190 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 
with in the next chapter. It is known that they were under¬ 
taken for William III. by London and Wise. 
The records of the private gardens which Le Notre is said to 
have laid out in conjunction with his friend Grillet supply no 
better information. At none of the places that his name is 
connected with, such as Bretby, 1 Chats worth, Hall Barn, or 
Wrest, is there anything more than a tradition. At Chats- 
worth there is an agreement signed August, 1688, by the first 
Duke of Devonshire and George London, for “ the laying out 
the grounds, their turfing, planting, and gravelling,” but there 
is no reference to Le Notre or Grillet. Laborde, writing on 
French gardens in 1808, quotes the garden of a house in 
Suffolk which he says Le Notre had planted “ during his stay 
in England,” but up to the present I have not been able to 
trace any place which answers to his description. 2 
Even if Le Notre did not actually come himself to England, 
it is most probable that he supplied plans to Charles II., and 
he undoubtedly did so to William III. Some very interesting 
MSS. letters are extant 3 from Le Notre to William Bentinck, 
Earl of Portland, in which, however, he makes no allusion to 
any journey to England. In the first, dated June 21st, 1698, 
1 At Bretby, belonging to the Earl of Carnarvon, some of the garden 
dates from this period, especially a round glass-house, said to be one 
of the oldest in England, although much that is shown in Kips’ view 
of the grounds has disappeared; but there are no records assigning the 
design to Le Notre and Grillet. 
2 M. Edouard Andre drew my attention to the passage which occurs 
in a work by Laborde entitled Descriptions des Nouveaux Jardins de la 
France, Paris, 1808, and runs as follows : “ On voit dans un chateau 
du comte de Suffolk le plan d’un jardin plante par le Notre pendant son 
sejour en Angleterre, dans lequel chaque massif est dispose sous la 
forme d’un regiment, et en porte le nom.” I have searched vainly to 
discover any place answering this description. The Earl of St. Albans 
was buried at Rushbrooke, but there never has been any French garden 
there. Euston was laid out about this time in the French style, although 
since entirely altered by “ Capability Brown.” There is nothing 
definite with regard to the designer. Beeverell, in Les Delices de la 
Grande Bretagne, 1707, does not attribute it to Le Notre, although he says 
Euston had “ Tous les agremens qu’on peut souhaiter comme les eaux, 
les jardins & les Bois.” It has been suggested to me that Thurloe Park, 
near Newmarket, might possibly be the place, as Charles II. frequently 
stayed there, but it has long since been destroyed. 
3 In the possession of the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey. 
