66 THE GARDENS OF THE TAJ 



edifices," When, as in 1660, a splendid living 

 art flourished in Europe, that of India was not 

 despised. And I cannot leave Bernier at the Taj 

 without quoting the following delightful extract : 

 " The last time I visited Tage Mehale's mausoleum 

 I was in company of a French merchant, who, as 

 well as myself, thought that this extraordinary 

 fabric could not be sufficiently admired. I did 

 not venture to express my opinion, fearing that 

 my taste might have become corrupted by my 

 long residence in the Indies ; and as my com- 

 panion was come recently from France, it was 

 quite a relief to my mind to hear him say that 

 he had seen nothing in Europe so bold and 

 majestic." 



The various gay parterres mentioned by 

 Bernier have all been swept away, excepting 

 only _the stone-bordered, star-shaped beds along 

 the canals, which are now laid out in grass. 

 The cypress avenues have been replanted, but 

 one looks round the garden in vain for that 

 favourite motive which so many forms of Moslem 

 art borrowed from garden-craft, the symbolic 

 mixed avenues of cypress and flowering tree. 

 Palms have recently been planted round the 

 central raised tank and its fountain parterre. 



