Islands 99 



harmony, concerning which the right feeling 

 certainly must again decide, united taste and ex- 

 perience recognizing the proper course, which 

 cannot be altogether taught by correct rule. 

 What has been said about shrubberies applies 

 also to islands, since the former may be consid- 

 ered as islands of shrubs on the lawn. I append 

 here only two examples, / and k^ which can be 

 much modified. Islands planted down to the 

 water's edge cannot be quite failures, be their 

 shape what it may, and if the construction is 

 poor, it is the only alternative. I should never 

 recommend leaving the island entirely unplanted, 

 even if it is of a very good form, since the bare 

 outline of Nature, if I may so express it, is the 

 most difficult of all to imitate. Finally, one 

 must confess that, with all our endeavors to em- 

 ulate Nature, she yet retains in petto something 

 unattainable, and says to us poor human beings, 

 " Thus far and no farther.'* 



