Hirschfield mentions Laugier, as the first French au thor who espoused the English style of gardening in France, in his Essay sur ['Architecture, published in 1733 ; and next in order is Prevait, in his Homme du Goat, published in 1770. About the same time, the li st example was preparing at Ermenonville, the seat of Viscount GI rardin, about ten leagues from Paris. An account of this place was written by Girardin himself in 1775, and pub lished in 1777. It was soon after translated into English by D. Malthus, Esq. and is well known for its eloquent descriptions of romantic and picturesque scenes. Erme nonville (still in the same family, but now rather neglect ed,) appears to have been laid out in a chaste and pic tut esque style, and, in this respect, to have been some what different, and superior to coteniporary English places. Useless buildings were avoided, and the picturesque effect of every object carefully considered, not in exclusion of, but in connexion with their utility. There is hardly an unexceptionable principle, or even direction referring to landscape gardening, laid down in the course of the work ; and in all that relates to the picturesque, it is remark able how exactly it corresponds with the ideas of Mr. Price. M. Girardin, high in military rank, had previously visited every part of Europe, and paid particular tate!). turn to England ; and, before publishing his work, he had the advantage of consulting that of Wheatley, from which he has occasionally borrowed, as well as the writings of Chambers, Shenstone, and Gilpin. He professes, how ever, that his object is neither to create English gardens, nor Chinese gardens ; and less to divide his grounds into pleasure grounds, parks, or ridings, than to produce in teresting landscapes, " paysages interessans," &c. He received the professional aid of J. M. Morel, the Kent of France, who afterwards published Theorie des Jardins, and probably that of his guest Rousseau, who seems to have composed the advertisement to his book. M. Ma gellan, in the Gazette Litteraire de ['Europe for 1778, in giving some account of the last days of Rousseau, who died at Ermenonville, and was buried in the island of Poplars there, informs us, that M. Girardin kept a band of musicians, who constantly perambulated the grounds, making concerts, sometimes in the woods, and at other times on the waters, and in scenes calculated for parti cular seasons, so as to draw the attention of visitors to them at the proper time. At night they returned to the house, and performed in a room adjoining the hall of company. Madame Girardin and her daughters were clothed in common brown stuff, en Amazones, with black hats, while the young men wore " habiliments lc plus simple et les plus propres a les faire confoudre avec les enfans du campagnards," &c.
The next example of English gardening in France, is of a very different description, and is that of M. Watelet, the author of an Essai sur les Jardins, which appeared in 1774. M. Watelet's garden was situated in the suburbs of Paris, and contained about four acres, varied by build ings, grottos, temples, and inscriptions; and was, on the whole, more in the Chinese style than 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 this particular to his temples and altars; and is ridiculed by Hirchfield, (Sur les Jardins, tom. i. p. 1680 for propos
ing occasionally " de faire paroitre aupres des temples, des autels, des arcs de triomphe, &c. une troupe de pan tomimes vetues suivant le costume necessaire--imitant des ce.emonies, faisant des sacrifices, allant porter des offrandes," Sec. Tne object of such as attempt English gardening in France, on a small scale, is still more to imi tate the garden of M. Watelet, than the " paysages inte ressais" of Girardin. In much better taste is the Theorie des Jardins of J. M. Morel, already mentioned, and publish ed in 1776. It appears from this judicious writer, that very little had been done in France up to the period in which he wrote. One place only is mentioned besides Ermenonville as worthy of attention. Most of the attempts were made on a small scale, near Paris, in Watelet's man ner. Soon after this4D elille's celebrated poem, Lea Jardins, made its appearance, and is perhaps a more unexception able performance than The English Garden of Mason. The French, indeed, have written much better on gardening and agriculture than they have practised,—a circumstance which may be accounted for, from the general concentra tion of wealth and talent in the capital, where books are more frequent than examples ; and of professional reputa tion in that country, depending more on what a man has written than on what he has done. It does not appear that English gardening was ever at all noticed by the court of France. The garden of Mousseau, before the revolution, the property of the Duke of °Heal s, was laid out in a romantic and irregular style, as were some scenes in that of the Petit Trianon, especially in the lower part of the grounds, now occupied by ruins, water, and a cottage, and in their kind very picturesque. Bagatelle, in the Bois do Boulogne, formerly a retreat of Count d'Artois, was laid out in the same taste.
During the consulate, NIthuaison, the Residence of Buonap lute, was laid out avowedly in the English man ner by a Scotch gardener ; and was afterwards stocked with every variety of trees and shrubs from this country. The Grand and Petit Trianon have also been partially subjected to this style, and more especially the latter. The thy arenarious soil of these places, joined to the Bleat heats in summer, is particularly unfavourable to the production of what constitutes one of the finest beauties of English gardening—a velvet turf ; which in no coun try or soil is produced in such perfection as on the strong learns and under the temperate climate of England. This, we learned on the spot, was the chief drawback to Er menonville when in its greatest perfection, and will pro bably ever prevent an English garden from exhibiting in any other country that beauty which it does in England. There are a few exceptions, referring to maritime dis tricts, which afford useful hints to any who may think of displaying a British country residence in any of the con tinental states.
For a more particular account of the present state of gardening, as well as of that of rural architecture, and the general arrangement of country residences in France, we refer our readers to Craft's Plans du plus beaux Jar dins de France et d'Italie, E.7c. Paris, fol. 1809-10 ; La borde's Description des Jardins de la France, tic. 1312-15 ; the various works in French, Sur Architecture Rurale ; and Le Grande's Histoire generale de ['Architecture.