PERSONAL NOTE 



THIS little book is the outcome of much 

 practical study of the principles of garden- 

 design, — principles which are better understood, 

 though not always more consistently followed at 

 the present day, than when they were revived by 

 the late George Devey and others in the middle 

 of the last century. Penshurst Place was one of the 

 first notable examples, foreshadowing the present 

 " renaissance " of the formal garden, and Penshurst 

 was the outcome of the united zeal of Devey and of 

 his patron Lord de L'Isle. It has taken some fifty 

 years for the leaven to work, and the change in 

 public opinion has been aided by many enthusiastic 

 writers and workers, but none were more steadfast 

 in their support of the older and saner methods 

 of planning than Mr. Devey and his surviving 

 partner, Mr. James Williams. As pupils of Mr. 



