38 THE YILIA GARDENEB. 



be understood the production of that kind of scenery which is best calculated 

 to display the individual beauty of trees, shrubs, and plants in a state of cul- 

 ture ; the smoothness and greenness of lawns; and the smooth siu-faces, 

 curved directions, dryness, and firmness of gravel walks : in short, the gar- 

 denesque style is calculated for displaying the art of the gardener ; while the 

 picturesque style has a constant reference to what would look well in a pic- 

 ture ; and the rustic style to what is commonly found accompanying the 

 rudest description of labourers' cottages in the coiuitry. The object of this 

 last-mentioned style, or rather manner, is also to produce such fac- simile 

 imitations of common nature, as to deceive the spectator into an idea that they 

 are real or fortuitous. It thus appears that there are several distinct styles in 

 which groimds may be laid out, without any reference to the natural character of 

 the surface, the kinds of trees planted, or the architectural or other objects 

 introduced. We shall briefly notice the leading features of each of these styles. 

 55. Tlie geometrical style of landscape gardening, or, as it is frequently 

 called, the ancient, or architectural style, is evidently taken from the archi- 

 tectural lines of houses and fortifications ; and it was accordingly, when it 

 was the sole style in use throughout Europe, considered to be as much 

 the province of the architect as the house itself. The antiquity of this 

 stjde is evidently as great as that of house-building, with the progress 

 of which it must have kept pace in every country. As the first beauties 

 attempted in house-building would be those of regularity in the walls 

 and roof, and in placing the doors and windows ; so, in gardening, the fences, 

 the surface of the ground, and the roads or walks, would be made regular. 

 The next step in the progress of both arts would be rendering the house, and 

 also the garden, symmetrical ; one half of the elevation of the former, and of 

 the ground plan of the latter, reflecting the other. In general, the house was 

 approached directly in front, by a straight avenue, bordered on each side by 

 one or more rows of trees ; and whatever plantations or enclosures were made 

 on one side of this avenue, were repeated on the other side. Immediately 

 round the house, and commonly enclosed by a half-sunk wall (the excavation 

 or ditch for which frequently formed a canal, or moat, filled with water), was 

 the garden, in which were cultivated not only flowers and fruits, but, for a 

 long period, even the culinary vegetables. Niuuerous improvements and 

 variations were made in this mode of arranging grounds in the architectural 

 style ; but the characteristic of all these variations, and that which at once 

 distinguished them from surrounding nature, was, the prevalence of geome- 

 trical lines as the boundaries of forms, and of regularity in the distance of 

 objects from one another. The lines might be straight or curved, or combi- 

 nations of straight and curved lines ; but they never deviated into lines which 

 might have been supposed to be the work of chance. Trees, whether in 

 hedgerows, avenues, or masses, were always planted at regular distances ; 

 and never, in any case, so as to leave any room for mistaking them for trees 

 which had belonged to some natural wood or forest. The reason of all this is 

 suflliciently obvious. The whole country abounding in natural and irregular 

 forms, there would have been no credit for either wealth, skill, or taste, 

 obtained by imitating these : while, by employing artificial forms which are 

 nowhere to be found in nature, a mark of distinction was at once obtained, 

 which conveyed the idea of wealth, skill, and taste ; and which thus answered 

 every purpose of the possessors. 



