157. The Hague; the Versailles and Kensington of Holland, and, in fact, the most magnificent village in Europe, contains two royal palaces, with their gardens in the ancient style. Evelyn, in 1641, describes them as �full of ornaments, close walks, statues, marbles, grottoes, fountains, and artificial music;� and of the village he says, �beautiful lime trees are set in rows before every man's house.� Sir J. E. Smith (Tour on the Continent, vol. i.) described them, in 1783, the one garden as full of serpentine, and the other as full of straight, lines. In 1814 these gardens had lost much of their former beauty, partly from age and decay, but principally from neglect. Jacob (Travels in Germany), in the same year, found them formal, and crowded with high trees. Neill, in 1817, found in them nothing becoming royalty. Near the Hague are some considerable country residences, on surfaces containing some little inequality. The mansions generally stand at the end of long avenues, and in a few places these avenues are varied by coppice wood and clumps.
