Conquest. It fixes the boundary of a manor. Even in the reign of
Stephen, it was known as the great chesnut of Tortworth.
Page 62.--The author of this treatise, who is a zealous orchardist, is
lavish in his praise of a then discovered apple-tree and its produce,
"for the little cot-house to which it belongs, together with the little
quillet in which it stands, being several years since mortgaged for ten
pounds, the fruit of this tree alone, in a course of some years, freed
the house and garden, and its more valuable self, from that burden." A
neighbouring clergyman, too, was equally lavish, for he "talked of it in
all conversations," and such was his praise of it, that every one "fell
to admiration." Mr. Stafford is so pleased with this reverend
gentleman's zeal, in extending the cultivation of this apple, (_the
Royal Wilding_) that he says, "I could really wish, whenever the
original tree decayeth, his statue carved out of the stump, by the most
expert hand, and overlaid with gold, may be erected near the public
road, in the place of it, at the common charge of the country." He
celebrates also another apple, which "in a pleasant conversation was
named by a gentleman _super-celestial_. Another gentleman, in allusion
to _Pynes_, the name of my house, and to the common story of the West
India pineapple, (which is said to be the finest fruit in the world, and
to represent every exquisite flavour that is known), determined that it
should be called the _pyne-apple_; and by either of these names it is
talked of when pleasantry and conversation bring the remembrance of it
to the table."
Page 64.--It is but justice to Mr. Gibson to say, that in his Fruit
Gardener, he has entered fully into the merits of Le Genre's _Le maniere
de cultiver les arbres fruitiers_; and that his pages are extremely
interesting. The great merits of Quintinye are also not overlooked.
Page 84.--To the list of those deceased authors, whose portraits I have
not been able to discover, I must add the following:
JOHN BRADDICK, Esq. A zealous horticulturist and fruit grower. He
contributed four papers to the Horticultural Society of London. In the
Gardener's Mag. for Jan. 1827, is a communication by him, on some new
French pears. The editor of this magazine acknowledges "the very liberal
and truly patriotic manner in which our highly-valued correspondent
shares every novelty he receives with those whose interest it is to
increase and disseminate such novelties." In the above magazine for
March, 1827, is another spirited communication by him, on these new
pears, introduced from France, in which he says:--"And here I think it
necessary to premise, that the following list is the cream skimmed off
some thousands of new pears, which I have for many years past been
getting together from various parts of the world, about two-thirds of
which yet remain for trial, not having fruited, together with some
thousands of seedling pears, apples, plums, cherries, apricots, peaches
and grapes, of my own raising; the fruits of some of which I hope will
continue to gladden the hearts of horticulturists for many years to
come. As they are produced I will make them known to the public, with as
much facility as lies in my power.
"_Boughton Mount, July 29, 1826._"
One is sorry to relate, that Mr. Braddick died soon after this
benevolent wish; for he died at the above seat of his, near Maidstone,
in April, 1828, at the age of sixty-three.
Page 120.--Dr. Dibdin thus speaks of Archibald Alison: "The beautiful
and melodious style of this writer, renders his works deserving of a
conspicuous place in every well-chosen library."
Page 89.--In this page I have stated that Dr. Dibdin says, "on many
accounts does G. Markham seem entitled to more notice and commendation."
I have given extracts from his "English Husbandman," to shew his love
for flowers. The same attachment is visible where he enumerates them in
his "Country House-wive's Garden."--By the bye, though I have stated
this last work to be his, it surely appears to have been written by W.
