/.V7A'V>/( , 



and \erv ii, : .inj here and th< 



Bn>. i tnirv. pr .ind quaint i<> 



like that reo>: ! i-> Andrew Marvel), the dial mad. ..ut -i 

 herbs and fli-A 



I -!en ceased to give content in times 



when in -n ii.u 1 learned to look more abroad, .md. under the 

 inflt!, i-alv .inj France, a l.i e came in. I he 



: master A.I> I . W:e. > rear. r ! the famous garde 



antilly. Saint Cloud, and Meudon. Wilh.im III. 

 .is ..hietly instrumental in popularising the style >! I.e Ndtre 

 in England in his great example of the radiating avenues at 

 Hampton Court. But obviously such a character can only he 

 given to gardens upon a great scale, and there are illust.it.. .us 

 at Melbourne, Cattle Howard, and some of our greater se.its f 

 fine work in this grand manner. The stately avenue was <>tu-n 

 associated, as at Hampton Court, with the still can.il. and to 

 the same period belong some other charming features the 

 lead* - and the gates and clairvoyees of hammered 



iron. Pecul arly pleasant in a garden is the hue assumed by 

 old lead, and fine examples of statuary in this material 

 exist still in many places. Lovely iron gates are found at 

 many great seats, and notably, perhaps, at Drayton House, 

 Compton Beauchamp, Kagley, Stoneleigh, and Belton. To 

 such special garden features, however, we shall recur 

 later on. 



There was a rapid reaction from the grandiose style, and 

 Pope and his friends liked better the simpler work of Nature's 

 :. although the poet had himself a garden full of arti- 

 The discovery of the "ha-ha " or sunk fence seemed 

 to Horace Walpole a capital stroke. Kent was the genius who 

 produced and utilised the device. " He leaped to the fence 

 and saw that all Nature was a garden." Working, we are 

 t<>ld, like a painter in the materials of light and shide, he 

 accomplished triumphs which lifted him immediately to a yre.it 

 position as a garden designer, and " Capability " Brown 

 followed in his footsteps. Kent became famous from hi* work 

 at Esher and Claremont, at Ron-ham and Chiswick, while 

 Brown achieved In -t !ame at Blenheim, and raised a 



crowd of followers, who worked with weaker hands in his 



manner, and d many things which It would I 



t" preserve. 



The special style of landscape gardening which Kent had 

 made popular was developed ilm-lly in (-.upland, tnit it took 

 great root on the Continent, wher.- pleasure grounds in this 

 manner became known as English gardens. A Bourbon spy 

 in Paris, in the year 180*. recounted t<> Ins mast, t in exile the 

 details of Bonaparte's iam..us tour after the outbreak of war, 

 in whuh he visited Normandy, Entering the district of Caux. 

 the Celebrated Cluptal direvted his attention to the smiling 

 countiy thereabout, the richness of the soil, the line ho. 

 and the " English gardens." which Nature herself had e\ 

 where treated. " What do \ ,.u mean by 'English gardens ' ? " 

 brusquely demanded the I nst Consul. "I)o \ ou not know 

 that this st\ le came to us tiom China, and was perfeitid in 

 France, and that only a bad Frenchman d-uld honour England 

 .is \,u do?" Bonaparte went on todeclareth.it " Jardins 

 Francais " was the right designation for such places, and told 

 Chaptal that the expression "hngl.sh garden" should never 

 again oiiind his e.u>. Wluieupon, says the goss : p t the poor 

 Minister, disconcerted, saw that he had spoken foolishly, .ind 

 promised in the future to think nothing tine that came n 'in 

 England, and, above all, never to attnlnite to that island what 

 the First Consul approved. 



Nevertheless, the landscape garden u.is really an English 

 creation, and as such has .1 J.iim to our regard. There had 

 been presages of its coming among us. and it may be suitat ! 

 to quote what Milton says of the Garden of Eden in the fourth 

 book of " Paradise Lost," where Satan reaches the border : 



" Of Kilrn. where ilrliciuu* 1'nra.Hv, 

 Now nearer, crown* witli her inclosure K rr en, 

 A with rurnl iiKiiiml. tin- cliaiupain hr<l 

 Of tec|> wildrrncMi. whow II.IIK 

 With thicket overgrown. K rotrM l ur Bl "' wild. 

 ACCOM il< inr.l ; anil ovrr lirn'l UJi-Krew 

 Inn|HTlile heif(hi ifloftirt >hmlr. 

 Cedar, and pinr, an-1 I'r. and tiranrliinu jului, 

 A >'*' >criie: and. u the rank* aicenil 

 Shaile above ohade, a woody theatre 

 <tf :.iU-lint view. Vrt higher than their top* 

 The venl'rouo wall <.l l'.iTa<lie u|>-iipruiiK. 



THE GARDtN OF BOX AT BALCAKkES. 



