6 Landscape Gardening 



telligent and the wealthiest aristocracy in the world, have 

 indeed made almost an entire landscape garden of " merry 

 England." Among a multitude of splendid examples of 

 these noble residences, we will only refer the reader to the 

 celebrated Blenheim, the seat of the Duke of Marlborough, 

 where the lake alone (probably the largest piece of artificial 

 water in the world) covers a surface of two hundred acres: 

 Chatsworth, the varied and magnificent seat of the Duke 

 of Devonshire, where there are scenes illustrative of almost 

 every style of the art: and Woburn Abbey, the grounds 

 of which are full of the choicest specimens of trees and 

 plants, and where the park, like that of Ashbridge, Arundel 

 Castle, and several other private residences in England, is only 

 embraced within a circumference of from ten to twenty miles. 



On the continent of Europe, though there are a multi- 

 tude of examples of the modern style of landscape garden- 

 ing, which is there called the English or natural style, yet 

 in the neighborhood of many of the capitals, especially 

 those of the south of Europe, the taste for the geometric or 

 ancient style of gardening still prevails to a considerable 

 extent; partially, no doubt, because that style admits, 

 with more facility, of those classical and architectural 

 accompaniments of vases, statues, busts, etc., the passion for 

 which pervades a people rich in ancient and modern sculp- 

 tural w r orks of art. Indeed many of the gardens on the con- 

 tinent are more striking from their numerous sculpturesque 

 ornaments, interspersed with fountains and jets-d'eau, than 

 from the beauty or rarity of their vegetation, or from their 

 arrangement. 



In the United States, it is highly improbable that we 

 shall ever witness such splendid examples of landscape 

 gardens as those abroad, to which we have alluded.* Here 

 the rights of man are held to be equal; and if there are no 

 enormous parks, and no class of men whose wealth is hered- 



* Now, in 1921, one is strongly inclined to doubt Mr. Do\vnini's pro- 

 diction. It seems quite possible thai America may soon show, if she does 

 not already possess, many of the finest examples of landscape gardening 

 in the world, both public and private. -- F. A. W. 