Lawson. I merely now give the following extract from Markham's "English
House-Wife:"
"Next vnto this sanctity and holinesse of life, it is meet that our
English hous-wife be a woman of great modesty and temperance as well
inwardly as outwardly; inwardly, as in her behauiour and cariage towards
her husband, wherein she shall shunne all violence of rage, passion, and
humour, coueting lesse to direct then to be directed, appearing euer
vnto him pleasant, amiable, and delightfull, and though occasion,
mishaps, or the misgouernement of his will may induce her to contrary
thoughts, yet vertuously to suppresse them, and with a mild sufferance
rather to call him home from his error, then with the strength of anger
to abate the least sparke of his euill, calling in her mind that euill
and vncomely language is deformed though vttered euen to seruants, but
most monstrous and vgly when it appeares before the presence of a
husband: outwardly, as in her apparrell and diet, both which she shall
proportion according to the competency of her husband's estate and
calling, making her circle rather strait then large, for it is a rule if
we extend to the vttermost, we take away increase, if we goe a hayre
breadth beyond, we enter into consumption: but if we preserue any part,
we build strong forts against the aduersaries of fortune, prouided that
such preseruation be honest and conscionable: for a lauish prodigality
is brutish, so miserable couetuousnesse is hellish. Let therefore the
hus-wives garments be comly and strong, made aswel to preserue the
health, as adorne the person, altogether without toyish garnishes, or
the glosse of light colours, and as far from the vanity of new and
fantastick fashions, as neere to the comly imitations of modest
matrons."
I must give an extract from his "Country Contentements," as he reminds
us of Shakspeare's lines on the tuneable cry of hounds; for Markham
dwells on their sweetness of cry--"their deepe solemne mouthes--their
roaring and loud ringing mouthes, which must beare the counter-tenor,
then some hollow plaine sweete mouthes--a deep-mouthed dog--a couple or
two of small singing beagles, which as small trebles, may warble amongst
them: the cry will be a great deale the more sweeter--the hollow deepe
mouth--the loud clanging mouthe--deepe flewed, such as for the most part
your _Shropshire_ and pure _Worcestershire_ dogs are--the louder and
pleasanter your cry will be, especially if it be in sounding tall woods,
or under the echo of rocks--and not above one couple of roarers, which
being heard but now and then, as at the opening or hitting of a scent,
will give much sweetnesse to the solemns, and gravenesse of the cry, and
the musick thereof will bee much more delightfull to the eares of every
beholder."
Page 123.--The memory of Pope has perhaps never been more affectionately
honoured (nor that of Lord Mendip, who so zealously preserved every part
of the house and garden at Twickenham) than in the glowing and tender
lines of De Lille, in his poem of _Les Jardins_.
The vignette in my title-page, and that at page 84, are two of those
neat decorations which so profusely embellish the Encyclopaedia of
Gardening.
INDEX.
A.
Abercrombie, 153
Addison, xxviii., xxxii., 49, 115
---- reflections on the tombs, 117
Age of gardeners and horticulturists, 81
Alison, Dr. xxxviii., 71, 120, 211
Anderson, 69, 175
Ardenne, J. P. de, his charity, xiv.
Arabian literature, 2
Argyle, xxviii.
Argenville, xiii.
Arnauld d'Andelli, xiii.
Arnolde's Chronicle, 5
Astrology, 34
Austen, Ralph, 18
Austin, Fr., 19
B.
Bacon, Lord, on flowers that perfume the air, xxx., xxxv., 55
---- eulogies on him, 88
---- on Gorhambury, 88
Banks, Sir Jos., 4, 181, 187
Barrington, Daines, 156, 177
Bates, an aged horticulturist, 82
Bauhine, 44
Beale, Dr. John, vi., 16, 17, 20, 21, 54
---- his attachment to his native country, 23
Belosses, Sir H. 202
Bees, on, by an Italian, 85
Bernazzano, his skill in painting fruit, 56
Bertholan, xviii.
Bertrand, Fr., his _Ruris Deliciae_, xiv.
Blake, 19
Blythe, Walter, 8, 88
Bobart, 108
Boileau, tributes to, xxiii. 56
Bonfeil, 19
Bornefond, x.
Bos, the eminent painter, 56
Bossuet, xxv.
Boswell, 178
Boyceau, ix.
