178 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 
gardener of the day, and author of a work on vineyards, 1 
had been sent by the Earl of Essex to study gardening at 
Versailles, and on his return was appointed Royal Gardener to 
Charles II. 
Although England owed so much to the French horticul- 
turalists at this period, the influence of their garden designers 
was even more marked. A great change came over English 
gardens at the Restoration, and any large new ones were laid 
out, and many old ones were remodelled, in the French style. 
The smaller country-seats and manor-houses stuck to the older 
fashion, not so much from conservatism, but because the new 
French ideas were extremely expensive, and could only be 
adopted where there was an ample area, and a sufficiently well- 
filled purse to carry out the vast projects that the new fashion 
entailed. The plans had to embrace long avenues with broad 
paths adorned with statues, fountains and cascades, walks 
with a background of trellis, alcoves and arches of closely 
clipped trees, together with canals, waterfalls, and woodland 
groves, all executed with the utmost symmetry and formality. 
The prophet of this new school was the famous Le Notre, who, 
with untold sums at his disposal, evolved the wonders of 
Versailles, and created or transformed most of the magnificent 
gardens in France. There has always been a legend that he 
came to England, and time after time it has been asserted 
as a fact that the alterations made by Charles II. in St. James’s 
Park, Hampton Court, Greenwich, and Whitehall, were carried 
out under his direction, and also that he laid out the grounds 
of several country-houses. So long has the statement of the 
supposed visit of Le Notre to this country been accepted as 
true, that I feel great caution is necessary in casting any 
doubt on such a time-honoured tradition. In spite of diligent 
search, however, I have been unable to find any definite proof 
that the visit took place, and have, moreover, come across 
much indirect evidence, which, but for one curious discovery, 
goes far towards proving the contrary. Up to the present time 
no contemporary papers or letters that have come to light 
mention this journey as an accomplished fact, and no payments 
were made to him or incurred on his behalf, as far as can be 
1 The English Vineyard Vindicated , 1666. 
