatre d'Agriculture,' (its title showing 

 the tendency of the Gaul to seek the dramatic even in the pastoral;) 

 wherein Claude Mollet, the King's gardener, is commended for 

 his invention of his famous 'Parterres de Broderies,' of which 

 specimens are given. Mollet was the ancestor of several 

 generations of great Gardeners, who produced between them 

 the ' Theatre des Plans et Jardinages.' 



Francis I., who died in 1547, in building his Palace of Fontaine- 

 bleau had introduced into the Garden some of the features of 

 Italian Gardens. Of Androuet du Cerceau we have already 

 spoken, and Richelieu's Gardens at Rueil were so magnificent as 

 to make Evelyn doubt 'whether Italy has any exceeding them 

 for varieties of pleasure.' 3 



And now we reach perhaps the greatest name in the whole 

 History of Gardens ; a name which is a synonym for the highest 

 magnificence in Formal or Architectural Gardening, and like all 

 greatness has to bear the burden of the faults of feeble imitation. 



At a first glance the accompanying portrait might pass for that of 

 the Grand Monarch himself, but it is only that of his head gardener, 

 Andre Le Notre. We have Saint Simon's word for it 4 that he was 

 a man of great simplicity, honesty and integrity, whose only thought 

 was to aid Nature at the lowest cost. In spite of his endeavours 

 to be natural and keep down expense, Versailles Gardens are 



1 See ante pp. 43"45- 



2 That of a gardener grafting on" an olive tree with the motto : Rawi 

 frangiint-ur lit insererer. 



:! See ante pp. 51, and 104-107. 4 See ante pp. 102-3. 



