SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 
187 
ordinary to Paris, to arrange the marriage of Princess Hen¬ 
rietta with the Duke of Orleans, which took place in March, 
1661. On May 21st, 1662, Charles II. married Catharine of 
Braganza at Portsmouth, and while there St. Albans arrived 
as the bearer of a letter from Henrietta Maria, and returned 
to France with one from Charles II. to his sister. All these 
facts corroborate the letter of M. Batailler. St. Albans was 
soon back again from France, in the company of the Queen- 
mother, and in July, 1662, was with her at Greenwich Palace. 
Together they visited Evelyn at Sayes Court, who records in 
his Diary that they were “ pleased to honour ” his “ poor villa, 
and accept a collation/' His movements at the date are, 
therefore, well known, 1 and it seems likely that, had such a 
famous personage as Le Notre returned with him from Paris, 
some mention of the fact would have appeared. Had Le Notre 
been among the brilliant company from Greenwich that were 
entertained by John Evelyn, he could hardly have failed to 
note the meeting with such a kindred spirit. In April of the 
same year St. Albans had been given the office of Keeper of 
Greenwich House and Park, but the alterations had been begun 
before by his predecessor, Sir William Boreman, who rendered 
his accounts from September, 1661, 2 before Le Notre was 
invited. His accounts are continued to June 10th, 3 1662, and 
show payments for planting trees, mowing, etc., and give the 
names of persons to whom payments were made, but have no 
reference to any French gardeners, and the continuation of 
them up to 1663 4 of both Greenwich and Hampton Court are 
equally unfruitful of information. Yet, in spite of all this 
strong negative evidence, one curious document came to light 
during the search through the bundles of Treasury papers in 
the Record Office, which adds to the mystery. It is a warrant 
to allow Le Notre to “ transport ” some horses to France free 
of duty, and it is dated just at the time that, had he come to 
1 Some of his letters are in the British Museum, but have nothing 
relative to gardening in them. 
2 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Tune, 1662. 
3 Ibid. 
4 Declared Accounts, Pipe Office, Roll 3428, September 1st, 1661, 
June 10th, 1662, and Roll 3276, May 31st, 1662-1663, and Bundle 2434/87, 
payments for work done at Hampton Court and Greenwich. 
