the small rural estate left him by his father, and perhaps it was while living there 

 that he developed his interest in rural scenery. However, mercantile business 

 failing, to quote from a biographical note: 



The possibility of turning to advantage that natural taste for improving the beauties of scenery, 

 which had formed one of the dearest pleasures of his rural life, suggested itself to his mind one night 

 when anxiety had driven sleep from his pillow. The scheme which at first seems to have entered 

 his mind with almost the vague uncertainty of a dream, assumed a more substantial form, when, 

 with the return of day, he meditated upon its practicability. With his usual quickness of decision . . 

 he spent the whole of that day in writing to his various acquaintances. . . .explaining his intention of 

 becoming a "landscape gardener," and he lost not a moment in bending his whole mind to the 

 acquisition of such technical knowledge as he thought necessary for ths practical purposes of such 

 a profession. 



Previous to the time of Repton, in fact for nearly a quarter of a century before 

 his birth, there had existed in England an almost universal predilection for 

 naturalistic scenery in the place of formal gardens; and in many cases, gardens 

 hundreds of years old, surrounding equally old houses, had been destroved to 

 make way for this picturesque scenery. Today it is recognized that this was a 

 mistake and a misfortune, in spite of the fact that some of the estates thus "im- 

 proved" did not even date back to the time of King Charles Il(i668), and were not 

 nearly so good as those of the Tudor times (1500-1600). Advocates of this "new 

 style," however, were not discriminating: all that was condemmed as "formal" 

 was swept away to be replaced by the picturesque a style of equal artificiality 

 had they but stopped to realize it. 



Repton took the stand that, adjoining the houses, some conventionality was 

 desirable, and that not all should be ' 'landscaped. ' ' For that day and time, this was 

 a wholly commendable stand for a man in his position to assume; but apparently 

 he did not live up to it. Yet remembering that he was trained to be a merchant 

 rather than a designer, it is not surprising that he was somewhat influenced by the 

 taste, or want of taste, of his day. He was in fact, an able man, whereas the other 

 advocates of the natural style, who had preceded him, were mostly mere adven- 

 turers and opportunists taking advantage of a passing fad. And for a certainty, 

 Repton took his title most seriously. The following is a quotation from his 

 answer to a letter in which he was criticized for assuming so ambitious a title: 



But, while you are pleased to allow me some of the qualities necessary to my profession, you sup- 

 pose me deficient in others, and therefore strongly recommend the study of "what the higher artists 

 have done, both in theii pictures and drawings" a branch of knowledge which I have always consider- 

 ed to be not less essential to my profession than hydraulics or surveying, and without which I 

 should never have presumed to arrogate to myself the title of "landscape gardener," which, you 

 observe, is "a title of no mean pretention." 



While Repton was not so wholly absorbed in the ideals of the picturesque as 

 were most of his predecessors and contemporaries, most of his work, nevertheless, 

 dealt almost exclusively with the picturesque landscape of English private parks, 

 or, as we would call them, pastures. This type of artificial scenery may be seen 

 today in our large city parks, in our golf links, and in the meadows of our large 

 country estates; and it is appropriately called "parklike." It is also known as 

 "landscape" scenery, deriving this name from the same origin as does the term 

 "landscape gardening." 



Landscape gardening continued to prevail as the designation both of this partic- 

 ular style and of the profession, until Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted (who died in 



