SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 189 



among this mass of papers dealing with matters of minor im- 

 portance is in itself almost sufficient evidence to prove conclu- 

 sively that he did not come to this country. 1 



The Hampton Court accounts also reveal nothing with 

 regard to him. The changes there were very extensive, and 

 the avenues and canals were " near completed " in 1662. 

 There is a pass for " Christian Van Vranen to go to Holland 

 and return with 4,000 lime-trees for the King," dated 

 January 10th, 1662. These were probably for the avenues at 

 Hampton Court, and for the rows round the semicircular 

 garden, which was the chief feature in the new plan. In the 

 centre was a large fountain, with sirens and statues by Farrelli, 

 which was removed by William III., besides twelve smaller 

 fountains, evidently made to rival the waterworks of Versailles. 

 Between the fountains there were geometrical beds and plots of 

 grass, each with a conical-shaped yew in the centre. Some of 

 these yews, no longer clipped into stiff forms, are still to be 

 seen. 



According to a picture at Levens in Westmorland, a certain 

 Beaumont was one of the designers of Hampton Court. He was 

 probably employed there later, but before the greater changes 

 carried out for William III. by London and Wise. The 

 inscription on the picture runs thus : " M. Beaumont, gardener 

 to James II. and Colonel James Grahme. He laid out the 

 gardens at Hampton Court and at Levens." Colonel Grahme 

 was a staunch adherent of James II., and after the Revolution 

 of 1689, for political reasons, found it safest to live in the North, 

 on the estate of Levens which he had lately purchased, and it 

 was during his time, and under the direction of Beaumont, that 

 the gardens assumed the form they retain almost unaltered to 

 this day. They are, however, a most perfect example of the 

 Dutch type of garden of the period, and even if Beaumont was 

 from France, and one of the " French gardeners " employed at 

 Hampton Court, his work at Levens is not in the style of 

 Le Notre. 



The further alterations at Hampton Court will be dealt 



1 None of these State Papers mention Grillet, who by some people 

 is said, to have come with Le N6tre, or carried on work in England for 

 him. 



