xxxiv Editor's Introduction 



scape architecture of the present generation. He 

 writes as follows: Piickler "would evolve, from 

 out of the confused natural situation, a compo- 

 sition in which all that was fundamentally char- 

 acteristic of the scenery, the history, and indus- 

 try of his estate, should be harmoniously united." 

 In other words, as the same author writes farther 

 on, "he would not force upon his native land- 

 scape any foreign type of beauty ; on the contrary, 

 his aim was the transfiguration, the idealization 

 of such beauty as was indigenous." Again Charles 

 Eliot writes: — 



One circumstance greatly favored the accomplish- 

 ment of his design — namely, the very fact that he had 

 to do with a valley and not with a plain or plateau. 

 The irregular rising land skirting the river levels sup- 

 plied the frame for his picture: the considerable stream 

 flowing through the midst of the level with here and 

 there a sweep towards the enclosing hills, became the 

 all connecting and controlling element in his landscape. 

 Well he knew what artists call breadth and unity of 

 effect was fully assured if only he abstained from in- 

 serting impertinent structures or other objects in the 

 midst of this hill-bounded intervale. 



With his usual disregard of difficulties, Piickler 

 boldly diverted the river, first into a broad lake, 

 then into the moat of the castle, and finally into 

 a brook through the garden, where, unlike the 

 London rivers which the poet Gray says " only 

 glide and whisper," the water dances along over 

 rocks and "roars gently." This beautiful piece 

 of work looks so natural one cannot believe 



