ORNAMENT. 209 
its judicious training in the hands of Le Notre, 
in the gardens of Versailles. ‘¢ These gardens,”’ 
says Mr. Phillips, “ which cost Louis the Four- 
teenth between eight and nine hundred thou- 
sand pounds sterling, are well calculated to dis- 
play courtly pomp, and that kind of magnificent 
revelry, which this monarch indulged in. But 
to us this heavy grandeur appears more gloomy 
than the thickest forest, except when the alleys 
and walks are crowded with company, and the 
water-works are in full action. Then every 
beholder must be struck with the splendour of 
the scene, which the dress of the French ladies 
is particularly calculated to improve; for the 
gauiety of their costume relieves the sombre ap- 
pearance of the trained horn-beam and clipped 
elm. Their light gauze, gay ribands, feathers 
and flowers, substitute blossoms; for, whilst 
one seems to display a basket of roses on her 
head, others carry nodding thyrsuses of lilac, or 
waving laburnum; and with the mixture of 
poppies, nasturtiums, and sunflowers, with 
which they are bedecked, you forget that the 
trees are without blossom, for here you see the 
gay rank of scarlet soldiers, and there files of 
green elms; here wave the winged leaves of 
the acacia, there bows the no less pliable head 
of the courtier; here dances the jet d’eau in 
air, there drops to the earth the well-taught 
curtseying belle; here monsters spout out water 
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