34 



HISTORY OF GARDENING. 



Pari I. 



the lowest and longest walk from the Mount Parnassus, which consists of a grotto, or shell house, on the 

 summit of the hill, wherein are divers water-works, and contrivances to wet the spectators." 



Cardinal Richelieii's villa at Ruell. " The house is small, but fairly built in form of a castle, moated 

 round. The offices are towards the road, and over-against them are large vineyards walled in. Though 

 the house is not of the greatest size, the gardens about it are so magnificent, that I doubt whether Italy 

 has any exceeding it for varieties of pleasure. The garden nearest the pavilion is a parterre, having in 

 the midst divers brass statues, perpetually spouting water into an ample basin, with other figures of tha 

 same metal ; but what is most admirable is the vast enclosure, and a variety of ground in the large garden 

 containing vineyards, corn-fields, meadows, groves, (whereof one is of perennial greens), and walks of vast 

 lengths, so accurately kept and cultivated, that nothing can be more agreeable. On one of these walks, 

 within a square of tall trees, is a basilisk of copper, which, managed by the fountaineer, casts water near 

 sixty feet high, and will, of itself, move round so swiftly, that one can hardly escape wetting. This leads 

 to the Citroniire where is a noble conserve of all those rarities; and at the end of it is the arch of Con- 

 stantine, painted on a wall in oil, as large as the real one at Rome, so well done, that even a man skilled in 

 painting may mistake it for stone and sculpture. The sky and hills, which seem to be, between the arches, 

 are so natural, that swallows and other birds, thinking to fly through, have dashed themselves against the 

 wall. At the fartherpart of this walk is that plentiful, though artificial, cascade, which rolls down a very steep 

 declivity, and over the marble steps and basins, with an astonishing noise and fury ; each basin hath a 

 jette in it, flowing like sheets of transparent glass, especially that which rises over the great shell of lead, 

 from whence it glides silently down a channel, through the middle of a spacious gravel-walk, terminating in 

 a grotto. Here are also fountains that cast water to a great height, and large ponds, two of which have islands 

 for harbour of fowls, of which there is store. One of these islands has a receptacle for them, built of vast 

 pieces of rock, near fifty feet high, grown over with moss, ivy, &c. shaded, at a competent distance, with 

 tall trees ; in this the fowls lay eggs and breed. We then saw a large and very rare grotto of shell-work, 

 in the shape of satyrs, and other wild fancies j in the middle stands a marble table, on which a fountain 

 plays in forms of glasses, cups, crosses, fans, crowns, &c. Then the fountaineers represent a shower of 

 rain, from the top, met by small jets from below. At going out, two extravagant musketeers shot us with 

 a stream of water from their musket-barrels. Before this grotto is a long pool, into which ran divers 

 spouts of water from leaden escallop basins. The viewing this Paradise made us late at St. Germains." 



St. Gerinaim. " The first building of this palace is of Charles V. called the Sage ; but Francis I. (that 

 true virtuoso) made it complete. Speaking as to the style of magnificence then in fashion, which was with 

 too great a mixture of the Gothic, as may be seen of what there is remaining of his in the old castle, an 

 irregular piece as built on the old foundation, and havhig a moat about it. It has yet some spacious and 

 handsome rooms of state, and a chapel neatly painted. The new castle is at some distance, divided from 

 this by a court, of a lower but more modern design, built by Henry IV. To this belong six terraces, built 

 of brick and stone, descending in cascades, towards the river, cut out of the natural hill, having under 

 them grandly vaulted galleries ; of these, four have subterraneous grots and rocks, where are represented 

 several objects, in the manner of scenes, and other motions by force of water, shown by the light of torches 

 only ; amongst these is Orpheus, with his music, and the animals which dance after his harp ; in the 

 second, is the king and dolphin (dauphin) ; in the third is Neptune sounding his Trumpet, his chariot 

