CHAEACTEK — PROPRIETY. 63 



from a wicked heart. We would not expect a painting 

 of great power to originate in a dull, iinsensitive mind. 

 No more can we hope to see vigor and dignity displayed 

 in a garden designed by a weak and puerile author. In 

 this close and proper connection of tlie character of the 

 garden with the character of its designer we may per- 

 haps more clearly understand its present signification. 



Certain terms are commonly associated in criticism 

 of gardens, such as simplicity, dignity, boldness, and 

 others. These I take to represent different types of 

 character. I think this is the use commonly made by 

 those who apply them to art compositions, even though 

 those wlio use them thus have never stop2:)ed to general- 

 ize under any common term the qualities expressed. 

 These terms, simplicity, dignity and boldness, are suf- 

 ficiently suggestive of certain characters. This list is 

 not intended to be complete, for, theoretically at least, 

 there may be an indefinite variety of character. The 

 term complexity is added to the list only because it 

 seems to be implied in simplicity. Perhaps elaborate- 

 ness would be preferred to complexity as a term for a 

 more careful classification. 



Between the terms propriety and appropriateness it 

 is hard to choose the better. The latter is the more 

 explicit in its suggestions, but the former has the advan- 

 tage of brevity and of good associations, which I think 

 ought to be operative in our criticisms of taste in gar- 

 dening. For as we inquire whether this or that social 

 appointment is marked by strict proprict}^ so ought we 

 to criticise the items of the gardener's ^vork. It must 

 be said that such criticism is sorely needed, and that 

 many gardeners of some reputation seem never to have 

 reflected that such a test as propriety can be applied to 

 their work. Our American cemeteries are often striking 

 exemplifications of this statem'ent. In them one con- 

 ranually meets objects of such childish conception, such 



