quently
trimmed out for the placing of statues, columns surmounted with golden
balls, etc.

The most famous of the frankly Renaissance gardens developed as a result
of the migrations of the French monarchs in Italy were those surrounding
such palaces and chateaux as Fontainebleau, Amboise, and Blois. Often
these manifestly French gardens, though of Italian inspiration in the
first instance, were actually the work of Italian craftsmen. Pucello
Marceliano at four hundred _livres_ and Edme Marceliano at two hundred
_livres_ were in the employ of Henri II. It was the former who laid out
the magnificent _Parterre de Diane_ at Chenonceaux, where Catherine de
Medici later, being smitten with the skill of the Florentines, gave the
further commission of the _Jardin Vert_, which was intended to complete
this _parterre_, to Henri le Calabrese and Jean Collo.

The later Renaissance gardens divided themselves into various classes,
_jardins de plaisir_, _jardins de plaisance_, _jardins de proprete_,
etc. _Parterres_ now became of two sorts, _parterres a compartiments_
and _parterres de broderies_, names sufficiently explicit not to need
further comment.

[Illustration: _"Parterre de Diane," Chenonceaux_]

It is difficult to determine just how garden _broderies_ came into
being. They may have been indirectly due to woman's love of embroidery
and the garden alike. The making of these garden _broderies_ was a
highly cultivated art. Pierre Vallet, embroiderer to Henri IV, created
much in his line of distinction and note, and acquired an extensive
clientele for his flowers and models. Often these gardens, with their
_parterres_ and _broderies_ were mere additions to an already existing
architectural scheme, but with respect to the gardens of the Luxembourg
and Saint Germain-en-Laye they came into being with the edifices
themselves, or at least those portions which they were supposed to
embellish. Harmony was then first struck between the works of the
horticulturist--the garden-maker--and those of the architect--the
builder in stone and wood. This was the prelude to those majestic
ensembles of which Le Notre was to be the composer.

Of the celebrated French palace and chateau gardens which are not
centered upon the actual edifices with which they are more or less
intimately connected, but are distinct and apart from the gardens which
in most cases actually surround a dwelling, may be mentioned those of
Montargis, Saint Germain, Amboi