92 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



Since the days when these gardens were in heir glory 

 the taste in Landscape Gardening has undergone a great 

 change. The beautiful and the picturesque are the new 

 elements of interest, which, entering into the composition 

 of our gardens and home landscapes, have to refined minds 

 increased a hundred fold the enjoyment derived from this 

 species of rural scenery. Still, there is much to admire 

 in the ancient style. Its long and majestic avenues, the 

 wide-spreading branches interlacing over our heads, and 

 forming long, shadowy aisles, are, themselves alone, among 

 the noblest and most imposing sylvan objects. Even the 

 formal and curiously knotted gardens are interesting, from 

 the pleasing associations which they suggest to the mind, 

 as having been the favorite haunts of Shakspeare, Bacon, 

 Spenser, and Milton. They are so inseparably connected, 

 too, in our imaginations, with the quaint architecture of 

 that era, that wherever that style of building is adopted 

 (and we observe several examples already among us) this 

 style of gardening may be considered as highly appropriate, 

 and in excellent keeping with such a country house. 



It has been remarked, that the geometric style would 

 always be preferred in a new country, or in any country 

 where the amount of land under cultivation is much less 

 than that covered with natural woods and forests ; as the 

 inhabitants being surrounded by scenery abounding with 

 natural beauty, would always incline to lay out their gar- 

 dens and pleasure-grounds in regular forms, because the 

 distinct exhibition of art would give more pleasure by con- 

 trast, than the elegant imitation of beautiful nature. That 

 this is true as regards the mass of uncultivated minds, we 

 do not deny. But at the same time we affirm that it 

 evinces a meagre taste, and a lower state of the art, or a 



