586 GARDENS OF VARIOUS NATIONS. 



and repose by the contemplation of Nature's works. These remind us 

 of those little gardens, with their summer-houses, which some of the 

 tradespeople of the East of London possess at Lea Bridge. 



If the Dutch cannot be said to have an innate taste in the laying 

 out of grounds, great credit is due to them for their knowledge of the 

 art of horticulture, more especially in that branch of it which apper- 

 tains to the growth of bulbous flowers. These at an early period 

 they procured from the East, and by great gkill they have managed to 

 bring them to a perfection unequalled by any other nation. Haarlem 

 is the chief place for perfecting the different species of bulbs ; and 

 not only do the Dutch cultivate them as a means of livelihood, but 

 from an exceedingly great love which they possess for these gaudy 

 flowers. In the seventeenth century the passion of this nation for 

 tulips was so great that it was known by the name of the tulipomania, 

 and, as may readily be understood, all the evils likely to attend 

 such a mania occurred. The French author Dumas has very ably 

 shown this in a fictitious tale called the "Black Tulip." 



France claims to be the school of the geometric system of gardens. 

 Le Ndtre, the founder of this style, was a celebrated architect and 

 designer of gardens, and had previously, in his youth, studied painting 

 in the studio of Lebrun. His dief-d' oeuvre were the gardens of 

 Versailles, which were formed during the reign and under the auspices 

 of Louis XIV. The boldness and the grandeur of Le Ndtre's 

 designs prove him to have been gifted with a lofty genius. Truly 

 Versailles — previous to the construction of the Crystal Palace Gardens, 

 which were made a hundred years later — might have vied in its 

 magnificence with the " Hanging Gardens " of Babylon. How 

 different is it to the niggardly geometric Dutch gardens ! Versailles, 

 as most of my readers are doubtless aware, consists of immense 

 terraces and parterres, and fountains of world-wide repute are 

 placed in different parts of the grounds. Unfortunately, most of 

 the trees near to the Palace are clipped into shape. 



Gardens have ever been a passion among the French, and therefore, 

 as may be supposed, abound in their country. So early as the eighth 



