596 



LANDSCAPE-GARDENING. 



herself. Trees clipped into formal figures, and 

 hedges cut to resemble walls, show the artificial 

 carried to an absurd and perverse extreme, not only 

 destroying the forms of the plants themselves, but 

 without having any thing whatever to excuse it on 

 the score of utility, convenience, or other advan- 

 tage; whereas the disposing of flowers in parterres, 

 or leading creeping shrubs over trellises, exhibits 

 them to advantage, and conformably with their 

 natural properties. A trellis mantled over with 

 the leaves and blossoms of various "climbers" is 

 hardly a more artificial object than a wall clad with 

 ivy, which has certainly never been deemed un pic- 

 turesque. Whatever be the degree of ornamental 

 character bestowed upon a garden or pleasure- 

 ground of this description, we must still avoid that 

 strict architectural symmetry which, being here 

 misplaced, tends not to give the charm of regular- 

 ity that we properly look for in buildings, but 

 merely to produce a monotonous formality. A par- 

 terre, for instance, should not exhibit in its plan an 

 exact pattern, hardly regular figures of any kind ; 

 neither should there be corresponding features re- 

 flecting each other : thus, should there happen to 

 be a terrace, a flight of steps, or any thing else of 

 the sort, it ought not to have its counterpart, but 

 to be considered a distinct and complete feature in 

 itself, as much as what is less evidently the work 

 of human industry. When we once begin to affect 

 parallelism and repetition in such matters, we ex- 

 ceed the allowable degree of the artificial, and act 

 nearly as preposterously as we should do were we 

 to cut two rivers or lead two roads running parallel 

 beside each other. It is not the artificial, properly 

 applied, which is contrary either to sound taste, 

 or the picturesque ; but that reduplication of it 

 which not only occasions unbecoming formality, but 

 utterly destroys variety. In ornamental gardening 

 there may be the most studied display, and the 

 study itself may be apparent ; yet, however elabo- 

 rately adorned, the whole scene may wear such an 

 air of ease and gracefulness as not only to be most 

 captivating in itself, but also eminently pictur- 

 esque, and to furnish a delightful subject for the 

 pencil. 



For design, or the really artistical part of gar- 

 dening, no positive rules of any kind can be laid 

 down, either for the ornamental or the landscape 

 style; there we must be governed by individual 

 circumstances and situation. The only general 

 rule which, as in all similar cases, is of least use to 

 those who most need the assistance of any, is not 

 to attempt more than the subject will bear, and to 

 dispose of every thing with a view to effect. Be 

 the grounds ever so decorated and ornate, there 

 should ever be we will not say simplicity, for the 

 popular signification of that term would not very 

 well convey our meaning, perhaps seem altogether 

 at variance with such degree of embellishment ; 

 we will therefore say breadth and repose qualities 

 exceedingly compatible with richness and gaiety of 

 expression, with brilliancy and sparkling effects. 

 Of course this is to be understood cum grano salis ; 

 for it is not to be supposed that in such cases re- 

 pose can be made a predominant characteristic; no 

 more of it, in fact, is desirable than will suffice to 

 temper down and subdue glaringness, to bring the 

 whole into harmonious keeping, and to prevent 

 flutter and fritter. As in aiming at richness we 

 must studiously avoid falling into glare and gaudi- 

 ness, which are a debased and corrupt species of 

 richness, so must we take heed that we do not 



mistake the merely fantastic for the fanciful. In 

 the strictly ornamental style, the latter may legiti- 

 mately be employed, on the condition annexed to 

 every thing which partakes of art, namely, that 

 the result be satisfactory, which it certainly will 

 not prove, should the fanciful exhibit itself only in 

 trivialities and trumpery. No where ought we to 

 be more upon our guard against triviality than 

 where we are obliged to work entirely in little, 

 because we are there most likely of all to fall into 

 it, if we have recourse to factitious embellishment. 

 We do not say that artifices are altogether unal- 

 lowable, that in garden ornaments only genuine 

 materials are to be employed ; pedestals, for in- 

 stance, of wood, painted to resemble stone, may 

 be tolerated, provided they are introduced in situa- 

 tions where they cannot be too closely approached; 

 but, let the material be what it may, the form of 

 all such objects ought to be most carefully studied, 

 and calculated to please a critical eye. Unless that 

 be done, they had much better be omitted alto- 

 gether, because so far from being ornamental, they 

 prove the reverse, are contemptible in themselves, 

 and betray ignorance and vulgar taste. Happily, 

 the wooden Gothic summer-houses, Chinese al- 

 coves, and other cockney conceits, together with 

 " clumsy cupids squirting in a pond," have been 

 long ago exploded by the deserved ridicule they 

 incurred ; still it is a question whether we have 

 done well in suffering them to prejudice us against 

 every thing of the kind. By a judicious applica- 

 tion of ornamental building and arrangement, much 

 may be effected within a small compass, and a 

 striking degree of scenic character obtained. 



Unlike the ornamental style, landscape gardening 

 rejects, not only all artifice, but all indication of 

 the artificial. It demands, not on that account less 

 study ; rather does it require more, and also the 

 nicest delicacy of judgment and feeling, in order 

 the better to conceal those very contrivances which 

 bestow on the scene charms that nature had ori- 

 ginally refused to it. It is not the factitious bloom 

 upon the cheek of a beautiful woman, so much as 

 the unskilfulness with which it is laid on, that of- 

 fends the eye ; the offence consists in the imposi- 

 tion being detected. The landscape gardener 

 should bear this in mind; he must beware of paint- 

 ing too thick of overdoing embellishment, till he 

 pushes beauty to the verge of absurdity. Either 

 he must make no attempt at concealing his ma- 

 chinery, or hide it most effectually, unless he is 

 content to pass for a bungler. 



The first requisite Prince Piickler demands in 

 the embellishment of grounds is, that there should 

 be unity of idea, a sine qua non in every work of 

 art. Such unity is not to be confounded with 

 sameness ; on the contrary, there must be both 

 variety and contrast, yet of that species which 

 nature exemplifies in her most propitious moods. 

 Contrast must be so managed as to conduce to the 

 harmony of the whole ; there must be nothing 

 forced or extravagant in it ; and even the transi- 

 tions from one scene to another, however sudden, 

 should have nothing jarring, or that will disagree- 

 ably interrupt our preceding impressions. " It is 

 not indispensably necessary," observes the Prince, 

 " that in order to produce a powerful effect, a park 

 should be of considerable size : owing to the un- 

 skilfulness with which it is treated, a very exten- 

 sive space of land is frequently so cut up into 

 patches as to be greatly reduced ; while, by a con- 

 trary system, a limited one may be made to appear 