Bowles, Rev. Mr. his kind apostrophe to Lord Byron, 130
Boyle, his character, by Boerhaave, 21
Bradley, reprints the _Herefordshire Orchards_, 54
---- on the planting of wild flowers, 54
Braddick, 211
Bridgman, 129, 132, 135
Brocoli, 51
Brocq, P. le, 82
Brome, W. 22
Browne, Sir Thomas, 94
Browne, Launcelot, 154
Bryant, 79
Brydges, Sir E. 89, 93
---- on Pope, 131
Bucknall, 84
Bulleyn, Dr. 84
Burleigh, xxvii.
Bury, Mr. Barclay's, 170
Byron, Lord, xxxi. 40, 121
---- on Pope, 129
C.
Capell, xxvii.
Censura Litt. 6, 12, 15, 16
Chabanon, xiv.
Chambers, Sir W. 185
Champier, viii.
Charlemagne, xviii.
Charles II. 96
Chatham, Lord, xxix., 74
Chesterfield, xxix.
---- on Pope, 125
Chesnut tree at Tortworth, 57, 209
Cicero on agriculture, xxxvi.
---- on his country seat, 3
Clive, 164
Cobbet, on the health of gardens, xxxiv.
---- on Moor Park, 112
Collins, 59
Collinson, xxviii.
Compton, Bishop, xxviii., 39
Cook, Captain, xiv., 171, 183
Cooke, Moses, 31
Corregio, his poverty, 17, 202
Cottage gardens, 171
Cotton, Charles, 102
Country life, its pleasures, 48, 49, 63
Coventry, Rev. F. 63, 135
Cowell, 62
Cowley, 46, 93, 100
Cousin, viii.
Cowslips, 54, 205
Cradock, Jos. 179
Curtis, W. 184
D.
Dallaway, 94, 135, 173, 176
Danby, xxviii.
Daniel, H. 5
Darwin, 162, 164
Davy, Sir H. 30, 106
Death, 47, 58
Deepden, Mr. Hope's, 170
De Lille, xiv., xvii., 50, 183, 213
Descartes, his delight in his garden, xxxv.
Devonshire, Duke of, xxviii.
Dicks, 65
Dickson, 186
Dibdin, Dr. 17, 89.
Dodsley, Robert, his attachment to Pope, 125
---- his generous tribute to Shenstone, 148
Downton Vale, 188
Drake, Dr. 114, 115, 128
Drope, 31
Du Fresnoy, xii.
Duncan, 81
Duncan, Dr. A. 190
E.
Elizabeth, the lion hearted, 103
Ellis, of _Gaddesden_, on blossoms and fruit, 64
Epicurus, xxxii.
Essex, his execution, 103
---- his character, xxvii.
Etienne, an early French writer, viii.
Evelyn, John, xxxii., 41, 59, 97
---- Charles, 59
---- John, 59
F.
Falconer, 183
Fairchild, 60
Fleetwood, 114
Fontaine, xviii.
Flowers, 25, 27, 54, 90, 95, 205
Forsyth, 186
Foxley, 191
France, its horticultural writers, see preface
Francis I., xix.
Franklin, rancorously attacked by Wedderburn, and panegyrised by
Lord Chatham, 73, 74
Fresnoy, xii.
Fruit blossoms, 41, 53, 64, 121
Fulmer, 79
G.
Gainsborough, Earl of, xxix.
Gardeners, the age of many, 81
Gardens, their pleasures, see preface, and 24, 27, 28, 30, 39, 47,
63, 64, 89, 110, 121, 153
---- those of antiquity, 1
---- those of the Saxons, Danes and Normans, xxxv., xxxvi.
---- near Spitalfields, 36
---- of France, see preface
---- of cottagers, 171
Gardiner, J. 109
Garrick, 137, 158, 172, 178, 181
Garrle, Capt. 35
Garton, 65
Gerarde, xxx., 15, 87, 123
Gerard's Bromley, its once noble mansion, 23, 107
Gerard, Lady, an acquaintance of Pope's, 25
Gibson, J. 33
Gibson, Dr. 67, 210
---- on the richness of a fruit garden, 64
Gilbert, 107
Gilpin, Rev. W., vii. 159, 173
Girardin entombed Rousseau in his garden, xv.
