302 On planting and laj/ifig out Grounds. 



elude this letter by detailing an example, which I shall bring 

 forwartl as a proof of this last assertion. 



There are many wealthy merchants in Amsterdam, and all 

 of them have gardens and country houses at a short distance 

 from the town. At the very time [in 1826] when our mutual 



friend l)r, IT showed me, for the first time, your Gai- 



dener's Magazine, I was called on to lay out an approach 

 road, or rather to correct one already laid out, to a residence 

 in a small park about ten miles from Amsterdam. The owner 

 of this residence had some pretensions to taste, but more to 

 a heavy purse; and he had in his emjiloy a (jerman officer, 

 who knew something of architecture, and thought that he also 

 knew something of gardening. To do this architect justice, 

 however, he was obliged to conform to the will of his patron 

 in every thing; for he was too near him to command sufficient 

 respect to be considered as an authority, and reasoning was 

 out of the question. Unless a man of taste has to deal with 

 reasonable people, he has no chance of becoming an autocrat 

 at home. 



Well ! I arrived, and was first shown round the grounds 

 by my German friend. I found almost every thing wrong ; 

 but I said little ; making it my business, as I always do on 

 like occasions, first to hear the reasons for what is before me. 

 In one part of the shrubbery a square column, joined to a 

 round one, supported a figure of Flora. " Why not both 

 square, or both round ? " asked I. " These," returned my 

 German friend, " formed part of the portico to M. van 



B 's house, which was taken down two j'ears ago, and 



sold in lots." Directly in front of the house, there was a 

 rustic fountain on a naked piece of turf; the fountain pro- 

 fusely covered with shells, and spouting water from a gilt 

 dolphin. I soon recognised this as an imitation of a fountain 

 in the park at Enghien ; but in that park it is in a low shady 

 situation, covered by trees, and moreover the dolphin is not 

 gilt. " Why no bushes or trees about this object?" asked I. 

 " If any were placed between it and the house, they would 

 hide the dolphin from the windows," says the architect ; 

 " and, if any were placed on the other side of it, they would 

 conceal the distant scenery." " Pass on," said I; "and let 

 us see what comes next." A short crooked walk led from the 

 house to an orangery, which we entered ; and I could not help 

 being struck with the size and beauty of the orange trees, 

 and other exotics : they occupied my attention so nuich, that 

 I neglected the indications of my guide, who directed my 

 eyes to a picture, painted on the wall, at the further end of 

 the structure. It was a view of mountain scenery, rocks, and 



