EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY EXTREMES 253 



without danger of spoiling the composition. Shell-work 

 took the place of marble, and glass balls or other trivial 

 objects were often substituted for statues, as ornamenta- 

 tion. Miniature canals were more usual than fountains ; 

 for the supply of water, though large, had not the force 

 to rise to a height. A favourite architectural feature 

 was a grotto, answering the purpose of both an arbour 

 and a summer-house. This niche of shell-work, some- 

 times encasing paintings of mythological subjects and 

 sheltering a spout of water, was far less attractive than 

 similar niches at Pompeii, where the barocco orna- 

 mentation appeared more appropriate. 



The diminutive size of the Dutch gardens is well 

 brought out by De Amicis in his account of Broek. 



" The gardens are not less odd than the houses. Miniature 

 They seem made for dwarfs. The paths are scarcely 

 wide enough for the feet, the arbours can only contain 

 two very small people standing close together, the box 

 borders would not reach the knee of a child four years 

 old. Between the arbours and the tiny flower-beds 

 there are little canals apparently made for toy boats, 

 which are spanned here and there by superfluous bridges 

 with little painted railings and columns. Basins about 

 as large as a wash-bowl contain a Lilliputian boat tied 

 by a red cord to a sky-blue post; tiny steps, paths, gates, 

 and lattices abound, each of which can be measured with 

 the hand, or knocked down with a blow of the fist, or 



