THE USE OF GARDENS 



artistic means could be legitimately attempted. The fact that it 

 was sacred to tranquillity made it all the more suitable as a field 

 for the employment of those forms of art which can best be 

 enjoyed in quiet moments ; and the possessor of the garden was 

 ready enough to prove the sincerity of his worship by striving 

 always to increase the beauty of the shrine in which his hours 

 of leisure were spent. The more he added to the attractions of 

 his garden the more efficiently it fulfilled its purpose ; and as it 

 gained in charm the more definite became his assertion of the 

 sentiment by which he was controlled. 



At first, it may be, he was satisfied with having secured a little 

 bit of nature, separate and shut off, which he could keep to himself 

 as a kind of treasured possession ; but soon the desire came to give 

 to his acquisition the worthiest setting he could devise and to 

 surround it with appropriate adornments. He could think of no 

 better mode of showing his love of nature than to lavish on her 

 gifts which would make her beauty more evident and her fasci- 

 nation more complete. He found in art the means of glorifying 

 her most surely, the one certain way of enhancing her attractions 

 without diminishing her dignity or spoiling her dainty graces. The 

 garden planned under the influence of such a motive grew into 

 something far more elaborate than the simple, secluded resting 

 place ; it took the form of a temple of nature, where a goddess 

 was enshrined and where a devoted worshipper sought to do her 

 honour by delicately imagined devices. 



Therefore, it is by no means incorrect to describe garden-worship 

 as the expression of an aesthetic instinct, for, upon the fundamental 

 love of nature which originally called gardens into existence, there 

 has been built up a wonderful system of design that draws freely 

 upon the resources of decoration and allows the fullest scope to 

 the ingenious exponent of artistic principles. The garden lover 

 to-day concerns himself chiefly with the opportunities that nature 

 offers him of devising exquisite arrangements of form and colour, 

 and with her infinite adaptability to his decorative schemes. He 

 depends upon her, of course, for from her comes his inspiration, but 

 it is her assistance he desires, not dictation as to the manner in 

 which his work should be carried out. With her as his guide he 

 can feel satisfied that his invention will be rightly directed and that 

 he will be shown how to avoid those decorative excesses which are 

 especially out of place in garden designing. 



But this obedience to nature does not appreciably limit the scope 

 of the really intelligent designer who can realise what are his best 

 ii 



