Untrofcuction 29 



and turf and delicate low foliage wither unless 

 carefully and laboriously watered and tended ; where 

 also, in most cases, rambling in the country or beyond 

 the outskirts of towns is not only toilsome but 

 dangerous ; where ladies seldom go out-of-doors until 

 after sunset and then closely veiled, and where the 

 people look for amusement almost exclusively to 

 social excitements, public pleasure grounds have 

 usually been important chiefly as places of rendevous 

 and general congregation. Their plans have been 

 characterized by formal and stately plantations and 

 much architectural and floral decoration. Where 

 anything like landscape effects have been attempted 

 to be added to these, it has generally been not as a 

 temptation to exercise, but simply as a picture, usu- 

 ally of a romantic and often of a distinctly theatrical 

 character. The primary and avowed object of such 

 grounds is to supply people with accommodation for 

 coming together to see one another, not merely as 

 personal acquaintances, but as an assemblage. 



"The style of laying out grounds adapted to this 

 purpose has, till recently at least, prevailed, not only 

 in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, but throughout France, 

 and where French influence has been strong the woods 

 and lawns of both public and private parks and chases 

 are nearly always traversed by straight avenues, 

 with well defined circular carrefours, often empha- 

 sized by architectural objects at their points of 

 junction, as may be seen at the Bois de Boulogne. 

 While, however, the custom of outdoor assemblage 



