SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 
185 
cated it to Charles II. with the customary eulogies of this 
“ invincible Monarch,” who, “ with excellent choice, accom¬ 
panied with great Solidity of Judgment, begun, and with in¬ 
cessant care and concernment still prosecutes in his Royal 
Houses of St. James’s, Hampton Court, and Greenwich, where 
this Mighty Prince hath made more notable changes, and 
added more Royal Decorations since the 10 years of this 
happy Restoration, then [sic] any His Ancestors ever thought 
in the Space of a whole Age.” There is a plate giving a plan 
of the garden in St. James’s Park, and he expressly states in 
the preface to the reader that these “ designs are all of my own 
invention, and drawn with my own hand.” He describes 
minutely his plan, which, it will be noticed, is for a garden, and 
does not embrace the canal, which was 100 feet broad and 
2,800 feet long, and ran through the centre of the park ; but, 
as has been shown, this was in progress before the appointment 
of Mollet. I [t j 
“ And we shall begin with the Royal Garden, which we have con¬ 
trived by His Majesties Order in his park at St. James’s. This Royal 
Garden **** contains 200 Toises 1 in length, and 50 in breadth, and 
whereas there is no place near it from which it may be view’d from 
on high, we have therein omitted all Embroidered Ground works, and 
Knots of Grass, and have contrived it into several Parallelograms, 
according to its length ; and in regard it fails out, that at one end there 
happens to be a Wild Wood, we have contrived another of green trees 
over against it, of which the great Tree which was found standing there 
in the middle makes the Head, both of the green Wood and the rest 
of the Garden, which Tree we thought fit to leave as a remembrance 
of the Royal Oak. The Lists in the said Parallelogram are planted 
with dwarf fruit Trees, Rose Trees, and several sorts of Flowers ; the 
circumference is planted with Cyprus Trees and other green Plants, 
to make Palissados of about five foot high, with two perforated Gates to 
every Square ; the said Lists are parted with Grass in the manner of 
knots. Finally the Alleys are of five Toises in breadth, with their 
Lists, in the middle of which are planted dwarf fruit Trees and Vines ; 
the great Walk on the Right-hand is raised Terrace-like and Turfft; 
having a Fountain of five Toises in Diameter, and a Round of Grass 
whereon to set up a Dial or Statue, as also in several places Cut Angles, 
as may be seen upon the Design.” 
There can be no doubt, therefore, that Andre Mollet was the 
chief gardener of St. James’s Park. As the holder of his pre- 
1 Mollet in all these measurements uses the French toise, or fathom— 
6 feet. 
