The horticultural intercourse that now passes between England and France, induces one to express a wish, that the portraits of many of those delightful writers on this science, whose pens have adorned France, (justly termed from its climate la terre classique d'horticulture), were selected and engraved; for many of their portraits have never yet been engraved. If this selection were accompanied with a few brief notices of them and their works, it would induce many in this country to peruse some of the most fascinating productions that ever issued from the press. Amongst so many, whose portraits and memoirs would interest us, I will mention those of Champier, who distinguished himself at the battle of Aignadel, and who published at Lyons, in 1533, Campus Elisius Galliæ amenitate referens; Charles Etienne, who, in 1529, produced his Prædium Rusticum; and who with Leibault published the Maison Rustique, of which upwards of thirty editions have been published, (and which our Gervase Markham calls a work of infinite excellencie); Paulmier de Grenlemesnil, a most estimable man, physician to Charles IX., and who died at Caen in 1588, and wrote a treatise de Vino et Pomaceo; and the only act of whose long life that one regrets is, that his great skill was the means of re-establishing the health of Charles, who, with his mother, directed the horrid Massacre of St. Bartholomew; Cousin, who died in the prison of Besançon, and wrote De Hortorum laudibus; that patriarch of agriculture and of horticulture, Olivier de Serres, whose sage and philosophic mind composed a work rich with the most profound reflections, and whose genius and merit were so warmly patronized by "le bon Henri," and no less by Sully;[2] Boyceau, intendant of the gardens of Louis XIII., who, in 1638, published Traité du Jardinage, selon les raisons de la nature, et de l'art, avec divers desseins de parterres, pelouses, bosquets, &c.; André Mollet, who wrote Le Jardin de plaisir, &c.; Claude Mollet, head gardener to Henry IV. and Louis XIII., who, in 1595, planted the gardens of Saint Germain-en-laye, Monceau, and Fontainbleau, and whose name and memory (as Mr. Loudon observes), has been too much forgotten; Bornefond, author of Jardinier François, et délices de la campagne; Louis Liger, of consummate experience in the florist's art, "auteur d'un grand nombre d'ouvrages sur l'agriculture, et le jardinage," and one of whose works was thought not unworthy of being revised by London and Wise, and of whose interesting works the Biographie Universelle (in 52 tomes) gives a long list, and mentions the great sale which his Jardinier fleuriste once had; Morin, the florist, mentioned by Evelyn, and whose garden contained ten thousand tulips; the justly celebrated Jean de la Quintinye, whose precepts, says Voltaire, have been followed by all Europe, and his abilities magnificently rewarded by Louis; Le Nôtre, the most celebrated gardener (to use Mr. Loudon's words) that perhaps ever existed, and of whom the Biographie Univer. observes, that whatever might have been the changes introduced in whatever Le Nôtre cultivated, "il seroit difficile de mettre plus de grandeur et de noblesse;"[3] Charles Riviere du Fresnoy "qu'il joignot a un goût général pour tous les arts, des talens particuliers pour la musique et le dessein. Il excelloit sur-tout dans l'art de destribuer les jardins. Il publia plusieurs Chansons et les Amusemens serieux et comiques: petit ouvrage souvens re-imprimé et pleins de peintures vives et plaisantes, de la plupart des états de la vie. On remarques dans touts ses productions une imagination enjouée et singuliere;" Pontchasteau, who wrote on the cultivation of fruit trees, whose penitence and devotion were so severely austere, and whose very singular history is given us in the interesting "Lettres de Madame la Comtesse de la Riviere;" Linant, to whom Voltaire was a warm protector and friend, and who, in 1745, wrote his poem Sur la Perfection des Jardins, sous la regne de Louis XIV.; and of whom it was said that "les qualités du cœur ne le caractérisoient pas moins que celles de l'esprit;" Le Pere Rapin;[4] D'Argenville; Le Maistre, curate of Joinville, who in 1719 added to his "Fruitier de la France," "Une Dissertation historique sur l'origine et les progrés des Jardins; Vaniere, who wrote the Prædium Rusticum;[5] Arnauld d'Andilli, in so many respects rendered illustrious, who retired to the convent of Port Royal, (that divine solitude, where the whole country for a league round breathed the air of virtue and holiness, to quote Mad. de Sevigné's words), and who sent each year to the queen some of that choice fruit which he there with such zeal cultivated, and which Mazarin "appelloit en riant des fruits bénis." This good man died at the age of eighty-six, and the letter of Mad. de Sevigné, of the date of Sept. 23, 1671, will alone consign him to the respect of future ages;[6] Jean Paul de Ardenne, superior of the congregation of the oratory of Marseilles, one of the most famous florists of the period in which he lived, and who devoted great part of his time in deeds of charity; Francis Bertrand, who, in 1757, published Ruris delicæ, being poems from Tibullus, Claudian, Horace, and from many French writers, on the pleasures of the country; Mons. de Chabanon; Morel, who assisted in laying out Ermenonville, and who wrote, among other works, Théorie des Jardins, ou l'art des Jardins de la Nature; the animated Prevost; Gouges de Cessieres, who wrote Les Jardins d'Ornament, ou les Georgiques Francoises; he, too, whom the Prince de Ligne calls
———enchanteur De Lille!
