ARRANGEMENT AND FORMATION. 31 



his rules as to composition, for the use of his colours and the 

 production of his distances. His picture is not a servile copy of 

 Nature in its exact details, but an artistic rendering of the effect 

 of Nature, as seen by his educated eye, and recorded by his skilful 

 hand. His picture is always viewed from the same point ; but in 

 the nature-pictures created by the landscape gardener the point of 

 view is on every side; there is no back to the canvas. In each 

 position the object should be one of beauty, of interest, and of 

 delight, and its relation to other features, and to the whole field 

 of the spectator's vision, be closely and truly considered. The land- 

 scape gardener must remember that his colours change and grow ; 

 he must realise, as he creates his pictures, that in a few years what 

 now seems like a light green stroke of pigment to the painter 

 but a complementary effect will have become a tall tree, beautiful 

 in itself, but of altered beauty, either helping or marring the land- 

 scape. He follows Nature by adapting or garnering her beauties, 

 and tutoring her, so to speak, to the display of them ; but by follow- 

 ing Nature is not meant a slavish imitation or reproduction of any 

 of her particular scenes. Some are unattractive, some very inappro- 

 priate, all are subject to dissimilar conditions ; and imitation in 

 Nature, as well as art, produces pettiness. But the spirit of the 

 beauty of Nature, embodied, as it were, in those of her works or 

 features that express her majesty, simplicity, peacefulness, sweetness, 

 refinement, strength, and variety, in form, colour, abundance, or any 

 of her multifarious aspects of loveliness, should be included and 

 brought into juxtaposition in an ideal scene, so far as we are able 

 to promote its natural development. And always be it remembered, 



Nature is made better by no mean, 

 But nature makes that mean. 



In forming the surface of the ground, as already pointed out, we 

 should realise the fact that most of the graceful undulations of fertile 



