INTRODUCTORY 9 



The second great event, the Restoration of Charles II. — 

 with his fine natural abilities trained among the most polite 

 people of the day, and his innate love of building and plant- 

 ing — brought about the English renaissance. The King's 

 knowledge of the stupendous grandeur of Versailles led him 

 to invite Le Notre, its famous designer, to England. The 

 latter's style not only had a grand dignity in itself, which 

 can be seen to this day in many royal parks and gardens — 

 especially at Hampton Court, Windsor, and St. James's Parks 

 — but has influenced a long line of English landscape de- 

 signers. Among whom London and Wise, his immediate 

 successors, did much work on estates of the nobility as well 

 as in royal demesnes. 



The third important influence was the accession of William 

 and Mary. The Dutch Prince's ideas on planting and laying 

 out of park and garden were governed by his military training ; 

 and his constant rivalry of the " Grand Monarch " caused 

 him to emulate the splendour of the royal parks and palaces in 

 France, to continue Charles's work and add much more of his 

 own. The style now brought in was very precise and 

 formal, and though a great deal of it has been altered or de- 

 stroyed, some still remains and can be observed in the East 

 Garden at Hampton Court, in Bushey Park and in Ken- 

 sington Palace Gardens. All through the seventeenth century 

 many additions were made to the now lengthy list of plants, 

 and in especial this period saw the first introduction of exotics 

 and hothouse culture into England. 



The chief characteristics of garden design were dignified 

 formality, and division of the ground into open or enclosed 

 spaces by primly clipped evergreen hedges. Most large 

 gardens were adorned with beautifully proportioned sun- 

 dials, fountains, stone seats and arbours. And many of 

 them included bowling greens. It is probable that the 

 restful and pleasing effect of these early stretches of smooth 

 and level turf led to a use of lawns for purposes of beauty 

 alone, which has become almost universal during the last two 

 hundred and fifty years. 



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