 drawn by sea-horses ; in the fourth, Perseus, and Andromeda ; mills, hermitages, men fishing, birds 

 chirping, and many other devices. There is also a dry grot to refresh in, all having a fine prospect towards 

 the river, and the goodly country about it, especially the forest. At the bottom is a parterre ; the upper 

 terrace near half a mile in length, with double declivities, arched and balustered with stone of vast and 

 royal cost. In the pavilion of the new castle are many fair rooms well painted, and leading into a very 

 noble garden and park, where there is a pall-mall, in the midst of which, on one of the sides, is a chapel 

 with a stone cupola, though small, yet of a handsome order of architecture. Out of the park you go 

 into the forest, which, being very large, is stored v/ith deer, wild boars, wolves, and other wild game. 

 The Tennis-court, and Cavalerizzo for the maneged horses, are also very observable." 



The Count de LiancourVs palace, in the rue de Seine, " is well-built. Towards his study and bed- 

 chamber joins a little garden, which, though very narrow, by the addition of a well-painted perspective, 

 is to appearance greatly enlarged ; to this there is another part, supported by arches, in which runs a 

 stream of water, rising in the aviary, out of a statue, and seeming to flow for some miles, by being arti- 

 ficially continued in the painting, where it sinks down at the wall. It is a very agreeable deception. At 

 the end of this garden is a little theatre, made to change with divers pretty scenes, and the stage so ordered 

 that figures of men and women, painted on light boards, and cut out, are by a person who stands under- 

 neath, made to act as if they were speaking, by guidmg them, and reciting words, in different tones, as the 

 parts require, &c." 



A pretty garden at Caen, " planted with hedges of alaternus, having at the entrance a screen of an ex- 

 ceeding height, accurately cut in topiary work." 



The gardens of the Luxe7nbourg are near an English mile in circumference. " The parterre is, indeed, 

 of box, but so rarely designed' and accurately kept cut, that the embroidery makes a wonderful effect to 

 the lodgings which front it. The walks are exactly fair, long, and variously descending, and so justly 

 planted witli limes, elms, and other trees, that nothing can be more delicious, especially that of the horn- 

 beam hedge ; which, being high and stately, buts full on the fountain." {Metnoirs, vol. i. 40 — 52.) 



President Maison's palace and gardens, " between St. Germains and Paris. The palace is environed by 

 a dry moat ; the offices underground ; the gardens are very excellent, with extraordinary long walks, set 

 with elms, and a noble prospect towards the forest, and on the Seine towards Paris. Take it altogether, the 

 meadows, walks, river, forest, corn-ground, and vineyards, I hardly saw any thing in Italy to exceed it. 

 The iron gates are very magnificent." {Memoirs, p. 239.) 



162. The French taste in laying out gardens may be considered as having been settled 

 and confirmed by Le Notre during the reign of Louis XIV. Le Notre's taste and style, 

 Daines Barrington observes, continued in full repute for upwards of a century ; and 

 appears to have been in general vogue so late as 1771, fifty years after the introduction 

 of the modern style in England. Hovi^ever remarkable this may appear, it is a fact which 

 does not admit of a doubt ; for Millin, the editor of the Journal Encydopedique, in a 

 critique on the translation of Wheatley's Observations on Modern Gardening, published 

 that year, after the most liberal encomiums on the work, expresses his doubts as to how 

 the modern style would be received in France, where he adds, " Le Notre's school is 

 still followed, and every rich proprietor is anxious that his garden, if it does not resemble, 

 shall at least recall to his mind those of the court, at Versailles, Trianon, Meudon, 

 Sceaux, or Clugny." 



163. Le Notre was the most celebrated gardener that probably ever existed. If Le Notre, 

 observes Hirschfield, had been born under any other monarch than Louis the XIV., his 

 taste v/ould, in all probability, never have spread, or his name been known to posterity. 

 But that age, in which a feeling for the fine arts had begun to awake in men's minds, 