---- his eloquent effusion to prevent misery, 78
---- on the calm of evening, xv.
Goldsmith, 199
Gooche, Barn., 12, 48
Gouges de Cessieres, xiv.
Graves, Dr., his tribute to Shenstone, 149
Gray, 80, 129, 158, 159
Greeks, 107, 194
Grindall, xxviii.
Grossetete, Bishop, 201
H.
Halifax, xxviii.
Hanbury, Rev. W., 143
Hartlib, the friend of Milton, 19
---- on orchards, 21
Harward, 17
Hawkins, Sir J. 8, 102, 103
Haworth, Mr. on Miller, 141
Heath, Mr. of Monmouth, 171
Heeley, 79
Henry IV. patronised Olivier de Serres and Mollet, xiv.
Hereford, its orchards and villages, 23
Hill, Sir John, 141
Hitt, 65, 138
Hogarth, 56
Hollar, his portraits of the Tradescants, 92
Homer, xxx., 1, 2, 47, 187
Housewife, an amiable and pleasant one, 212
Hudson, Lord, xxvii.
Hyll, 85
I
Iliffe, 23
J.
James, 45
Jones, of Nayland, 61
Johnson, the editor of Gerarde, 18
---- his testimony to Parkinson, 18
Jonson, Ben, his eulogy on Lord Bacon, 86
Johnson, Dr. 48, 70, 114, 116, 154, 178, 179
---- on portraits, vii.
---- on Charles II., 96
---- on Sir T. Browne, 95, 96
---- on Shenstone, 147
Johnson's Eng. Gardening, xxxv., xxxvi., xxxvii., 83, 84, 85, 88,
91, 100, 102, 109, 115, 154,
177, 183, 201
---- on Sir W. Temple, 113
---- on Switzer, 209
Justice, 63, 13
K.
Kames, 69, 151
Kennedy, 78
Kent, 132
Knowlton, 52, 61
Knight, R. P. xxvi., 187
---- on the celebration of high mass, 195
---- on listening to professors, 196
Kyle, 79
L.
Lamoignon, xxii.
Langford, 33
Langley, 142
Latapie, xvi.
Lawrence, Ant. 33
Lawrence, Rev. J. 120
Lawson, 17, 202, 212
Leibault, viii.
Le Maitre, xiii.
Lestiboudois, his tranquil end, 83
Lesay de Marnesia, xviii.
Liger, Louis, x., 42
Ligne, Prince de, on gardens, xxxiv., 55
---- on De Lille, xiv.
---- on Antoinette, xxxiv.
---- interview with Voltaire, xxxiv.
---- on Milton, 132
---- on Walpole, 177
Linant, xiii.
Linnaeus, 139, 167, 171, 192
Locke, 113
London and Wise, 35
Louis, xiv., xx.
Loudon's Encycl. of Gardening, xi., xii., xviii., xix., xx., xxxvi.,
4, 54, 80, 81, 95, 99, 109, 116, 121, 128, 136, 150, 152, 153, 155,
157, 170, 184, 194
---- on Whateley, 72
---- on Bacon, 87
---- on Miller, 138
---- on L. Browne, 156
M.
Maddock, 83
Maison rustique, viii., 89
Malherbes, xvi.
Malthus, D. xv., 78
Mapes, Walter, the honest chaplain to Henry II. and an admired poet, 170
Markham, Ger. viii., 88, 211, 213
Marshall, 79, 117, 150, 157
Marie Antoinette, xxxiv., 189
Mary, Queen of Scots, vii., 102
Martyn, Professor, 185
---- his character of Miller, 138
Mascall, 84
Mason, Geo. xxix., 70, 156, 198
---- on Kent, 134
---- on Shenstone, 150
Mason, Rev. W. xv., xxxii., 111, 157
---- on Pope, 128, 130, 131
---- on Shenstone, 150
Masson de Blamont, xviii.
