Gardens of Versailles. 7 



keep the trees belonging to the same natural order or tribe 

 together, or not far asunder. In each separate straight ave- 

 nue we would employ only one sort of tree, but in curved 

 avenues several sorts ; because the beauty there depends less 

 upon succession and uniformity than in the straight avenue. 



The trees in the Bois de Boulogne, which had attained a 

 timber size, were nearly all cut down in 1815, when the wood 

 was occupied by the Cossacks and other foreign troops ; and 

 those trees which now line the roads, having been planted 

 since that period, are consequently without much shade or 

 general effect. It is with great pleasure that we add, that, 

 when we saw them, these roads and trees were in the very 

 highest order and keeping. 



Of the Royal Gardens, which come next in order, we shall 

 have very little to say. In short, when we think of the Royal 

 Gardens of Germany and Russia, we have seen very few gar- 

 dens of this class, in either England or France, which we 

 think worth lookina; at, or at least talking about. 



Dec. 24. — The Gardens of Versailles are dreary beyond 

 what can be imagined, when they are not filled with company ; 

 and there is not a spot or a corner in them to exercise the 

 imagination, unless it be the orangery, which contains trees 

 of upwards of three centuries old. The water-Works in these 

 gardens are too intricate and curious to be grand, and very 

 different indeed from the two magnificent columns of water, 

 which rise to the height of nearly 1 00 ft., in front of the 

 palace of Nymphenburg, near Munich. The pleasure of 

 walking in these gardens is materially lessened by their 

 sloping surface, and in many parts of them by the want of 

 shade. There is a baldness in the immediate front of the 

 palace, which nothing can remove but an immense crowd of 

 people ; for all the arenas and courtyards at Versailles are 

 too large for the length of the buildings, at least according to 

 modern tastCi Compared with plantations of the present 

 day, there is a great want of variety in the sorts of trees 

 employed ; though this defect will be amply made up to those 

 who have paid but little attention to botany, by the number 

 and diversity of the marble statues. Notwithstanding all these, 

 and many other observations which we could make on the 

 causes of the little pleasure afforded by these gardens when 

 not full of company, and of their inaptitude for being made 

 the most of when filled, we should be sorry to see them 

 neglected. Since they have been created at an enormous 

 expense, let them be kept in repair for their mmte historique / 

 for the moral lesson which that conveys ; and for the enjoy- 

 ment of the public, as a sort of superior Sceaux. The palace, 



B 4 