O Virgile moderne!
and whose generous invocation to the memory of Captain Cook must endear his name to every Englishman;[7] the Viscount Girardin, who wrote De la Composition des Paysages, who buried Rousseau in his garden at Ermenonville, and who kept a band of musicians to perambulate those charming grounds, performing concerts sometimes in the woods, and at other times on the water, and at night in a room adjoining his hall of company;[8] the venerable Malherbes, the undaunted defender of the oppressed, who throughout his life lost no opportunity of drying up the tears of the afflicted, and never caused one to flow; whose whole life had been consecrated to the happiness of his fellow-creatures and the dignity of his country, but whose spotless reputation could not save him from the guillotine at his age of seventy-two;[9] Schabol; Latapie, who translated Whately's Observations on Modern Gardening, to which he added a discourse on the origin of the art, &c.; Watelet, who wrote Essai sur les Jardins, and whose name has given rise to some most charming lines in De Lille's poem, and whose biography is interestingly drawn in the Biog. Univers.; Lezay de Marnesia, whose poems de la Nature Champêtre, and le Bonheur dans les Campagnes, have passed through many editions, and of whom pleasing mention is made in the above Biog. Univers.; M. de Fontaine, author of Le Verger; Masson de Blamont, the translator of Mason's Garden, and Whately's Observations; François Rosier; Bertholan, the friend of Franklin.
I am indebted, in a great measure, for the above list of French authors, to that immense body of diffuse and elaborate information, the Encyclopædia of Gardening, by Mr. Loudon.
Those who are more conversant with the literature of France, than my very limited researches have extended to, can, no doubt, easily enumerate many very distinguished persons of that country, many talented men, who though they may not have written on the subject of gardens, yet evinced an ardent attachment to them, and became their munificent patrons. Let us not then omit the name of Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, in one of whose Capitulaires are Directions concerning Gardens, and what plants are best to set in them. He died in 814, after reigning forty-seven years over France: "Quoiqu'il ne sût pas écriere (says the Nouv. Diet. Hist.), il fit fleurer les sciences. Aussi grand par ses conquêtes, que par l'amour des lettres, et en fut le protecteur et la restaurateur. Son palais fut l'asyle des sciences. Le nom de ce conquérant et de cet législateur remplit la terre. Tout fut uni par le force de son génie." De Sismondi calls him "a brilliant star in that dark firmament." Mr. Loudon, in p. 40 of his Encyclopædia, says, that "The Abbé Schmidt informs us (Mag. Encyc.) that this monarch, who had domains in every part of France, gave the greatest encouragement to the eradication of forests, and the substitution of orchards and vineyards. He was on terms of friendship with the Saracenic prince Haroun al Raschid, and by that means procured for France the best sorts of pulse, melons, peaches, figs, and other fruits."
Francis I. when he built his palace at Fontainbleau, introduced into its gardens, much of what he had seen in those of Italy, and when he completed St. Germains, its style of grandeur may be guessed at from its rocks, cascades, terraces and subterraneous grots.
Henry IV.'s attachment to agriculture and to gardens, is well known. The magnificent improvements he made at St. Germains, and the attention he paid to his gardens at la Fleche, Vendome, and the Thuilleries, shew this. Indeed, his employing Claude Mollet, and Jean Robin, are sufficient proofs.[10]
Louis XIV. magnificently rewarded La Quintinye, that original writer, who conducted the fine gardens of Tambourneau, and whose precepts Mons. de Voltaire tells us were followed by all Europe. The zeal of Louis for the decorations of gardens, met with an able assistant when he patronized Le Nôtre, to do justice to whose name, I can only refer my reader to the concise but rich review of the grand efforts of this singular genius, as they are noticed in p. 35 of Mr. Loudon's Encyclopædia, and which "dazzled and enchanted every class of observers."[11]
Madame de Sevigné's delight in gardens pervades many of her letters: that of July 1677, paints the charms which one in Paris gave her: "I was invited in the kindest manner possible to sup at Gourville's with Mad. de Scomberg, Mad. de Frontenac, Mad. de Coulanges, the Duke, M. de la Rochefoucault, Barillon, Briole, Coulanges, Sevigné, in a garden of the hotel de Condé; there were water-works, bowers, terraces, six hautboys, six violins, and the most melodious flutes; a supper which seemed to be prepared by enchantment, an admirable bass-viol, and a resplendent moon, which witnessed all our pleasures." Of her own garden, formed by her own pure taste, M. de Coulanges thus speaks: "I have spent a most delightful fortnight here. It is impossible sufficiently to praise the gardens of the Rocks; they would have their beauties even at Versailles, which is saying every thing." And that she delighted in what she well knew how to describe, is evident from her letter from Chaulnes: "This is a very handsome house, which carries with it an air of grandeur, though it is partly unfurnished, and the gardens neglected. There is scarcely any verdure to be seen, and not a nightingale to be heard; in short, it is still winter, on the seventeenth of April. But it is easy to imagine the beauties of these walks; every thing is regular and magnificent; a spacious parterre in front, bowling-greens opposite the wings, a large playing fountain in the parterre, two in the bowling-greens, and another at a distance in the middle of a field, which is well named the solitary; a fine country, beautiful apartments, and a pleasant prospect, though flat." She in another letter from Chaulnes says; "I was walking alone the other day, in these beautiful alleys." And in a subsequent one she says: "It is a pity to be obliged to quit so beautiful and so charming a place." Her frequent mention in her letters of my pretty walks at the Rocks, sufficiently paints her delight in her own garden. In compliment to this lady, I cannot help applying to her the exact words which Petrarch applies to Laura: une haute intelligence, un cœur pure, qui a la sagesse de l'âge avancé, ait le brilliant de la belle jeunesse.
Few passed more happy hours in their garden at Baville, than the illustrious Lamoignon, of whom it was said, that "Son ame égaloit son génie; simple dans ses mœurs, austere dans sa conduite, il étoit le plus doux des hommes, quand la veuve et l'orphein étoient à ses pieds, Boileau, Racine, Bourdaloue, Rapin, composoit sa petite cour,"—and whom Rapin invokes, not only in his poem on gardens,