Mathias on Boileau, xxiv.
---- on Pope, 127
---- on Mason, 164
Mavor, Rev. Mr. 34
---- his admirable edition of Tusser, 6
Meader, 17
Meager, Leonard, 34
Mignon, his skill in painting flowers, 55
Miller, Phillip, 138
Milton, 20, 21, 49, 94, 130, 132, 197
---- his great poem now magnificently printing in letters of gold, 133
Mollet, Andre, ix.
Mollet, Claude, ix.
Morell, xiv.
Morin, the florist, xi.
Mountmorris, on Sir W. Temple, 111
Morris, Rev. I. G., his powerful appeal on horticultural pursuits, 122
Morris, onornamental scenery, 77
Mountain, Didymus, 12
N.
Nicol, Walter, 82
Nichols, John, 54, 60, 110, 121, 143, 174, 178
----his friendship for Mr. Cradock, 180
Notre, le, tributes to him, xi., xii., xx.
Nourse, 58
O.
Ockenden, 65
Only, Rev. Mr., a lover of gardens, 54
Opium, 168
Orchards, 21, 23, 64, 202, 203
Orrery, Lord, xxvi., 126
P.
Parkinson, 89, 90
----testimony to his works, 18
Pastoral Scenes, 30
Paulmier de Grenlemesnil, viii.
Percy, Bishop of Dromore, 72
Pennant, 154
Petrarch, xxxi.
----his handsome person, vi.
----on his garden, xxxv.
Plants betray fondness for their native earth, 45
Planting, on zeal for, 66, 69
Platt, Sir Hugh, 13
Plattes, Gabriel, 16
Plimley, 165
Pontchateau, his singular history, xiii.
Pope, xxix., xxxiii., 1, 2, 76, 114, 123, 179, 213
Pope mentions Lady Gerard, 25
----his noble thought on planting, 68
Powel, 65
Preston, its horticult. society, 123
Price, Sir U. vii., xxvi., 56, 72, 77, 134, 155, 156, 177, 191
----on De Lille, xv.
----his high opinion of Mason, 163
----on the sculpture, poetry, and eloquence of the Greeks, 194
----on Correggio, 202
Priestley, Dr. on Franklin and Wedderburn, 73
Primroses, 30, 50, 54, 55
Pulteney, Dr. 5, 52, 55, 56, 60, 85, 87, 90, 92, 138, 143, 182
Q.
Quarterly Review, 41, 59, 97, 103, 183
----on Evelyn's _Sylva_, 99
Quintinye, xi., xx., xxvii., 34, 68
----anecdote of, 67
----attempt to recover his MSS. 68
R.
Raleigh, xxvii., xxxi., 36, 87
Rabutin de Bussy, xxii. xxv.
Rapin, tribute to, xiii.
----on Lamoignon, xxii., xxv.
Ray, xxix., 71, 88, 94, 109, 139
Raynal, 128
Rea, John, his dedication to Lord Gerard, and verses on Lady Gerard, 23
Read, 33
Rench, an aged gardener, 82
Repton, 186, 188
Reynolds, Sir J. 127, 158
Richardson, 84
Rickets, 61
Riviere, la Countess de, xiii., xiv., xxv.
Robin, Jean, xix.
Robinson, Dr. on Mary Queen of Scots, 104
Roscommon, 48
Rose, 101
Rosier, xviii.
Rousseau, his burial at Ermenonville, xv.
Russell, Lord W. his love of gardens, xxvii.
Rutter, 65.
S.
Salmonia, extracts, from, 30, 107
Scarborough, xxix.
Schabol, xvi.
Scott, Sir W. v., 40, 41, 172
---- on the deaths of _Marat_, and _Robespierre_, xvi.
---- on the garden of _Vanessa_, xxx.
