igo A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



with in the next chapter. It is known that they were under- 

 taken for William III. by London and Wise. 



The records of the private gardens which Le Notre is said to 

 have laid out in conjunction with his friend Grillet supply no 

 better information. At none of the places that his name is 

 connected with, such as Bretby, 1 Chatsworth, Hall Barn, or 

 Wrest, is there anything more than a tradition. At Chats- 

 worth there is an agreement signed August, 1688, by the first 

 Duke of Devonshire and George London, for " the laying out 

 the grounds, their turfing, planting, and gravelling," but there 

 is no reference to Le Notre or Grillet. Laborde, writing on 

 French gardens in 1808, quotes the garden of a house in 

 Suffolk which he says Le Notre had planted " during his stay 

 in England," but up to the present I have not been able to 

 trace any place which answers to his description. 2 



Even if Le N6tre did not actually come himself to England, 

 it is most probable that he supplied plans to Charles II., and 

 he undoubtedly did so to William III. Some very interesting 

 MSS. letters are extant 3 from Le N6tre- to William Bentinck, 

 Earl of Portland, in which, however, he makes no allusion to 

 any journey to England. In the first, dated June 21st, 1698, 



1 At Bretby, belonging to trie Earl of Carnarvon, some of the garden 

 dates from this period, especially a round glass-house, said to be one 

 of the oldest in England, although much that is shown in Kips' view 

 of the grounds has disappeared ; but there are no records assigning the 

 design to Le Notre and Grillet. 



2 M. Edouard Andre drew my attention to the passage which occurs 

 in a work by Laborde entitled Descriptions des Nouveaux Jardins de la 

 France, Paris, 1808, and runs as follows : " On voit dans un chateau 

 du comte de Suffolk le plan d'un jardin plante par le N6tre pendant son 

 sejour en Angleterre, dans lequel chaque massif est dispose sous la 

 forme d'un regiment, et en porte le nom." I have searched vainly to 

 discover any place answering this description. The Earl of St. Albans 

 was buried at Rushbrooke, but there never has been any French garden 

 there. Euston was laid out about this time in the French style, although 

 since entirely altered by "Capability Brown." There is nothing 

 definite with regard to the designer. Beeverell, in Les Delices de la 

 Grande Bretagne, 1707, does not attribute it to Le Notre, although he says 

 Euston had " Tous les agremens qu'on peut souhaiter comme les eaux, 

 les jardins & les Bois." It has been suggested to me that Thurloe Park, 

 near Newmarket, might possibly be the place, as Charles II. frequently 

 stayed there, but it has long since been destroyed. 



3 In the possession of the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey. 



