EMBELLISHMENTS. 357 



we think more suitable. They are not merely- 

 decorative, but have also a useful character, and 

 may therefore be occasionally placed in distant 

 parts of the grounds, should a favourite walk ter- 

 minate there. When we meet daily in our 

 walks for a number of years, with one of these si- 

 lent monitors of the flight of time, we become in 

 a degree attached to it, and almost look upon it 

 as gifted with a species of intelligence, which 

 looks out when the sunbeams smile upon its dial- 

 [Fig. 52.] plate. 



The Architectural Flotver-garden, as we have just re- 

 marked, has generally a direct connection with the house, at 

 least on one side, by the terrace. It may be of greater or 

 less size, from twenty feet square, to half an acre in extent. 

 The leading characteristics of this species of flower-garden, 

 are the regular lines and forms employed in its beds and 

 walks. The flowers are generally planted in beds in the 

 form of circles, octagons, squares, etc., the centre of the gar- 

 den being occupied by an elegant vase, a sundial, or that still 

 finer ornament, a fountain, or jet d^eau. In various parts of 

 the garden, along the principal walks, or in the centre of 

 parterres, pedestals supporting vases, urns, or handsome 

 flower-pots with plants, are placed. When a highly marked 

 character of art is intended, a balustrade or parapet, resem- 

 bling that of the terrace to which it is connected, is con- 

 tinued round the whole of this garden. Or in other cases the 

 garden is surrounded by a thicket of shrubs and low trees, 

 partly concealing it from the eye on all sides but one. 



It is evident that the architectural flower-garden is supe- 

 rior to the general flower-garden, as an appendage to the 

 house, on two accounts. First, because, as we have already 



