LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 279 



the soil ; but, above all, there should be poles or hoops for 

 those kind of creeping plants which spontaneously form 

 themselves into graceful festoons when encouraged and 

 supported by art." ^ Such was Repton's idea of a flower- 

 garden, but that was to form but a small portion of the 

 design, and its very existence seemed to him to require an 

 apology. He boasts that he had " frequently been the means 

 of restoring acres of useless garden to the deer or sheep, 

 to which they more properly belong," yet he sometimes 

 designed a small formal garden for flowers. The " Dutch 

 garden " at Hewell Grange was m>ade according to his 

 suggestions. t It is a semicircle, surrounded by a cut 

 Thuja hedge, and a high brick wall across the straight side. 

 The beds within are edged with box, between which are 

 small gravel paths tiled in the middle, and a sundial in the 

 centre of the garden. He also designed the lawn and rock- 

 garden while an older French garden, approached by cut yew 

 hedges, he did not interfere with. Much as he disliked avenues 

 as being "utterly inconsistent with Natural scenery,"^ he 

 occasionally respected " such marks of ancient dignity." At 

 Finedon, although he thought the view " encumbered " by the 

 vicarage and church, and said the garden wall, malt-house, 

 pigeon-house, and even part of the village " must be removed," he 

 spared the avenue called the " Holly Walk." 



When asked to make suggestions for the improvement of 

 a place, Repton prepared what he called his " Red Book," 

 with plans and views of the garden as it was, and as he 

 proposed to make it. He published a collection of these 

 " Red Books," amplifying it with expositions of his own views 

 on landscape gardens. The best way to understand what 

 these views were, is by a study of these " Red Books," 

 many of which are still unpublished. The above illustrations 

 are taken from his MS. " Red Book," of Woodford, in 

 Essex. § The first sketch in the book represents the house 



* Repton, Obs. on Landscape Gardenitigy 1803. 

 f MS. " Red Book " of Repton, belong-ing to Lord Windsor. 

 \ MS. " Red Book " by Repton, 1793, belonging to Miss Mackworth 

 Dolben, Finedon, Northamptonshire. 



§ Reproduced from the original MS. belonging to Courtenay Warner, Ksq. 