Scotland, its zeal for planting, 69
Serres, Olivier de, viii.
Sevigne, Mad. de, xii., xiv., xx., xxv.
Seward, Miss, vi., 162, 172
Sismondi, xix., 3, 107
---- on bees, 86
Shakspeare, xi., xxxi, 4, 73, 74, 78, 158, 178, 179, 197, 198, 199, 213
Sharrock, 23
Shenstone, 147
Shepherd, Sir Samuel, 41
Sherard, xxviii.
Spectacle de la Nature, 95
Speechley, 81
Smollet on Chatham, xxix.
Spring, its beauties, 21, 29, 30, 31, 209
St. Bartholomew's massacre, viii.
Stafford, 62, 210
Sterne, xxvi., 170
Stillingfleet, Benj. 8, 191
Stevenson, D. 45
Stevenson, H. 45
Stevenson, M. 45
Sully, ix., 66
Sun, the, its celestial beams, 48
Swinden, 78
Switzer, xxvii., xxxiii., 45, 94, 100, 109, 110, 138, 209
---- his grateful remembrance of his old master, 36, 39, 102
---- his enlarged views of gardening, 49
---- on Rose, 102
---- on Milton, 133
T.
Taverner, 53
Taylor, 65
Temperance, 169, 170
Temple, Sir W. xxxii., 110
---- on the garden of Epicurus, xxxii.
Thury, M. le Vic. de, his tribute to Milton, 132
---- on gardens, xxxv. xxxvi.
Tradescants, 92
Trowel, 63
Trees, ancient ones, 33, 46, 49, 50, 57, 142, 151
Tusser, 6, 13, 34
V.
Vaniere, tribute to, xiii.
Van-Huysum, his skill in painting fruit, 56, 156
Villages, rural, 23, 199
Vineyard at Bethnal-green, 14
Violets, xxxi., 30, 50, 55, 205
Vispre, 157
Voltaire, xi., xiii., xx., xxxiv., 80
---- his garden interview with the Prince de Ligne, xxxvi.
W.
Wakefield horticultural soc., 122
Walpole, Horace, xxix., 1, 80, 91, 163, 176
---- on Sir W. Temple, 112
---- on Kent, 132
---- on Bridgman, 136
Walpole, Horace, on Browne, 154
---- on Gilpin, 173
Walton, Isaac, xi., 30, 93, 94, 102, 104
Warton, Thomas, 6, 8, 10, 72, 143, 161
Watelet, xvii.
Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, his zeal for planting, 70
Watson, Sir W. 93, 142
Weymouth, Lord, xxviii.
Weston, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20, 57, 92
---- his zeal for planting, 66
Whately, xvi., xviii., 50, 72
---- brief testimonies to his genius, vii., 72, 74, 75, 195
---- on spring, 31
---- his tribute to Shenstone, 150
Wildman, 65
Whitmill, 62
William III. his delight in gardening, xxvii.
Worlidge, his attachment to gardens, 28
---- on those of France, xxvii.
---- mentions a garden at Hoxton, 61
Wotton, Sir H. 93
Wynn, Sir W. W. his zeal for planting, 69
X, Y.
Xenophon, 198
Young, Dr. on Pope's death, 131
FOOTNOTES:
* * * * *
[1] Few persons have shewn more attachment to family portraits than Miss
Seward. This is strongly exemplified in several bequests in her will;
not only in her bequest to Emma Sneyd, and in that to Mrs. Powys, but
also in the following:--"The miniature picture of my late dear friend,
Mr. Saville, drawn in 1770, by the late celebrated artist Smart, and
which at the time it was taken, and during many successive years, was an
exact resemblance of the original, I bequeath to his daughter, Mrs.
