Si3e anfc JExtent of an Estate 87 



Switzerland, Italy, South Germany, or Silesia, then 

 I am, on the whole, of the opinion that projects of 

 parks are hors d'&uvre. It would be like a little 

 landscape in the corner of a magnificent Claude 

 Lorrain. There one's work should be confined to the 

 laying out of good roads so that the enjoyment of 

 such rare scenery be made easier, while here and 

 there taking down some isolated trees in order to open 

 views which are hidden by nature, always indifferent 

 to the display of her beauties. 



"Near the house, however, one should seek for 

 the charm of a garden of modest proportions, which, 

 whenever possible, would contrast with nature around. 

 In such a garden one should have in view not so much 

 the variety of a landscape, but comfort and charm, 

 safety and elegance. The garden art of the Romans, 

 which through the study of the classical writers, 

 and especially through the description which Pliny 

 gives of his villa, again came into practice in the 

 fifteenth century in Italy, and was later altered into 

 the so-called French gardens, into colder, less com- 

 fortable forms, deserves particular consideration on 

 this very point. This rich and sumptuous art, 

 which may be called an extension of the art of archi- 

 tecture from the house into the garden, or, as the 

 English might say, the approach of the landscape 

 to the very doors of the house, may be most suitably 

 applied to this purpose. Imagine, for instance, 

 among the precipices and waterfalls, the dark pine 

 woods, and blue glaciers of mountainous Switzerland, 



