LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 311 



and rarely trouble tliemselves to look one way or tlie other. 

 But every labouring man out of work, who passes such a 

 place, opens his eyes and sometimes his mouth, and thinks, 

 and says perhaps, " It is a great shame that a rich man should 

 let his place remain in that state, while he could employ men 

 in the neighbouring village to set it all straight, and keep it 

 all creditable." Gentlemen should recollect that a thousand 

 people see the entrance for one that reaches the inside, and 

 that the portion which every passer-by sees is that which 

 stamps the liberality or the parsimony of the OAvner, We do 

 not quarrel with the gate, whether it be a five-barred one of 

 wood, or an elaborate pair of iron like those at Hampton 

 Court, it is a matter of taste — or want of taste — but the state 

 of the road and trees and shrubs at the entrance, so far as th» 

 eye reaches, is a matter of cleanliness or slovenliness, and 

 when neglected impressas the passers-by with a notion that 

 the owner is naturally careless, or poor, or grudges the 

 labourers in his neighbourhood the means of working for 

 their bread. It is this seeming indifference to the appearance 

 of liis domain, and to the interests of the poorer classes, that 

 creates an ill-feeling, puts all manner of mischief into their 

 heads, and to a certainty costs the stingy master more in 

 the loss of game, and things not game, than he need sj^end 

 among them to make them honest and happy, and his place 

 tidy. 



General Observations. — We have shown, we believe, 

 pretty clearly, that without questioning whether formal or land- 

 scape gardening is the better, we cannot tolerate a mixture. In 

 landscape gardening there must be no straight lines. Whether 

 it be water, or grass, or roads, or paths, there must be nothing 

 in rows or straight lines ; whatever is to be formal or contrary 

 to nature must be isolated, and not make part of the general 

 scene. We have no objections to urge against geometrical 

 figures, and fancy uniform flower beds, but they must be in a 

 garden shut out from the landscape ; and indeed, so far do we 

 approve of them in their places, that we think nothing so good 

 in a proper flower garden, of which we have yet to speak, or 

 rather write. The conservatory should, if possible, be so con- 

 trived as to be entered from the house, and have its outlet in 

 the flower garden ; but we would have neither seen from the 

 landscape. Let private walks, into which the passer-by on the 

 landscape cannot see more than a few feet, lead to the beds of 