Smith, who I know will value and preserve it as a jewel above all prize;
and in case of her previous demise, I bequeath the said precious
miniature to her daughter, Mrs. Honora Jager, exhorting the said Honora
Jager, and her heirs, into whose hands soever it may fall, to guard it
with sacred care from the sun and from damp, as I have guarded it, that
so the posterity of my valued friend may know what, in his prime, was
the form of him whose mind through life, by the acknowledgment of all
who knew him, and could discern the superior powers of talent and
virtue, was the seat of liberal endowment, warm piety, and energetic
benevolence."
Being thus on the subject of portraits, let me remark, that it is not
always that we meet with a faithful likeness. A review of Mad. de
Genlis's _Petrarch et Laure_, justly observes, that "it is doubtful if
any of the portraits of _Petrarch_, which still remain, were painted
during his life-time. However that may be, it is impossible to trace in
them, either the elevation of his mind, the fire of his imagination, or
the pensive melancholy of his soul." In the Essays on Petrarch, by Ugo
Foscolo, he informs us, that "_Petrarch's_ person, if we trust his
biographers, was so striking with beauties, as to attract universal
admiration. They represent him with large and manly features, eyes full
of fire, a blooming complexion, and a countenance that bespoke all the
genius and fancy that shone forth in his works." Do we yet know one
really good likeness of _Mary Queen of Scots_?
[2] It has often struck me (perhaps erroneously), that the attachment
which the great Sully evinced for gardens, even to the last period of
his long-protracted life, (eighty-two), _might_ in some degree have been
cherished or increased from the writings of the great Lord Bacon. When
this illustrious duke retired to his country seats, wounded to the heart
by the baseness of those who had flattered him when Henry was alive, his
noble and honest mind indulged in the embellishment of his gardens. I
will very briefly quote what history relates:--"The life he led in his
retreat at _Villebon_, was accompanied with grandeur and even majesty,
such as might be expected from a character so grave and full of dignity
as his. His table was served with taste and magnificence; he admitted to
it none but the nobility in his neighbourhood, some of the principal
gentlemen, and the ladies and maids of honour, who belonged to the
duchess of Sully. He often went into his gardens, and passing through a
little covered alley, which separated the flower from the kitchen
garden, ascended by a stone staircase (which the present duke of Sully
has caused to be destroyed), into a large walk of linden trees, upon a
terrace on the other side of the garden. It was then the taste to have a
great many narrow walks, very closely shaded with four or five rows of
trees, or palisadoes. Here he used to sit upon a settee painted green,
amused himself by beholding on the one side an agreeable landscape, and
on the other a second alley on a terrace extremely beautiful, which
surrounded a large piece of water, and terminated by a wood of lofty
trees. There was scarce one of his estates, those especially which had
castles on them, where he did not leave marks of his magnificence, to
which he was chiefly incited by a principle of charity, and regard to
the public good. At _Rosny_, he raised that fine terrace, which runs
along the Seine, to a prodigious extent, and those great gardens, filled
with groves, arbours, and grottos, with water-works. He embellished
_Sully_ with gardens, of which the plants were the finest in the world,
and with a canal, supplied with fresh water by the little river Sangle,
which he turned that way, and which is afterwards lost in the Loire. He
erected a machine to convey the water to all the basons and fountains,
of which the gardens are full. He enlarged the castle of _La Chapelle
d'Angillon_, and embellished it with gardens and terraces."
These gardens somewhat remind one of these lines, quoted by Barnaby
Gooche:
_Have fountaines sweet at hand, or mossie waters,
Or pleasaunt brooke, that passing through the meads, is sweetly seene._
That fine gardens delighted Sully, is evident even from his own
statement of his visit to the Duke d'Aumale's, at Anet, near Ivry,
(where Henry and Sully fought in that famous battle), for he says,--"Joy
animated the countenance of Madame d'Aumale the moment she perceived me.
She gave me a most kind and friendly reception, took me by the hand, and
led me through those fine galleries and beautiful gardens, which make
Anet a most enchanting place." One may justly apply to Sully, what he
himself applies to the Bishop of Evreaux: "A man for whom eloquence and
great sentiments had powerful charms."