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The tree mofl Iti ufe here, was the fmall-leaved horne-beam; which ferves for ar-cades, berceaus; _and alfo ftandards with globular heads: at the foot of which theyhave planted little fprigs of the fame of a foot and half high ; and alfo in fome placesin like manner, whole areas full of them ; which cut fmooth and level make the linedgreen hedges I ever faw ; fome of thefe low hedges were twelve feet broad, and in abarren and dry climate fupply very artificially the ufe of grafs-plots.
It is certainly very commendable in the king, who pleafes himfelf in planting andpruning the trees with his own hand, to make ufe of no other trees but what the neigh-bouring woods afford; fo that it is admirable to fee whole alleys of pole hedges of greatheight, and long rows of goodly ftandard globes of eighteen months growth only.
if this great king, as he grows older, fhould take a fancy to place himfelf in a warmerclimate, (and he has a good one of his own, as any under the fun, in Languedoc) ashe does his winter greens in proper houfes; (and methinks, this indance alone fhouldbe fufficient, to convince him of the neceffity there is to cherifh decaying nature, andthat a naturally warm air is a better fence than cloaths or fire) what wonders would nothis purfe and paffion for planting do there.
The next woods in Languedoc would afford laurel, and myrtles for pole hedges; len-tifcus’s and phylarea’s in as great abundance, as hazel or thorn with us. Alfojafminsfor arbors and treillage; cidus’s and rofemary, and a hundred other fweet fmelling woodyIhrubs grow every where in the fields, to furnifh the pots and vala.
There the tall cypres’s grow of themfelves, to 60 and 100 feet high, like fo manytowers; and alfo tonfil at pleafure, for the mod beautiful pole hedges imaginable. Thevery fields are mod excellent, and well furnifhed parterres of flowers, and are naturallypottagefies, or kitchen gardens. The vineyards are very orchards; and all the modtender fruits with us are there dandards ; as figs, and grapes of all forts, apricots,peaches, neftarines, jujubs, &c. The delicious and large cherries; and whatever hasbeen faid to the contrary, pippins and pears there are in far greater perfection than withus, or in any parts of France elfe, befides that happy climate.
What was it for fo great a king to make a walk from Marli to Montpellier , or (if Imight choofe) to Pefcenas, feated in the bofom of a well watered valley, inclofed withperfumed hills. It is not half fo far as betwixt Lahor and Agria, two feats the Mogulhas thus joined. This would eternife his name, above any palace he has yet built, andbring to himfelf much health in his old age. The gardens of the Hefperides, and thelabyrinths of Cande, fo famous in hidory, would be nothing to fuch wonderful per-formances, as his abilities and happy genius is capable of. For befides the natural pro-du£I of the country, the climate alfo is capable of producing, and nourilhing withfmall art and expence, whatever plants both the Indies can afford. Whereas, at thisend of the world, we drudge in vain ; and force a pleature which is dead and gonebefore we can well enjoy it: we have indeed a kind of ihew of the lummer delights,but all on' a fudden we drop into a long and tedious winter again. But we love theplaces we are ufed to, or born in. Man, to fay the truth, is a very animal, as anyquadruped of them all; and mod of his adions are refolvable into inftinft, notwith-flandjng the principles which cuftom and education have fuperinduced.
The pleafure of feeing is fcarce to be tired; but yvt after two or three hours walkin fo fine and great a garden, I was forced to make a halt behind the company, and gladto retire to the gilt bureau in the palace again, to refrelh rnyfelf, where I found fomeof the king’s officers waiting, and fome other gentlemen of the houfehold, who hadmade feveral campaigns in Flanders. I had now more a mind to a glafs of cool Bur-gundy, than, the infignificant Indian liquors; which though I knew was againft the
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