Those who are more conversant with the literature of France, than my very limited researches have extended to, can, no doubt, easily enumerate many very distinguished persons of that country, many talented men, who though they may not have written on the subject of gardens, yet evinced an ardent attachment to them, and became their munificent patrons. Let us not then omit the name of Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, in one of whose Capitulaires are _Directions concerning Gardens, and what plants are best to set in them_. He died in 814, after reigning forty-seven years over France: "Quoiqu'il ne sût pas écriere (says the Nouv. Diet. Hist.), il fit fleurer les sciences. Aussi grand par ses conquêtes, que par l'amour des lettres, et en fut le protecteur et la restaurateur. Son palais fut l'asyle des sciences. Le nom de ce conquérant et de cet législateur remplit la terre. Tout fut uni par le force de son génie." De Sismondi calls him "a brilliant star in that dark firmament." Mr. Loudon, in p. 40 of his Encyclopædia, says, that "The Abbé Schmidt informs us (_Mag. Encyc._) that this monarch, who had domains in every part of France, gave the greatest encouragement to the eradication of forests, and the substitution of orchards and vineyards. He was on terms of friendship with the Saracenic prince Haroun al Raschid, and by that means procured for France the best sorts of pulse, melons, peaches, figs, and other fruits." Francis I. when he built his palace at Fontainbleau, introduced into its gardens, much of what he had seen in those of Italy, and when he completed St. Germains, its style of grandeur may be guessed at from its rocks, cascades, terraces and subterraneous grots. Henry IV.'s attachment to agriculture and to gardens, is well known. The magnificent improvements he made at St. Germains, and the attention he paid to his gardens at la Fleche, Vendome, and the Thuilleries, shew this. Indeed, his employing Claude Mollet, and Jean Robin, are sufficient proofs.[10] Louis XIV. magnificently rewarded La Quintinye, that original writer, who conducted the fine gardens of Tambourneau, and whose precepts Mons. de Voltaire tells us were followed by all Europe. The zeal of Louis for the decorations of gardens, met with an able assistant when he patronized Le Nôtre, to do justice to whose name, I can only refer my reader to the concise but rich review of the grand efforts of this singular genius, as they are noticed in p. 35 of Mr. Loudon's Encyclopædia, and which "dazzled and enchanted every class of observers."[11]