LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



tions, elaborate with designs and formalities, cramped 

 with geometrical details. A Roman garden (Fig. 2064) 

 was good in its place, but there are other conditions 

 and other ideals. Only infrequently can such gardens as 

 these find the proper setting. If effective, they must 

 be dominated or supported by architecture. In the 

 freer atmosphere of the open country, they are evidently 

 artificial: they are conceits. The reader will catch the 

 feeling of the formal gardens of a later time by looking 

 at Fig. 2065, which is a reduction from one of Batty 

 Langley's designs in his "New Principles of Gardening," 

 1728. Langley seems to have been the extremest of 

 geometricians. In fact, Part I of his book on gardening 

 treats "Of Geometry." Yet his plates suited the taste 

 of the time. The particular plan which is shown in Fig. 

 2065 he describes as follows: "The House opens to the 

 North upon the Park A, to the East upon the Court B, 

 to the South upon the Parterre of Grass and Water C; 

 and Lastly to the West upon the circular Bason D, 

 from which leads a pleasant Avenue ZX. The Mount F, 

 is raised with the Earth that came out of the Canal EE, 

 and its slope H, is planted with Hedges of different 

 Ever-Greens, that rising behind one another of different 

 Colours, have a very good Effect, being view'd from 

 M, I, I, are contracted Walks leading up the Mount." 

 The ideas of the time are further reflected in Fig. 2066, 

 which is a reproduction, on a smaller scale, of one of 



tion has been left us of the Leasowes. Here is a glimpse: 

 "Passing through a small gate at the bottom of the fine 

 swelling lawn that surrounds the house, you enter upon 

 a winding path, with a piece of water on your right. 

 The path and water, over-shadowed with trees that 

 grow upon the slopes of this narrow dingle, render the 

 scene at once cool, gloomy, solemn, and sequestered; 

 and forms so striking a contraste to the lively scene you 

 have just left, that you seem all on a sudden landed in a 

 subterraneous kind of region. Winding forward down 

 the valley, you pass beside a small root-house, where on 

 a tablet are these lines : 



'Here in pool grot, and mossy cell, 

 We rural fays and faeries dwell; 

 Tho' rarely seen by mortal eye, 

 When the pale moon, ascending high, 

 Darts thro yon limes her quivering beams, 

 We frisk it near these crystal streams.' " 



The garden-art of the old time was largely a corollary 

 of architecture. The garden-art of the present time, 

 particularly amongst English-speaking peoples, exists 

 for its own sake. Yet, one cannot say that the old-time 

 garden-art is unlovely, or that it contradicts the canons 

 of good taste. The two belong to different categories 

 of esthetic feeling, and the mere fact that both of them 

 use plant-subjects does not make them comparable. 

 Garden-art, like painting or music or literature, develops 



2065. One of Langley's "Designs for gardens that lye irregularly to the Grand House." 1728. 



Langley's pictures of artificial ruins. It is one of his 

 "views of the Ruins of Buildings, after the old Roman 

 manner, to terminate such Walks that end in dis- 

 agreeable Objects; which Ruins may either be painted 

 upon Canvas, or actually built in that manner with 

 Brick, and cover'd with Plaistering in Imitation of 

 Stone." 



The awakening love of nature and of the spontaneous 

 life, as expressed in writings and paintings, soon found 

 expression also in gardens. In verse, Pope gave rules 

 for the laying out of a spontaneous garden. The accom- 

 panying plan of Shenstone's garden, the Leasowes 

 (Fig. 2067), and the picture of a glimpse therein (Fig. 

 2068), show how far his conceptions were removed 

 from those of Langley, howsoever much they may fall 

 short of the ideals of the present day. A full descrip- 



along racial or national lines. The Latins and their 

 descendants have liked the formal and conventional 

 gardens; and since these gardens express the personal 

 and national emotions, they need no apology, notwith- 

 standing the fact they are condemned by some land- 

 scape gardeners. 



A different type of endeavor is that which attempts to 

 interpret nature in the making of landscapes. The ideal 

 landscape garden, like the ideal landscape painting, 

 expresses or emphasizes some single thought or feeling. 

 Its expression may be gay, bold, retired, quiet, florid; 

 but if it is natural, the expression will conform to the 

 place and the purpose, and the expressions are not mat- 

 ters of rule. It should be a picture, not a collection of 

 interesting objects. Mere planting and grading do not 

 make a landscape garden: in fact, they often spoil it. 



