'i
‘■'I
78 HISTOllY OF GARDENING. P a r t I.
S S H ÿ H ï i i s æ
th¥ï Py W s tS S asSESin” (’sfe®2?S j i r s en vlyaai à Chantilly, Morlefonlalne, et Ertnenen-
” ' '1 A L S * in I«48. This gardon is now so moch neglected as scarcely to retain any traces of its
former beauty.
218 Watelet’s garden, the Moidin Joli, the next example of the English style m
Franoé, is of a veiy different description from Ermenonyille. Watolet w a ^ h e 4
an Essai sur les Jardins, wliich appeared in 1774. His garden was situated m the
suburbs of Palis, on the Seine, and contained about four acres, ™™4eriiin4se stole
ornttoos tcmnles and iuscriptions ; and was, on the whole, more in toe Chinese s t / e
ii a n in ’that of Kent or Shenstone. The author, who professes to take utility for the
basis of his art, seems to have felt something wanting, in ttos particular, to his templra
and altai-s, and is ridiculed by Hirschfeld {Théorie des Jardins, tom i. p. « F t i L L p '
nosing occasionally “ de faire paroitre auprès les temples et les autels,^ les arcs de tiiomphe,
&c une troupe de pantomimes, vêtues suivant le costume nécessaire, imitant des ccrc-
m o to L f a S desLcrificcs, allant porter des offrandes,” &e. The Prince de L . ^ e
“d Z î d Watelet’s gai-den ah io st as much as that of Gh-ardin, toongli m so different a
style. After dcsoribing it, he says, “ allez-y, incrédules. . . . Méditez sm le s ^ ^ ^ n p io n s
nue le goût v a dioteés. Méditez avec le sage, soupirez avec 1 amant, et hemssez
w a te le ri’ {Mém. et Lettres, &c, p. 230.) The object of such as attempt Eug ish gardening
in France on a smaU scale is too often more to mutate the sentimental gai-den
of Watelct, than toe “ paysages intéressans” of Gftardin.
” uaySUl'CO lULCHiaocmo S«*. vnx..®.— ^ re i.
r i J . .. - Jn. z7ire 77*«/v7ïo7ï qHi1î> we.vp. ju.... j —.w- — - -........
‘ 2 1 9 . " ' J ’m7mie r o f gakens in the English style were laid out, just before the first
French revolution, by Mr. Blaikie, a British landscape-gmdener. Mr Mr. Blailde Blailae was was born
bom
in toe neighbourhood of Bdinhurgh, .and continued tUl his death the proprietor o ^
house and large market-garden, which belonged to his father, in toe palish of Coistoi-
phiiie He went to France first as a botanical coUector; and walked m that capacity
torough great part of Switzerland. Mr. Blaikie entered upon the profession of a landscape
gardener at Paris in 1 7 7 6 ; and died there in 1 8 3 8 ’ , ■„ , „ „
2 2 0 . The grounds at Bagatelle were fom ed out of the Bois de Boulogne m 1 77 9 foi
the Count d’Aitois, aftei-wards Chaides X. The lawns and glades were cut out of the
natural wood ; and the remaining trees, though rather stunted from the gravelly natiiic
1, Main entrance from tiie Bois de Bou-
logno-
2, Outer en tran ce to th e courts of the
c h lte a u .
5, Ayant co u r (second court).
4, Court of honour.
5, Main entrance to th o château.
6, Bowling-green, surro u n d ed by geom
e tric garden.
7, Isle of the Tomb.
8, FAevated rock, on -which is placed Lc
Maison de Philosophe (philosopher i
9, Ro?kwork, ■whence issues th e water
th a t supplies th e lake.
10, I c lh o u i e , over which is La To u r
des Pa lad in s (th e tower of th e P a la d
ins).
11, Po rte r’s lodge an d garden,
which is placed La 12 , Hothouses, greenhouses, a n d g a r.
15, PUtiiresque scenery in th e p a rk ,
whieh extends southwards to some
distance.
