186 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



vious position in Sweden, and as pupil of his father, who had 

 held an honourable one in France, he probably considered him- 

 self quite capable of making his own designs, without appealing 

 to Le Notre. Moreover, it appears from the following interest- 

 ing letters that it was for Greenwich that Charles II. especially 

 desired the services of Le Notre. It seemed, when M. Edouard 

 Andre, a few years ago, discovered these fragments among the 

 papers relating to foreign affairs in Paris, that the mystery of 

 the visit to England would at length be cleared up. 1 But while 

 they fix the time of his intended visit, they offer no proof that 

 he actually came. 



M. Batailler 2 d de Lionne {fragment). 



Mai, 1662. 

 Le Roi d'Angleterre se promenant, il y a deux jours, dans le pare 

 de St. James, et me parlant des embellissements qu'il pretendait faire 

 dans ses maisons, et particulierement a Greenwich, me temoigna qu'il 

 aurait besoin pour cela de M. Lenostre qui a la conduite des jardins du 

 Roi, et qu'il me priait d'en ecrire a Sa Majeste, afin qu'elle voulut lui 

 permettre de faire un voyage en Angleterre ; depuis, j 'ai su qu'il a charg6 

 le Comte de Saint Albans de l'amener avec lui au retour de son ambas- 

 sade ; il part dans deux jours pour Portsmouth, d'ou il doit passer en 

 France, soudain apres que la Reine d'Angleterre aura debarque. 



Le Roi [Louis XIV.] d M. Batailler [fragment). 



Quoique j'aie tous les jours besoin de Lenostre, qui est fort occupe 

 pour moi a Fontainebleau, je lui permettrai volontiers d'aller faire un 

 tour en Angleterre, puisque le Roi le desire. 



A Paris, le 28 Mai, 1662. 



The Comte de St. Albans here referred to was Henry Jermyn, 

 who was created Earl of St. Albans at the Restoration. He 

 was constantly going to and fro between England and France 

 on missions of State. 3 In 1660 he was Ambassador Extra- 



1 I am indebted to the courtesy of M. Edouard Andre for permission 

 to publish these letters, which he found when collecting material for 

 a life of Le Notre, a work not yet completed. 



2 There is a " passport for Mr. Batailler to return to France with his 

 baggage " in the Record Office State Papers, France (vol cxvi., p. 113). 

 It has no date, but is endorsed in a modern hand " about 1662." 



3 Rushbrooke Parish Registers, 1567-1856 ; also with Jermyn and 

 Davers' Annals, by S. IL A. IL, Bury St. Edmunds, 1902. 



