The aspect of the Mall has greatly changed since the days when its fashion was at its height. Then the gardens of St. James's Palace ran the whole length of the north side from the Palace towards Whitehall. Stephen Switzer, writing in 1715, extols the beauty of the garden, which by his time was cut up and partly built on. "The Royal Garden in St. James's Park, part of which is now in the possession of the Right Honourable Lord Carlton, and the upper part belonging to Marlborough House, was of that King's [Charles II.] planting, which were in the remembrance of most people the finest Lines of Dwarfs perhaps in the Universe. Mr. London"... presumed "before Monsieur de la Quintinge, the famous French gardener,... to challenge all France with the like, and if France, why not the whole World ?"
