ON THE OTHER SIDE. A PLEA FOR SAVAGERY. 191 



browse among the bracken on the other side of the 

 ha-ha thus much of the animal creation shall be 

 allowed here, and not the most fastidious son of Adam 

 will protest a word. But note the terms of their 

 admission. They are a select company, gathered 

 with nice judgment from all quarters of the globe, 

 that are bound over to respectable behaviour, 

 pledged to the beautiful or picturesque ; they are 

 in chains, though the chains be aerial and not seen. 



It is not that the gardener loves pheasants or 

 peacocks, ducks or swans or guinea-fowls for them- 

 selves, or for their contribution to the music of the 

 place. Not this, but because these creatures assist 

 the garden's magic, they support the illusion upon 

 which the whole thing is based ; as they flit about, 

 and cross and recross the scene, and scream, and 

 quack, and cackle, you get a touch of actuality that 

 adds finish to the strangeness and piquancy that 

 prevail around ; they verify your doubting vision, 

 and make valid the reality of its ideality ; they 

 accord with the well-swept lawn, the scented air, 

 the flashing radiance of the fountain, the white 

 statuary backed by dark yews or dim stone alcoves, 

 with the dipt shrubs, the dreaming trees, the blare 

 of bright colours, in the shapely beds, the fragrant 

 odours and select beauties of the place. These 

 living creatures (for they are alive), prowling about 

 the grounds,* looking fairly comfortable in artificial 



* Lord Beaconsfield adds macaws to the ornament of his ideal 

 garden. " Sir Ferdinand, when he resided at Armine, was accustomed 

 to fill these pleasure grounds with macaws and other birds of gorgeous 



