GARDENS OF VARIOUS NATIONS. 587 



century, Charlemagne encouraged the art of gardening, and introduced 

 the best fruits into his kingdom ; nevertheless that art does not 

 appear to have attained to anything like perfection until the seventeenth 

 century, when, as a brilliant comet, the genius of Le Notre suddenly 

 burst forth. Ere this, however, Francis I. formed some pleasure- 

 grounds at Fontainebleau, in imitation of those he had seen in Italy ; 

 these, from what we can gather, must have somewhat resembled the 

 one of Pliny at Tusculum. The terrace, at a later period, was made 

 by Le N6tre, who also considerably altered the arrangements of the 

 grounds ; and still later, the part which is now known as the English 

 garden was planned. 



Shortly before the first Revolution, and towards the middle of the 

 last century, the English style of gardening became very fashionable in 

 France ; so much so, indeed, that many of the old geometric gardens 

 were even destroyed, and relaid out according to the new system. 

 Marie Antoinette caused the pretty grounds of the Petit Trianon 

 at Versailles to be so arranged. 



No city perhaps possesses so many beautiful gardens, parks, and 

 promenades as Paris. The beautiful grounds adjoining the Tuileries 

 Palace were designed by Le Ndtre. Sculpture and basins of water 

 with fountains, and a profusion of flowers, are here everywhere to 

 be seen. Here too in the summer months are rows of orange-trees, 

 perfuming the air with their flowers, reminding one of the redolence 

 of the orange gardens of Italy. Immediately adjoining the Palace 

 is the English garden, and this used to be kept railed off from the 

 public part during the residence of the Imperial family in this city. 

 A fine vista is obtained from the centre pavilion, along a broad straight 

 walk hned on each side by tall trees. Beyond this garden is the 

 Champs d'Elysee, in which, besides trees, are numerous parterres of 

 flowers, amidst which are fountains. Beyond this again, and past 

 the Arc de Triomphe, is the Bois de Boulogne, laid out by the 

 Emperor Napoleon III., and which, for the exquisite taste shown 

 in it, combining as it does the wildness of a wood and the high 

 cultivation of a flower garden, deserves at least a word of the highest 



