al accessories as fountains, balustrades and perrons were
designed on a more extensive scale. Basins and canals and other
restrained surfaces of water began to appear on a larger scale, and
greater insistence was put upon their proportions with regard to the
decorative part which they were to play in the ensemble.

This was the preparatory period of the coming into being of the works of
Le Notre and Mansart.

The _Grand Siecle_ lent a profound majesty to royal and noble dwellings,
and its effect is no less to be remarked upon than the character of
their gardens. The moving spirit which ordained all these things was the
will of the _Roi Soleil_.

_Parterres_ and _broderies_ were designed on even a grander scale than
before. They were frequently grouped into four equal parts with a
circular basin in the centre, and mirror-like basins of water sprang up
on all sides.

Close to the royal dwelling was the fore-court, as often dressed out
with flowers and lawn as with tiles and flags. From it radiated long
alleys and avenues, stretching out almost to infinity. At this time the
grass-plots were developed to high order, and there were groves,
rest-houses, bowers, and _theatres de verdure_ at each turning.
Tennis-courts came to be a regularly installed accessory, and the basins
and "mirrors" of water were frequently supplemented by cascades, and
some of the canals were so large that barges of state floated thereon.
Over some of the canals bridges were built as fantastic in design as
those of the Japanese, and again others as monumental as the Pont Neuf.

In their majestic regularity the French gardens of the seventeenth
century possessed an admirable solemnity, albeit their amplitude and
majesty give rise to justifiable criticism. It is this criticism that
qualifies the values of such gardens as those of Versailles and Vaux,
but one must admit that the scale on which they were planned has much to
do with this, and certainly if they had been attached to less majestic
edifices the comment would have been even more justifiable. As it is,
the criticism must be qualified.

The aspect of the garden by this time had been greatly modified. Aside
from such great ensembles as those of Versailles was now to be
considered a taste for something smaller, but often overcrowded with
accessories of the same nature, which compared so well with the vastness
of Versailles, but which, on the other hand, looked so out of place in
miniature.