BATTY LANGLEY. 11 



and stuft-up manner," with crowded evergreens 

 and " trifling flower-knots." But the compliments 

 which he pays to nature are, after all, not much 

 more than lip-homage. His principles seem very 

 right, but his designs, of which we have very 

 many, show that the "grand" had quite got 

 the better of the "rural." Even the design of 

 "a rural garden after the new manner" consists 

 of " a fine large plain parterre, environed with 

 an easy, agreeable slope," and " adorned with 

 Apollo, Minerva, and Pallas (sic\ the Seven 

 Liberal Arts, Mercury, and Pytho;" then there 

 is an octagon basin, with Neptune, and avenues 

 and canals and more statues, and " we can never 

 know when we have seen the whole." 



And now the period of the so-called "land- 

 scape gardeners " began, though in reality their 

 business was rather with the grounds than with 

 the garden proper. 



Of tKese Kent was the first of eminence. Their 

 idea was to destroy all the old-fashioned formali- 

 ties, at the sacrifice of a certain stateliness which 

 the style possessed, and to bring the scenery 



