584 GARDENS OF VARIOUS NATIONS. 



slab beside the gate are inscribed some words of welcome, inviting- you 

 to enter. This garden is tastefully arranged, and commands a splendid 

 view of the Mediterranean, as well as of the surrounding mountains. 

 In it the owner amuses himself during the winter and spring months in 

 acclimatizing various plants hitherto unknown in that locality. 



And now I must speak of the characteristic features of the gardens 

 of another nation, which at one time were considered to be models of 

 perfection of taste, and hence were copied by other nations, especially 

 by England, in the beginning of the eighteenth century. I allude to 

 the Dutch gardens. These, though geometrically laid out, are very 

 different from those in Italy or in France. Yet some have considered 

 that Holland did but endeavour to imitate to some extent the formal 

 French gardens which were in vogue some hundreds of years back. 

 The chief peculiarities of a Dutch garden may be said to consist 

 in its being seen at one glance ; in the utmost symmetry being 

 observed in all its parts, betraying by its stiffness and artificiality 

 the whimsical devices of man rather than the beautiful luxuriance of 

 nature ; in its trees being clipped sometimes into curious shapes and 

 figures, as was practised by the Romans of old whose gardens may 

 be compared to these ; in its having long serpentine or straight 

 walks, generally ending in a studied vista view, sometimes crossing 

 each other at right angles, the centre of the point of intersection being 

 then formed into a parterre geometrically formed and filled with gaudy 

 flowers quite irrespective of arrangement of colour ; in the berceau 

 of lime-trees trimmed into shape and having at certain distances open- 

 ings or windows made in the foliage ; in the grassy banks and 

 mounds which are all formed and kept in the most prim and artificial 

 manner ; and lastly, in their containing canals or ditches, filled with 

 water that is frequently stagnant, which intersect most, if not every 

 garden. The Dutch have a special predilection for water, and employ 

 it to a great extent either for ornamentation as fountains, as moats 

 surrounding their grounds, or as canals intersecting them ; and not 

 unfrequently in their gardens are found some curious examples of 

 conceits in hydraulics which they have learnt from the Italians. But 



