GENERAL PRINCIPLES 13 



teaching, and a due regard for the dictates of artistic 

 feeling and ordinary good taste. 



The first point to be aimed at in all good gardens, is 

 to secure a reasonable amount of comfort and conveni- 

 ence for those for whom their pleasures are intended. 

 Nor is there any defence which can be argued in favour 

 of an opposite course. A garden is devised primarily 

 for the edification and enjoyment of man, in the same 

 way that good pictures, good buildings and other forms 

 of artistic effort are intended. Mere utility is not suffi- 

 cient, neither is mere beauty, it is a combination of the 

 two which must be sought. In the designing of so- 

 called artistic gardens many ridiculous schemes have 

 been perpetrated, calculated in the end to disgust all 

 right-thinking people, and convince others of the 

 shallowness of certain forms of modern art. Of what 

 use is it growing flowers and trees, if no facilities for 

 close examination are afforded those who use the 

 garden ? Can a design which denies us conveniently 

 arranged paths, and comfortable resting places from 

 which to enjoy the best views, be considered in any 

 way satisfactory ? Depend upon it, the man who is for 

 ever telling us that such and such an arrangement would be 

 more convenient, but could not be tolerated on the 

 score of art, possesses but very superficial ideas on the 

 question. It was folly of this kind that prompted cer- 

 tain designers to make their paths twist and curve in all 

 directions : Nature, they said, abhorred straight lines, 

 so they compelled pedestrians to walk double the neces- 

 sary distance to reach any particular object. Any plan 

 must be regarded with suspicion, which when applied 

 to the garden affords a pleasing prospect from the 

 windows of the house, but presents no inducements for 

 closer inspection. During both wet and dry weather it 

 should be possible to visit certain parts of the garden ; 

 a paved walk is a great convenience if it can be afforded, 



