THE FLOWER GARDEN. 99 



^ides of a long straight walk ; we have instances of it in the 

 Horticultural Gardens at Chiswick, and the Eoyal Gardens at 

 Kew — in both cases, as we think, in bad taste. However, it 

 is one of the penalties we pay for straight walks ; whoever 

 adopts a straight walk as a feature finds something is required 

 to take ofi" the monotony and divert the eye, -and this leads 

 to something perfectly obnoxious to good taste. There is 

 nothing elevated in the detail, because there is a common 

 mechanical notion in the path itself. There may be mathe- 

 matical precision, but there is no grace in a straight road ; 

 and the form of clumps or flower-beds on the sides of the 

 straight road is necessarily mechanical also, and subject to 

 everybody's objection; for if once we descend to mere 

 frivohty and make uniform half-moons, or horseshoes, or 

 diamonds, or circles on each side of a straight path, we might 

 just as well have a row of posts, and chains hung on festoons 

 for the children to smng upon. K a piece of lawn is to be 

 devoted to a flower garden, and the geometrical figure is to 

 be adopted, let it be so made that the eye may look down 

 upon it from an eminence. Eosherville Gardens aff'orded 

 this opportunity. There is nothing in the figure but what 

 the compasses and a ruler would accomplish ; and what will 

 they not ? But when the fancy beds were nearly filled and 

 in bloom, we could look down from the chalky heights and 

 fancy the lawn a green carpet and the beds a gaudy pattern, 

 standing up in bold relief. Eut, as we have already said, the 

 grass must form the principal quantity, and contain a space 

 large enough to prevent wearing in any one track. 



The figures necessary for grass are as easily contrived as 

 those intended for gravel walks. The identical figure with 

 its thousand circles, and crosses, and angles, that will give us 

 fifty varieties of form for a Dutch garden with gravel walks, 

 will give equally as many for a grass carpet. To look at one 

 of these practice papers, as we may call them, is like pleasing 

 one's fancy in a coal fire. We may fancy a thousand forms 

 by Looking on one, two, or more of the minute divisions, in 

 what shape you please, and these are sure comparisons. 

 There is not a division nor half a dozen joined to make a 

 form, but five more can be found to match it. We feel more 

 than half inclined to give an instance of a paper scratched 

 all over with circles of diff'erent sizes on a groundwork of 

 squares ; it would give an idea of the diversity to be worked 



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