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women in France , and methinks exceedingly like the king her father, as I rem emberhim in his full beauty, when I firlt faw him in the year 65.
Thefe four palaces are all entirely built and furniihed in this king’s time, an d all thegardens, and what belongs to them.
St. Cloud is the neareft Paris , and the caftle is very magnificent, and molt commodi-ous. The great faloon and the gallery are extremely well painted.
The gardens are of a vaft extent, twelve or fifteen miles in compafs.
The natural woods on the fouth-weft fide the houfe, are well hulbanded, and cutinto fmall and bigger alleys to fave the trees; which they have had fo great a care of,they have kept them (landing not only in the alleys, but in the very (leps of (lone whichare made to defcend into the alleys.
In the other parts of the garden the alleys are moftly treble, and well (haded, runout in vaft lengths of feveral miles, every where bafins and jets d’eaux ; but there is acafcade, which I faw feveral times play, and is faid to be the mod beautiful and bedfurniihed with water of any in France . In the middle of the large bafin amongft thewoods, I faw a jet d’eau, which threw up a fpout of water ninety feet high, and diddifcharge itfelf with that force, that it made a mift and coolnefs in the air a great com-pafs round about, and gave now and then cracks like the going off of a piftol; fuchforce the vent of wind in the pipes had.
The pipes which convey the water are compofed of iron cylinders three feetlong, fome ten, fome twenty inches diameter, till they divide ; and then they are oflead.
I was once kindly invited to St. Cloud by Madame’s phyfician, Monfieur Arlot, whofent his coach for me to Paris , and nobly treated me; before dinner he carried me inhis coach (for this privilege is granted him) into all parts, and round the gardens;which were well furniihed with alleys and walks, adorned with cyprefs, pines, and firs,cut into pyramids; and water-works every where playing in abundance, particularly thegerbes d’eau were very fine, that is, great and thick, feeming dreams of water thrownup into the air. This is done to hufband the water by a great number of fmall pipeslike a fheaf, to reprefent a folid pillar of water.
Monfieur has added, and taken into this vaft garden, a new acquifition of a moun-tainous plain, which overlooks all the country round; and will no doubt, when it ismodelled by that admirable contriver Monf. le Noftre, make one of the mod delight-ful places in the world..
From the baluftrade in the upper garden, the river Seine , and a vaft plain boundedby Paris , is to be feen, and makes a mod delightful profpeft.
Thefe vaft riding gardens are unknown to us in England, and fepromener a cheval ,oil en carrojfe , is not Engli/h. We cannot afford to lofe fo much country as thofe gardenstake up. I faw in fome of the quarters not only partridges and hares plentifully, but,which I wondered at, five biches or female red-deer feeding.
The orangery belonging to this garden is very large and magnificent, paved withmarble, and was filled with vaft trees in cafes, not to be brought in or out withoutproper engines, but in it there was nothing but thofe orange trees, oleanders, and lau-rus tinufes. He goes out of the end of his apartment, that is, the noble painted galleryis continued upon a level with the orangery, which leads direftly into an afcendingwalk of a vaft length; and alio fronts or flanks all along the parterre or flower garden,where they are difpofed of in fummer. At this treat I eat of a preferve or wet fweatmeat,made of orange flowers, incomparable j and the lady obliged me with the manner ofmaking it.
Though