SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 187 



ordinary to Paris, to arrange the marriage of Princess Hen- 

 rietta with the Duke of Orleans, which took place in March, 

 1661. On May 21st, 1662, Charles II. married Catharine of 

 Braganza at Portsmouth, and while there St. Albans arrived 

 as the bearer of a letter from Henrietta Maria, and returned 

 to France with one from Charles II. to his sister. All these 

 facts corroborate the letter of M. Batailler. St. Albans was 

 soon back again from France, in the company of the Queen- 

 mother, and in July, 1662, was with her at Greenwich Palace. 

 Together they visited Evelyn at Sayes Court, who records in 

 his Diary that they were " pleased to honour " his " poor villa, 

 and accept a collation." His movements at the date are, 

 therefore, well known, 1 and it seems likely that, had such a 

 famous personage as Le Notre returned with him from Paris, 

 some mention of the fact would have appeared. Had Le Notre 

 been among the brilliant company from Greenwich that were 

 entertained by John Evelyn, he could hardly have failed to 

 note the meeting with such a kindred spirit. In April of the 

 same year St. Albans had been given the office of Keeper of 

 Greenwich House and Park, but the alterations had been begun 

 before by his predecessor, Sir William Boreman, who rendered 

 his accounts from September, 1661, 2 before Le Notre was 

 invited. His accounts are continued to June 10th, 3 1662, and 

 show payments for planting trees, mowing, etc., and give the 

 names of persons to whom payments were made, but have no 

 reference to any French gardeners, and the continuation of 

 them up to 1663 4 of both Greenwich and Hampton Court are 

 equally unfruitful of information. Yet, in spite of all this 

 strong negative evidence, one curious document came to light 

 during the search through the bundles of Treasury papers in 

 the Record Office, which adds to the mystery. It is a warrant 

 to allow Le Notre to " transport " some horses to France free 

 of duty, and it is dated just at the time that, had he come to 



1 Some of his letters are in the British Museum, but have nothing 

 relative to gardening in them. 



2 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, June, 1662. 



3 Ibid. 



4 Declared Accounts, Pipe Office, Roll 3428, September 1st, 1661, 

 June 10th, 1662, and Roll 3276, May 31st, 1662-1663, and Bundle 2434/87, 

 payments for work done at Hampton Court and Greenwich. 