B o o k I. FRENCH GARDENS.
of the soil, were preseiwed till the newly planted trees and shrubs had grown high enough
to replace them. This villa, after the restoration, was used by the Due de Berri, as a
kind of hunting lodge, up to the period of his unfortunate death in 1820. After the
second revolution the place was sold by Louis Philippe, and it now belongs to the Marquess
of Hertford, who has spent considerable sums of money every year in hnproving
the gardens, by planting in them eveiy kind of rare tree he could obtain, and who, about
1846, erected a fine orangery. Through the kindness of M. L a Pie, the geographer, at
Paris, we obtained, in 1828, a con-ect plan (fig. 49.), which will give the reader a very
good idea of the disposition of the principal masses. The only view beyond the boundary
is obtained from the house aud the other buildings ; and this view is chiefly the Seine,
and beyond it the hill Mount Valerian. The most un-English parts of Bagatelle are
the house and offices ; and, indeed, it may be observed, generally, that a French house
is ahnost as easily distinguished from an English house as a French garden is from an
English one. In general, the faults of Bagatelle are those of most other English parks
or gardens in France ; viz. too much bustle and display, too many walks, too few trees
and shrubs, and too many statues and seats, for the extent of surface. The result of
all this is a want of shade, quiet, and repose. There is scarcely such a thing as a solitaiy
umbrageous garden walk in all France.
221. The gardens at il i b w c e aM were originally laid out by CarmonteUe ; but coming
into the possession of the celebrated Egalité (Duke of Orleans in the time of Louis XVI.),
he very much eiilai-ged and improved them about the year 1783. After the first
revolution, the gardens were turned first into a nurseiy, and aftenvards into public
gai’dens. A t the restoration, they became again in the possession of the Orleans family,
and were kept in excellent order as English gardens till about the year 1846, when
two thirds of the grounds were marked to be sold for building, the gardens being
in the suburbs of Paris. In the third revolution of 1848, this place was considerably
injured.
222. The grounds o f die Petit Trianon were laid out by Marie Antoinette, the Queen of
Louis XVI., who was extremely partial to this villa as a residence, and used to entertain
her guests there, habited as a shepherdess. After the first revolution, when the place
became public property, it was a favourite locality for the revolutionaay/cíes ; and in the
time of Napoleon it was the residence, first of the Empress Josephine, and afterwards of
Marie Louise. The gardens of the Petit Trianon are laid out in the Englisli style, but
they are spoiled by too many walks being seen at the same time, which destroys the
idea of seclusion, which ought to prevail in such a scene. The grounds at the Petit
Trianon are still veiy highly kept ; and they are remarkable for some very large
and fine American trees and slimbs ; the latter being sheltered by hedges of arbor
vitæ, which, Mi-. Thompson tells us, “ are about twelve feet apart, and nine feet high, cut
perpeudicuiarly.” (Jour, o f Hort. Soc., vol. ii. p. 227.)
223. The chateau de Meudon is a small palace which was destined for the children of
the crown. The view from the terrace over Paris on one side, and to the wood of
St. Cloud on the right, is remarkably fine. There is scarcely any flower garden, but
there is an extensive natural wood of Quercus sessiliflora pierced with iiaiTow shady
alleys in all directions, with some broad open avenues. Along one of these has been
a hedge of spruce fir, which has been thinned out, and plants left at regular distances
to take the form of trees ; these have all shot out several leaders at the same height from
the ground, and have now rather a singular appeai-ance, which may be compared to
branched candlesticks. The orangery is an immense vaulted apartment under the
terrace, in the manner of that at Versailles ; and, like it, it preserves the orange trees
through the winter without the aid of artificial heat. Pine-apples are grown during
summer on dung beds in the open garden, and there is a pit entirely devoted to the
culture of the dwarf Mùsas.
224. The park o f Neuilly, which was the private property of Louis Philippe when
Dulce of Orleans, was, in 1840, an extensive place with a flat surface, but rather too much
cut up with walks, roads, and trees, so th a t there was no breadth of effect anywhere.
The house was approached by carriages on both fronts ; a practice general on the
continent, but happily rare in England, because it strikes at the root of all privacy and
seclusion. The road to tlie principal entrance front at Neuilly was a straight avenue
between two straight parallel beds of flowers, which, in the summer months, were mostly
filled with geraniums, petunias, dalilias, and standard roses. This place was seriously
injm-ed, and the chateau burnt, during the revolution of 1848.
225. The fir s t French Revolution was decidedly injm-ious to gardening, as an art of
design on a large scale, as it occasioned a general subdivision and distribution of
property ; it was, however, favourable to gai-dening as an art of culture, as it increased
the number of small villas, and also the nmnber of purchasers of fniit and flowers.
226. English gardening during the consulate was little attended to. The garden of
Malmaison was formed by the Empress Josephine in tlu-ee years. I t was laid out in the
17 : ¥ 1