SCOTTISH GAEDENS 



returning in February, is not moved to enthusiasm 

 by the display. 



Flowers have appealed to human admiration and 

 affection in all ages; the exhortation to "consider 

 the lilies" was not addressed to unsympathetic 

 understandings; but in other respects our aesthetic 

 standard varies strangely from generation to 

 generation. A curious illustration of this is given 

 in an anecdote of Lancelot Brown, the architect 

 and landscape gardener, commonly known as 

 " Capability Brown/' l It is said that Sir John 

 Shaw Stewart, when he was planning his new 

 house, employed Brown to lay out the park and 

 plantations. A conspicuous and charming feature 

 in the view to the north from the front door of 

 the house is a steep, wooded hill called Idzholm, 

 at the foot of which flows the little river Kip, 

 much frequented by sea-trout. The silvan curtain 

 over Idzholm is broken near the centre by a great 

 grey crag, contrasting delightfully with the soft 

 park scenery and surrounding cultivation. But that 

 is not how Capability Brown viewed it. Unable 

 to plant over the bare rock, he proposed to paint 

 it green, so that, when viewed from a distance, 

 it might present the appearance of a woodland 

 glade! Inconceivable, you will say, but in justice 

 to Mr. Brown let it not be forgotten how greatly 



'Capability Brown" died in 1783; the present mansion of Ardgowan was not 

 begun till 1798, so the story perhaps had its origin in another designer. Brown, 

 however, may have laid out the park before the new house was begun. 



28 



