ON GARDEN DESIGN GENERALLY. 



141 





possibilities of our English gardens 



with those of Italy, this lack of water 



is a conspicuous deficiency, and it is 



the more to be regretted in these 



days when the reposeful and soothing 



qualities of pleasure grounds are more 



than ever important. For to a tired 



brain there is nothing more healing 



or refreshing than the sound of falling 



or moving water. It is difficult to 



describe the mental effect ; but all 



who have noticed it and felt its 



salutary kindness will probably agree 



with the present writer that, even 



with closed eyes, it occupies the 



mind without strain in a way that 



no visible beauty can do. Other 



obvious delights of a garden are 



comparatively enlivening and 



awakening, but in days of summer 



heat the sound ot water is lulling, 



tending to internal dreaming and 



refreshing brain-sleep. ft may be 



that the contemplation of flower- 



border and parterre leads the mind 



to the thought of their production 



and maintenance and mutability, but 



the sound of water is final and 



eternal. Be this how it may, that 



garden is a happy one where running 



water may be freely used. But even 

 when we have water we are apt to 



misuse it we are strangely careless. 



Nothing is more frequent than to 

 see some garden pool or fountain 

 basin with a little water in the 

 bottom only, and nothing looks 

 worse or more neglectful. The proper 

 water-level should be maintained and 

 never relaxed ; moreover, it should 

 be near the level of the inner edge 

 of the kerb or parapet the nearer 

 the better. If there is not a sufficient 

 supply to feed the basin, the thing 

 is a sham and a fraud, and ought 



not to be there. Gardens can quite well be designed without fountains or pools, but a water- 

 space which is half empty shames and debases the garden. Often in the gardens of Italy the 

 whole basin is raised and the water-level is raised with it. A fine example of such treatment 

 is the Fountain of Neptune in the gardens of the Palazzo Doria at Genoa. The whole design 

 is large and bold. The raised basin has an outline of eight segments of circles, four large and four smaller, 

 with projecting bracketed plinths bearing figures of eagles. There is an inner basin whose lines are reversed. 

 Each panel is a great hollow shell, and each pier, bearing sculptures suggesting the forms of swan and 

 dolphin, is surmounted by an infant Triton. In the centre is the huge figure of Neptune in his car, drawn 

 by sea-horses. This is an example of the greater fountains ; more frequently they were of one basin with 

 a central figure or group, the kerb of some well-designed plan often treated with dwarf plinths and 

 statues. 



Balustraded basins of considerable size were of fine effect, especially in connection with the thick 

 groves of ilex and cypress that so usually encompassed the pleasure ground. Of these there are good 

 examples in the gardens at Frascati. But when such a basin is transplated into an English garden with 

 an open environment it only shows how bald and dull such treatment may be in itself. An example of 

 this is at that fine place, Montacute in Somerset. There is an important fountain at Hewell Grange, a 



158. LEAD VASE AT PAINS I1IU.. 



