xl. 



GARDENS OLD AND 



we see in the illustration of the lake in the hollow at Pain's 

 Hill. Here it is difficult to suspect the presence of the hand 

 of Art, which, as Wordsworth said in another connection, has, 

 indeed, worked in the very spirit of Nature. It is delightful to 

 walk in the woods and t>y the streams at Aldenham House. 

 Let it not be forgotten that the well-managed wood, with its 

 varied trees, its rhododendrons, azaleas, and perhaps its lilies, 

 certainly its gorgeously-hued fungi in the autumn, may be a 

 veritable masterpiece. We may look over a fine landscape 

 garden at Prior Park, Bath, or wander among pleasant ways 

 in the gardens and woods at Wollaton, Nottingham, or seek 

 the solace of rock gardens by woodland paths like that 

 illustrated at Hartwell House. There are landscape features 

 at Guy's Cliff, as we wander by the flower-bordered Avon, 

 and in many another place. Chatsworth is an illustration of how 

 stately grandeur may lie in the midst of a superb landscape, 

 and compose a garden picture wholly satisfying to the eye. 



historically until it assumed the particular forms in which it 

 exists to-day. We have seen what were the form and features 

 of gardens in the old times, anJ what views have been 

 entertained as to the character they should possess. We saw 

 that the old garden was distinguished by the spirit of enclosure, 

 and we have considered in what way the enclosure was made. 

 We have discovered that the enclosed garden, possessing 

 formality in a greater or less degree, was the garden of the 

 old Englishman. Then we observed how the changing taste 

 of successive generations modified the conception of the garden 

 plan. The spirit of seclusion had been broken down, and men 

 had learned to look around them to the world at large. Hence, 

 in course of time, we saw how the nevv spirit came in, 

 which, rejecting the older inspiration, thought it right to take 

 Nature in an intimate sense into the garden plan. We weie 

 able to recognise that there were absurdities and extrava- 

 gances on the one side and the other, and that the landscape 



A PAVED WALK AT HARTWELL HOUSE. 



It may be observed that fine trees and water, with a 

 graceful contour of the land, are the main features to be 

 sought in the open ground. With these some objects must be 

 combined ; else would the landscape garden scarcely be a 

 garden at all. Where there is water, there may well be a 

 bridge, and we see with what success the Palladian style is 

 applied in the bridges which adorn the gardens of Wilton House 

 and Prior Park. There is a famous classic bridge of three 

 arches spanning the Derwent at Chatsworth, which Caius 

 Gabriel Gibber (the father of Colley Gibber) adorned with 

 statues, and we illustrate here an excellent example of a fine 

 balustraded bridge, picturesquely placed in relat on to a 

 waterfall, at Kedleston. A not less admirable and beautiful 

 example exists at Amesbury Abbey. 



This Introduction has now surveyed, in a broad sense, the 

 whole world <>f garde ling, It has described, without entering 

 into too much detail, the broad character of the garden 



gardener went to excesses as great as ever his predecessor 

 had perpetrated. Then we saw how a recoil resu ted from 

 the baldness of the mere landscape garden, and how once 

 again the taste of the garden-maker accepted in various forms 

 the older plan. Then we recognised how glorious have become 

 the opportunities offered in the marvellous beauties of the flower 

 world to the gardener of these days. The true lesson to be 

 drawn from the survey is one of eclecticism in selection co.n- 

 bined with order in plan. Nothing that the garden designer and 

 the garden lover can give should be rejected, whe her it be in 

 architectural adornment, in the orderly arrangement of trees and 

 bushes, or in the wealth of flowers which modern times have so 

 marvellously multiplied. The relationship of the garden to the 

 house is the one essential to be borne in mind, and he who 

 would make a beautiful and a sweet garden must regard as his 

 best achievement a right interpretation of the relation which 

 exists between his garden and the dwelling-place it adorns. 



