Book I. 



GARDENING IN FRANCE. 



89 



rather too many winding walks. It was laid out by 

 the architect, Kleber, who afterwards became the 

 celebrated general of that name, and was murdered 

 by a mameluke in Egypt. Kleber seems to have been 

 fond of rustic buildings, with which this garden 

 abounds in the greatest variety of form and dimen- 

 sions, from the gardener's house, to that of the 

 bees, and the shelter for peacocks. 



177. There is a very pleasing English garden at 

 Vitry, the property of Citizen Wenner, in which as 

 much is made of a small spot as can well be done. It 

 was laid out by Charpentier already mentioned. 



178. The gardenof the postmaster at Altkirch {fig. 

 14.), in Alsatia, is described by Kraft as a singularly 

 beautiful spot. Beyond the basin of water is an am- 

 phitheatre of shrubs and trees which is intersected 

 by shady walks leading to a mount containing the 

 grandest prospects of the Rhine and the Alps. 



179. Public gardens or promenades are numerous 

 and well arranged in France as in most countries on 

 the continent : the demand for these arises from the 

 social habits of the people and the mildness of the 

 climate ; and their growth, even in the middle of 

 the cities, as in the Tuilleries and Boulevards of 

 Paris, and the street avenues of Bourdeaux, Lyons, 

 Marseilles, Montpelier, &c. is not impeded by the 

 smoke of coal. What can be a greater luxury in a 

 city than such a garden as that of the Tuilleries 

 situated in its centre, — its open scenes of gaiety 

 and bustle, the distant hum of men heard in the 

 stillness of its thick and shady groves, its length- 

 ened perspectives of trees, vistas, statues, fountains, 

 its coffee and refreshments, its music and dancing 

 on certain occasions, — and finally, that sprinkling 

 of mind thrown over the whole by the scattered 

 stations of those who hire out chairs and periodical 

 literature ? 



14 



SuBSECT. 2. French Gardening, in respect to the Culture cf Flowers and Plants of 



Ornament. 



180. A taste for Jlowers was introduced to France from Holland, after that country had 

 established commercial relations with the Levant and the south of Europe. (Deleuze, 

 Recherches, &c.) Charlemagne loved gardens, and was most particular in giving directions 

 to his gardeners. In his Capitulaire de Villis et Curtis, he enumerates the sorts of plants 

 which he desires may be grown in all his gardens. This list, however, excepting the 

 rose and the lily, is entirely medicinal ; and these too, were probably used as drugs ; for 

 tlie greatest beauty, in barbarous times, is utility. 



181. It was in the thirteenth century that ornamental plants began to be introduced to 

 France as such. The crusades had brought to notice the gardens of the infidels in Egypt 

 and Syria ; the Christians invaders could not avoid being struck with their beauty, imitated 

 their plans, and imported tlieir productions into Europe. 



■ 182. The sixteenth century, however, had arrived before the culture of flowers was attempted. 

 Botany now began to become a science, independent of medicine. Gardens were con- 

 structed, destined for curious and beautiful plants ; and the discovery of America, and 

 the passage to the Indies, augmented their number. Travellers collected seeds, which 

 they sent home to their respective countries ; great care w^s bestowed on such as appeared 

 the most ornamental ; of some flowers,' double varieties were produced, and the colors 

 and size of others, varied by culture, till advancing, by degrees, they at length became 

 an object of luxury, and trade and caprice, fashion and variety, gave incredible prices for 

 some of these productions ; for in what, observes Deleuze, will extravagance not inter- 

 mingle. Henry IV. had a taste for flowers : his gardener, Jean Robin, published a ca- 

 talogue of plants in 1610, in which the passion flower and crown imperial are mentioned, 

 the former as newly imported, and the latter as rare. In 1635, the varieties of tulips, 

 ranunculuses, and anemones, in the Jardin des Plantes, exceeded that of the species in 

 1800. Evelyn mentions, in' 1644, {Memoirs, i. 52.) a M. Morine, who from an ordinary 

 gardener had become one of the most skilful persons in France, who had a rare collection 

 of shells and flowers, and above 10,0,00 sorts of tulips alone. This florimania seems to 

 have declined and given way to a taste for exotics, during the reigns of Louis the Fifteenth 

 and Sixteenth, which has ever since continued to prevail. 



183. The study of botany began to be cultivated in France at an early period, and has 

 since attained great consideration in that country from the labors of Adanson, the two 

 Jussieus, Mirbel, Humboldt, and De Candolle. The first botanic garden was formed in 

 1597, at Montpelier in Henry the Fifth's reign, through the representations of Belon. 

 In the following year it contained 1300 distinct species, the greater part gathered in the 

 neighbourhood. 



The garden of Paris {Jardin des Plantes) was founded by Louis the Thirteenth, in 1626, and finished iw 

 1634, after, as La Brosse the first director remarks, " eighteen years of prosecution, and six of culture." 



D 4 



